Stand and deliver

I think it is really sad that we have lost Mr. Escalante. We need more people like him. he had common sense and was an inspiration. Unfortunately with his loss I believe we All lose out. Anything that lessens people like him lessen us all.


Jaime Escalante was a man from Bolivia who worked hard to become a teacher in Garfield High school. He taught math and got very frustrated at what he saw as the dumbing down of the kids in his school.
He fought the critics and the other teachers, he went against the politically correct and the naysayers, and he single handed, brought Garfield High to being one of the top schools in all of America.
By 1981 THERE WERE ONLY A HANDFUL OF SCHOOLS IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY that could match Garfield in mathematical excellence.

The entire life of Senor Escalante was so inspiring they made a movie "Stand and Deliver" that detailed his life.

Sadly we do not get to know all that happened later. it turns out that finally the politics won and they drove him out of Garfield and they have seen a steady decline in the competence of their students until we reach Last year when only five percent of the students at Garfield High tested proficient at ANY level of math.

This is really sad because when Jaime first started teaching the high school math there he compared the level of math they were learning to be on par with a basic FIFTH grade education in math in Bolivia.

So now we have all lost out. If you are a teacher or parent please push for better standards see Mr. Escalante's life as a standard to reach for and try to teach your kids that well.

I would also encourage you to watch the movie of his life. (remember that was stand and deliver) I only saw the movie once but it was very inspiring to me.

By the way just so you know one of the things that was used against Mr. Escalante was that even though he was from Bolivia he believed that the students of America needed to learn English and classes needed to be taught in English only.
Another point apparently used against him was his advising President G.W. Bush.

How sad that common sense and trying to make a difference in our lives cause so many to rise up in anger, and destroy a great person.