Editing Abbie Hoffman (section)

== Early life and education ==
Abbot Howard Hoffman was born November 30, 1936, in [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], to Florence (née Schanberg) and John Hoffman. Hoffman was raised in a middle-class Jewish household and had two younger siblings.

During his school days, he became known as a troublemaker who started fights, played pranks, vandalized school property, and referred to teachers by their first names. In his second year, Hoffman was expelled from [[Worcester Classical High School|Classical High School]], a now-closed public high school in Worcester.<ref>{{cite news | url= https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/14/obituaries/abbie-hoffman-60-s-icon-dies-yippie-movement-founder-was-52.html|title= Abbie Hoffman, 60's Icon, Dies; Yippie Movement Founder Was 52|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date= April 14, 1989|access-date= December 10, 2013|last1= McQuiston|first1= John T.}}</ref> As an atheist,<ref>{{cite book | title=Abbie Hoffman: American Rebel|year=1993|publisher=Rutgers University Press| isbn=978-0-8135-2017-9| first=Marty|last=Jezer|page=16|quote=According to Abbie, the teacher took issue with his defense of atheism.
}}</ref> Hoffman wrote a paper declaring that, "God could not possibly exist, for if he did, there wouldn't be any suffering in the world." The irate teacher ripped up the paper and called him "a Communist punk." Hoffman jumped on the teacher and started fighting him until he was restrained and removed from the school.<ref name="lifetimes">{{cite book|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/r/raskin-hell.html |first=Jonah|last=Raskin |title=For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman |isbn=0-520-20575-8 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |access-date=December 4, 2013}}</ref> On June 3, 1954, 17-year-old Hoffman was arrested for the first time, for driving without a license. After his expulsion, he attended [[Worcester Academy]], graduating in 1955. Hoffman engaged in many behaviors typical of rebellious teenagers in the 1950s, such as riding motorcycles, wearing [[leather jacket]]s, and sporting a [[ducktail]] haircut.

Upon graduating, he enrolled at nearby [[Brandeis University]], where he studied under professors such as noted [[psychologist]] [[Abraham Maslow]], often considered the father of [[humanistic psychology]].<ref name="jezer-1">{{cite book | last=Jezer | first=Marty | year=1993 | title=Abbie Hoffman: American Rebel | publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] | location=New Jersey | isbn=0-8135-2017-7 | pages= 20–23 }}</ref> He was also a student of [[Marxist]] theorist [[Herbert Marcuse]], who Hoffman said had a profound effect on his political outlook. Hoffman would later cite Marcuse's influence during his activism and his theories on revolution. He was on the Brandeis tennis team, which was coached by journalist [[Bud Collins]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Goldstein|first1=Richard|title=Bud Collins, Who Covered Tennis With Authority and Flash, Dies at 86|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/05/sports/tennis/bud-collins-who-covered-tennis-with-authority-and-flash-dies-at-86.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 4, 2016|date=March 4, 2016}}</ref> Hoffman graduated with a [[bachelor's degree|B.A.]] in [[psychology]] in 1959. That fall, he enrolled at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], where he completed coursework toward a master's degree in psychology. Soon after, he married his girlfriend Sheila Karklin in May 1960.