Did George W. Bush's father use his money and influence to keep his son out of special education classes?

Question

I'm wondering if George Jr. should have been riding the short bus to school. Does anyone have the scoop on this story? Did George's father pay off the school or something to have his child mainstreamed into the regular classroom?

Answer 1

I always thought he must have bought his spot at Yale.

You never know, he  may have been tested and the special ed department said they didn't want him, so they fudged his scores and said he didn't qualify.

So the poor little rich kid was left behind, and somewhere along the line he thought he would get even. So, he came up with NCLB (No Child Left Behind). This really means No Child Gets Ahead. Everybody must learn the same thing and get the same score or teachers will pay (with their jobs, certainly not their money).

Answer 2

he probably would have just gotten extra help in his regular classes

I think his father should have at least used his money to get him a tutor

Answer 3

I think that's the only way dubya could have gained entry into ANY university.  I taught Special Education for 25 years.  Without even ONE exception, each child I taught demonstrated more logical thinking than dubya.

For the sake of clarity, I will point out that by the time dubya was old enough to attend high school, he attended Phillips Academy prep school at Andover, then Yale from 1964 until 1968.  If his family could afford to send him to Phillips Academy Prep School, I don't think they were struggling financially.   .....  lol.....George W. Bush "started his own oil and gas company by 1978, taking $17,000 from his education trust fund to set up Arbusto Energy."   OMG!  He had MORE THAN $17,000 in his college fund in 1978?   And a vested interest in the price of oil.   hmmmm......

Answer 4

Why do people keep having a go at Bush. He would not have qualified for Special Ed as his IQ is too high to begin with. It's like 125 which is above average.

OK so he has some problems with expressive language but that's just who he is. There's heaps of other people who have problems around the same thing.

He wouldn't have got in to Yale or have been able to become a politician if he was as dumb as people seem to think he is.

It may also be that he has a problem "thinking on his feet" as not all of his stuff would be written down be his speech writers.

Special Education is for people who have a disability. In Bush's case it is not relevant as he does not have one.

Answer 5

Well for such a smart person you don't do you research do you. When Gorge W was a kid his dad was not rich he worked as a sales man making average wage! So I dont Know how he would have done any of that.

Answer 6

I would like to think that some nice Problem Solving skills as well as good listening skills and a dose of instruction in Empathy might have helped W to say nothing of some needs in his Expressive language.

Answer 7

It is doubtful. Special Education wasn't widely available during his childhood. As late as 1962, only 16 states had laws that  included students  with even mild mental retardation under mandatory school requirements.   In most states, even those children with the mildest levels of disabilities were not allowed to attend school.  Bush would have been  sixteen in 1962 and if he would have been mentally retarded, he  wouldn't have been accepted to Yale, and certainly woudn't have been accepted into the  Texas National Guard.

The field of special education is a relatively new field.  A national special education law wasn't even in place until 1975 with the passage of the EHA. (Education for all Handicapped Children Act which guaranteed a Free Appropriate Public Education in the Least Restrictive Environment. )  A couple of years earlier,  in 1973,  section 504 of the rehabilitation act was passed which granted basic civil rights to people with disabilities.   It is what set the stage for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and  the Americans with Disabilities Act.