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My last class - Robert Reich *See the Film
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.
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.
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/my-last-class