Has silly season been extended? That?s the only explanation for Matt Damon and his mother, Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige, rejecting the NEA's Friend of Education Award. But Mr. Damon and Dr. Carlsson-Paige point to NEA President Dennis Van Roekel co-authoring an op-ed with TFA founder Wendy Kopp as the reason for their change of heart.
Dr. Carlsson-Paige's letter, posted in full at the New York Times, does little to explain exactly how Van Roekel's collaboration undermines teachers' professionalism. It seems that simply writing the op-ed was a betrayal of the SOS movement, which Mr. Damon spoke in support of this past August. These kinds of "all or nothing" demands only undermine efforts to reach across the aisle and work through ideological differences. Nor does it help to write off TFA as a program that "undermines teacher quality and harms children," when, at least in Tennessee, it is the most effective teacher preparation program.
Dr. Carlsson-Paige's letter, posted in full at the New York Times, does little to explain exactly how Van Roekel's collaboration undermines teachers' professionalism. It seems that simply writing the op-ed was a betrayal of the SOS movement, which Mr. Damon spoke in support of this past August. These kinds of "all or nothing" demands only undermine efforts to reach across the aisle and work through ideological differences. Nor does it help to write off TFA as a program that "undermines teacher quality and harms children," when, at least in Tennessee, it is the most effective teacher preparation program.