Bush: I liberated America’s school children.
Bush: I liberated America’s school children.
President Bush is fond of saying that he “liberated 50 million people” by taking military action in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the populations of those two foreign countries aren’t the only people that Bush claims to have liberated. In his last policy speech as President, Bush said today that No Child Left Behind has led to the “liberation” of America’s school children:
By the way, school choice was only open to rich people up until No Child Left Behind. It’s hard for a lot of parents to be able to afford to go to any other kind of school but their neighborhood school. Now, under this system, if your public school is failing, you’ll have the option of transferring to another public school or charter school. And it’s — I view that as liberation. I view that as empowerment.
During his speech today, Bush also finally fixed one of his most notorious Bushisms — “Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?” — stating, “Rarely was the question asked: Can you read? Or can you write? Or can you add and can you subtract?” Watch it:
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Hummm… sure, the children at the school where he spoke today, did improve their reading and writing skills. The real questions are: “Can Bush read? Can Bush write? Can Bush add and subtract?”
January 8th, 2009 at 8:07 pmUGH !
Is it January 20th yet?
January 8th, 2009 at 8:08 pmI’ve seen what neocon “liberation” looks like. Keep it the f**k away from my kid.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:12 pmHaving a family member that is today a teacher under Chimpy’s No Child Left Standing law, EVERYTHING he has said or implied IS A LIE.
The No Child Left Standing law has done one thing – created a badly standardized testing system that has basically eliminated the ability of teachers to innovate or be creative in how subjects are addressed and taught.
This insane law has dumbed-down the public school system of America to the point of being in-operable. The whole No Child Left Standing law structure that has been created should be scrapped IMMEDIATELY.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:13 pmNow, under this system, if your public school is failing, you’ll have the option of transferring to another failing public school or charter school owned by my republican friends
Bold is my addition.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:15 pmNot a Bushism any more, but still grammatically incorrect.
“Rarely WERE the QUESTIONS asked: Can you read? Or can you write? Or can you add and can you subtract?”
But then speaking is nearly always more colloquial and I’m sure it sounded fine orally, even though in print it doesn’t look right.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:15 pmBush…a legend in his own mind.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:15 pmFrom the campaign site:
Reform No Child Left Behind: Obama and Biden will reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law. Obama and Biden believe teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. He will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama and Biden will also improve NCLB’s accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:21 pmI can find out if a kid can read, write, add, or subtract in ten minutes. No standardized test necesary.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:23 pmnecessary
January 8th, 2009 at 8:23 pmHow many days God? No child left behind was a total failure. He underfunded it by 40 billion dollars.
Does anyone remember the reporter he hired for propaganda? Which is in itself illegal in this country for the government to use here. The reporter was supposed to go around the country and find educators to praise no child left behind. He could not do the job. So the Bush administration fired him. They fired him for not doing what was illegal in the first place. This was one of many scandals from a few years back.
He should concentrate on liberating the English language. He should keep his mouth closed these last days. Each time he speaks, it is a reminder of why we are being blessed with his removal. Too little too late. Just go George.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:26 pm12 more days….
**sigh**
January 8th, 2009 at 8:35 pmHe also liberated millions of Iraqi children from bad schools. Or good schools. Or any other kind of school at all.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:35 pmYeah, he liberated America’s school children from education.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:45 pmThis is some funny shyte! Between Bush and Palin I stay continuously entertained! LMAO! “is our children learning”
January 8th, 2009 at 8:46 pmavchavis Says:
This is some funny shyte! Between Bush and Palin I stay continuously entertained! LMAO! “is our children learning”
“In my state of the, my speech to the, whatever you wanna call it…”
~ George W. Bush
“That makes sense to me, don’t it?” — GW Bush 06/06/06
=)
January 8th, 2009 at 9:07 pmSo, it’s taken…ummm… how many years for Bush to more nearly correctly articulate his simple summation of one of his most significant polices?
And furthermore even in NCLB had been a success, the premise he suggests provided him the initiative is ridiculous.
Had he any real grasp of the educational needs of children the questions he pondered should have been:
WHAT are our children learning?
HOW are they learning?
NCLB in part either allowed or forced State education authorities to teach and test according to local political needs. Curricula were often effectively reduced to just reading, writing and arithmetic whilst many states (Republican of course) quashed sciences, especially biology—thus making their own students even less equipped to cope and get-ahead in America, let alone in the global marketplace.
January 8th, 2009 at 9:09 pmProof positive he’s drinking again…
’bout 100 proof, I’d say.
January 8th, 2009 at 9:10 pm12 more days. 12 more days. 12 more days and the words of Chimpy stop carrying the weight of law.
That and, it’s too bad that legions of brain dead religious freaks have used NCLB as an excuse to “school” their children at home. Even the ones who don’t end up dead, or imprisoned, when confronted by the harsh realities of the world will be too effing ignorant to say, “ya wanna super-size that“?
January 8th, 2009 at 9:12 pmDelusions of a FACIST WAR CRIMINAL!
January 8th, 2009 at 9:13 pmPete: I’m counting down the days too, but let’s face it — he’s gonna be a long time leaving. After all, I thought that after early November, we wouldn’t have to hear from Sarah Palin or Sam/Joe the non-plumber anymore either — but that ain’t happenin’, is it???
Some people are just like boils on yer butt — they’re unsightly, they cause a lot of pain, and even when you think they’re gone, they leave unsightly scars to remind you forever…
January 8th, 2009 at 9:15 pmTrue, Dogfather, we’ll be hearing his inane crap for many years and suffering the results. But, he won’t have any authority to directly cause new damage.
January 8th, 2009 at 9:20 pmThis from the current leader of the party that would rather we were all ignorant serfs.
January 8th, 2009 at 9:21 pmBush gets an F on education by Bil Ayers
………………………………………………..
January 8th, 2009 at 9:22 pmShould be Bill of course
January 8th, 2009 at 9:23 pmRarely WERE the questionS asked . . .
January 8th, 2009 at 9:36 pmAnd lest we ever forget, George W. Bush, the “liberation” President, has liberated hundreds of billions (some say trillions) of U.S. dollars from U.S. taxpayers for an unnecessary, criminally-launched war in Iraq.
And Bush has “liberated” us from that pesky “quaint” document, the U.S. Constitution, through all his criminal, impeachable signing statements.
And he’s “liberated” all of us from that constitutional wall separating church and state.
And he’s “liberated” us from that constitutionally-enacted international treaty called the Geneva Conventions as well as other statutory prohibitions against torture.
And he’s “liberated” all of us from the right to privacy and other constitutional guarantees of our inherent, inalienable civil liberties.
Fortunately, we’ll all be “liberated” on January 20th from the most corrupt and criminal U.S. president in American history, who along with his corrupt and criminal Republican crony pals in the White House, throughout our federal government and at Republican-owned corporations have lied, cheated and stolen as much as they could lay their blood-soaked hands onto over the past eight years, stripping our democracy to the bone, throwing the leftover scraps to future generations of American citizens.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:01 pmClearly Bush was given a degree and really was high for four years. Now what’s interesting is no one caught this problem when he was in Junior High, it’s clear he was never educated. But being rich means you really don’t have to be smart as Bush showed you can buy the White House as long as you use the Republican Religious Base along with Karl Rove fixing the voting machines and denying minorities the right to vote. It worked very well as Americans allowed a real idiot to have two terms as President of the United States.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:21 pmThe greatest beneficiary of No Child’s Behind Left was the good folks at the Washington Post. They own Kaplan Educational Materials, (orwhatever the hell the proper name is)one of the two largest testing materials comapnies. Their revenues went from something like $350 million a year before NCBL to something around $2 BILLION at last count. Meanwhile the public schools that fail get partially privatized I believe. So all our property taxes that paid for the infrstructure gets to go to the richest and best connected. The impoverishment of common Americans continues unabated.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:31 pmsource Harper’s Magazine
Please just shut up and go to your ranch.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:35 pmThe reasons that these ignorant questions weren’t asked, President Dufus, is because the answers lie in their frigging test scores, you GD stupid imbecile. I’ve heard his IQ is 125. If this is so, he cheated on the test.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:36 pmToo bad there wasn’t a “no president left behind” test for Bush to pass 8 years ago.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:40 pmNo Roket. His IQ is 1+2+5. Of course, he gets 91 when he adds them himself then lies about it because he’s, just barely, smart enough to realize 125 sounds more smarter.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:42 pm“Bush: I liberated America’s school children.”
Pay no attention to the clown President behind the curtain. Pass the popcorn please.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:47 pmschool talk keeps
the trolls away.
:)
January 8th, 2009 at 11:00 pmI believe Bush liberated bankers and Wall Street barons of all governmental controlling rules and regulations.
January 8th, 2009 at 11:06 pmResult:
Treasury got stuck with a bill of over 770 billion dollars paid to them.
NCLB is another complete failure via bushfia. These tests encourage massive cheating. Federal Standardize test are a complete failure, they are bias and lack any structure.
Even today’s kindergarten isn’t a time for children to learn socialization skills; it’s a time to start teaching for the test. I heard of teachers’ quitting because this strict structure. Playtime is over for little kids.
After the winter holiday it’s time for teachers to teach to the test. One has to guess or remember the previous questions on the standardized test to get a head start.
Pre-during-post standardized test times creates a madding and frantic environment.
The school with the highest score receives the most money from the government. I’ve heard of one school reward that was over $50K and they weren’t the highest test score.
I have seen teachers giving answers or correcting answers on students’ score booklets.
To make matters worse the schools’ curriculum never matches the standardize test.
The Kill of the Hill did a good job explaining what happens during standardized test time.
January 8th, 2009 at 11:18 pmis you is, or is you ain’t got any learnin there Jethro…?
January 8th, 2009 at 11:40 pmGW Please go away and take all of you friends and family with you…
Thanks for clearing that up for me pete@34. LOL
January 8th, 2009 at 11:45 pmliz09 Says:
Bush…a legend in his own mind.
He has no mind.
pete Says:
True, Dogfather, we’ll be hearing his inane crap for many years and suffering the results. But, he won’t have any authority to directly cause new damage.
Wait 50 yrs and chimpy’s f-ups will look better.
IMHO leave teaching to the districts and not to the US government. Also the NCLB ask very personal questions. This data are collected and stored on all children.
January 8th, 2009 at 11:47 pmOMT — During the beginning of the elementary school year, teachers are told to constantly praise children, teachers were told not to use the color red to grade papers and so on. Then during test time the complete opposite happens.
January 8th, 2009 at 11:47 pm“KEEP LIBERALISM OUT OF SCHOOLS”
Yeah, because those ‘elite liberals’ love education and educated people, conservatives are naturally required to hate it. So, LTdan, I guess that you agree with the Bush administration: KEEP KNOWLEDGE OUT OF SCHOOLS.
Hmmm, if NCLB is “one of bush’s greatest acheivments(sic)”, I’m surprised that Bush hasn’t mentioned it when specifically asked what he thought were his greatest achievements, in all of these farewell interviews he’s doing. Instead, in mentally reviewing all of his “great achievements”, he came up with his failed Social Security Privatization Tour as his favorite. Perhaps he, like the majority of the country, realized that NCLB is a total failure, too?
January 8th, 2009 at 11:53 pmLTdan
January 8th, 2009 at 11:54 pmWhat do you know of how schools work and how this legislation has impacted schools? Please be very specific. Thanks. I am sure we will be able to share in a nice discussion on this topic once you prove you are qualified…
I look forward to it…
I can’t watch it. He is so bad, that sometimes I just can’t bring myself to watch him, Sarah Palin, or the like, because I cringe so hard, it hurts my side. I’ll just take the writer’s word for it.
January 8th, 2009 at 11:55 pmI wonder if there’s a correlation between the implementation of standardized tests and the increase of ADHD and ADD children?
January 8th, 2009 at 11:56 pmBush liberated the bottom lines of educational testing companies. He enslaved kids to standardized tests and killed their intrinsic joy of learning. It makes for a more pliable voter.
January 8th, 2009 at 11:56 pmdbadass Says:
LTdan
What do you know of how schools work and how this legislation has impacted schools? Please be very specific. Thanks. I am sure we will be able to share in a nice discussion on this topic once you prove you are qualified…
I look forward to it…
dbadass, The idiot doesn’t know about “liberal” arts. SsssSSHHhhh
January 9th, 2009 at 12:01 amIs our children learning?
January 9th, 2009 at 12:07 amGame of Life:
January 9th, 2009 at 12:08 amI am thinking that LTdan has failed to make AYP yet again…
liberated and left behind,just another bit of Reich Wing hypocrisy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 9th, 2009 at 12:09 amAs governor of Texas, Bush implemented the program in their schools. As a result, the dropout rate increased to about 30%. When you are a dropout, you are really left behind.
The Raleigh newspaper used to always release results of all area schools’ results. The worst by far were charter schools.
The best schools in the country don’t have millions of empty seats, so anyone can just transfer there and solve the problem. It’s incredibly stupid to think that is a solution.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:24 amEducation Week (edweek.org):
February 20, 2008
NCLB Seen Fueling Texas Dropout Rates
Avoidable Losses: High-Stakes Accountability and the Dropout Crisis
At least 135,000 students in Texas public high schools drop out prior to graduation every year, a figure that has increased since 2001 because of the use of accountability testing as required by the No Child Left Behind Act, concludes a study by researchers from Rice University’s Center for Education, in Houston, and the University of Texas at Austin.
The researchers studied 271,000 students in one of the state’s largest districts over seven years, interviewing students, teachers, and administrators. The study found that about 60 percent of African-American students, 75 percent of Latino children, and 80 percent of English-language-learners did not graduate within five years.
The report concludes that the assessments required under the NCLB law have caused low-achieving students to drop out in higher numbers than before, a problem the state’s tally of dropout rates fails to portray accurately.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:36 amBush did make ‘My Pet Goat’ famous.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:38 amNCLB is explicitly designed to destroy the Department of Education. Consider: underperforming schools get less funding. That means if your school sucks, it’s going to get even worse next year, thanks to NCLB. Eventually most of the public schools end up destroyed, and rebuilt as private institutions. Only a handful of public schools remain over time. Of course, once you make something bad enough, you can then claim that it’s gubmint’s fault, and the whole thing should be privatized – so you bring your endgame by blaming the decline in surviving public schools on public education in general. Result? The destruction of public education in America.
Then Halliburton (or whatever) walks off with hundreds of billions in their pockets for not providing services – again.
Of course, this doesn’t affect the wealthy kids whatsoever. Their kids were going to the best private schools anyway.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:42 amNCLB was a complete success in that it enriched the coffers of the Bush family, primarily Neil Bush, whose company made big bucks selling test software.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Watchdog_asks_Why_Bushs_kid_brother_0912.html
I think with the Bushies we sometimes over think it. Most of the time their primary motivation is simply profit. Follow the money. That’s usually where the answer is.
January 9th, 2009 at 3:33 amSorry to double dip, but there’s another point to be made.
The Bush brothers history has been to test drive and see what they could get away with in TX, then Jeb tried it out in FL and if they were able to achive the scam, take it national. This system worked well for NCLB, election fraud, war profiteering and varous bank schemes, the biggest of which we’re seeing play out right now. I think we’d all have a heart attack if we really knew how much money the Bush brothers have made by doing “public service”.
Jeb in 2012! Imagine Smirky, only more evil and a little smarter.
January 9th, 2009 at 3:39 amLTdan Says:
You are waaaaay too stupid for anyone to take seriously. NLCB is hated by every teacher I know. Bush failed to fund it. YOU are too ignorant to understand that things dont become true just because you say them or post them on a website. Your ignorant delusional fantasies are just that and have no realtion whatsoever to reality your feckless moron.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:27 amFrom it’s inception, NCLB was designed to make the public school system fail in chinpy’s push to privatize everything.
seriously, I don’t know what the hell the hot mess in the videoclip is talking about, charter schools are not private schools, they are public schools with an admission procees. Thus, a child from a “failing school” would have to go through that process and may not gain entry.
The only thing his proposed crappy assed voucher would have done is act as a rebate for the rich to send their kids to private school since the poor would not have been able to produce the remainder of the tuition fee.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:49 amSpeaking of children, did you know that–after falling to its lowest level in history under Bill Clinton–the U.S. infant mortality rate started to go up for the first time in 40 years when Bush II took office?
So it’s literally true: when Republicans get into power, the babies start to die.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVPy-ejcbjM
January 9th, 2009 at 5:50 amI have spent 20 years in public education as a teacher, principal, & college professor; public education is a friend of mine. You Chimpy are no “Public Education.”
Get lost, you Proud to be a C Student Fraud & let someone with some intellect like our 44 President Obama lead the way.
January 9th, 2009 at 8:37 amLet me add that EugeneDebs is right on about NCLB.
January 9th, 2009 at 8:40 amWhat a POS that the Chimp in Chief tossed on us & our children.
“Can you read? Or can you write? Or can you add and can you subtract?”
Because your corporate overlords don’t need you any more educated…
After all, if logic and deductive reasoning were taught, this administration would never have won the elections that they stole.
January 9th, 2009 at 8:56 amOh, for pity’s sake…can someone please shut this idiot up?
January 9th, 2009 at 9:24 amliberated by a number 2 pencil and a bubblesheet? Ahhh more weapons of mass instruction….
January 9th, 2009 at 9:25 amIf I’m correct, when George Bush was the Governor of Texas, he pushed for making pre-k and kindergarten OPTIONAL! F@cking idiot!
January 9th, 2009 at 9:26 amChimpy the Ass Clown could never come close to passing any of his required NCLB standard tests.
What a joke, go home to Texas soon & shut the hell up. The sames goes for Rove, Cheney, & Palin.
January 9th, 2009 at 9:51 amYeah, and if that’s an achievement, I’d like to see his failures. Ooops, we’re surrounded, no, engulfed by boooosh’s failures.
January 9th, 2009 at 9:52 amThe soon-to-be-EX Prexy sez, “Now, under this system, if your public school is failing, you’ll have the option of transferring to another public school or charter school.” That is, you’ll “have the option” IF there IS a decent school available; if the schools in your area haven’t been savaged by budget cuts, educational gerrymandering, massive unemployment, decaying infrastructures; if qualified teachers can earn a living in your area; if the dropout rate hasn’t skyrocketed because of teenage pregnancies and drug problems (sex education and community-service programs being “liberal trash”); if you have access to a SAFE neighborhood to which you can SAFELY and realistically send your children. . .
Mr. President, do you REALLY believe that iterating, and reiterating, and re-reiterating a fairy tale changes it from fantasy to truth? that one or two examples of what education could/should be will balance the tens of thousands of examples of HORRIBLE schools/neighborhoods in the USA? that your wish is society’s command?
January 9th, 2009 at 12:24 pmDo you even think before you type, or do you basically crap on your keyboard?
January 9th, 2009 at 1:11 pmI see that Bush’s “no child left behind” boondoggle worked for some of the adults (at least, I think…LTDan is an adult) no thinking..just preparing for never-ending testing is not learning or exercising your brain in a cognitive thought process…! I doubt, your thought process can come to any sort of intelligent reasoning on that thought, either..still think the world is flat..? LTDan?..it should be ForrestGump
January 9th, 2009 at 2:04 pmIf you wish to change your answer be sure to erase completely…
January 10th, 2009 at 10:03 amNo child left behind act will go down in history of one of bush’s greatest acheivments, and you libs can’t do anything about that.
You’re being ironic, right? This IS a joke, right?? You can’t spell “achievement”– did YOU get left behind? or, even more frightening, did you NOT get “left behind,” but instead, you are a PRODUCT of that initiative? I rest my case.
Having been an educator (public school, junior college, college, university) for nearly 40 years and having hundreds of contacts in education, I have yet to meet ONE genuine educator who does not loathe that “achievement.”
January 11th, 2009 at 1:49 amOOPS! forgot to say that 74 is dedicated to LtDan.
January 11th, 2009 at 1:51 am