Writings
- TEACHING TOWARD FREEDOM: MORAL COMMITMENT AND ETHICAL ACTION IN THE CLASSROOM
- TO TEACH: THE JOURNEY OF A TEACHER, 2ND EDITION
- TEACHING THE PERSONAL AND THE POLITICAL: ESSAYS ON HOPE AND JUSTICE
- ON THE SIDE OF THE CHILD: SUMMERHILL REVISITED
- FUGITIVE DAYS: A MEMOIR
- TO BECOME A TEACHER: MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN CHILDREN’S LIVES
- A KIND AND JUST PARENT: THE CHILDREN OF JUVENILE COURT
- TEACHING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: A DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION READER
- CITY KIDS, CITY TEACHERS: REPORTS FROM THE FRONT ROW
- ZERO TOLERANCE: RESISTING THE DRIVE FOR PUNISHMENT IN OUR SCHOOLS
- A SIMPLE JUSTICE: THE CHALLENGE OF SMALL SCHOOLS
- A LIGHT IN DARK TIMES: MAXINE GREENE AND THE UNFINISHED CONVERSATION
- THE GOOD PRESCHOOL TEACHER
Excerpts of TO TEACH: THE JOURNEY OF A TEACHER, 2ND EDITION on Amazon
May 20, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Mr. Ayers.
I don’t know your work, but I just saw you speak on Book TV and simply continued to nod my head in agreement with nearly everything you said. I am a high school teacher who finds it almost impossible to believe that we need to point out to people that dissent (with political policy) is “unpatriotic.” Or that criticism of one’s country can equated with unpatriotic attitudes. I feel it is completely the opposite (as I think you may also.) I would quote Robert Frost’s self-styled epitaph: I had a lover’s quarrel with the world.
Would you recommend a place for me to begin reading you? I see lots of books here! Where should I begin? Thanks.
May 20, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Oooops - I meant to say that it is impossible for me to believe that we need to point out to people that dissent with political policy is NOT unpatriotic.
The computer took advantage of me and my message sailed off before I proofed it.
December 10, 2007 at 2:11 am
Mr. Ayers,
You probably receive lots of complimentary emails. I don’t expect that mine is anything unusual. That said… I must join the pack of admirers and tell you that your words changed my life. I read To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher as a junior in college. I signed up to teach because I wanted summers off to raise a family… ha ha! I never dreamt of the intellectual and emotional depth to be found in education, but these are the very things that turned a vague interest into a passion. If I had been sold the lie that teaching was nothing more than making bulletin boards and finding “cute” activities, I would have left. How boring! Instead, a college professor handed me your book. Thank you for your courage in demanding that teaching receive the level of integrity, thoughtfulness and innovation that it deserves. Your words reverberate in my mind and heart often, and because of this I am able to “stay alive” as a teacher. So thank you.
April 18, 2008 at 11:32 am
It is Communist pieces of shit like you that really ruin education.
April 18, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Bill,
Your comment in the NYT, which is currently being recycled, about not having done enough during the day, is, as you well know, widely shared by your fellow travelers from the 1960s. For nearly 20 years I taught a university class entitles “America in the 1960s”. Inevitably a student would ask what I was doing during the 60s, to which I would respond, “I will only say that I have three regrets from those times: 1) I didn’t start soon enough, 2) I wasn’t aggressive enough, and 3) I wasn’t effective enough.”
The guilt over my sense of failure is profound and enduring.
Best,
Pete Ripley
April 21, 2008 at 12:11 am
As for Ilirjan’s question as to how the U.S. government founded the escalation of the Vietnam War on the basis of a lie, one must direct him to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. This event, which by popular, academic and military consensus, has been proven to be either completely fabricated or “factually enhanced”, with the goal of course being the opening of the way for the U.S. to become even more directly involved in the civil war which was being fought in Vietnam then. And yes, the Communist forces did kill innocent civilians. As did the United States, through such actions as the massacres of entire villages, with My Lai being the most notorious example, the massive bombing campaigns which killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of North Vietnamese, and the covert invasions of Cambodia and Laos, which immediately converted the war from an immoral action to an illegal one. Does Ilirjan really believe that total freedom exists in the U.S., as well as other capitalist “democracies”? He (or she) should come here and ask those compelled by the dictates of the ruling/employing class to live in substandard housing how they feel about “freedom”. Tour the inner-city ghettoes, examine the wildly diverging economic classes, investigate a medical care system which is rapidly failing, ensuring that only the economically-blessed will be able to afford sufficient health care. As for decisions? One’s economic class dictates that. The lower class and the poverty-stricken have NO voice. They are relegated to perform the baser jobs and are expected to be thankful for the opportunity. The options held open for those of the upper class, such as a first-rate education, the promise of a financially-rewarding job and the acquisition of assets over a lifetime, are quite literally the province of a dwindling few in this nation. Ilirjan has spoken out of turn, and should examine the problems which exist within this nation before professing any kind of opinion of it. The United States may not be the worst violator of human rights on this planet, but there’s always work to be done in order to make it that much better as the exponent of liberty, equality and brotherhood.
April 23, 2008 at 3:13 am
YOUR CLASSES MUST BE LIKE STALINIST RE EDUCATION CAMPS
April 23, 2008 at 3:19 am
So how did you get your current teaching position? threats to blow up the faculty lounch if they didn’t hire you?
April 26, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Dear Mr. Ayers,
I only heard of you because of the Democratic Debate last month when they ask Obama about his connection with you. I finally decided to research you when a family member questioned my supporting Obama because of his affiliation with you. Once again I am outraged by the news media and their portrayal of facts. I am an elementary school teacher who is now teaching early childhood education at the local community college. I am so pleased to have been led to your website! Summerhill was the first education book I read as a young idealist and the book that led me to study education. I am a fan of Maxine Greene after reading her while studying for my masters. I just ordered your book On the Side of the Child.
I am sure that this is not the outcome that Sean Hannity wanted when he proposed that question.
Regards,
Suzanne Weaver-Goss
May 4, 2008 at 3:37 am
Ho Chi Minh, Lenin, Mao. Pol-Pot and any other world despots would be proud of you! You should be doing life in Leavenworth.
May 8, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Last time I saw you was in a bookstore in Milwaukee, not long after 9/11. Your kind-of memoir had just been published. The crowd was a bit hostile given the context of the times. The time before that I think was in ‘88 at a sixth grade parent teacher conference and Bernadine had just voted for the first time since ‘64.
Now all this recent and truly unimportant stuff. So many people have moved beyond the sixties. Many have lost their convictions. Buut spreading the idea of peace and tolerance and kindness to all should never be lost.
I am now studying to be a librarian and will be an assistant librarian at our school’s library next year. Give my best to you wife and son. Is he still doing photography> How can I contact him these days?