‘No teachers ever again!’ the young protesters wrote on the walls of Paris in 1968 – an anti-authoritarian, egalitarian motto which sums up the dream of a freer society. What they didn’t realize is that without teachers we are condemned to the single thought, to uniformity, sameness. Are there any teachers left today? A democracy which flattens the high down to the level of the low seems to need only influencers, communicators and tutors in success who reassure and console, rather than guides of the spirit who awaken consciences.

In this passionate book Zabrebelsky discusses some of the great figures of history and literature to re-examine a role which is as anachronistic as it is necessary: who is there today who can stir popular unrest, think of alternative ways of doing things, move vital and liberating energies to progress towards a sense of something new? Teachers will no longer exist, however, if there are no pupils; only when someone starts asking questions of meaning and ethical needs again will it be possible for teachers to reappear in our world.