Time Reporter Cheers Liberal Actor Damon for 'School[ing]' Libertarian Reporter on Teacher Pay
Time reporter Megan Gibson apparently considers liberal actor Matt Damon's testy tirade against Reason.tv reporter Michelle Fields as a veritable lecture on the economics of tenured teaching.
"Matt Damon showed his love for teachers — and after this confrontation, we're sure teachers are loving Matt Damon right back," Gibson enthused in an August 3 "Newsfeed" blog post entitled "Watch: Matt Damon Schools Reporter While Defending Teachers."
"Preach!" Gibson cheered after quoting the "Dogma" co-star's insistence that teachers are motivated purely by the love of teaching seeing as their salaries are downright "sh*tty."
But as conservative Boston-area talk show host Michael Graham argued in today's Boston Herald, Damon's wrong both about the quality of teacher pay and the importance of economic incentives:
Sorry, Matt, but if I were your math teacher back at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, I’d have to give you an F. Wrong on theory and fact.
First the data — starting with Matt’s myth that teachers work for a shi— . . . er, “less-than-adequate” salary.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the average Boston teacher earned around $80,000 last year. That was the average. And that doesn’t include the generous health care or pension benefits, which would equal $100,000 in the private sector. All for just 180 days of work.
Nationally, the average teacher salary is significantly lower — $53,000. But a teacher still earns more by herself (and about 75 percent of K-12 teachers are women) than the household income of the average American family. Once again, with summers and holidays off.
That fact is important because when you break down what teachers earn per hour, the average teacher is better paid ($30.52) than the average computer programmer ($21.27) or architect ($27.71).
So Damon is wrong on the numbers. And his theory is even worse. Modern economic theory is based on the premise of incentives. Damon’s position that incentives don’t affect behavior puts him in the fiscal Flat Earth Society. He’s the equivalent of an economic creationist.
Of course people work harder if they believe it will pay off. Naturally people slack off otherwise.
Nobody denies this is true of cabbies, car salesmen or newspaper columnists — why wouldn’t it be true of teachers?
Oh, that’s right: “Teachers want to teach.” They’re above worldly concerns like pay and job security. Which some teachers are.
But isn’t it likely that others have more materialistic motivations? Like the fact that it’s a great way for underachievers to prosper?
“Slackers wanting to earn the country’s easiest college major, should major in education,” reports Lynn O’Shaughnessy of CBS’s Moneywatch. “It’s easy to get ‘A’s’ if you’re an education major.”
Which is good news for education majors who, according to O’Shaughnessy, “enter college with the lowest average SAT scores.”
Damon wants us to believe this all-but-guaranteed lifetime employment has no impact on performance? Nobody’s a good enough actor to sell that.
So if you’re a “slacker” who wants to earn more than your brother the accountant, the public schools have got a deal for you!
And once you’re in, you’re in. If you’ve seen “Waiting for Superman,” you know that while one of every 57 doctors loses his license and one out of 97 lawyers gets disbarred, just one out of 1,000 teachers gets fired from big-city school systems for performance issues.
Damon wants us to believe this all-but-guaranteed lifetime employment has no impact on performance? Nobody’s a good enough actor to sell that.
Now that, Ms. Gibson, is how you school someone.
- Ken Shepherd's blog
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Comments
Ho hum
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 6:15pm.
Yeah, I really value the opinion of an adult who still plays make believe and dress up.
Matt Damon Misses The Point Of The Education Debate.
Submitted by Avitar on Fri, 08/05/2011 - 4:01am.
The Tea Party is not trying to gut teachers pay. They are better educated by almost a year than are average Democrats. They are demanding that the Union work rules be abolished that force second and third rate education on American children,
The cost of education is certainly higher here than any where else in the world but that would be acceptable if we were first in the world in education. Mr. Damon, we aren't even in the top fifteen. The highest ranking I have seen for American education is 17th.
Matt Damon has done very well on his Boston education but does he have a unionized big city school system in mind that he would want to send his kids to today?
I don't begrudge a teacher
Submitted by theduck6 on Fri, 08/05/2011 - 6:55am.
a decent salary. I just wish they would teach the 3Rs early, then teach them how to learn, gleen fact and form one's own opinions based on a moral compass...AND STOP INDOCTRINATING the skulls of mush with their unsupportable tripe, garbage and Marxist/ progressive rhetoric.
DAMON=IDIOT
Submitted by tinydancer on Sun, 08/07/2011 - 4:16pm.
I've seen my last Damon film. Let this idiot starve.
Myth busting
Submitted by Galvanic on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 6:30pm.
We need more and more of it.
One of the stimulus grants in 2009 went to paying the salary raises of some public school teachers in a particular district. Defenders of this -- which included the White House -- insisted that those counted as jobs saved, and the MSM nodded with glowing approval.
But no teacher's job was in jeopardy.
And what teacher would quit his/her job in the midst of a recession?
And wouldn't it have been better to use the funds to hire some more teachers, relieving unemployment while reducing class size?
.
Time mention anything about illegal gambling and drug parties?
Submitted by OxyCon on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 6:46pm.
http://tinyurl.com/3rb8uu8
Compared to Matt Damon
Submitted by Jack Bauer on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 6:49pm.
Compared to Matt Damon earning $25 miliion for about 6 weeks work, I bet Bill O'Reilly's pay seems shitty.
I think we need a CAP on Hollywood actors pay. Every actor in a Matt Damon movie should be paid the same.
No matter the screen time. That's fair.
All of the above Mr Obama? --- How about ALL OF THE BELOW, instead.
More limousine liberal hypocrisy.
Submitted by drsamherman on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 6:54pm.
If Matt Damon were really fired up over teacher salaries, why doesn't he give some of his millions to increase their pay?
No wonder so many of his recent movies were box office duds.
"Slackers wanting to earn the
Submitted by balboa on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 7:03pm.
"Slackers wanting to earn the country’s easiest college major, should major in education,” reports Lynn O’Shaughnessy of CBS’s Moneywatch. “It’s easy to get ‘A’s’ if you’re an education major.”
Really? The friends I have that are teachers would beg to differ. And just because O'Shaugnessy says it doesn't mean that slackers are becoming teachers.
"Nationally, the average teacher salary is significantly lower — $53,000. But a teacher still earns more by herself (and about 75 percent of K-12 teachers are women) than the household income of the average American family. Once again, with summers and holidays off.
That fact is important because when you break down what teachers earn per hour, the average teacher is better paid ($30.52) than the average computer programmer ($21.27) or architect ($27.71)."
But not for 12 months, right?
"But isn’t it likely that others have more materialistic motivations?"
"Others," maybe. But how many others?
No one becomes a teacher because they think it's an easy way to get rich.
LOL
Submitted by JustAl on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 7:37pm.
"Really? The friends I have that are teachers would beg to differ."
I'll bet they would, and their denial wouldn't change the central fact that what O'Shaugnessy said is probably correct. I know it was when I went to school 30 years ago. Pretty much anybody could get a teaching degree if they showed up (most of the time) and had a pulse.
"Probably" correct is a
Submitted by balboa on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 7:46pm.
"Probably" correct is a sticking point, I'd say. He makes it sound like all teachers are slouches who are just looking for an easy ride.
Some of them are
Submitted by Lipton on Fri, 08/05/2011 - 9:24am.
I remember in college people would start at pre-med or something really challenging and they enjoyed partying so much the classes go to be too tough. They kept changing majors until they ended up as elementary education majors.
At my school they referred to it as "the other EE", the frist EE was electrical engineering. Not a fair comparison IMO.
"No one becomes a teacher
Submitted by NC Cop on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 7:46pm.
"No one becomes a teacher because they think it's an easy way to get rich."
Then nobody should complain about their salary, which they were well aware of when they took the job.
Not sure that's what Damon
Submitted by balboa on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 9:36pm.
Not sure that's what Damon was arguing.
It is, however, what I'm
Submitted by NC Cop on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 9:56pm.
It is, however, what I'm arguing.
Having an idea of what you'll
Submitted by balboa on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 10:39pm.
Having an idea of what you'll make in a given profession doesn't preclude you from wanting more money or feeling like you're not being fairly compensated for your work.
Ah yes, bal---
Submitted by matthewdean on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 11:15pm.
the motto of "Whiners, Inc."
MD
People become teacher's
Submitted by Radical1979 on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 9:40pm.
because they know after they get their Master's degree their pay will increase dramatically, the benefits are better than in private industry, and once they get tenure the chances of getting fired or laid off are non existent.
just an observation
Submitted by mom_rox on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 8:12pm.
I was surprised at my high school reunion to see which students are now teachers. I knew that our salutatorian became a teacher, but I was surprised at some of the others (who were B/C students in high school, in other words, not the sharpest tools in the toolbox).
Logically, this makes sense because many of the female A/B students went into the engineering, medical or legal fields.
The teacher doesn't WORK 12
Submitted by fitzfong on Fri, 08/05/2011 - 12:07am.
The teacher doesn't WORK 12 months.
"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." -George Best
Looks like Damon forgot his 'shaky-cam'
Submitted by Slyrr on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 7:13pm.
Without his 'Osborne' directors shaking the camera all over the place, Damon looks very small. And bald. What, is he going for the 'skinhead' look?
My encounter (debate) with a compulsive liberal on this story:
Submitted by djwolf12 on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 7:14pm.
Me: "Since Matt Damon is SUCH AN EXPERT on Teachers and their salaries, I want to see his credentials to preach to me why teachers DEMANDS need to be met".
Compulsive Liberal: "I want to see your credentials. See that lady standing next to him? That is his mother and his mother is a teacher!"
Me: "Well, IS SHE ATLEAST A GOOD TEACHER? What grade does she teach and what is the median average of literacy in her classroom? Are the students borderline A/B, B/C, C/D, or D/F? What is the average SAT, CAT, or SST test scores of her students? What is the pregnancy rate of the students in her class? What is the crime rate and drug use statistics of her students?
Compulsive Liberal: Go **** yourself because you have no idea as to how bad teachers have it. and you don't know what you are talking about".
lol
Submitted by MacWell on Fri, 08/05/2011 - 10:41am.
That sounds about right.
Is it me? or do all liberals end all debates in like fashion.
Good Will Hunting.....
Submitted by dmacleo on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 7:56pm.
he is NOT.....
A Millionaire Play Actor Lecturing Us About Economics?
Submitted by gruyere cheese on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 9:02pm.
Is he rehearsing for his next role? I stopped watching his movies once I learned what his political point of view is. I don't care what his party affiliation is, he is entitled to his opinion, but he is an actor/entertainer, not a politician and so, he should keep his political views to himself.
Man, would it be nice if the
Submitted by Rowane on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 9:34pm.
Man, would it be nice if the memory-sticks all kept their libtard opinions to themselves, then I might be able to enjoy movies again. As it is, I refuse to add my miniscule contribution to these overpaid morons bank accounts.
You've got to stand for something, or you'll fall for anything. (Aaron Tippin)
lol
Submitted by MacWell on Fri, 08/05/2011 - 10:48am.
I haven't paid to see a movie since the internet started, I think the last one was in about 96. I personally don't care a whit about Mr. Damon, his politics, or his stupid movies. The only problem I can see in the whole magilla is that he, like the rest of his nutty hollyweird buds, gain a bully pulpit from which to spew his BS, and because some women swoon when he takes off his shirt, they believe the crapolla that comes from his pie hole. The guy's a bonehead, plain and simple, he has to be, he's a liberal. Jeez guys don't that say it all?
Matt who
Submitted by Boudin on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 9:45pm.
Cares.
I'm a Teacher
Submitted by tvhall on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 11:55pm.
Yep!
BS computer science MS EE.
Moved in to Education after Defense became too much of a pain in the ass.
In May I'll retire at 32% of my base salary. Also a Air Force reserv retiree at 35% of a Majors salary. Also at 62 I'll get another retirement from Social Security. And I plan to work for a few more years at what I enjoy!
I'm not under paid, I earned the retirements at the terms that were offerd!
I challenge any of you to face the little s&*ts in public ed and remain sane without the time off.
Even so Matt D is full of S&*T. Dumping more money on education will accomplish nothing until we can beat the crap out of the ones that are stealing the education from the others!
BINGO!!!
Submitted by MacWell on Fri, 08/05/2011 - 11:11am.
I grew up in a school system where we started every day with 3 things, God, Country, and Honor. What?, you say. We started each and every school day with a reading from the Bible, usually a Psalm or Proverb. Next, we all stood up and with hand over heart, recited the pledge. After taking part together acknowledging God and Country, we were ready to learn, which we did. We were taught how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. We were taught History, and English, (anyone remember English?, you know, what we used to speak in America), We learned Geography, where stuff was in the world. Social studies, Civics, (can someone tell me what the hell happened to civics in school?) The biggest problem the teachers had was chewing gum in class.
Look at the schools today, not to mention the kids today. What do they learn, lets see, how to cheat and not get caught. Marriage is for suckers and idiots because I can't legally marry my cat. Have as much sex as you want, if you get preggers, who cares, there's always Planned Parenthood™, they'll take care of your "mistake".
We the people are to blame for all of this. We were asleep at the wheel. Next year, we the people MUST fix our country. We must rid congress of all the critters who've made a career of government service, especially congress. We must retire all career politicians, and elect people of good character. Our children's lives depend on it.
Ah Damon
Submitted by okiehawk44 on Fri, 08/05/2011 - 8:41am.
Tenure was created "back in the day" Matt to protect teachers & professors from holding and often publishing unpopular -- at the time -- positions on this or that. Not Matt, from losing their job because of incompetence or a lack of funds to employ them. It is almost impossible in many school systems today Matt to terminate a teacher and unions equate longevity in a position to quality or even competency -- if that is true in every profession Matt you would not have been able to star in the Bourne Identity film and the role would have gone to Ed Asner.
Teachers should be judged on their ability not on their seniority or their "tenure" that you seem to believe are different things. They no longer are Matt and a "smart and educated" person would know that.
Animated Hypocrites
Submitted by iveseenitall on Fri, 08/05/2011 - 11:14am.
These movie stars get so animated about their favorite "cause". Truth is, like that other ignoramous Sean Penn, Matty- boy couldn't care less about anything, other than his next un-earned paycheck. Damon is a hypocrite, just like the rest of 'em.
BTW--All this talk about teacers and education is just that--talk. Nothing has been done about the problem for at least 30 years and nothing will be done about it in the next 30 years. It's all b.s.. The root cause of our poor educational system lies in the root cause of all America's problems --- capitalism vs. failed socialism.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal" (progressive)
An actor without a script is
Submitted by jessieH on Fri, 08/05/2011 - 10:57am.
An actor without a script is a fish out of water. Neither say much, but their mouth is still moving. Kind of like Uh-bama without his teleprompter.