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When he began teaching, he "could not possibly keep out of the classroom (his) own experiences. (In his) teaching, (he) never concealed (his) political views: (his) detestation of war and militarism, (his) anger at racial inequality, (his) belief in a democratic socialism, in a rational and just distribution of the world's wealth. (He) made clear (his) abhorrence of any kind of bullying, whether by powerful nations over weaker ones, governments over their citizens, employers over employees, or by anyone, on the Right or the Left, who thinks they have a monopoly on the truth."
He explained mixing activism with teaching, insisting education "cannot be neutral on the crucial issues of our time, (but it) always frightened the guardians of traditional education. They prefer (it to) simply prepare the new generation to take its proper place in the old order, not to question that order."
He began every course telling students "they would be getting (his) point of view, but (he) would" encourage them to disagree. He "didn't pretend to an objectivity that was neither possible nor desirable," saying:
"You can't be neutral on a moving train," explaining that "events are already moving in certain deadly directions, and to be neutral means to accept that."
For many years, he taught thousands of students. They gave him hope for the future, even though their activism was small in scale. He obsessed over "the bad news we are constantly confronted with. It surround(ed him), inundate(d him), depress(ed him) intermittently, anger(ed him)."
He spoke of the poor, "so many of them in the ghettos of the nonwhite, often living a few blocks away from fabulous wealth." He noted "the hypocrisy of political leaders, of the control of information through deception, through omission. And (that) all over the world, governments play on national and ethnic hatred."
He expressed awareness "of the violence of everyday life for most of the human race. All represented by the images of children. Children hungry. Children with missing limbs. The bombing of children officially reported as 'collateral damage.' "
He was frustrated that new leadership in American is no different from the old. It lacks vision, boldness and will to break from the past. They "maintain a huge military budget which distorts the economy and makes possible no more than puny efforts to redress the huge gap between rich and poor. (The result is communities) riddled with violence and despair." And there's no national movement to change this. People want change "but feel powerless, alone (waiting for others to) make the first move, or the second."
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