Neil Bush not left behind by No Child Left Behind

[ck4829]

"Across the country, some teachers complain that President George W. Bush's makeover of public education promotes "teaching to the test." The President's younger brother Neil takes a different tack: He's selling to the test. The No Child Left Behind Act compels schools to prove students' mastery of certain facts by means of standardized exams. Pressure to perform has energized the $1.9 billion-a-year instructional software industry.

Now, after five years of development and backing by investors like Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and onetime junk-bond king Michael R. Milken, Neil Bush aims to roll his high-tech teacher's helpers into classrooms nationwide. He calls them "curriculum on wheels," or COWs. The $3,800 purple plug-and-play computer/projectors display lively videos and cartoons: the XYZ Affair of the late 1790s as operetta, the 1828 Tariff of Abominations as horror flick. The device plays songs that are supposed to aid the memorization of the 22 rivers of Texas or other facts that might crop up in state tests of "essential knowledge."

Bush's Ignite! Inc. has sold 1,700 COWs since 2005, mainly in Texas, where Bush lives and his brother was once governor. In August, Houston's school board authorized expenditures of up to $200,000 for COWs. The company expects 2006 revenue of $5 million. Says Bush about the impact of his name: "I'm not saying it hasn't opened any doors. It may have helped with some sales." (In September, the U.S. Education Dept.'s inspector general accused the agency of improperly favoring at least five publishers, including The McGraw-Hill Companies, which owns BusinessWeek. A company spokesman says: "Our reading programs have been successful in advancing student achievement for decades; that's why educators hold them in such high regard.")

The stars haven't always aligned for Bush, but at times financial support has. A foundation linked to the controversial Reverend Sun Myung Moon has donated $1 million for a COWs research project in Washington (D.C.)-area schools. In 2004 a Shanghai chip company agreed to give Bush stock then valued at $2 million for showing up at board meetings. (Bush says he received one-fifth of the shares.) In 1988 a Colorado savings and loan failed while he served on its board, making him a prominent symbol of the S&L scandal. Neil calls himself "the most politically damaged of the (Bush) brothers." "

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_42/b4005059.htm

[K8-EEE]

1. Outraged K&R

Disgusting...

[Drum]

2. Neil calls himself "the most politically damaged of the (Bush) brothers."

not for long, heh heh :evilgrin:

[SpiralHawk]

3. k and r on account of Bush family corruption is disgusting

and Totally Un-American. Sheesh... Neil Silverado Bush...what a corrupt crony. He's a Total Republicon.

[ClintonTyree]

4. Which will make Texas one of the stupidest states........

in the Union.

"Bush's Ignite! Inc. has sold 1,700 COWs since 2005, mainly in Texas, where Bush lives and his brother was once governor".

Teaching "the test" has failed miserably everywhere it's been tried. It encourages studying for "the test" and nothing else. Most educators hate it and we'll be raising a generation of young people who can't figure anything out if it wasn't covered in studying for "the test".

Of course, it figured that there was a Bush at the bottom and top of it. If it's good for their wallets that's all that matters. These asshole Bushs could fuck up a one car funeral procession! :grr: