Former presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Tuesday called for "people marching in the streets" to demand education reform in America.
"I want people marching in the streets on behalf of kids who are getting a poor-quality education, K-12 — and are getting a bum rap, getting a bad deal, in higher education," the former Florida governor told WABC radio host Rita Cosby. "That would be political activism at its height."
Bush, 63, who dropped out of the Republican primary in February, has returned to being chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, which he established in 2007.
He served Florida's governor for two terms, from 1999 to 2007.
"I would hope, and my prayer is, that we have a bottom-up revolution in this country that demands a 21st Century education system that will be such a benefit for so many — so our economic competitiveness, our national security, our moral foundation that has eroded, could be rebuilt," Bush said.
Bush called for a "more open, transparent, choice-driven system that has higher expectations on young people than what we have today.
"It really boggles my mind to see smart people, who send their kids to fancy schools, who think it's unfair that lower-income kids shouldn't get the same quality education that their kids get.
"I find it abhorrent — and it better start changing."
He slammed the heavy influence unions have wielded in the educational process and beat back criticism from his GOP rivals during the campaign he supported Common Core.
"They're quite effective," Bush said of the unions. "They spend millions of dollars in political campaigns.
"They threaten elected officials who don't go their way — and more and more people are not willing to take them on.
"I, for one, believe that the unions are the problem," the former governor said. "Teachers themselves need to be rewarded."
In retorting his Common Core critics, Bush told Cosby: "I didn't support common standardized testing.
"What I supported was the concept of higher expectations, higher standards."
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