Reply #9: NCLB, Neil Bush, FCAT

[dalton53]

Neil Bush bought a software company, re-named it "IGNITE!", and sold it as test preparation software to Florida ($30 per student, and I didn't know of it's existence until the end of the school year), also to several other states. ALSO to Kuwait, other Arab nations, Mexico, and China. Neil Bush is dyslexic, but he knows how to profit on his family name.

The unfunded mandate that was NCLB--the federal government reneged on it's promise to fund the program--was a nightmare for public schools. The children were tested to death, the schools were shut down, the halls patrolled by vaguely sinister "monitors" during the 2-3 days of testing. Parents were not allowed to see the tests, or question the results. I'm speaking in the past tense (although it's still going on) because I took my daughter out of public schools over 2 years ago.

The teachers cannot win. Every year the definition of "passing" changes, the last I knew the lowest performing students from the previous year had to show a certain percentage of improvement in order for the school to receive a passing grade. It's absurd.

This program exists to destroy the Department of Education. Anyone who can has taken their child out of the toxic, stress-inducing atmosphere that used to be public education.

Rote learning is rewarded. Independent thought is punished. Subjects that are not tested are not funded. This is an abomination. And yes, of course the Bush family has found a way to profit.