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William Charles "Bill" Ayers (born December 26, 1944) is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the counterculture movement who opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s radical activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction. In 1969 he co-founded the Weather Underground, a self-described communist revolutionary group with the intent to overthrow imperialism,〔The Weathermen's founding manifesto, signed by Ayers and ten others, indicates, "The most important task for us toward making the revolution, and the work our collectives should engage in, is the creation of a mass revolutionary movement...akin to the Red Guard in China, based on the full participation and involvement of masses of people...with a full willingness to participate in the violent and illegal struggle. 〕 that conducted a campaign of bombing public buildings (including police stations, the U.S. Capitol Building, and the Pentagon) during the 1960s and 1970s in response to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is a retired professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, formerly holding the titles of Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar.〔 During the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign, a controversy arose over his contacts with candidate Barack Obama. He is married to Bernardine Dohrn, who was also a leader in the Weather Underground. ==Early life== Ayers grew up in Glen Ellyn, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. His parents are Mary (née Andrew) and Thomas G. Ayers, who was later chairman and chief executive officer of Commonwealth Edison (1973 to 1980), and for whom Northwestern's Thomas G. Ayers College of Commerce and Industry was named.〔(Obituary: Thomas Ayers Served as Board Chair from 1975 to 1986 ) ''Northwestern University'', June 19, 2007〕〔(Sheepdogdesign.net ), Thomas G Ayers, 1915-2007 ''Cinnamon Swirl'', June 18, 2007〕 He attended public schools until his second year in high school, when he transferred to Lake Forest Academy, a small prep school.〔Terry, Don (Chicago Tribune staff reporter, ("The calm after the storm" ), ''Chicago Tribune Magazine'', p 10, September 16, 2001, June 8, 2008〕 Ayers earned a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from the University of Michigan in 1968. (His father, mother and older brother had preceded him there.)〔 Ayers was affected at a 1965 Ann Arbor Teach-In against the Vietnam war, when Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) President Paul Potter, asked his audience, "How will you live your life so that it doesn't make a mockery of your values?" Ayers later wrote in his memoir, ''Fugitive Days'', that his reaction was: "You could not be a moral person with the means to act, and stand still. ... To stand still was to choose indifference. Indifference was the opposite of moral".〔Barber, David, ("Fugitive Days; A Memoir - Book Review" ), Journal of Social History, Winter 2002, retrieved June 10, 2008〕 In 1965, Ayers joined a picket line protesting an Ann Arbor, Michigan, pizzeria for refusing to seat African Americans. His first arrest came for a sit-in at a local draft board, resulting in 10 days in jail. His first teaching job came shortly afterward at the Children's Community School, a preschool with a very small enrollment operating in a church basement, founded by a group of students in emulation of the Summerhill method of education.〔Before "going underground" he published an account of this experience, ''Education: An American Problem''.〕 The school was a part of the nationwide "free school movement". Schools in the movement had no grades or report cards; they aimed to encourage cooperation rather than competition, and pupils addressed teachers by their first names. Within a few months, at age 21, Ayers became director of the school. There also he met Diana Oughton, who would become his girlfriend until her death in 1970 after a bomb exploded while preparing the bombs for Weather Underground activities.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bill Ayers」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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