Teach-ins are back

by Bob Schwartz

For some, teach-ins were an integral part of organized resistance and opposition to a war and to social and national injustice and inhumanity.

Teach-ins are extended educational gatherings where participants discuss and learn about controversial issues, typically combining lectures, debates, and workshops. They’re designed to raise awareness and foster critical thinking about social or political topics.

Teach-ins emerged in March 1965 at the University of Michigan as a response to the Vietnam War. Faculty members organized an overnight event with lectures and discussions as an alternative to striking, which would have disrupted students’ education. The format quickly spread to campuses nationwide.

Early teach-ins featured:

  • Marathon sessions (often 12+ hours)
  • Mix of presentations, debates, and open discussion
  • Focus on alternative perspectives to mainstream narratives
  • Emphasis on collective learning and action

The model became a signature protest tactic of 1960s-70s campus activism, addressing civil rights, environmental issues, and anti-war movements.

Teach-ins are back, not yet in the same number as in the past, but they are spreading.

Like this:

Why we’re holding a teach-in about American history at the Smithsonian

On 26 October, podcasters, professors, journalists and ordinary citizens will gather on the steps of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History for a teach-in in defense of history and museums.

If you look online, you’ll find many more happening, maybe in your own backyard.

Here’s the original teach-in at the University of Michigan in March 1965:

Here’s a Free Speech teach-in at Barnard in September 2025:

Is this nostalgia for a time when protest happened and sometimes worked? No. It is confirmation that when people effectively organize and educate, it is possible that eventually things can be turned around. Eventually (not to put a damper on this) as in the ten years between the University of Michigan teach-in and the end of the Vietnam War. But without the teach-ins and the marches and levitating the Pentagon (look it up), there is no telling how much more death and damage and suffering would have been inflicted.

It is worth teaching-in.