An interview with Matt Damon's mom, Nancy Carlsson-Paige.

AuthorSlekar, Tim
PositionInterview

Nancy Carlsson-Paige is a leading advocate for early childhood education. An emeritus professor at Lesley University, where she taught teachers for thirty years, she is the author of several books, including Taking Back Childhood: A Proven Roadmap for Raising Confident, Creative, Compassionate Kids. She is also the co-founder of the Defending the Early Years website at deyproject.org. And she just happens to be the mother of the Academy Award-winner and activist Matt Damon. She has agreed to appear regularly on a syndicated radio podcast I host called BustED Pencils in a segment entitled "What Would Matt Damon's Mom Say?" I spoke with her by phone on Halloween.

Q: When people talk to you about education issues, does it bother you to be referred to as Matt Damon's mom, as opposed to Nancy Carlsson-Paige, the noted author and professor who is a distinguished education advocate?

Nancy Carlsson-Paige: If I didn't have a secure career and identity and sense of self around my work in the world, maybe I'd feel different about it. But that's not the case. And I recognize that people perk up when they hear the names of celebrities, so this might make people listen up who might not otherwise be listening. I care mostly about getting these ideas out to a broader audience.

Q: You got Matt to speak at an education conference a few years back, and that created the impression that Matt is an education activist. I know he's a supporter of public education, but he isn't doing as much public education advocacy as some people want him to do. Why not?

Carlsson-Paige: The first thing he's doing is raising four kids. He has a stepdaughter now who is a teenager, and he has three little girls. He's very steeped in his own creative work in the film industry in a lot of different ways. His days are very full with those two components. He also started this nonprofit, water.org, which he's really committed to. He's been to Africa many times. He's been to Haiti many times. He's connected to people working on the global water crisis. He's very involved in that work, and he's passionate about it.

The thing about seeing our kids grow up is getting at who they are. They're not us. He's created his own path, and it's a beautiful path, and he carries with him a lot of the values and insights he's grown up with. Now he's doing his own life his own way.

He is a very informed citizen about public education issues, and he's passionate about the core issues around public...

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