Cornmeal, Lies, and Microsoft AI: The Broward County Blueprint
- Rich Washburn
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
When my daughter was about five, we went to a Broward County Schools “STEM fair.” Seemed promising: a hands-on learning day, science experiments, kids exploring how the world works. One of the tables had that old-school cornstarch and water experiment—where it’s liquid when you’re gentle, but solid when you apply force. Non-Newtonian fluid stuff. Classic. I was pumped. This was a moment. A dad-and-daughter “science is awesome” moment. Except it wasn’t.
The woman running the experiment—the one they labeled a “teacher”—had mixed cornmeal, not cornstarch, into a bowl of water. It didn’t behave the way it was supposed to. No magic. No lesson. Just… slop.
But instead of admitting the mistake—or using it as a teachable moment—she looked the kids straight in the eyes, stirred that bowl of mush, and said:
“See? That’s how it works.”
No correction. No curiosity. Just a lie.
And in that moment, my daughter didn’t just learn nothing—she learned something wrong.
That wasn’t education. That was disinformation.
And if you want to understand everything wrong with Broward County Schools, that’s it. Right there in a bowl of wet cornmeal.
Fast-Forward: Now They’re Doing It With AI
Broward County—one of the largest school districts in the country—just announced a “groundbreaking” partnership with Microsoft to bring AI into classrooms.
Sounds bold. Futuristic. Maybe even exciting.
Except… they’re licensing GPT-4. The same GPT-4 that you can use right now, for free, at ChatGPT.com.
Microsoft didn’t build the tech. They just licensed it from OpenAI and slapped a logo on top. And now Broward is paying who-knows-how-much to gatekeep what’s already freely available. It’s the cornmeal all over again.
But this time, it’s not just one teacher and a small crowd of kids. It’s an entire district, selling a story about educational innovation—when all they’re doing is stirring a bowl of sludge and calling it science.
It’s Not Incompetence—It’s Self-Preservation
Let’s be real: Broward County Schools isn’t just underperforming—it’s protecting its own survival.
During COVID, when families started pulling kids out over mask mandates and virtual chaos, Broward freaked out. Not because kids were suffering. But because every kid who leaves is lost funding. Each student is a dollar amount. That’s the game.
So when they roll out “AI integration,” it’s not about preparing kids for the future.
It’s about locking in budget. Controlling the message. Keeping you in the system. They don’t want empowered students. They want contained ones.
The Lie Is the Lesson
Here’s what makes this so dangerous: Broward’s not just failing to teach—they’re pretending they are.
That STEM fair wasn’t just a miss. It was a performance of learning with no substance.
This AI rollout is the same. They could have told parents:
“Here’s ChatGPT. It’s free. It’s powerful. Let us help you and your kids use it.”
Instead, they built a vendor wall, wrapped it in PR, and now call it transformation.
But like that bowl of cornmeal, it doesn’t do what they say it does. And kids aren’t walking away smarter. They’re walking away misinformed.
They’ve Done This Before—Remember FTX?
Lest we forget: Broward County Schools was tangled up in the Sam Bankman-Fried mess too.
Teachers and board members promoted “scholarships” and crypto hackathons funded by FTX—until the money vanished and the scandal unraveled.
Again: no accountability. No correction. Just another lie quietly buried.
So if you’re wondering whether this AI push is genuine or just another paycheck in disguise… I’ve got a soggy bowl of cornmeal to show you.
There Is a Better Way—And It’s Free
You don’t need Broward’s permission to use AI. You don’t need their overpriced “solution.” You just need curiosity and a browser.
And to help parents take this into their own hands, I’m building something better:
This is a permanent, free resource hub with:
Downloadable GPT prompts for different grade levels
Custom GPTs tailored to education
Walkthrough videos and updates
And no strings attached—ever
This isn’t some funnel or gimmick. It’s what the district should be doing. And it’s growing every week.
If you ever need help getting started, just reach out. I’ll help you personally. Because this is what real education looks like: open, empowering, and honest.
Final Word: Stop Watching the Slop—Start Building the Future
Broward County Schools is not a system built to teach. It’s built to survive. And the way it survives is by pretending cornmeal is cornstarch, and licensing free tools like they’re proprietary miracles.
It’s not going to change. It doesn’t want to.
So stop waiting.
Take the tools. Learn them. Teach your kids. Build your own learning journey—one that isn’t designed to keep you enrolled and uninformed.
Because the real lesson here?
When a system lies about the experiment, it’s not just the science that suffers. It’s the student.
The Truth BCS Doesn't Want You to Know
Every person on Earth—every student, every parent, every teacher—can go to ChatGPT right now and access world-class, PhD-grade artificial intelligence. For free. From a browser. Or the app store. No special contracts, no gatekeeping, no budget bloat.
So when you hear that Broward County Public Schools just inked a deal with Microsoft to “bring AI into the classroom,” the first question you should ask is: why?
Why pay millions in taxpayer funds to access something that’s already free?
Why force-feed students a clunky, overengineered version of open technology?
Why choose the only company in the AI game that consistently makes intelligent tools less intelligent and more invasive?