"When I was a child, one of my favorite fairy tales was The Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Andersen. I can now explain my identification with the lead character of the fairy tale. However, I could never have imagined that my academic career would specifically align with the journey of the tin soldier in the underworld.

In this book, I describe everything I experienced at university, first as a student and then as a professor, while maintaining the same beliefs. I analyze how the things I fought for as a student, such as academic asylum and student participation in administration, became distorted.

As a professor after 1982, I felt less secure in the same university spaces than I did as a student until 1967. As a professor after 1982, I also had to defend my academic freedom more frequently than I did as a student before 1967.

Beyond criticism, the book presents experiences and proposals specifically for teaching, which I dedicated myself to. I was always particularly fascinated and moved by the case of children from poorer and deprived families, especially in rural areas. I wondered and admired how these children had emerged so uncorrupted from such a mysterious and unchanging mold, as if so many years had not passed since I had similar classmates. I would do anything for these children."

G.M.