This is a personal message from actor Matt Damon and early childhood educator Nancy Carlsson-Paige, addressed to the teachers of Garfield High:
We are writing to support all of the teachers at Garfield High School. We admire your strong and unified stand against the district mandated standardized test. Teachers, students, and parents do not have to accept practices that are harmful to them and to the whole meaning and purpose of education. We know it takes courage to risk your jobs in order to stand for what you know is right. But your example holds the promise of inspiring teachers in school districts all over the country to take similar action. Thank you for your strength and courage. We admire you and are behind you all the way.
Hey, Garfield teachers, Matt and Nancy think you are great!
Nancy Carlsson-Paige and Matt Damon
It’s important to note this is Matt’s mother
It is important for all teachers and parents–even Matt Damon’s mother–to speak out about the injustice high-stakes testing is doing to our education system.
Please sign the following petition to President Obama to help end high-stakes testing in our schools:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/eliminate-high-stakes-testing-american-education-system/xdKMgWp9
The petition needs to gather 100,000 signatures by Feb. 22 in order to get a response from the White House. Please sign and pass it on!
Go Seattle!
I’m excited to listen to Nancy Carlson Paige in Washington on April. Would love to see her son there too. http://www.facebook.com/events/298659770235984/?ref=3
I do, however, want to be clear that Dr Carlson Paige is the one that has inspired me. I listened to webinar where she and Dr. Meier talked about the importance of play. It was the first time I understood the why, and now am working on letting others know what we’re doing to our youngest is not o.k.
LIKE!
Let’s hope he puts his money where his mouth is and gets all his Hollywood buddies to support true education reform!!
So nice to have someone publicly recognize that teachers do this kind of thing because it is right for students and not accusing us of doing it for our own benefit.
I always did like Matt Damon. I hope he and his mother continue to speak the truth and others follow their lead.
The current education crises and dismantling of the contract with America, that it has with itself, should be exposed. The dynamic duo of truth seekers and tellers, Matt Damon and Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige, might consider exposing the message
and the expose associated with this travesty. This is being perpetrated on our children.
The king is not wearing clothes the child reveals in her innocence. While the adults
fear for being called fools and threatened for their livelihoods or gain.
There is enough evidence and history to give people enough information, facts, or even an Oliver Stone interpretation of what has been designed for the rest of us by the intellectually and financially global elite. Revolutions are waged by the people after
the abuse, poverty, and disillusionment has set them on themselves to grab the bones
and feed their children. Shame on this whole mess in a country where immigrants come seeking a better life from the betrayal of their own homelands.
Ditto.
Matt Damon’s kids go to public schools, right?
I don’t know if they do or not. But I think that’s irrelevant. Lots of people who understand the importance of public schools have chosen to send their kids to private schools.
BUT—here’s the difference: The friends I’m thinking of, who have their kids in private academies, are VERY strong supporters of public schools and are completely opposed to so-called “education reform”.
And that’s the entire point. We’re all entitled to make our own choices. But what we pay, as citizens, to support public education isn’t JUST about “My Child’s Education”; it’s about ALL the children, because we all live in the same community, or city, or state and world.
I don’t see how my son or daughter can thrive as a student, when all the other kids around them are struggling. Tend the ENTIRE
GARDEN—not just a few “special” plants, and watch everything thrive in its way.
What’s a reasonable amount of standardized state and federal testing? I’ll go with 3 or 4 hours a year. Maybe 6 for high school.
@TC…. Depends on the quality, validity and usefulness of the test don’t you think?
We at the Congress of Racial Equality of California (CORE-CA) second that motion. The Los Angeles King Family are the founders of CORE-CA and this family has over 114 years of continuous civil rights. We thank all of those who fight for the future of our children.
In our school, the teachers teach the test in order to have good little test takers.
As a school psychologist in four states over 36 years I was, not by choice, part of district and state mandated academic (reading, math writing) assessment (standardized tests purchased from and scored by profit-making ‘testing services’) of thousands of students from Kgn thru 12th. In brief, 2/3 of the testing was a waste of (taxpayer) money and staff time and caused a significant amount of lost instruction time.