Matt Damon Wants School Choice for He, but Not for Thee

Left-wing Hollywood star and supposed man of the people Matt Damon is banging the drum for the rejection of school choice in his new documentary, even as his kids attend private school.

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According to the Boston Globe, Damon attended a screening of his film “Backpacks Full of Cash” at Wheelock College in Boston to “a capacity crowd of teachers, activists, and students.” The film was created by documentarian Sarah Mondale, who wanted to bring attention to the funding cuts to public schools, and that a public school system should be created that caters to all students.

“To see these kids not have that kind of access — how many of these kids in these schools, how many artists have we lost? How many learners have just given up because they feel like this is not for them?” lamented Damon.

The screening was also attended by Damon’s mother, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, who successfully prevented the expansion of charter schools in Massachusetts.

The actor’s activist mother said she hoped the film would help cultivate “a momentum that I think is already going on around the country to build awareness about the necessity of saving public education.”

According to the Daily Caller, the documentary is a perfect film for anti-school choice confirmation bias, as it bashes charter schools, denounces voucher programs, and basically makes any new ideas just look bad. Meanwhile, the film insists that even more taxpayer dollars need to be thrown at public schools.

Here’s the kicker.

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Damon’s preaching for public education from a golden pulpit that allows him to send his own children to a private school. His excuse for not sending his kids into the public education system he loves so much?

According to a 2013 Guardian interview, the public education system’s shortcomings in progressive education doesn’t give him a choice:

Choosing a school has already presented a major moral dilemma. “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 wants a progressive education like the one he had, but since public schools aren’t teaching the radicalism he hoped, he made the choice to send them to a private school where his children will get the education he prefers.

 

 

 

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