Reason.tv - What We Saw at the Save Our Schools Rally in Washington D.C.

Reason.tv talks to Matt Damon, Matt Damon's mom, Jonathan Kozol, Deborah Meier and more!

On July 30th, 2011, teachers, parents and advocates such as actor Matt Damon, author Jonathan Kozol, and historian Diane Ravitch gathered for the Save Our Schools Rally outside the White House.

The purpose of the event: "To put the public back in public schools."

Reason.tv was on hand to talk tenure, the role of money in education, and whether parents should have the right to choose where their kids go to school.

Approximately 6 minutes.

Produced, shot and edited by Jim Epstein. Hosted by Michelle Fields. Additional editing by Joshua Swain; production assistance from Kyle Blaine.

Go to Reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to our YouTube Channel to receive updates when new material goes live.

Comments

[Matt Damon]

MATT DAMON

[Michelle Fields]

No dude. Michelle Fields.

[MAXXX]

That jackass really is a dumbfuck.

He's right about one thing though.

Job insecurity hasn't made him a better actor.

[spencer]

she should have said, "No, but if you were a bad actor you wouldn't be hired and paid to work. Don't you think the same should be said of teachers? Regardless of how much they love their job, if they suck at it, shouldn't we not pay them and hire someone else?"

[Paul]

I had to stop the video when I heard the old white guy rapping. What did Damon say?

[Hugh Akston]

God these videos are always painful.

[Atanarjuat]

Yeah, starting with that little teacher rap at the beginning.

[MAXXX]

The more interviews with protesting teachers that I hear, the more I realize why schools are so fucked up.

These dumb shits are teaching the next generation?

We're totally fucked.

[Realist]

They have also taught the last few generations. Gee I wonder how that sack of shit with big ears got elected???

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

Can you be more specific?

[Realist]

Dumb shits like that have taught the last few generations and the election of Obama is the result!

[Dubya]

Oh, I thought you were talking about me. Now where'd my bermuda shorts go?

[wrong]

So you want the right to educate your child in a PUBLIC education system to be bought by corporate charter schools who only care about raising superficial test scores and creating revenue?...

I just don't think you guys have thought out your position very well... These liberals are fighting for local control and power to be in the hands of educators... not politicians and not corporations...

They needed a face and a voice and Matt Damon was the only person who stood up to speak for them. Just think... if Matt Damon wasn't the focus of all your hate, the issue probably would of gone un-noticed.

Instead, people are talking about it... and that's the first step in fixing a broken system (and there's no point in trying to blame it's broken-ness on any specific group. Politicians, Parents, Teacher Unions, and tax payers all share some part of the blame).

So yeah. I fucked MAAT DAAAMON...

And i'd do it again... and i'm sure Michele Fields would too... Getting schooled by him was probably the best moment in her tiny insignificant career.

[iamtheeviltwin]

I agree, this video was physically painful to watch.

[Joshua]

Her interview style is awful. Painful. I stopped after the question that she asked Damon.

These kind of people - you don't need to attack them. Just go nice and easy, and they're glad to hang themselves with their own ropes.

[Achtung Coma Baby]

For shit's sake, please tell me that, despite his liberal-Hollywood dingbatism, Matt Damon says something half-way well thought-out in this video.

[Colin]

Sorry.

[rather]

"You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library."

[Achtung Coma Baby]

Which, is the smartest thing Matt Damon will EVER say!

[Matt Damon]

MATT DAMON!

[Colin]

Michelle's got guts. But I bet her IQ dropped a couple of points from listening to those idiots.

[deified]

Michelle Fields is gorgeous and kinda brave. But she needs to be a little bit better briefed on the issue.

[hke]

Matt Damon made her look pretty bad. Does she have tenure?

Reason should have sent someone a little more witty or well versed on the issue. She ends up looking foolish here. Ditto for the camera man and whoever edited it.

[Matt Damon]

Read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. That book will fucking knock you on your ass.

[Achtung Coma Baby]

Howard Zinn: "I'll make you wish you were reading Chomsky!"

[A Serious Man]

Just be glad you weren't forced by your poli sci professors to read 'Democracy for the Few' by Michael Parenti.

[Mr. FIFY]

That's gotta be considered assault of some kind...

[Anonymous Coward]

Aggravated assault against common sense?

Then again, I would rather take a punch to the balls than read another Michael Parenti book.

[Mr. FIFY]

Not much of a choice, but I'd take the punch, too.

[A Serious Man]

Well I will say it made "God and Man at Yale" make a whole lot more sense since those are the kinds of intellectuals churned out by the East Coast elite schools.

[goober1223]

I wasn't forced to read at all in public schools. Well, not in order to graduate, anyway.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I must remind you that Chomsky and Zinn have collaborated in the past.

[Trespassers W]

That is classic, I forgot about that.

[John C. Randolph]

Meh. It's a Marxist take on US history. What's the big deal?

-jcr

[Critical Theory]

It's a Marxist take on US history
Is there any other take?

[Every College in the US]

Is there any other take?

No.

[Tony]

So, it says that slavery ain't so bad?

After all, Marx didn't think slavery was all that bad.
And i quote:

"Slavery is therefore an economic category of paramount importance. Without slavery, North America, the most progressive nation, would he transformed into a patriarchal country."

From his letter to Pavel Annenkov.

[Yawnman]

*yawn*

[wylie]

careful, if you happen to *barf* while *yawning*, you might choke.

[Realist]

"And i quote:"
Harvard or Yale?

[gutterpunk]

I don't know what you're driving at, but you might want to read the whole letter instead of selective quoting: http://www.marxists.org/archiv....._12_28.htm

[heller]

Michelle Fields needs to shut up and let the stupidity speak for itself.

[Joe M]

Agreed. She should ask more neutral questions and let them self-destruct on their own.

[joshua corning]

All her questions seemed like push poll questions.

"So how long have you been fucking sheep?"

[heller]

Our children: don't care about them? Or hate them?

[STEVE SMITH]

STEVE SMITH LOVE PUSHING POLE INTO SHEEP!

[Shaka Zulu]

Four days straight. Unbeatable record.

[Ozark Chemist]

Oh, yeah, we'll just see about that!

[deified]

This is just right.

God MF is pretty.

[Drake]

They need to shoot a little wider and center on Michelle - so I can admire her face and body while ignoring the stupidity the commies are spewing.

[Tim]

I agree, she is really very hot.

[CharlesWT]

Michelle Fields

[omg]

She could have done pretty much the same thing and have it had much more effect. For instance, for the "teachers have job security for life" question, start out by saying something they would agree with, like "if it is very difficult to fire such and such job performance would suffer" and then bust out a statistic from a school district in NY or something showing that only .001% of teachers are ever fired for incompetence or whatever the actual number is. Jan Helfeld is probably the best there is at nailing people like that.

[Sidd Finch]

That would have been much better, but it's realistically way too competent for TEAM REASON females.*

*You know who is obviously excluded.

[Matt Damon]

*You know who is obviously excluded.

Welch?

[MALWARE ALERT!!!]

Postrel? HAWT!

[MALWARE ALERT!!!]

KM-W?
MILF!

[MALWARE ALERT!!!]

Cathy Young?
LOL!

[Apocalitarian]

Veronique DeRugy?

[Achtung Coma Baby]

Wait,

Is Damon...black?

[Dom]

I don't get it... was Michelle Fields trying to make herself look stupid or the people she was interviewing?

Now i know why she's on a web-based opinion "news" site and not working a real job...

[joshua corning]

She is a noob and probably an intern.

here is a video of her before she came to Reason.

http://reason.com/blog/2010/11.....rian-youth

She will get better I am sure.

Remember how bad those interviews Nick and Mike did with some poor interviewee?

Nick and Mike would go off on weird eclectic tangents and totally ignore the person they were interviewing.

They got better.

Speaking of old reason.tv...Anyone else miss those editorial staff meetings they filmed? I loved those.

[squishua]

I'd need to see some side-boob before seeing her potential.

[deified]

this is why we're never taking over

[maw]

Who let the mouthbreathers out again?

[Wargames83]

Michelle better work harder or her own job security will be in trouble.

[NAL]

Was anyone else as mesmerized by Michelle's beauty as I was? My God, that is an attractive woman!

[The Pips]

Q: "How much money should be spent on each child?"

A: "Billions."

So, Matt Damon, was that woman's answer an example of anti-MBA thinking you were talking about. Granted it's a swell idea, but can you please tell me who would pay for that? (Especially if corporations are done away with, or just taxed into completely abandoning the U.S. for good or into bankruptcy). Oh, and since she said we can't put a price on a child's education, why not a trillion billion?

[Hugh Akston]

Fry: One. Jillion. Dollars.

[Crowd Gasps]

Auctioneer: Sir, that's not a number.

[Crowd Gasps]

[AlmightyJB]

That's the real issue right there. They refuse to even put a number on how much they need per child to teach them basic skills. They will not even address that question. I am hoping that this issue along with the war on drugs pushes the reliable statest voters to rethink their positions. Unfortunately the media and popular culture will do everything they can to prevent free thought on these matters.

[Bucky]

i seem to remember something called the "New Math"...
maybe that's how we figure out how many dollars to spend...

[Yancy Fry Sr.]

Searching for Phil is a waste of public money....like schooling him.

Y2K!

[free2booze]

The fat broad in the green shirt said she would pay one million dollars to educate her child. Obviously she misspoke. She meant to say that she would spend one million dollars of other peoples money to educate her child.

[-]

She probably pays taxes too.

[Mr. FIFY]

Does she pay enough taxes to spend one million per child?

[-]

Of course not. That would be stupid.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Q: "How much money should be spent on each child?"

A: "Billions."

"MONEY COMES FROM ELVES AND WORMHOLES!"

[Trident]

'Billions should be spent on each child.'

Obviously, this issue is important to her because she herself has never had an education.

[Union indoctrination]

It was too an education!

[BakedPenguin]

'We can't stop throwing money in the pit! That's just crazy!'

[Ozark alChemist]

MONEY COMES FROM ELVES AND WORMHOLES and the explosion of supernovas! Wait. That actually does create gold, so never mind.

[Realist]

Does an Ozark alchemist try to turn corn into alcohol???

[rogue biologist]

No, he's al-chemist, which is some sort of evil fusion between jihadism and ultra-right-wing homebrew terrorist clan.

[little ol' leprechaun]

"MONEY COMES FROM ELVES AND WORMHOLES!"

You'll be a gi'in me back me pot o gold, me boyoh, or I'll be a bustin your eggs for an omlet, I will.

[Anonymous Coward]

Waiting to hear about Matt Damon surrendering his worldly possessions 'for the chilluns.'

[tooth fairy]

He doesn't need to surrender his wordly possessions. It's all under your pillow if you know where to look.

[Fist of Etiquette]

She teaches economics.

[Joe M]

Michelle Fields is smokin' hot.

[emerson]

^^^^

[Jingles]

Not bad, I must say. Can you guys have her do more videos, please? Not just because she's attractive, but it'd help the Reason crew and libertarianism in general to look like less of a sausagefest to outsiders.

[Tony]

That's homophobic, Jingles.

[joshua corning]

I heard a rumor that some women are gay.

But it is only a rumor.

[Name Nomad]

It's not a rumor. I've got dozens videos documenting such behavior in a hidden folder on my hard drive.

[It isn't that]

hidden

[heller]

We should trade research.

[NSA]

Oh, we've seen your "folder", Nomad.

[A Serious Man]

I guess just as playing an autistic man and going to Iraq didn't make Sean Penn an expert on either subject, playing a self-educated genius didn't make Matt Damon aware of the failure of government services for poor kids.

[Bucky]

once again a Hollywood Wunderkind opens its mouth and amazes all...

[Lark]

No, Damon got it right. It was the Save Our "Schools" rally.

[Timon19]

Fuck. Way to make Akron look fat and stupid.

[John C. Randolph]

Wow. Matt Damon must be an incredible actor. For a dumbass like that to play a genius in Good Will Hunting was an amazing acting job.

-jcr

[AlmightyJB]

Just like any politician he's simply pandering to a certain group of people he want's to be popular with. Just like Baldwin or Penn, his moronic ramblings give him a certain amount of creed with the hollywood crowd.

[yonemoto]

True for both Sean and Kal.

[dunphy]

he didn't just play a part. he and ben affleck wrote the damn thing.

[Cyto]

He also went to secondary school at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. While public, it's proximity to the university and unique demographics afford the school a unique structure. It actually sounds quite different - it might make a compelling model for charter schools around the country. After graduating he attended Harvard before dropping out to take a big acting job in Hollywood... which didn't pan out.

So maybe he's not the most directly knowledgeable about the state of public education in middle America. I guess he got his knowledge from his mom, who's a professor of early childhood development at Lesley University. I suppose that is somehow different than libertarian "ivory tower" thinking.

His dad was a stock broker, so perhaps that explains his knowledge of "MBA thinking".

[hrm]

oooooo credentials

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

It really makes no difference how much native intelligence someone has, if all of their theories develop from awful premises.

Karl "motherfucking" Marx was a genius. And look what he left for a present.

Jared Loughner was obviously intelligent, he just got caught inextricably in a logic loop, and the fact that there was no solution drove him nutz.

[kinnath]

Oscars for best screenplay as well.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

The really frightening part is, there's a lot of debate over just how much input Aflek even had.

[Invisible Finger]

The really frightening part is how many people think its a good movie.

[deified]

Damon was one of the less stupid interviews. [facepalm]

[Wargames83]

The only person interviewed that look stupid was the woman in the green shirt. Everyone else came off as more intelligent than the interviewer and the shitty cameraman.

[Timon19]

Question: do all reflexively leftist people answer in shrill whines when their beliefs are challenged? Cuz I sure heard a lot of that earnest whiny "tone" that you get a lot of when people can't think through an answer and resort to "received knowledge".

[Les]

Answer: all reflexively anything people answer in shrill whines when their beliefs are challenged.

[Timon19]

Yeah, but there's an even whinier tone that seems to come from the left. Maybe that's just me making shit up. I dunno.

[sage]

Just imagine their answers in Michael Moore's voice, and it makes sense.

[sage]

"First of all, the way you ask that question makes me seem like an asshole. What the fuck's wrong with you, little person? I've got Uncle Sam tattooed on my nutsack, because it's tax dollars that paid for it!"

[John C. Randolph]

Jesus those people are too bloody stupid to have anything to teach to children.

-jcr

[BoscoH]

Michelle Fields is a serious bad ass. Matt Damon looks like he wants to fight her as him Mom looks on approvingly.

[Justin Cases]

Errr, who has been in control of the educational system for the last 30+ years? Progressives, and over that time has school gotten better or worse? These are the same people petitioning for more change.

Hows about admitting you fucked up, progressives can't run education for shit and leave well alone instead of just asking for more money which has already increased over the years while quality has dropped, so don't start with that shit.

Geez, progressives complain about behaviour in classes while at the same time abolishing any form of punishment. These people are morons.

Fuckers.

[John C. Randolph]

progressives can't run education for shit

"progressives" have never given a shit about education. Their whole plan is schooling for indoctrination, just ask the plains indians.

-jcr

[Tman]

I mean this in the most non-sexual way possible (no shut up I'm serial) but I want to kiss Michelle Fields for her performance. Stunning rebukes, excellent reasoned questions.

And shes way hotter than Julia Freakin Roberts.

[heller]

More like exaggerated, lowbrow provocations and strawmen..

[sage]

True, but she's new, and look who she was talking to. The only political language they understand is cheap shitty sound bites and touchy feely rainbow puppy unicorn fart dancing.

[Bucky]

...touchy feely rainbow puppy unicorn fart dancing.

damn, can i borrow that for the next city council meeting?

[notsure]

unlike any of the answers she got right? The number one response was "duh"

You'd think people that were rallying for a cause would at least have some kind of answer for the most logical criticisms of their cause.

[Raven Nation]

This is something that develops from having an educational establishment that is 90% liberal from elementary school through to university graduate programs. It is not so much that they are liberal but, because they rarely hear a dissenting voice, they have no idea how to respond to criticism.

Probably the best way to really understand why you believe what you believe is to have to defend it to someone who doesn't believe it. Most teachers never have to do that so they are just lost when criticism comes their way.

[BakedPenguin]

They're also K-12 school teachers. They're used to being able to just tell anyone giving them lip to shut up and sit down.

[Dekedin]

Hey, I don't know if anyone will read this, but we've got breaking news:
>It's been confirmed. GOProud, the "conservative" organization that has homosexual "rights" at the top of its agenda, is out for the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?f.....eId=328037

Wow, I don't really know what to say. Looks like a truce on social issues won't happen. If you want to feel bad about humanity, read the comments. A lot want to forcibly jail or "cure" gays against their will. Just wow.

[Sidd Finch]

CPAC is always about stroking the egos of the few beltway retards who happened to be motivated by Some Thing. The votes for Paul were never representative of anything larger just like the votes for Hate Teh Gays.

[Mr. FIFY]

If there were a group of pro-growth, limited-government Democrats, they would be excluded by their peers as well.

Nothing new here. Tow the lion.

[wylie]

pro-growth, limited-government Democrats

Ah-whut-now?

[MALWARE ALERT!!!]

Even worse, the John Birch Society is now banned. Looks like the commie one-world globalists have taken over CPAC.

GOProud is in good company.

[Sherry]

I want to add to congratulations to Michelle Fields for her keeping a straight face and good tone in face of stupidity.

I could think of an easier assignment for her.

[sasob]

I'd like to congratulate her for being able to refrain from bashing one of those fools in the mouth with the microphone. Geez, that's some self-control.

[Sidd Finch]

Hey look, another Reason piece on how our white people have better ideas than those white people about how to fix black people.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Hey look, another post on how you're less condescending than those other people.

[wylie]

C'mon Art, you know that every white kid in America gets to attend private school, funded by the CIA's Destroy-The-Blacks-With-Crack program.

Whoops, I said too much....

[sage]

It's got to be a better acronym than DTBWC. Come on.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Operation Jimmy Crack Corn.....

[KPres]

Dammit! Remember to speak in code!

Cut spending! arvstay ethay lacksbay!

[zeroentitlement]

White folk: "We should help fix black folk's problems by giving them more of our money."

Black folk: "White folk should fix our problems by giving us more of their money."

I'm not seeing what the difference is.

[oncogenesis]

4:36

I see what you did there, you bad cameraman.

[John Russell]

I hate teacher's unions probably more than most, but this 'interview' was not very good. The ridiculous bias showed right through and I'm glad that first teacher called her out and identified her straw-man. Also, Matt Damon was absolutely correct in his response - people DO NOT perform solely by threat of getting fired - he actually raised a great point...

Nonetheless, it's always hilarious infiltrating these camps, keep it up guys!

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Yeah, Damon did a good job of regurgitating talking points for a minute or so. And then he fucked up and said "social rights".

I hope that his re-education session is not too strenuous.

[Res Publica Americana]

Dinosaurs? Really? Like, seriously? Because the Republithugs are gonna have the nuclear codes in 2012. Do you really believe public unions are a negative influence on society? Because, like, really? NUCLEAR CODES.

I bet you also hate that Obama's beautiful.

[Realist]

"I bet you also hate that Obama's beautiful." And quite charming.....for a sack of shit with big ears!

[John Russell]

I hate teacher's unions probably more than most, but this interview was not very good. The ridiculous bias throughout was nauseating and I'm glad that first teacher called her out and identified her straw-man. Also, Matt Damon was absolutely correct in his response - people DO NOT perform solely by threat of getting fired - he actually raised a great point...

Nonetheless, it's always hilarious infiltrating these camps!

[heller]

Agreed.

[yonemoto]

agreed.

[Cyto]

people DO NOT perform solely by threat of getting fired - he actually raised a great point

not really. That's a mild non-sequitur. You could argue from the point of view of fear of losing your job, or flip it around and talk of the incentives of complete job security (a close approximation of the current system). When it makes not one bit of difference if you have talent or not, if you work hard or not - only if you are present on time... how long can a rational human maintain that youthful exuberance?

If you worked in a profession where you watch someone who does the bare minimum get the same raises and advancement that you get by being the best of the best, how long will you keep improving yourself?

More to the point, if you have actual talent and you see that your talents are not appreciated in terms of salary and advancement, how long before you take your talents elsewhere?

So of course his straw man argument has a kernel of truth - nobody of any value performs solely by threat of getting fired. But remove job loss and pay increases as incentives for performance and all you have left is praise and personal satisfaction. And since we live in a world where teachers in general are lauded by the community with the same rote hero role model nonsense whatever their true performance while "the schools" in general are criticized as failing our students, there goes that incentive too. Now we are down to personal satisfaction... Knowing several teachers, I'd say that personal satisfaction isn't likely to hold up against the other demotivating onslaughts they face.

She did have an excellent point that went unanswered in the clip - if we have school choice in preK and college, why not in K-12?

[Bucky]

all you have left is praise and personal satisfaction...
sounds like working in retail...

[Trident]

Doesn't change the fact that those who don't perform continue to ruin childrens' minds.
So saying that the threat of firing someone is not the only reason to perform is a red herring.

[Cyto]

Well, sure - you could say that in just two succinct sentences. I simply chose the more circuitous route...

[heller]

"So saying that the threat of firing someone is not the only reason to perform is a red herring."

It's not a red herring. Damon was responding to the accusation that Michelle made.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's a myth that public school teachers are underpaid. Damon should have been called on that.

[.]

... people DO NOT perform solely by threat of getting fired...

Well of course not - how often do any teachers ever get fired? Unless they're fucking a student or something?

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

From discussions I have had with all sorts of people, I believe that teachers as a group have been made the scapegoat in this debate.

Now, that doesn't mean that I don't think the system is broken. It means that many, if not most, individual teachers(at least the one's I know) are fine people with a tough job. But, they get lumped in with the mediocrities, the unions, and the ridiculous administrations.

This isn't a fight between teachers and taxpayers. This is a fight between unions and taxpayers, as well as an between an educational SYSTEM and taxpayers, and teachers are getting stuck in the middle.

My daughter is just finishing her M.Ed. and will soon be looking for her first teaching job. My advice to her was to apply first at private schools. A little less pay, longer hours, etc., but it would allow her to escape all the inherent problems that public schools have. Absent that, I urged her to look for work in a "right to work" state.

All those loonies at the State House in Wisconsin were not rank and file teachers. They were typical union goons, fighting to hold on to their power. And I would be comfortable laying some money down that most of the people in this video were the same.

Teachers in "closed" shop" states are literally forced by law to pay vigorish to a union in order to practice their profession. And then much of that money gets used for political purposes,which they may completely disagree with, but have very little say in.

The real problem with public sector unions? They have the same inherent problems that private-sector unions do (which are mostly caused by laws which create moral hazard, and give them too much leverage with employers).

But, as a bonus, they do their negotiating with people who have no skin in the game (bureaucrats and politicians). There is no incentive for the "employer" to be tough at the negotiating table. They just concede with the union's demands, and then hide the concessions in the paperwork. Then they kick the can down the road for the next bunch of politicians and bureaucrats to deal with.

And we get left holding the bag.

[Cyto]

Actually, it depends on what her goals are. Absent what admittedly seem to be inevitable pension reforms, getting a job as a public school teacher with a masters degree is a pretty safe life. In most areas you'll make a decent living, have long vacations and best of all you retire at full pay at a very young age... often near 50. With all the boomers retiring, there's no shortage of jobs either.

Now, if her goals are to work with the brightest and the best, then it is off to private school. If it is her goal to use her talent and creativity to turn around troubled youth and set them on a path to success - that also sounds like private school, since most public school systems use expulsion to rid themselves of the biggest troublemakers. They often end up at local catholic schools where the curriculum is usually set at a more local level than it is in a public school system.

[maia]

i realize that people on this site might eat me alive for admitting this, but, i'm a teacher. (yikes!)

and i just want to say that in my 7 short years of teaching in 2 different urban school districts, expulsion happens rarely. and by rarely i mean like, i've seen 2 kids expelled in all of that time. during that time i've seen many a child (i teach middle school) beat the snot out of other students and physically attack teachers, they've brought it drugs and even sold them on campus. they curse out their teachers and refuse to do work. but none of those things get kids expelled. what gets them expelled is crossing the wrong person. and by the wrong person i mean the principal. teachers have to put up with that crap all day, but in the buildings i've been in, if they cross the principal that's when they're out. (i realize that whole rant was not really germane to the rest of this thread, but it just bothers me that people assume we (teachers) can toss kids out just for annoying us. we can't. only principals get that privilege.)

[Harun Al Rashid]

For every one of the incompetent lefty teachers, there are plenty of good teachers...and some of the lefties are good too.

[Harun Al Rashid]

But even the best teachers can fail in a poorly designed system. You send a bunch of rusted, mismatched parts to Ferrari and you won't get a Ferrari of any quality either.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

maia...I won't quibble with the theme of your dissertation, but I am going to ask you to submit another draft. Please pay particular attention to Capitalization and punctuation this time.

[Invisible Finger]

maia, you do realize this is why people who can put their kids in other schools do so. Schools that are terrible at what they do should go out of business. But the taxpayers are forced to bail out shitty schools just like they are forced to bail out shitty banks and shitty car companies. We've been bailing out shitty schools for decades - and far too many people think, like Matt Damon, that we aren't bailing them out enough.

[zeroentitlement]

i'm a teacher. (yikes!)

Exactly.

[Mr Whipple]

If I may be so bold, I would encourage her to apply to a Sudbury Valley School.

[wylie]

But, they get lumped in with the mediocrities, the unions, and the ridiculous administrations.

Sleep with the dogs and you get fleas.

[rather]

I can't believe you're a father. Are you sure you're not speaking of your blow-up doll?

[rather]

And I can't believe this isn't butter! So if I eat an entire tub of it, it won't make me any fatter than I already am, right?

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Nothing could, other than some sort of recombinant DNA work with a hippo or an elephant.

[sevo]

"It means that many, if not most, individual teachers(at least the one's I know) are fine people with a tough job."
I'd be more sympathetic to this view if I ever met a PS teacher who somehow noticed that NPR is a biased source.

[Joshua Corning]

"Matt your mom is a teacher. Would you say she is an above average teacher?"

"yeah she is the bestest."

"As an above average teacher should she not get payed, rewarded, more for being better then average?"

[Xenocles]

She must have been the bestest. Look at how smrt he turned out.

[Realist]

He is sure a fart smeller.

[B. Head]

uh huh huh huh. Shut up, Beevis

[F]

"better then average?"

[Fist of Etiquette]

Regression happens.

[SAJ]

+5 for the comment and +10 for observing Polonius' observation on the relation between wit and brevity.

[Final Grade]

Mildly effective propaganda.
B-

[anarch]

Who was that Hollywood director who answered a sluggish Method actor excusing a poor performance by whimpering "But I can't find my Motivation?" - snarling "It's tuh keep yer job."

[-]

Most of them.

[Res Publica Americana]

Guys, I wanna know. I wanna know, really. Does this woman really think dinosaurs were around, like 6,000 years ago? Like, really? Really? Like, seriously? I wanna know, because she's gonna have the nuclear codes. Like, seriously? Jeez!

Damon couldn't even articulate the talking points well enough to make them convincing. Try harder next time, Mr. Damon.

[Matt Damon]

I need a script. I'm real smart when I have a script.

[In Time of War]

Nah, the dinosaurs couldn't have been around 6,000 years ago, or the Epic of Gilgamesh would have mentioned 'em.

[ZekFoo]

Sounds to me like they might jsut be onto something dude.

http://www.privacy-tools.no.tc

[Sarah Silverman]

I'm fucking Matt Damon.

[Rupal]

So am I.

[Michelle Obama]

You talkin about me?

[Rupal]

No, I'm talkin about me. Wait, no, I mean I'm talkin about you.

[Mr Whipple]

THINK ABOUT THE KIDS!!!11!!!

I'm not a follower of Osho, but here's an excellent argument he makes in response to "sacrificing for the children" in the first part of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related

[Mongo]

You're Gonna Pay!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?f.....ILD0N8eeQc

[Mr Whipple]

Christ. I watched almost the entire video. These people are emotional train wrecks. It's no wonder why our kids are so fucked up. Rational logic escapes these people in ways I can't even comprehend.

It's bad for evil corporations to 'profit' on education, but are the teachers not doing the same exact thing? Teachers voluntarily exchange their labor for capital. Therefore, teachers 'profit' from the trade. But thanks to Karl Marx, and the Labor Theory of Value, workers are EXPLOITED by the business owner, so they don't really profit, they are exploited. But that begs the question, are the business owners being EXPLOITED by their customers? Perhaps it is the customers that are EXPLOITING the workers?

You can't explain to a Marxist that businesses are consumers of labor the same way hungry people are consumers of Happy Meals. It just totally fucking blows their mind. But, but, but, you be exploitin'.

[NotSure]

You are thinking too deeply there, the average Marxist has never heard of the labour theory of value, let alone understands it.

[Mr Whipple]

Exactly. They don't even know what they are advocating. Which is why they can't formulate a logical argument to support their position.

[yonemoto]

I'm not even sure why privatization implies 'profit'. You can privatize schooling to a non-profit, non-publically supported org, too.

[Mr Whipple]

Right. That one guy makes the mistake of saying that private colleges operate for profit when most of them have a not-for-profit status.

[wrong]

The problem is in the sea of charter schools, there are very very few that are ran as a non-profit.

In my district alone, i can name 6 charter schools off the top of my head, and all of them are "for profit".

The problem lies in the politics. Charter schools pander to local and state level education boards, almost like lobbyist groups.

The education system is being sold, school by school and our children are the commodity.

[Sean Mack]

Did anyone else notice that weird comment Damon made about an "intrinsically paternalistic view of problems that are much more complex..."?

It reminded me of another Damon - that is, Wayans - and a sketch that used to appear on "In Living Color" about a pair of imbeciles with hilariously pretentious diction.

And of course, Matt is supposed to be some kind of writer. Makes you wonder what William Goldman thinks about vouchers?

[Res Publica Americana]

it's an intrinsically intrinsic view of the view of the intrinsic paternal paternalistic paternalism paternalistically maternalizing materlanistic maternalism maternalistically viewing complex complexity

[wylie]

Ni-ice.

[hmm]

ahhhh, much clearer now.

[Genious]

You are a moron of the highest order

[hmm]

MATT DAMON'S logic is great. I love to sing in the shower, therefore I should have a career singing in the shower and you should pay me for it.

[ecian]

But if we don't give it to you, corporations will get that money and do bad corporationy stuff!!

[Skr]

She needs to be a bit quicker in those interviews. When the guy says we shouldn't have the children competing with one another she should point out that the competition would be between schools for children. When he throws out the food stamps argument, she should have asked if he approves of food stamps. We he says yes, follow with a question on his position on vouchers.

[notsure]

It's not an easy task to accomplish. When people are throwing non-nonsensical emotional arguments at you that are strung together in no particular order it is hard to respond to them unless you can replay it 6 times to try to figure out what it was they were saying.

[Then...]

...you're fired.

Next!

[Skr]

I think that's why a lot of great interviewers were debaters in HS and college.

[Boon Hogganbeck]

Public school? Sure, Matt Damon's kids will go st public school. Sure.

[fenster moop]

1. Interviewer definitely hot.
2. Hotness irrelevant to issue.
3. Came across like smarmy smarty pants.
4. If you want to do sneak attack tongue-in-cheek interviews with lefties then be ballsy and funny enough to pull it off.
5. If you want to do semi-respectful interviews with lefties, then do your homework better and engage in a real dialogue.
6. Most of the lefties there got the better of hottie Michelle.

[John Cosmos]

I'm not a teacher. So I don't have a paid summer vacation. Or nights/weekends off. This reminds me I have work to do. Off to plow the fields.

[OssianSweet]

Woman so proud of herself to declare she's not a libertarian. MF should've pointed out that the default mode for K-12 education is nothing like "liberalism," i.e. freedom to choose among many options; it's rigid statism.
But overall good vid, and well done, MF. More like this please.

[ID]

fenster moop, I thought she gave a very fair interview. She asks questions we wanted to be asked (in their opinion, why doesn't school vouchers work) and allows to them to answer it completely without cutting them off.

An example of an unprofessional interview would be this: CNN Don Lemon interviewing Sen. Rand Paul.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnn.....bt-crisis/

[BakedPenguin]

Here's the video.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Fuck them. In any compromise between good and evil, evil wins.

[John Cosmos]

http://www.whosdatedwho.com/tp.....le-fields/

Same Michelle Fields? She was in "The House Bunny"?

[heller]

yup

[Mrk]

My kid spent last summer in Hai Phong Vietnam. He went to a public school at the schools invitation for them hear English from an American. None had seen one before. They have 4 days of no electric due to rolling black outs. A chalk board. A couple of plastic oscillating fans hanging off the wall, which do more hanging than oscillating. Day time temps run around 120 w/99.9% humidity...in this 7th grade class were Calc problems on the board, that my kid took as an AP course in High School...The idiots I saw on this video are really not teachers are they? Really? We are beyond f(@#d...btw...this was considered a very modest, 3rd rate school...

[yonemoto]

I'm not sure that most 7th graders could actually understand calculus. I was basically in an accelerated self-paced math for all but two years of my primary schooling, and it wasn't after I TA'd calculus three times in college that I actually grokked it. I think what made a difference was, seriously, maturity, and the ability to do critical thinking.

Just being able to do calculus is not useful for one's role in society. Being able to understand it puts you on a whole other level that's conceptually useful for other reasons, but is simply not possible for most people at such a young age merely due to maturity factors, and I find it hard to believe that the critical thinking necessary is prevalent in a top-down control culture. I wouldn't put it past the teachers to have decided to put that on the board just to mess with the American.

[yonemoto]

To clarify "Just being able to do calculus is not useful" I mean, when do you take an integral for anything? The most you really need is a little bit of algebra to balance fiancial equations, maybe to do a bit of linear or nonlinear prediction... Hell, I'm a chemist by trade ad on a daily basis the most I use math is to figure out how many grams of powder I have to add to scale up or down a certain recipe.

[BakedPenguin]

Well, the world needs actuaries, too. Also, almost any engineering degree will need Calc 1-3 and more.

I remember being bored as shit in (public) school prior to quitting. I think the option should be available for the kids who can and want to do Calc in 7th grade. The kid in this story might just do that, since he's working on trig in the 5th grade.

[yonemoto]

eh, I was doing trig in 7th grade, 9th grade was the right time for being introduced to calculus. Before that, the integral sign was a scary snake threatening to eat the terms I'd written down.

It really, really helped that I had done my math classes more than once. I took algebra I twice (my dad taught me in 5th grade and I officially learned it in 6th - and Japanese school had it in 7th). Algebra II/trig i did twice - once I was tutored in it the summer of 6th grade and then officially in 8th. By my count, I've taken calculus (and its variants) about six times now - 9th grade, multivariable in 11th, proof-based my 1st year of college - TAing, we had to attend classes, three years in college.

[Invisible Finger]

'm not sure that most 7th graders could actually understand calculus.

Most 7th graders in American schools could not understand calculus. But that's because their development has been arrested by American schools. If American schools wanted to prepare children to be able to do calculus by age 13 they certainly could. Instead American elementary schools emphasize more important concepts like molding clay, gluing yarn to construction paper, singing traditional folk songs, kickball, and relay races.

[Holy Cow]

Damon and Affleck did not write Good Will Hunting. Most of the heavy lifting was done by real writers. Miramax promoted the two clowns (though Affleck does have talent as a director and actor; Damon on the other hand....) because they were good looking and therefore would help to market the movie.

The 2 clowns wrote an early draft, but it was eventually gutted.

[yonemoto]

Damon's the better actor of the two. I was surprised when good will hunting came out because Affleck had the baggage of the roundly overacted "The Voyage of the Mimi" and he's not really grown out of it.

Adam Sandler is a better actor than Affleck.

[Paul]

Disagree. Matt Damon is heir apparent to Robert Redford. A total straight-man who has one emotion, and somehow gets every 'smart, political thriller' role thrown at him by Hollywood.

Affleck can actually play, you know, different roles. Affleck is documented to have shown a wider range of emotion. And Affleck would probably be funner to hang out with.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Affleck's agent signed him on to a few stinkers.

[Holy Cow]

Oh, and if don't believe me, then ask yourself: why have the 2 clowns never written anything together again? Because they never really did the first time around.

[JPeter]

Abraham Lincoln said that what is taught in the classroom in one generation will be the policy of the government the next generation.
That is a scarry prospect. Most haven't a clue.
God help us.

[TheZeitgeist]

I love seeing Harvard schmucks loving public education and not detecting one iota of irony.

[Moonbat_One]

Wow, that woman is fine.

[Housan3]

Officially in love with the reporter in this video

[SukieTawdry]

That was scary. Fields needs work, though, and lots of it. It was painful watching her not handle the silly woman who said we should spend a billion dollars per child if we have to because you can't put a price on a child's learning. At the moment she's not even punching at her weight, much less above. (I'm female so I'm not swayed or distracted by her stunning looks.)

[DDavis]

I'm male, but I still have enough blood flowing to my brain to agree with you.

On the brighter side, arguing with such bozos isn't really the point. Just ask questions that give them plenty of rope to hang themselves. Which they did.

I didn't see any indication that the people interviewed could follow a reasoned point. Just tee up the ball for them, and let them swing away.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Agreed. Hopefully, rookie mistakes.

[Intrinsically Paternalistic]

As opposed to the intrinsically maternalistic nanny state that MATT DAMON advocates.

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[Brian]

I don't think those people would be happy if they got the successful education system they're rallying for ... it doesn't include them.

[DDavis]

Please tell that that they spent hours combing the crowd for the absolute biggest morons they could find.

[tory burch reva]

dear, it's hard to open youtube while i'm now in asia

[Paul]

Make friens with your network administrator.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Agreed, hopefully they were just rookie mistakes.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Oh, and Polonius and these fucking squirrels do not see eye to eye. I typed a three word response, and the spam filter slapped me in the nutz.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Those motherfuckers aren't fooling me for a second. I can do simple mathematical operations despite my public education.

A lot is made of the fact that since the 1950's, student population has only risen 60% while School system hires have increased 300%.

Class sizes have dropped from 26.9 to 15.5, yet test scores have remained flat. And those are good points. But lost in the shuffle is this:

School hires are up 300%, while class sizes have only reduced by 42%. So, where all all those hires going? It's apparently not classroom teachers.

"Administrative" personnel, baby.

Deputy Assistant Directors of Curriculum Development don't come cheap.

[Bucky]

yeah, and junior highs with two assistant principals..

[2011 air max]

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Those motherfuckers aren't fooling me for a second. I can do simple mathematical operations despite my public education.

A lot is made of the fact that since the 1950's, student population has only risen 60% while School system hires have increased 300%.

[coniefox]

Parents should have the right to choose where their kids go to school.
http://www.coniefoxdresses.com

[jeremy Kareken]

Most sounded like idiots. Matt Damon didn't. I disagree with him, but he certainly sounded like a non idiot.

[RealJim]

Throwing out the "overworked and underpaid" canard certainly is idiotic, as is using terms like "paternalistic" and "MBA mentality".

[Wargames83]

Thinking that everyone is only motivated to work hard by job security is MBA mentality. Using terms correctly is not idiotic.

[ZukRoo]

That actually does make a lot of sense when you think about it.

http://www.privacy-tools.no.tc

[califsunshine]

Matt needs to shut the eff up- i bet his kids go to private school once they're old enough to go...

[Hank]

Who's the hottie?

[RealJim]

Matt Damon's mom.

[NL_]

If there are 64 million primary and secondary kids in the US, a billion dollars per kid is 64 quadrillion dollars - or 1,000 times the GDP of the world.

[Owebama]

"...Hello Treasury, can you run day and night?"

[Skr]

So the Lefties are linking to this an saying, "look at the stupid libertarians," because of the terrible interview questions. I have to agree with them a bit. This woman is such a terrible interviewer right now that this should never have seen the light of day. It makes us look like idiots. How about working on the quality control next time. I know shes hot but it's ok to use some editorial discretion and tell her that the piece sucks and it won't be published.

[Jason]

She got owned... by everyone.

[Wargames83]

The shitty cameraman just pulled the 10% figure out of his ass. Matt Damon FTW!

[Scott]

Hey, Matt. I have an MBA, do you? Guess who is responsible for the MBA mentality? The teachers who taught the classes that I took. Are they good teachers or bad ones?

[Deborah]

Good one, Scott! Thank you!

[Bob]

Why are we even looking to fire teachers? It's so obvious that class sizes are already getting out of hand because of a lack of teachers.

And, why are these standardized tests, which have literally no effect on student's grades and thus, practically pointless to them, a means at evaluating teachers?

Lastly, charter schools are NOT the answer as so many of them fail to even offer special education programs so that they will not need to bring so many of them into the school. In addition, with gifted children legislation sucking the kids who tested as "gifted" out of the public school system. Thus, they get more of the top performing students and less of the lower performing ones, all while looking like they are the "fix" for education.

Conservatives think they know what is wrong with education in America based off superficial knowledge of the system, and they insist on taking more money out of the schools and firing more teachers.

[stephen]

REASON! what the hell? Your interviewer was totally unprepared and those teachers calmly took her down with ease. The public education system is useless and so I'm amazed at how easily you did such a bad job on a hugely important topic.

[stephen]

btw, just saw this video chopped to simply the Damon bit on a friend's fb page (pro-public education etc.) as a win for the demonstrators. Good job.

[Deborah]

This kind of sloppy "thinking" & "reasoning" drive me crazy! It is conceivable that people on both sides of this issue could learn from each other- but not here! I work @ a public school in southern Calif. I see many excellent teachers, several mediocre and a very few incompetent. And while it is possible to get rid of the worst it is extremely difficult! Another issue is the increasing expectations @ every grade level. Child development hasn't changed in the last 50 yrs, but what we expect of kindergarteners now was what was expected of 1st graders of my generation. But, really the bigger question for our whole society is this- Why do we all acknowledge that we, as a society, have problems with the economy, drug use, domestic violence, etc etc. which we haven't solved, and yet despite all that, when a child walks into a classroom the teacher is supposed to bring all students up to some "standard" regardless of all the other issues that child might be facing in their "real life"? And finally, this discussion always reminds me of a quote (can't remember who said it) "The solution to a problem gets clearer & clearer the further you are from the problem."

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[bluepurplegreen]

Damnnnnnnnn the interviewer is gorgeous. Who is she??

[heyi]

Matt Damon is a good actor