Thread: No Bush Left Behind

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/co ... 005059.htm
The President's brother Neil is making hay from school reform

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."

While hardly the first brother to embarrass a President -- remember Billy Carter's Billy Beer or Roger Clinton's cocaine? -- Neil could be the first to seek profit from a hallmark Presidential crusade. And also that of a governor: Jeb makes school standards a centerpiece in Florida, too.

Neil says he never talks shop with his brothers. He attributes his interest in education to his struggles with dyslexia. His son, Pierce, also had difficulties in school, he says. "Not one of our investors has ever asked for any kind of special access -- a visa, a trip to the Lincoln Bedroom, an autographed picture, or anything."

BTTT

Pine,
PM me the URL and I'll shorten it for you.

brother Neil bush is a cheat, liar and con man. I can't believe this!! He's had major trouble and this isn't a factor? What hypocracy. No...what insanity.

From the teachers that I know personally......."no child left behind" is a disaster and money pit.

You got that right. It is a disaster in Austin. Schools are rated by the results of their students on this test and most school principles are by nature politicians and suck-ups. Their entire focus is on these test and the instruction is not on the subject matter but what might be on these tests. Anyone with 2 working brain cells knows that studying a subject and studying to pass a test are two very different things.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/co ... 005059.htm

Thank you, JP.

Neil says he never talks shop with his brothers. He attributes his interest in education to his struggles with dyslexia. His son, Pierce, also had difficulties in school, he says. "Not one of our investors has ever asked for any kind of special access -- a visa, a trip to the Lincoln Bedroom, an autographed picture, or anything."
_________________

First of all, we could care less who gets a trip to the White House, Neil. We were kind of thinking more in terms of what is going into your wallet at the mercy of our children. Thanks for trying to gear us off in another direction by your dumb response.

This is totally amazing. Even more amazing is that all the teachers in Florida have known about this for about two years. Our state is one of the ones that Neil Bush provides the software for. Last year it was brought up very quietly at the School Open House.

Just one more little Bush coincidence. Pretty soon this family is going to break the Guiness World Book of Records on "coincidences".