Rodger Scott was born in 1936, the last of nine children in a family of Texas farmers and ranchers who moved into town because they couldn’t survive working other people’s land. Rodger was a juvenile delinquent in junior high, and in high school was suspended or expelled six times in five semesters, but loved college and received a B.A. in foreign languages from Texas Tech at 20. He has an M.A. in English also from Texas Tech and a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of New Mexico.

Scott has been a teacher for 48 years in five states of the U.S. and in Japan, China, and Colombia (as a Peace Corps volunteer). He served two years in the U.S. Army between the undeclared wars in Korea and Vietnam.  He has held union posts for over 40 years and was president of the American Federation of Teachers Local 2121 at San Francisco City College. He is a writer, photographer, and documentary film maker.