Mia DiLalla
Staff Writer
On the evening of Oct. 9, Campbell Hall filled with hopeful students and reflective retirees for a screening of “The Last Class,” starring former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. The documentary was shown for free as a part of the UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) Arts & Lectures’ Thematic Learning Initiative (TLI).
This year’s TLI theme, “Paradigms at Play,” showcases various “artists and thinkers who play with our perceptions,” challenging attendees’ awareness of the ever-changing world around us.
“The Last Class” aligns with this theme, following Reich through his final semester teaching the class Wealth and Poverty at UC Berkeley to an eager class of nearly 1,000 students.
Despite his highly-praised professional career serving under presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama, the film highlights the job Reich found most personally rewarding — teaching. Reich has established an astonishing legacy as a professor, teaching nearly 40,000 students over 42 years between Harvard University, Brandeis University, and UC Berkeley. While teaching his final class, Reich grappled with the challenge of educating a new generation of students plagued with doom, all while managing the toil and stigma of aging and retiring. Reich was at his most personal, raw, and humorous, as he alluded to today’s rocky economic and political environment faced by the nation’s youth.
The film spotlights Reich’s emphasis on critical thinking and engagement with his class, working alongside his teaching assistants (TAs) to overcome the growing cynicism of students in the post-COVID world. One notable moment in the film shows Reich meeting with his TAs to discuss how to get his students to understand wealth inequality beyond graphs and statistics. A TA responded that her students wish Reich would just outright reveal his opinion on the material he’s teaching. However, he held firm that true leaders help people overcome their cynicism through engagement and participation, two skills also required to uphold democracy. As his time at UC Berkeley nears the end, Reich prompts himself and his students with the question of who will be the next teachers.
Following the screening of the film, professor Alice O’Connor, director of the UCSB Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy, moderated a Q&A with the film’s Emmy-award winning director, Elliott Kirschner, and executive producer, Heather Kinlaw Lofthouse. While “The Last Class” marks Kirschner’s directorial debut, he is no stranger to producing educational documentaries. Lofthouse adds her knowledge to the film as executive director of Inequality Media and co-host of the podcast “The Coffee Klatch,” working alongside Reich in both projects.
The film’s timely on-campus screening raises praise for public universities through Reich’s audacious and humble role as an educator. His enthusiasm for teaching can be felt throughout the film and was also reflected by Kirschner and Lofthouse throughout the Q&A. At 79 years old (and notably 4’11”), Reich continues to educate the masses on current wealth disparities even during his “retirement.”
To find out more information about Robert Reich and “The Last Class,” visit thelastclassfilm.com and inequalitymedia.org.