Matt Damon Supports Public Schools but Sends His Kids to a Private One — is that Right?

When it comes to opening the dialogue about the pros and cons of education in America, it looks like we can always count on Matt Damon to get the discussion going.

Matt has been a huge advocate of the public school system in our country, and has even rallied alongside teachers in the fight against rating and rewarding teachers based on how well their students do on school tests. While I totally get that and stand behind Matt on that factor (because these days it seems like we're teaching kids more on how to "take a test," than actually learning the material), it seems like many parents are only in it for the battle, but not for the full-out war. Why? Because just like Matt, many families send their children to private schools, and not public ones. Here's how he explains it:

"Sending our kids in my family to private school was a big, big, big deal. And it was a giant family discussion. But it was a circular conversation, really, because ultimately we don't have a choice. I mean, I pay for a private education and I'm trying to get the one that most matches the public education that I had, but that kind of progressive education no longer exists in the public system. It's unfair." Damon has campaigned against teachers' pay being pegged to children's test results: "So we agitate about those things, and try to change them, and try to change the policy, but you know, it's a tough one."

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Now, I'm not going to judge Matt for sending his children to private school because, just like with the testing issue, I completely agree with Matt that the public schools in some areas of our country are failing to meet our children's needs, and that the progressive education he talks about only seems to come with a tuition fee these days. I myself feel like I'm in a tough situation where I'm not sold on the idea of sending my children to public schools in the state in which I live, yet the cost of private schools in some areas is three times more than a college education. Considering that my daughter is only entering Kindergarten this year, the thought of spending thousands of dollars just for her to play and learn how to read befuzzles me incredibly (and yes, that's my public school education speak talking there).

Just like us, celebrities are free to choose the kind of education they want to give their children. Gwyneth Paltrow recently said that she would rather send her children across the pond to England to have them educated their during their high school years than in the States. Matt and Gwyneth are of course not alone in this, as most celebrity parents send their children to costly schools that will ensure them the best head start that they can get. I mean, they are parents that want the best for their kids after all, right?

The only way we can change the way our public schools operate is if we, the tax payers, do something about it. Parents who get involved with their children's schools have a better say, hopefully, with what goes on inside the classroom. Our teachers are over-worked, classes are over-crowded, and schools are plagued with budget cuts. Children aren't learning the tools they need for their futures, because classrooms simply don't have the equipped resources and computers to handle every student's needs. The easy way of course is just to abandon ship altogether and put our kids in a school system where they are guaranteed a better level of education. But is that where we are really headed in our country?

Matt's stepdaughter began school in public schools in Miami-Dade County in Florida, but after wrestling with constant issues with the school, he moved her to somewhere else privately funded. Are we all to follow suit, and if so, how? It's fairly obvious that many middle-class Americans can't afford such a choice.

With that being said, I don't blame Matt for doing what's best for his children, and considering that he has the resources to do so, I say more power to him. But in the meantime, who is going to help save the sunken ship that most of our schools are already on?

Thoughts?

-By Joanna Mazewski

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