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I am not ashamed to admit that I literally had tears streaming down my face as I watched this segment.
Lawrence O'Donnell's passion in bringing this, and other important, stories to our attention should earn him this country's undying gratitude, and Matt Damon? Well in my humble opinion from this day forward Matt Damon should be considered a national treasure.
He did his mother, his teachers, and his country proud.
Matt Damon is my new hero. He says it like it is and he is right on the money when it comes to telling the truth about educators in the USA. Thank you Matt. We teachers need more outspoken role models like you to speak the truth loud and clear!
ReplyDeleteNot included in the clip on was the exchange with the cameraman (from HuffPo):
ReplyDelete"The interview got a little tense from there. After Damon's comments, the cameraman broke the invisible wall and chimed in: “Aren’t 10 percent of teachers bad, though? Ten percent of teachers are bad.”
When Damon's mom, a Boston-area teacher, asked where the cameraman got his numbers, he responded, "I don't know. Ten percent of people in any profession maybe should think of something else.
To which Damon struck back: “Maybe you’re a shitty cameraman.”
These attacks on teachers are bizarre to say the least. I would love to see all these whining people actually teach for a living. My son will have a Masters degree in teaching soon and it is not all sunshine & lollipops.
ReplyDeleteMany many teachers go home after school and grade homework for hours. They also do it on weekends.
In some states you now have to have a Masters degree so how much money does it cost to even become a teacher + the loss of 6 years of income. Then let's face it it isn't really big bucks to top it off!
The republicans & tea baggers want to bring our country back to the dark ages. Yet they don't want to give a dime to anyone for anything. Let's see them all get their own country and see how much money they would really have to pay for all the services we have.
They want war war war but it costs billions & billions of dollars - how would they pay for that? How would they pay for roads? How would they pay for their educations? How would they pay for anything?
No, our country is not perfect but NO country is perfect. We should all be willing though to pay for services that benefit all of us. I really canNOT stand any of these whiners and wish they would all leave the U.S. and start their own perceived utopia.
Absolutely true.
ReplyDeleteThey both got it spot on.
Those who don't value teachers clearly failed to learn.
Every once in awhile, you just have to say RIGHT ON! More people need to call these people out for their stupidity and Matt Damon did a fine job, indeed.
ReplyDeleteWithout teachers, where would we be? It has been bad enough the dumbing down of America but this right wing denigration of teachers is just shameful, ridiculous and seriously frightening when one thinks about it.
I had a very heated argument with my right-wing Fox-listening,Beckerhead mother as I dropped her off after an afternoon playing bingo about teachers. She has swallowed the kool-aid fully. Really makes no sense because she pushed education on all of her children and now she wants to take away all teacher's rights? Really pissed me off especially since she knows that I went to school for 5 years to be a teacher but can't get a job around here because they have laid off thousands.
And, might I add, he looks pretty darn good with no hair, also, too.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Gryphen. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteLOD, police officers? Oh, the Right turned on them and grouped them in with teachers, et. al. whomever had collective bargaining power - in Wisconsin for instance. If it weren't for the need to hide from pro-union forces in the capital behind said Public Safety, they'd be cut off and out of the budget - like it is happening in tiny, broke burgs in Arizona or Texas.
ReplyDeleteThe Right, searching for some sort of Libertarian Utopic society free of taxes, privatizing everything, won't be happy until we are all on our own and depend on guns and bibles to keep order.
A Theocracy is the ultimate goal, where we are on the hook for charitable yet highly discriminating actions by powerful faith-based entities instead of DHHS or other government services that are mandated to provide aid and assistance to most anyone in need regardless of faith, color or naturalized status.
The scales have fallen from my eyes and the Right are anything but. They crave a power over their fellow man that I simply can't identify with and it terrifies me.
First they came for the teachers, they'll come after everyone else and their heavy boot will slowly choke our civil liberties from our body democratic.
I love this. Matt Damon calls it like he sees it- and with his mother being/having been a teacher, I'm sure he saw the before and after school work she put in, the buying supplies for her students, her worry over some of her students, etc, etc, etc. Are there bad teachers who are in it because they think it will be "easy"? Yes. Guess what, teachers' union critics- they don't last long, because it's not easy. I think the comments I hear when people find out I teach high school range from "Why would you want to do that?" to the comments heard about teachers lately ("I bet you love those three months off," "Well, you don't really work full-time," etc.)
ReplyDeleteIt's sometimes hard to explain to people why you would want to choose a profession that makes less than the average administrative assistant/ secretary while being required to have a degree/be certified, take classes to renew that certification (I spent about $650 this year with everything I had to do to renew my license, and that's because I took a $350 content class instead of a $1250 'education' one, so I got off easy)... and then you get to school and have kids who distract everyone else, who cuss you out, I've had kids who throw chairs; a friend of mine working in an inner city school because he felt called to teach there was assaulted by one of his 8th grade students. How could anyone say we're in it for the money, for the job security? Half the people I know who had teaching jobs right out of school only had them for one year due to RIF layoffs. That's job security right there!
I love being a teacher, but if people are misguided enough to say it's easy, I'll tell them just how "easy" it really is.
How do you like them apples? I like them a lot.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for the day Matt Damon and Ben Affleck both run for any kind of public office.
The attack on teachers is so heinous that I wonder why anyone would go into teaching these days. My own daughter and many of my students are completely turned off by the idea of becoming teachers after seeing what we have to endure. This is all part of the right-wing plan for the dumbing down of America to further their agenda.
ReplyDeleteHow on earth do they think we can be an exceptional country with exceptional students and exceptional high-functioning adults when everyone is home-schooled or taught in a psuedo-religious institution (Hard-Work U, Liberty U, Bob Jones U) to grow up to be teatards whose philosophy is to look out for themselves and not for their fellow man?
ReplyDeleteI can give a for-instance where teachers have failed though: Sarah Heath Palin, Todd Palin, Bristol, Track, Willow and Piper. None of them have demonstrated a stick-to-it-tiveness, attendance, or desire for higher-education. And they want to be the First Family. First Family of losers.
Actors have a job security? They have D-Lists for a reason, it's a tough world.
ReplyDeleteGO Matt! Thank you for standing up for teachers.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best things he said in 2008 was "would you want Sarah Palin to have the nuclear codes?" Resoundingly, America said NO!
Thanks for posting, Gryph.
ReplyDeleteMatt's impassioned speech was so compelling, it's hard to believe he wouldn't be able to move some implacable wingnuts to agree on the importance of public education.
Lawrence's juxtaposition of police officers was interesting too. I was once on a hung jury. The (ridiculous) charge was "obstruction of justice" and we couldn't come to an agreement because one panel member crossed her arms and wouldn't budge from her belief that "policemen can do no wrong." She seemed perfectly reasonable during jury selection, but obviously held rigid views that evidence couldn't dissuade. That's what the country is up against when dealing with rank-and-file Tea Partiers.
Reason won't work; passion might, and I think Matt Damon might be able to get through to them specifically because he doesn't talk down to them.
Mr Damon thank you!
ReplyDeleteWhen did education become a bad thing? When did teachers, one of the most giving and honored professions, become evil?
I do realize the extreme right needs to keep their followers ignorant and poor so they will follow the imaginary carrot that their masters troll out.
Pat in MA
ReplyDeleteThank you for the unreported part of the interview! That is hilarious !
The only time republicans wanted to be teachers is when they could get deferments not to serve in Nam and avoid the draft.
ReplyDeleteMy father, a small town school administrator used to have to sign those deferments for them--he did so in a gold ink pen---he said yellow bellied cowards should have their deferments signed in yellow ink as long as he had 2 sons serving in Nam
PS - Reason.tv idiots, "Tenure" just means you can't be fired WITHOUT CAUSE. It doesn't mean you can't be fired. If someone is not firing bad teachers, blame the administrators - NOT THE REST OF THE TEACHERS.
ReplyDeleteEducation...republicans hate it because it levels the playing field. Can't have poor, minority kids who work their asses off to get somewhere (see Barack Obama...oh the humanity! why a mother of a biracial child in the 60's would have the foresight to know how important an education would be for her child!) to be on the same level as a spoiled ass brat who was born with a silver spoon who can get into any Ivy League college on a legacy admittance. This is a perversion of the American dream, you know the one where everyone has the opportunity to aim high and meet their goals, regardless of who they happened to be born to.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I would like to think that if Matt Damon wasn't a celebrity and lived in my town, we would definitely hang! This dude can intelligently talk about anything!
Also, I love the talk about intrinsic rewards...this is why I'm a SAHM (at the moment, going to start on my BS of Education this fall!) because of the reward I get personally, and the impact I make on my children. There isn't much extrinsic reward, because I don't get paid for it and don't get much recognition (except when my children do well, and that is the best feeling ever!), and it is really hard for people (republicans mostly, and ignorant people, but they are one in the same now a days!) to understand that, that I would sacrifice a paying job for my kids. Hell, I'd sacrifice a good paying job for your kids, because of the potential impact I could have on them.
Republicans are the proof that character building should be a foundation of education. They should be ashamed of themselves for what they have done to this once great country! Systematically dismantling it from the bottom up! SMH!
Oh wow. I loved his speech and it brought back to me the teachers I had who did the same for me ... thank you Ms. Esslinger, Mrs. Ward, Coach Myhand, Ms. Coker. From my very first years in college ... thank you from the bottom of my heart Mr. Francis, Dr. Hutchens, Dr. James - all of these teachers really cared about ME ..and my potential.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is - with so many idiots running around trying to get into public office (yes, the Wasilla Moron is included here), shouldn't we be protecting the teachers who have stuck around to continue to try to educate? Shouldn't we actually stand with them and show some solidarity so that this country isn't overrun by illiterates? Seriously.
ReplyDeleteA country that despises teachers and educators is a country destined for ruin. And fast.
Hurrah for Matt, and kudos to all my fellow teachers here!
ReplyDeleteThe wingnuts will only pay attention to their own educational policies when the military tells them that the quality of recruits is completely inadequate. Having uneducated and illiterate troops is next to impossible when you have high tech weaponry.
Of course, some will say that the wingnuts want their cannon fodder to be unthinking storm troopers, but it does takes a certain amount of education and smarts to repair jet aircraft or electronics, and that requirement is not going away any time soon.
I love Matt Damon so much. Funny, when he first came on the scene I thought he was just another pretty face. I agree: national treasure.
ReplyDeleteMatt Damon just rose enormously in my estimation. Truly one of the Good Guys!!
ReplyDeleteTo ALL the teachers here on this thread and to ALL the dedicated hardworking teachers who LOVE their students in this country and around the world - I THANK YOU and I SALUTE YOU.
ReplyDeleteMy teachers at the public primary and high school I attended in Australia made sure I learnt English, pushed me to improve my comprehension and spelling, pushed me to improve my math and pushed me to get into the advance class for high school entrance exams. They helped me to understand and excel in algebra, trigonometry, biology, economics, Japanese, French and chemistry and they taught me the wonderful prose and poetry in Shakespeare.
The professors and tutors at the public university I attended pushed me to excel in my business degree, even when I struggled to pass Finance 101. They helped me, tutored me, scolded me and pushed me to do better every time. My brother-in-law works hard every day even during the summer holidays to teach his students the Japanese language and mentor them in his role as Year Coordinator.
I would be a dithering idiot unable to put 2 words together in a sentence without the SMALL ARMY of teachers who believed in me, who wouldn't let me be lazy, who encouraged and who mentored me thru out my years growing from child to teen to young woman.
I LOVE teachers. They don't get nearly enough credit for what they do and what they sacrifice for their students. It is a SHAME that a great nation like America is vilifying teachers and educators. It makes me embarrassed for this country and feel sorry for the children who will suffer in the process.
I'm sorry, but Lawrence O'Donnell is an idiot. First of all, Reason is not right wing, but libertarian. And literally nobody has been more critical of the justice system and police misconduct than Reason journalists. For pete's sake Lawrence, July's issue was dedicated to the topic:
ReplyDeletehttp://reason.com/issues/july-2011
Does no one at O'Donnell's show even do research before letting him go on the air?
Well it's just so easy to blame the teachers, isn't it? Then nobody has to do anything because it's all the teacher's fault. We've become a nation of lazy victims who want to blame others for our problems and failures.
ReplyDeleteI was teaching in a private parochial high school and I told the parents of one of my students that their son did nothing in class. I mean, NOTHING. Didn't take notes, didn't do classwork or homework. Instead of addressing his behavior, they had him tested for a learning disability. As if suddenly in HS he developed a learning disability.
I tutor privately and I love it. It's just me and the child,nobody else. I get to truly TEACH, and unfortunately for a teacher, that's a rare experience.
As always, it's important to dig a little deeper with the rightwing. What really drives their hatred of public education is that it is THE PRIMARY PLATFORM TO PROVIDE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN THIS COUNTRY. And they hate that, with every fiber in their mean, bitter psyches.
ReplyDeleteI've been saying the same thing for years. This right wing assault on education itself - not just teachers - is an ideological battle which pits knowledge and democracy against ignorance and theocracy. The right wing fundagelicals are bitterly opposed to the Constitution and would gladly do away with it if they could. Teachers stand in their way, therefore, teachers have to go.
ReplyDeleteI have been amazed how many who are ostensibly liberal will parrot the bullshit "lazy, ineffective teacher" meme simply because they have had it pounded into their heads with so much repetition.
The teaching profession has a built safety valve that tends to get rid of the worst teachers: the pay is generally not great and the hours and working conditions suck. The vast majority of the people who stay do so out of devotion to the calling and their commitment to children. There is nothing easy about teaching. If someone were truly lazy they would not survive; it is simply too hard. So, please explain to me how this VERY difficult profession that has shitty pay, shitty hours, and an undeserved reputation in popular culture of slothful indifference can be a bastion of indolence?
The next time anybody tosses out the threadbare "lazy ineffective teacher" bullshit, demand to know by what metric this "ineffectiveness and laziness" was measured. Demand to know what data supports this contention. Demand that people either back up such remarks with verifiable, MEANINGFUL data which supports their bilge, or tell them to SHUT THE FUCK UP. I have ONLY heard this bullshit from people who have not spent time in a classroom.
I have NEVER heard the "lazy ineffective teacher" mantra supported by other than anecdote. When you are threatening to dock people's pay, sanction them professionally, or even drive them from a profession, you damn well better have more than anecdotes to back up your position.
The decline in our education system directly correlates to when the Talibangelical Christians started to infiltrate local and state school boards and began to dismantle curriculum that they found offensive - which is essentially anything that is based upon facts. Add to that ignoramus politicians who love to use education as their favorite political football, and our teachers get made the villains.
Let's get rid of the travesty that is No Child Left Behind and put people with knowledge, education, and experience in charge of fixing what's wrong with our educational system, and preserve what works. Let's kick out the ignorant cousin humping theocrats that want to keep the populace stupid and unquestioning.
Let's quit bashing teachers.
Anon @5:37 am:
ReplyDeleteLove it!
You need to go to Huffington Post and see how he handled the reporter from Reason.TV and her cameraman. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI am so grateful to Matt Damon for stepping up. I know there are other celebrities that have similar backgrounds, family that are teachers, and similar beliefs.
I'd like to see them step up too.
Thanks, Matt, for flying in just to do this.
The guy is working in Canada but he arranged to be there.
We all get a little out of wack at the school now and then. Ever since this "child left behind" they are so consumed by the test scores that other things fall by the wayside. I'm a firm believer in public school. Everyone should want to fund schools, pay teachers a decent wage. I was impressed with Matt Damon and thought the newscaster sounded stupid saying the uncertainty of an job made him a better actor. He gave a great answer. Now a days too much home schooling and you can tell. Talk about dumming down of America. Rich ppl can hire an ex-teacher (their children will be taught )but poor ppl just leave the kids on their own, to do it mostly. It makes me mad that here in TN the sub teachers don't even have to have a degree. Used to in IL they did, but don't know if that is still the case. I think that may be their agenda homeschooling for poor ppl and their privite church schools for paying ppl.It won't be the teachers who make a good wagey it will be the school owners. Heck if the country goes like TX where they are going to charge over 300 for the 1st kid and over 200 for the 2nd no one will be able to get them there forget about the yr cost.
ReplyDeleteMy fundamentalist right-wing mother is still angry at my 5th grade teacher who taught us that we could think for ourselves and form our own opinions.
ReplyDeleteMom was also very nervous and defensive when in 3rd grade I learned about the solar system for the very first time. I was thrilled with my new knowledge of planets. She was not.
Thank you, teachers.
Good for Matt.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to find out who is a good teacher is to ask their students.
By third grade at least, they know whether they are learning or not,and they know whether their teacher is teaching or not.
Good for Matt and for Lawrence! Educators in this country have become the ligntening rod for all the ills of society in the crazy right wing conservative movement.
ReplyDeleteThe World send their kids to be educated here for a reason, and it isn't because of bad teachers.
We need to raise the profession of educating our children to the same level as those in other noble professions.
I was one of those kids who just don't test well, and it was more than a few good teachers who took the time to teach me techniques and different approaches to learning, and to them I owe a great debt of gratitude.
And I thank and support those who taught my kids and those who teach all kids. It's an investment that takes dedication and a lot more support from others than they're getting now. Where are our priorities?