Howie Weiss

The Education Czar (eBook, ePUB)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Robert Zebrininski, called Zeb all his life, grows up a confused young man. He knows he wants to accomplish something useful with his life, but he doesn't know how. Zeb hardly fits the mold of normalcy. As a young boy, growing up in the early 1950's, he's bullied because he's fond of playing with girls and girl toys such as dolls and coloring books. It certainly doesn't help that he's physically awkward and an easy target. His Dad, a WWII veteran, and a tough union man is troubled by his son's lack of coordination and masculinity, so he enrolls Zeb in two kinds of martial arts classes karate and jiu jitsu. By the time Zeb is nine years old, he's grown bigger and stronger than most of the neighborhood boys. Losing his awkwardness, Zeb is no longer a target for bullies. Indeed, Freddy, his worst tormentor, ends up becoming Zeb's best friend for life. Zeb is smart, well-liked by his peers and respected for his fighting ability, but he's bewildered because he's not like the other boys. As he matures, Zeb lacks sexual desire for girls or boys. And when he's upset, Zeb likes to cross-dress, using occasional violence to sublimate and calm his mind. While Zeb knows he's not a girl and is not gay, he doesn't understand what or why he is. Still, throughout his life Zeb goes on to use his physical prowess to help people rectify perceived wrongs and inequity.

After graduating from three and a half unhappy years as an economics major at Queens College with no life direction, the rape of his best friend Katy, and his subsequent revenge against the perpetrators, notwithstanding her wishes not to, Zeb decides to join the Marines. He's eventually sent to Vietnam, where he realizes how useless and nonsensical this war is. After serving four years and returning to New York, he has the opportunity to become an instant teacher, because in 1967, New York City was desperate for elementary and middle school teachers. He just needed to take twelve measly education credits at NYU. Most of the teacher recruits were males, becoming teachers to avoid the draft and Vietnam; but Zeb became a teacher because he thought teaching might possibly be his calling. Becoming a teacher, he believed, especially in a poor socio-economic neighborhood, was a chance to do something useful for society. And as a physical education teacher, he would be able to teach children how to best use their minds and bodies.

This 90,000-word fictional novel, part memoir and part imaginatively surreal tale, is told in the first person by Zeb. The narration follows him from his early days as a clueless, struggling physical education teacher in Brooklyn, to, by sheer coincidence, an unconventional educational leader. He recruits an outstanding team of educators and with the help of an important, albeit flawed government official in President Carter's Health, Education, and Welfare cabinet, presents novel ideas to local school districts to show how certain educational modalities and interventions can successfully work for their students.

The Education Czar, through myriad adventures and heartfelt relationships, highlights many of our country's failing educational policies and practices, with Zeb on the front lines fighting for education that benefits everyone, not just the elite. Still, Zeb struggles with his personal demons, eventually learning to accept himself, thereby allowing him to accept others into his life.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Howie Weiss
• Erscheinungstermin: 21. August 2024
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9798227773241
• Artikelnr.: 72395171