My last class

Friends,

I’ve done a lot of things over my lifetime, but I’ve always come back to teaching. Teaching is my love, my calling, my joy. And even though I’ve officially retired from it, I continue to teach. (Today, for example, I’m giving a talk at UC Berkeley on “The Roots of Trumpism.”)

As many of you know, I taught at UC Berkeley for almost 20 years and witnessed its power as one of the most successful engines of upward mobility in America.

When I decided to retire from teaching two years ago, I wanted to do it quietly. I preferred to make it about the students, not me. My lectures in the Wealth and Poverty course I taught each year to more than 800 students were mainly to students in their last undergraduate year — to seniors. (Some of you have even “taken” the course since a video version of it has been available here on this Substack.)

So two years ago, when it came to be their last class of the year, it was my last class, too. They were graduating. So was I.

I shared my decision to retire with only a few people. Frankly, I loathed the concept of “retiring.” I still do.

One of the people I told was my longtime collaborator and Coffee Klatch podcast co-host, Heather Lofthouse. She wanted to do a video to document my last class. “Maybe we can put it up on YouTube,” she said.

Instead, she partnered with filmmaker Elliot Kirschner, and they ended up making a feature-length documentary.

Their goal with The Last Class is to show how education can triumph over cynicism.

See the film

Our educational system is under assault by those intent on destroying democracy, which is why we need to elevate teaching now more than ever.

For the same reason, we need to prepare future generations — and empower them with tools to become the educators and leaders our democracy depends on.

As I’ve said before, ignorance is the handmaiden of tyranny.

Teaching is about getting students to reexamine whatever assumptions they carry into the classroom. It’s about provoking conversations, fostering dissent, and learning from one another even when we disagree on issues.

One of the first requests I make of my students is to find people who disagree with them, and talk through their disagreements.

Hopefully I’ve given my students the humility they need to do this. Plus the ability to ask the questions they need to be asking of themselves and of the world that they’re entering.

All of this is much more challenging today than when I began teaching more than 40 years ago.

I’m excited to see what Elliot and Heather have put together. I’m thrilled and humbled that it will be in theaters this summer. I hope you will have a chance to see it.

They tell me they plan to use a new grassroots distribution model called “theatrical on demand,” which empowers communities to bring films to local independent theaters.

I’m sharing this with you because I believe in the power of education — especially public education. I believe in teaching and learning — whether in a classroom or a movie theater.

I believe in my students. Their capacities. Their commitment.

I believe in you.

Should you wish, you can sign up to see the film by visiting thelastclassfilm.com or by clicking the green button below.

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