Jay Mathews

Journalist

Birthday April 5, 1945

Birth Sign Aries

Birthplace California

Age 79 years old

#246653 Most Popular

About

Most well known as a columnist, feature writer, and blogger for the Washington Post, he was the 1999 recipient of the Benjamin Fine Award for Outstanding Education Reporting.

Before Fame

He attended both Occidental College and Harvard University and served in the Vietnam War.

Trivia

His full-length, education-themed publications include Class Struggle : What's Wrong (and Right) with America's Best Public High Schools (1998) and Harvard Schmarvard: Getting Beyond the Ivy League to the College That is Best for You (2003).

Family Life

His marriage to USA Today and New York Times editor Linda Mathews produced three children, including a journalist son named Joe Mathews.

Associated With

In 1988, Mathews published a nonfiction work titled Escalante: The Best Teacher in America. The book tells the unique life story of Bolivian-born, Los Angeles-based high school mathematics teacher Jaime Escalante.