Getting Milked By Neil’s COWs

The acronym stands for “Curriculum on Wheels,” which is what Neil Bush sells to classrooms nationwide as a member of the instructional software industry, which has raked in about $1.9 billion in large measure as a result of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), sponsored by Neil’s brother of course.

Sounds like Neil is “making a ‘go’” of things this time around, and as it always seems to work with this family, money seems to fall in your lap at the most opportune moments for you.

As noted from this story...

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."

I think this provides us an opportunity to look at the extent to which NCLB is an utter farce, illustrated in part by this excerpt from Deborah Meier’s fine article that appeared in The Nation in May 2004.

NCLB proposes to accomplish a statistical impossibility (that all children score in the top twenty-fifth percentile); it raises false expectations; it's built on an illusion that tests alone can--and should--measure worthwhile standards; that schools can do it all; that progress comes in steady increments; that penalties will motivate children and teachers; that lack of money is a mere excuse; that a single nationwide system is part of the American dream; and, finally, that schools can do it all. The law literally dictates the books we are allowed to use on a national basis, not to mention the pedagogy for teaching literacy and, coming soon, math. Before long, until eighth grade, little else will get taught at all.

To be fair, though, it should be noted that the idea of frequent testing as a means to solve educational problems has existed at least since the time of Bush Senior, and it was advocated by Clinton also (he did not argue it was a panacea for elementary education the way Dubya has tried to, though).

And what happens when we take a cold, hard look at NCLB, by the way? Well, I think this note from Meier’s story reveals a lot.

…when Houston's graduation and dropout data--put forward when Education Secretary Rod Paige was superintendent--was revealed to be blatantly false, the myth of the "Texas miracle" should have been forever put to rest, but the scandal disappeared from the headlines within days and it remains alive and well.

And just to refresh our memories, here are some more golden NLCB moments with Margaret Spellings ( here, here, and here).

So it sounds like Neil Bush is only the latest to capitalize on the NCLB feeding frenzy (typical for the Bush family history as noted here). The problem of course is that he is helping to sacrifice the educational opportunities for our kids in the name of feathering his own foul nest.