Kwa miaka michache iliyopita, wakati nimejitosa katika kusoma maandishi ya Shaaban Robert, nimejiwa na mawazo mbali mbali ambayo naona ni muhimu. Kwa bahati nzuri, nimechapisha makala mbili juu ya Shaaban Robert, moja katika Encyclopedia of African Literature, na nyingine katika CHANGAMOTO: Insha za Jamii. Napenda kunukuu machache niliyoandika katika Encyclopedia of African Literature:
Shaaban Robert displayed profound awareness of the human condition; he opposed injustice, championed freedom, and extolled the dignity of labour. He was sensitive to the condition of women. He wrote poems celebrating women, and a biography of Siti Binti Saad, the famous female taarab singer, recounting the meteoric rise to fame of this woman from a humble rural background in a male-dominated world which put incredible obstacles in her path. He was proud of his Swahili language and culture, which he understood very well, appropriated, and celebrated in and through his writings. However, he deeply respected other languages and cultures and appropriated whatever he could from them. If colonialism had not limited his educational opportunities, he would have explored this dimension to the fullest. He greatly admired world writers like Shakespeare, whose artistic mind he described as a great ocean whose waves touched the shores of the whole world....[Shaaban] Robert's poetic sensibility was deep and intertwined with his moral and ethical principles. Sensitive to the condition and plight of all creatures, he held that all things moved with the rhythm of poetry: the birds, streams, the sea, the wind and the thunderstorms, the seasons....His vision of a just society was part of the shaping of the dream for an egalitarian society, which became his country's policy. (p. 463)
Katika kusoma na kutafakari maandishi ya Shaaban Robert, ilifikia wakati nikajenga wazo kuwa kuna uwiano mzito baina ya mafundisho ya Shaaban Robert na yale ya Mwalimu Nyerere. Wakati Nyerere anaongelea sana masuala ya siasa, uchumi, nadharia mbali mbali kuhusu jamii na maendeleo yake, Shaaban Robert aliongelea masuala ya aina hiyo hiyo kwa kutuingiza katika hisia na mahusiano baina ya binadamu na binadamu mwenzake. Kama Nyerere, Shaaban Robert alikuwa mchambuzi wa jamii na mwanafalsafa, lakini aliongelea masuala kwa kutumia wahusika maalum na matendo na masahibu yao, na hivi kutugusa moja kwa moja. Ningekuwa na madaraka ya kuamua masuala ya mfumo wa elimu Tanzania, ningehakikisha kuwa Shaaban Robert na Nyerere wamekuwa nguzo ya elimu ya kila m-Tanzania.
