The means for residents to develop the kind of modern business system, marketing expertise, management skills and sales ability that commercial education affords are not widely available. Local supplementary programmes to upgrade public education (such as vocational trade classes, remedial courses, work-studies, secondary school equivalent programmes and community college extension courses) are administered through minimum budgets, thus providing only a limited coverage of training possibilities; they give no promise for new engagement or employment possibilities. Varied geographical coverage, funding sources and small class attendance create gaps in programme content and continuity. Many courses exclude informal apprenticeship opportunities and are unable to provide mastery in a practical field of work; and most overlook the need training in building construction and maintenance, farm management and entrepreneurial skills. Few youth are able to go to regional or state training centres, and many of those who do soon leave the local community for more lucrative markets, thus depleting it of its trained workers.
In the USA in 1993 the public school system was recognized to be in crisis. Public schools were increasingly considered inefficient and costly. In many cities parents considered themselves obliged to send their children to fee-paying schools, if they could afford it. The cumulative effect is the concentration of children of the less wealthy, especially minorities, in underfunded, inefficient and ineffective schools.