Lawrence Paros

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Lawrence Paros
Lawrence Paros Photo
Born (1934-02-21) February 21, 1934 (age 90)
OccupationWriter, educator, filmmaker
LanguageEnglish
EducationBA; MA;
Alma materUniversity of MA. Amherst; Yale University

Lawrence Paros (born 21 February 1934) is an author and high school teacher, best known for his work in alternative education.

Biography[edit]

Paros was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1934. He received a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science at University of Massachusetts in Amherst. In 1958, Paros received a Master of Arts in American Diplomatic History and Russian Studies at Yale University.[citation needed]

Career[edit]

Paros taught high school in several places before becoming the chair of the History Department at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, Connecticut. While there, he developed an area-wide program on contemporary issues for high school students, which was described in a featured article in the Yale Alumni Magazine.[1]

Paros was then appointed the director of the Yale Summer High School, a project to identify, recruit and educate talented youths living in poverty nationwide. 40 years later, he interviewed former students and staff members of the project, for a documentary film entitled Walk Right In,[2][3] which was screened at a number of film festivals and educational facilities.[4]

Alternative education[edit]

In Providence, Rhode Island, Paros established and directed two experimental schools: the Alternate Learning Project (ALP)[5] and School One. The school was the subject of Hilda Calabro's Diversity or Conformity in the American High School.[6]

Written and online work[edit]

Paros has published works include Dancing on the Contradictions, a book about transformation in schools. His other published works include The Black and the Blue: The Story of the Other Yale, The Great American Cliché,[7] The Erotic Tongue (Madrona and Henry Holt and Company),[8] Bawdy Language (Kvetch Press),[9] and Smashcaps (Avon).

His column, A Word with You,[10] written in the early days of the internet, later served as the basis of a two volume work: A Word with You America.

Paros has also been an op-ed page columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a commentator on KUOW-FM in Seattle. His most recent works include three films: The Journey, the story of an immigrant's trek to America, Walk Right In, the story of the Yale Summer High School, and a short animated film, "Bawdy: The Movie."

Bibliography[edit]

Non-fiction[edit]

  • The Great American Cliché (Workman,1976),
  • The Erotic Tongue (Madrona, Henry Holt,1984),
  • Smashcaps (Avon,1995),
  • A Word with you America (Kvetch Press,1999),
  • Bawdy Language (Kvetch Press,2003),
  • Dancing on the Contradictions (PP Press,2019),

Film/video[edit]

  • The Journey
  • Walk Right In
  • Bawdy: The Movie

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Perspectives on the World by Dane Archer and Alberto Lau". Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  2. ^ "Hope of '60s has lesson for today by Jerry Large". Retrieved 7 February 2008.
  3. ^ "Open doors, and you'll open minds by Jerry Large, Seattle Times". Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  4. ^ "Walk Right In, backstory UW". Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  5. ^ The Alternate Learning Project (ALP) by Charles B. Kenyon, Overview of a Model High School in Providence, Rhode Island. 1978-11-30. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  6. ^ Calabro, Hilda (1972). "Diversity or Conformity in the American High School by Hilda Calabro, University of NC". The High School Journal. 56 (3): 150–153. JSTOR 40365767.
  7. ^ "The Great American Cliché Review, The Nashua Telegraph, by John Shrurr". Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  8. ^ "Erotic Tongue by Mike Henderson, Everett Herald". Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  9. ^ Parvaz, D (20 August 2003). "'Bawdy Language' makes a case". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  10. ^ "A Word With You by Peter Lewis, Seattle Times". Retrieved 19 May 2015.