The author joined the faculty of Macalester College in the fall of 1968. Much to his surprise, he discovered at the first faculty meeting that he could not understand what his new colleagues were talking about. For many years he literally had no one to talk to about subjects that mattered most to him, such as the philosophy of education. Then…

When the author left California for the University of Minnesota twenty-five years ago, he vowed never again to become involved in departmental or university politics. He'd had enough of that at California State, Los Angeles, and he was determined to devote his full attention, apart from teaching, to several scholarly projects that had simmered so…