Hero Interlude: Matt Damon Defends Teachers to Some Aggressive Interviewers

As a teacher myself, I'm very used to being disrespected by the media and the government, both of whom seem to often think that just because someone became a teacher with tenure, it's because we want to be lazy and not work while keeping our jobs. Going into my sixth year of teaching, I can tell you that it is one of the hardest, most stressful jobs a person can have. It doesn't pay well, it often gets trashed by the media, and it's time consuming, not to mention the actual stress of teaching some kids who are severe behavior problems. We get blamed for things, we have to deal with irrational parents, we have legal hoops to jump through, and recently the government has decided that we need more standards placed on use because "we aren't doing our job".

So let me say here, if I didn't love what I do, I wouldn't do it. I'd be in my back up career by this point. Many people who started out wanting to be teachers are by now, which implies to me that the ones who stick around love what they do.

Which leaves us with Matt Damon, who while speaking at a rally for teachers in Washington, was aggressively questioned by an interviewer and a cameraman as to why he would stand up for a group that "doesn't have incentive to work". Matt does his teachers proud by destroying both their arguments.

Not safe for work, as Damon uses some choice language to get his point across.