Matt Damon Defends Teachers at Education Rally
Actor Matt Damon got into an intense exchange this past weekend with a reporter that implied that teachers with tenure would not have the necessary incentive to work hard.
The exchange happened over the weekend at a grassroots education rally in Washington D.C. where thousands of protestors turned out for the march.
The Save Our Schools rally was held on Sunday to protest the current education policies of the U.S. government that focus on standardized testing.
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Damon's mother, a child development expert, asked her son to speak at the rally.
Damon was one of five speakers at the rally that included Diane Ravitch, Linda Darling-Hammond, Deb Meier, and Jonathan Kozol.
He flew overnight from Vancouver to attend the rally.
Damon's speech focused on his own experiences being raised by a teacher and having partaken in the public school system.
Damon also made the point that had he grown up attending a school system that focused on standardized testing, as opposed to a love for learning and creativity, he would not be where he is today.
Following the speech, Damon held a debate with a reporter on the need for incentivizing teaching.
The reporter asked, "In acting there isn't job security, right, there is an incentive to work hard and be a better actor because you want to have a job, so why isn't it like that for teachers?"
Damon argued, "Do you think job insecurity makes me work hard?"
He continued his response with, "It’s like saying a teacher is going to get lazy when they have tenure. A teacher wants to teach. Why else would you take a sh*tty salary and really long hours and do that job unless you really love to do it?"
Damon finished by arguing that MBA-style thinking is not what works in education policy.
