Matt Damon and Mother Reject Union's Award
Robyn Beck/Agence France-Press-Getty ImagesMatt Damon with his mother, Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige, in 2007 after he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.Jan. 5, 2012, 11:25 a.m.
12:19 p.m. | Updated The actor Matt Damon and his mother, a professor of education, on Wednesday turned down an award from the country’s largest teachers union after reading an opinion article that the union’s president had co-authored with the founder of Teach for America.
Writing that she was “confused by your collaboration” with Teach for America, Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige said she and her son, Mr. Damon, no longer desired to be nominated for the National Education Association’s Friend of Education Award.
In the opinion piece that Dr. Carlsson-Paige referred to, Dennis Van