Lawrence Paros


Lawrence Paros was an American author and educator, best known for his work in alternative education.

Biography

Paros was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on February 21, 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.
Paros died on July 3, 2019, at the age of 85.

Career

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.
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, which was screened at a number of film festivals and educational facilities.

Alternative education

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

Written and online work

Paros 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, The Erotic Tongue, Bawdy Language, and Smashcaps.
His column, A Word with You, written in the early days of the internet, later served as the basis of a two volume work: A Word with You America.
Paros was also an op-ed page columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a commentator on KUOW-FM in Seattle. His later 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."

Non-fiction

  • The Great American Cliché,
  • The Erotic Tongue,
  • Smashcaps,
  • A Word with you America,
  • Bawdy Language,
  • Dancing on the Contradictions,

Film/video

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