The Power of Participation: Improving Schools in a Democratic Society

Education & Teaching

Golarz, Raymond J.

Golarz, Marion J.

Schools & Teaching

Research Pr Pub

Ray Golarz paints a revealing pathway into the lives of a Depression era immigrant community. He takes the reader aboard a journey via the very early American game of football. Once aboard, the reader is introduced to a team of young semi-pro Polish football players, along with their friends, families, ethnic customs, and religious ways, then drawn into a community struggling to survive the Depression's challenges and maintain their unique identity in this newly-adopted country. This account has it all: football games filled with action, emotion, strategizing, and gritty determination. And like those who actually came to see the games, you will find it delightfully easy to walk along with family and friends, coming from all over their neighborhood, to stand or take a seat on a make-shift bench. Join in the singing of the National Anthem, agonize over plays gone wrong, and walk with them over to Wusic's gas station to gather and celebrate after game victories. Ah, but stick around. There's more. Before, during and between games and seasons, you can come to team meetings, share a Christmas Eve ethnic meal, and attend a Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. If you can wake up at two o'clock in the morning, you will be taken on a night trip to collect coal along the railroad tracks. Then in early morning, go off to Wusic's for coffee and a log in the pot-bellied stove. And you can get a close look at the Depression on a national level as you join Lefty who goes "on the bum" hitting the rails, driven by curiosity and want for food at home. Meet World War I vets on their way to Washington for promised bonuses, walk to Niagara Falls, and take a cot in a New York City mission.

Yellow Jacket Football in Hard Times and Good

History

AuthorHouse

Sweet Land of Liberty

Come along as the little Polish Village of East Hammond continues its struggle in this new country. Witness the suffering and actual loss of lives as marching workers are shot and killed challenging for recognition of their union. Join them as they rebound and find courage to sing and dance beneath the smokestack of a giant incinerator. Welcome visiting gypsies. Be captivated by their music and campfire lure.  And, yes, there is still more Yellow Jacket football to be played with Lefty, Wolf, and the whole gang, complete with the customary grit, action, and lessons to be learned and passed on. Grab a sideline seat for two tough opponents-Chicago Heights and Joliet Prison.  Become a young child and with the author share living with Busia(grandmother), basking in her quiet ways and running freely throughout her neighborhood. Go shopping in the quaint little shopping village, just walking distance from home. Find anything from penny candy to live chickens to communion suits for little boys and white dresses for little girls. Look out for the trolley. Back home, create magical places from the top of a giant backyard wood pile.  Watch young women as they prepare so carefully for their wedding days, while the reality and challenges of WWII reached into their village, changing lives forever.  Stick around when the going gets rugged for "Rajmund," as Busia's safe boundaries give way to storms and street fights that rage through his early school years. Watch as he struggles with his God for an answer to why his closest childhood friend ended up in prison shackles-but not him.  Kneel in the soft light of St. Mary's sanctuary with three East Hammond Polish street kids who find comfort in the patient, still womb of family love, strong traditions, and God's mysterious grace.

Americas

The Problem Isn't Teachers: Stories and Essays that tell the Truth About the Real Plight of American Education

If there's one thing that Americans have in common it's that the truth we seek is constantly being obscured. We are lied to. The lies come from commercials we watch, from politicians, from those like the tobacco company executives who swore that nicotine is not addictive, from fabrications suggesting that our children's lack of excelling on international tests somehow define us as second-class people, and from false statements declaring that American teachers are causal to the nation's educational problems. Unlike Jack Nicholson's angry declaration, "You can't handle the truth," as he played Colonel Nathan Jessup in the movie A Few Good Men, we think you can handle the truth. Therefore, this book is written. It's filled with stories and essays that tell the real truth about the plight of American education. Some of the stories will make you laugh, some make you cry. You will become angry, occasionally shocked. Each chapter will reveal deep problems and you will find yourself looking for easy answers. But there are none. What you will find are bold answers that will require the fighting spirit and courage of a nation. You will be challenged to join a "War worth Waging." We have not hesitated to identify, in addition to problems and bold solutions, the real villains, for there are villains. As the chapters undress them for you and expose their real identities, you will simultaneously be introduced to unsung heroes who teach in our nation's classrooms. They are heroes you will declare by book's end to be the cement that holds the nation together. They have never stopped teaching the skills and civility that the next generation needs to participate in and contribute to the perpetuation of the democracy. You will come to know, on a personal level, the American schoolteacher.

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

If there's one thing that Americans have in common it's that the truth we seek is constantly being obscured. We are lied to. The lies come from commercials we watch; from politicians; from those like the tobacco company executives who swore that nicotine is not addictive; from fabrications suggesting that our children's lack of excelling on international tests somehow define us as second-class people; and from false statements declaring that American teachers are causal to the nation's educational problems. Unlike Jack Nicholson's angry declaration; "You can't handle the truth"; as he played Colonel Nathan Jessup in the movie A Few Good Men; we think you can handle the truth. Therefore; this book is written. It's filled with stories and essays that tell the real truth about the plight of American education. Some of the stories will make you laugh; some make you cry. You will become angry; occasionally shocked. Each chapter will reveal deep problems and you will find yourself looking for easy answers. But there are none. What you will find are bold answers that will require the fighting spirit and courage of a nation. You will be challenged to join a "War worth Waging". We have not hesitated to identify; in addition to problems and bold solutions; the real villains; for there are villains. As the chapters undress them for you and expose their real identities; you will simultaneously be introduced to unsung heroes who teach in our nation's classrooms. They are heroes you will declare by book's end to be the cement that holds the nation together. They have never stopped teaching the skills and civility that the next generation needs to participate in and contribute to the perpetuation of the democracy. You will come to know; on a personal level; the American schoolteacher.

Lessons Learned Over Time Lessons of a Different Kind I am Marion Simpson Golarz. Yes, that is my name on the cover of this book preceded by the word “with”. The with is fairly accurate because for many years now I have been a back-seat driver, sparing partner, and even a co-pilot during Ray’s career as a teacher, criminal justice director, administrator, university instructor, keynote speaker, and author. Before we were married he warned me that life would not follow a straight path. Little did I know. Life certainly has not, but it’s always been enriching. I am particularly fond of this new book for it has been in process for over thirty years, beginning with the first stories Ray created and told as he began his keynoting career. I was often in the audience then and loved to see the joy and comfort these stories brought to so many from all walks of life. During that same time I watched him struggle with profoundly overwhelming challenges as he attempted to bring aid and comfort to some of our neediest fellow men while he headed up criminal justice efforts. I watched him win and lose battles with out-of-date and erroneous theories about how to support, acknowledge, and encourage teachers and law enforcement officers, how to counter prejudice and racism, and how everyone should continue to reach for the sky. And that’s what these stories reveal. You will laugh, cry, sigh, question, and have more than one “aha” moment as you work your way through this latest expanded edition, a story at a time. In this new book, you won’t find strategies to improve standardized test scores, or data-driven solutions. But, if you are looking for inspiration you have picked up the right book. By the way, there are also some very good belly-laughs in these pages so enjoy them.

A Teacher’s Storybook: Expanded Edition—80 Short Stories

Literature & Fiction

Golarz, Marion Simpson

Short Stories & Anthologies

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