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Audio and Photo Feature: Bill Ayers Talks Education/Activism


On Feb. 22, the morning after giving his address at the annual, student-led Public Affairs Symposium, educator-activist Bill Ayers joined students, professors and alumni at the Community Studies Center for a spirited dialogue about education and social justice.

Listen to excerpts from the meeting:

Read the Dickinson Magazine article, “Bill Ayers Talks Education/Activism.”  


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  •  Over coffee, bagels and lox, Ayers discussed his more than 40 years’ teaching experience. From left: Giovania Tiarachristie ’13, Tiffany Hwang ’11, Ayers, Val Harmon ’05, Emily Wylie ’94 and Alejandra Estevez ’13.
    Breakfast Dialogue
  • “He suggested that we ‘find ways to work the cracks,’ ” said Flosha Tejada ’11 (center), who will be teaching at a charter school in New York City after graduation. “For a future teacher like me, his messages of teaching and learning as an empowering process of liberation are beyond motivational.” To her left is Giovania Tiarchristie ’13; to her right is Lauren Amoros ’12. 
    Flosha Tejada '11
  • Val Harmon ’05 shares her triumphs and frustrations as a master teacher at the Bronx High School for Medical Science, a public charter school in New York City. In the audio excerpt, she asks Ayers about the unintended consequences of recent education reform.
    Val Harmon '05
  • Ayers responds to Harmon’s question. “I think we’re in a terrible time in education,” he admits. “But I would not call it forward or backward. There’s always an assumption that we were once great.” 
    Reform Redux
  •  “You never know what the spark is going to be,” Ayers said to the group. “I would rather get up every morning, work as hard as I can … get smashed down that day, wake up the next morning and start all over again.”
    Focusing on Hope
  • Ayers spoke for more than an hour about education—from kindergarten to college—during the breakfast dialogue. Here, he signs books and chats briefly with students after the meeting concluded. 
    Continuing Dialogue
 Over coffee, bagels and lox, Ayers discussed his more than 40 years’ teaching experience. From left: Giovania Tiarachristie ’13, Tiffany Hwang ’11, Ayers, Val Harmon ’05, Emily Wylie ’94 and Alejandra Estevez ’13.Prev ImageNext Image

 

Text by Michelle Simmons
Photos by Sherri Kimmel