Jaime Escalante - Stand and Deliver
If we expect kids to be losers they will be losers; if we expect them to be winners they will be winners. They rise, or fall, to the level of the expectations of those around them, especially their parents and their teachers. - Jaime Escalante
When Jaime Escalante began teaching at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, too many of the students he saw had given up on the traditional academic path.
Their reasons were not hard to fathom. Everything seemed stacked against them. Very few in the educational bureaucracy believed that these students from the poorest Hispanic communities in LA, had the capacity to learn math or science, or to hope to attend a decent college.
Jaime had a different vision. He knew that, given the chance, these kids could rise to the highest standards. His own story was evidence of that.
He was born in Bolivia in 1930, and had a promising career as a high-school math and physics teacher. In 1964, he decided to move to the United States... despite the fact that he spoke no English, and neither his degree nor his teaching credentials would be recognized in his new land.
Undeterred, he landed a day job at Burroughs Corporation. Every night he would take courses at Pasadena City College, eventually earning first a degree in biology and then one in math.
In 1974, he finally received his papers and was hired as the computer teacher at Garfield High School.
Unfortunately, thanks to budget cutbacks... the school had no computers.
Nor did it have a real math program. Academic standards were on life support. The school was overrun with gangs and drugs. Several times during his first few weeks Jaime seriously considered phoning up Burroughs and asking for his old job back.
Eventually he was able to find a dozen students to sign up for an algebra class. It was a start... but by now Jaime had set a higher goal. He wanted Garfield students to sit for the AP (Advanced Placement) tests in Calculus.
This is an important set of tests which pre-qualify students for higher education. Those students who score a 3 or better (out of 5) on the tests will automatically receive college credit at over 2,000 colleges and universities. The stakes are high.
Less than 2% of high school seniors nationally even sit for the exam. In fact, A.P. was considered appropriate only for students in elite private and wealthy public schools.
Everyone viewed it as almost impossible that students like those at Garfield could ever rise to such a rigorous academic challenge.
But Jaime believed in his students. He knew that if he could reach them, and show them the kind of future they could build for themselves, most of them were capable of passing that test. So he set about making it happen.
With a combination of humor, persistence and sheer guts, he reached out. He showed them why education was so important to their future... and convinced them it was worth working for.
He challenged them to reach higher in life than most of them had even considered.
"Where is the money?" I ask my students. "It is in physics, computers, biology, chemistry and electronics. What is the language for all of these subjects? The language is mathematics - and if you know the language you can do anything."
He expected and demanded more from them... and their families... than had ever been asked before. And he was no easy taskmaster.
His students - and their parents - had to sign a contract binding them to participation in the summer programs held at ELAC, strict completion of daily homework, and attendance at Saturday morning and after-school study sessions. And Escalante would hold them to every letter of it. He wouldn't even let them into the classroom unless they had all their work done.
At the same time, he made the learning fun. He used examples they could relate to. He got them team T-shirts, he told great stories, he led them in rounds of "We Will Rock You". He joked, he demonstrated, he challenged their assumptions.
And slowly, they progressed.
It wasn't as instant a process as it seems in the movie "Stand and Deliver". Nobody can go from basic arithmetic to advanced Calculus in a year... even with a great teacher.
In fact, it was 1979 before Escalante's first group of five students was ready to attempt the AP calculus test. Two passed... an encouraging start.
By 1981, the class had 15 students, 14 of whom passed.
The class of 1982, about whom the 1988 film "Stand and Deliver" was made, had 18 students write the exam... all of whom passed.
At this point the educational bureaucracy was doubtful, to say the least. How could students at a school like Garfield possibly be capable of such scores? The test scores were challenged on suspicion of cheating, and 14 of those who passed were asked to take the test again.
To everyone's relief, the results vindicated all of them. Most educators were in shock.
The program continued to grow under his careful guidance; in 1991 there were 570 Garfield students taking the AP exam.
But despite the success, Escalante had a number of opponents, especially in the school administration. He had to fight constantly for budget, for books, for class space, for resources. In 1991 he decided he had had enough of the politics, jealousies and obstructions, and he left Garfield... retiring a few years later.
The next year, without Jaime's passion driving it, there was a sevenfold drop in students passing the AP exams... and the program more or less collapsed through administrative neglect over the next few years.
But I'm happy to report that the graduates of Escalantes' courses today hold highly respected, well-paid positions in science, in finance, industry, government... everywhere.
So, what was his secret for motivating these underachieving students to attempt the hardest academic test they'd ever faced? Here are a few of the success factors that Jaime himself identified.
First of all, he listened to what the kids were saying. He paid attention when they talked about their lives, so he was able to speak to them in terms they understood. Listening also gave him a clear understanding of the barriers to learning that the students faced ... so he could help find ways to get past them.
Second, he challenged his students to be bigger than the stereotypes and preconceptions that some people held. He convinced them of their own potential - and he expected and demanded more from them than anyone else was willing to. More work, more hours, more commitment.
He held each of them accountable for what they had promised, and he held himself totally accountable for their overall success.
And third, he inspired them by showing them that their horizons were far wider than anyone else was giving them credit for... that they were capable of achieving whatever they wanted, without limit, if they were willing to work hard enough for it.
"Those who sit for the exam have already won the real game being played. They are winners because they have met a larger challenge than any single examination could present."
Listen. Challenge. Inspire.
To my mind, those are the actions of a true teacher. And of a great leader.
