by George McGovern<br > During the 1960s and 1970s I developed a friend-<br > ship with the late John Holt based in considerable<br > part on our mutual interest in the education of<br > children. Before entering politics I was a college<br > history teacher， but my interest in education began<br > long before my teaching days.<br > I have always thought that I was the beneficiary<br >of excellent teachers in the public schools of Mitch-<br >ell， South Dakota. These teachers--many of them<br >unmarried women whose lives centered on their<br >students and the classroom--were the best. They<br >watched and worried and labored with their stu-<br >dents. They were stimulating， imaginative human<br >beings in love with the education and development<br >of the young.<br > I sensed that John Holt was such a human being--<br >fascinated with young minds and the necessity of<br >opening and challenging those minds to the won-<br >derful world around us. He was convinced that<br >children were "failing" because society--the family，<br >the school， the community--was failing to encour-<br >age， to stimulate， to instruct young minds in an<br >intelligent manner.<br ><br >