<p>Missbee, that must be what she was told.</p>
<p>from Riprorin’s link</p>
<p>" Un-educators have abandoned “drill and kill” computation for multicultural claptrap and fuzzy math, traded in grammar fundamentals for “creative spelling,” and dropped standard civics for save-the-earth propaganda.</p>
<p>hmm…your same agenda as usual…</p>
<p>Having moved from California, I do know that wealthier districts <em>ask for</em> (but do not require) donations and because they are wealthier districts, they get a high participation rate. The money usually goes to a P.T.A. or parent association which then supplements the school program. Some wealthier districts are able to raise up to a $1,000,000 per year to supplement just by asking and running some lavish fundraisers. Many are able to raise less, but still maybe $40 or $50k, or more which definitely helps. Poorer districts simply do not have this option, because the parents simply do not have that kind of cash to contribute. I believe the charter school my daughter attended in California raised a couple of hundred thousand each year to run the arts programs there, much of it soliciting from parents, some from soliciting wealthy patrons, some from grants, and some by fundraising.</p>
<p>Progressive education and unschooling are not at all the same thing.</p>
<p>“I do know that wealthier districts <em>ask for</em> (but do not require) donations and because they are wealthier districts, they get a high participation rate/”</p>
<p>Maybe my sister was told everyone “gives” extra money.</p>
<p>Malkin is Fox. Sarcasm is not truth. It makes limelight folks big bucks. I pity those who draw their “knowledge” from all that. But I suppose it’s been like that for a long, long time.</p>
<p>Damon is just a guy who wishes his kids could get the education he fondly looks back on. It seems he doesn’t want to put them in a machine. It’s a free world- and his decisions are his decisions. Make more of it, for your own purposes, at your own risk.</p>
<p>IMO if he wants to pay his school taxes and also pay private school tuition for his children then so be it. In fact, for the uber wealthy, this might be a pretty generous move. By putting his kids in a private school (that he can well afford) the tax dollars that would have been spent on those children will now be applied to children whose parents cannot afford the luxury of a private education. It is a win win.</p>
<p>ETA: He uses the excuse that public schools are not progressive enough but I have to wonder if security is not an issue here as well.</p>
<p>Public Schools are funded and administered by your respective state that you reside in. I don’t see anything wrong with statehood rights. Plus the residents have plenty of authority to change their education systems or the negative influence to screw it up too in voting.</p>
<p>State run schools can also be enriching if managed correctly. There are some very good teachers too. Private schools can also be horrendous. I remember one in my home town that had a terrible rap. Home schooling is good only if the parents and kids are motivated to accelerate education beyond what public school can offer. It also requires the time, money, resources and know-how of drafting a list of subjects and materials for their kids. Most use home school co-ops because of the difficulty.</p>
<p>"Damon couldn’t with the best and the brightest in standardized tests (by his admission he was a poor test taker), so now he’s “progressively” educated.</p>
<p>Apparently it hasn’t occurred to him that his kids may have a different learning style than him and might actually be bright."</p>
<p>Wow, someone’s jealous. He was apparently bright enough to co-author a movie that did phenomenally well and won critical acclaim, that started him off on a career for which he’s gotten industry accolades. And you do what, exactly, riprorin? Besides read Breitbart? (Lol) </p>
<p>I don’t get the controversy. This is his own business.</p>
<p>How did I miss this? Sixteen pages of thinly veiled agenda-pushing, complete with all the usual suspects–Breitbart, Heritage Foundation, Michelle Malkin, Fox News. Gotta hand it to the OP for keeping this one alive through so many posts.</p>
<p>Didn’t have time to read 16 pages of posts but I do have 1 question. Isn’t the term “Hollywood hypocrite” a redundancy?</p>
<p>No it isn’t. Hollywood people are human just like me and you. They are free to support any social movement even though they don’t participate in that movement. You may support the military but not participate or allow your children to enlist. We are hypocrites just as much as any other group.</p>
<p>Warning – rant coming on after trying for three days to get someone from my public school to talk to me. :)</p>
<p>Having had kids that go back and forth from public to private, I can tell you that having choices is a nice thing. I have had good and bad experiences with public schools. Most of the teachers we’ve dealt with in the public schools are pretty darn good. Most of the teachers we’ve dealt with int he private schools have also been pretty darn good. What frustrates the heck out of me with public schools is the bureaucracy, the inflexibility, feeling that I am not being heard. Right now my last kid (currently in a public high school in Minnesota) is trying to get a flexible schedule worked out for about six weeks because of a theatre thing she is involved in. We tried to get the ball rolling in May, but you know, the public schools close down in the summer and can’t do anything, not even tell you how it is likely to work. We submitted the theatre schedule to the vice principal in May for approval as we were told to do and never heard back. Now the offices are open again, and I am getting told to submit the theatre schedule to the vice principal for approval before we can talk about scheduling classes – which we already did in May. The idea of homeschooling is the last thing I want to do, but I will, if necessary. And yes, I will continue to support the public schools with my tax dollars and contributions and hope for the best. It is the only safety net available to so many kids. Why wouldn’t I support that? But, grrrrr . . . .</p>
<p>I have no problem w/ celebrities sending their children to private schools. I do take issue w/ politicians who dont support school choice sending their children to private versus public schools. I only have my SIL as the source of this information but DC until 2009 had a school choice program where inner city students could attend selected private schools w/ funding partly through the DC BOE. In fact the private school the Presidents girls attend was part of the program. The teachers union put pressure on the President to end the program and he did.</p>
<p>Why should politicians who send their kids to private schools have to support a voucher system?</p>
<p>First off, just because a school is in L.A. doesn’t mean they are progressive. Not sure where one would get that idea. I grew up in So. Cal and my parents had many friends in the tv and movie industry. Nearly all of them sent their kids to private elementary and high schools, but they all supported public schools.</p>
<p>For someone like Matt Damon (whose mother is a public school teacher, IIRC) the number one concern is security and safety which private schools are more adept at addressing. </p>
<p>We chose private high schools because our local public high school cannot adequately meet either child’s academic needs. Like Cpt and others on this thread, I’ve always supported public schools, voted for bonds, and I was PTA president twice.</p>
<p>ETA: Does this make me a hypocrite? I worked within the system for change, including going all the way to the state level to get services for both. I had to file a formal complaint, which launched a state audit. Yes, I was popular 
It’s like beating my head against a brick wall every. single. day. Max and I decided that we were done. So now this September, they’ll both finally be out of our mediocre public schools. But we continue to support them for those who are not as fortunate as we are.</p>
<p>“How do you feel about paying private school tuition for special ed kids? Which is an interesting situation because those are often the most financially secure families anyway, not to mention savvy”</p>
<p>While my kids aren’t handicapped my mom was a state social worker that worked with special ed and handicapped kids for over 30 years. Special ed and handicapped kids should always be placed in a school that has the services they need in order to succeed.
If the pubic school doesn’t have those services then they should be able to go to a school that does. To say that most special ed kids families are financially secure anyway, not to mention savvy is nuts. However for the special ed kids who parents are financially secure and savvy , I think is awesome because having parents who can support and help them is what every kid deserves.</p>
<p>Public schools in the US are a big fail, especially in the inner cities.</p>
<p>Rather than supporting a failed system, why not try to reform it? Are you proud of supporting a system that traps many kids in terrible and dangerous schools?</p>
<p>Funny how many parents that support public schools send their own kids to private schools. They aren’t good enough for your kids, but they are fine for others. You have the ability to send your kids to private school because you have the resources. Why not give parents who don’t have the resources the same options through a voucher system?</p>
<p>It sounds to me that Matt Damon’s biggest objection to how public schools operate, is the standardized testing that may be used to evaluate teacher effectiveness. From that perspective, it seems a bit hypocritical to support by choosing private schools, where teachers are not protected by tenure or a union contract, and can be fired at whim and probably by a parent board. Granted, I don’t know how the private schools he selected are set up for that.</p>
<p>So how did this become a discussion of vouchers? </p>
<p>I thought this about how Matt Damon is a hypocrite because he can afford to send his children to private schools while still supporting public school teachers.</p>