To prove that they didn't cheat. Previously, teachers had worked under conditions that made learning difficult at best, including students routinely talking and acting out in class, wearing provocative clothing, openly threatening each other and bragging about their gang affiliations, and scaring other students away from the cafeteria and restrooms that were marked as gang turf.
Counselor Don Mrocsak notes that at some point along the way, “the school became the parent figure.’But schools are not designed or equipped to replace parents in raising their children. Single-parent children are far more likely to be poor than others, and more likely to struggle with schoolwork. )Though only a small percentage of Garfield students were in advanced math and even fewer were AP prospects, all of them benefitted from consistent high standards that encouraged them to stretch beyond what they and others thought they could do. Gradually, the responsibility for raising children in America today is shifting away from parents toward schools. She returned saying the (pre-Gradillas) principal agreed with her that it was within the school dress code. This is a new direction for educational media, one that fits the way that teachers actually teach.ÂThe Futures Channel caught up with Escalante and his students when Steve Heard, the Futures ChannelÂs CEO, recently co-produced an event for the Center for Youth Citizenship in Sacramento to honor EscalanteÂs achievements and contributions to education. The new principal at Garfield High, however, thought otherwise. He also made sure Escalante had whatever resources and equipment he needed. “Give and go’ for absolute values and “Red light’ for factoring were others in a long list of code words that Escalante used and his students picked up.Escalante organized group activities including early morning and afternoon study sessions. No math teacher was ever more directive than Escalante, which is why some of his students were suspected of cheating on the AP calculus exam — their answers were so much alike. Today, America’s educational establishment is bigger than ever, especially at the national level, and few teachers have the time, energy, or High-level policy decisions may focus on money, race, unions, technology, and a host of other issues that overshadow the classroom fundamentals Escalante and his peers built their reputations on. “Don’t call it a ‘Golden Age!’’ Henry Gradillas declares with conviction. When Jaime needed to take action in order to pursue his objective in the classroom, he and his supporters assumed the authority to act on the spot.Jaime’s success at Garfield depended in part on his ability to address a problem immediately and aggressively. Henry believes they were only getting the education they were entitled to.He should know. Class clowns, troublemakers, and girls in low-cut tops were distractions Escalante dealt with quickly, decisively, and sometimes harshly. I faced my challenge, and found that my determination and strong desire to produce the best-trained soldiers brought about enormous positive results. But he never gave up, never wavered in his belief in his students and that what he was doing was right. Students regularly study long hours, including some weekends. Some teachers were jealous of the extra resources he attracted from corporate sponsors who wanted to support his program, especially after the movie made him a pop celebrity. Anything that got in the way of that objective was an obstacle to be overcome. My guess is that 15 percent of all administrators in LA are innovative, skillful, completely supportive of teachers and 85 percent are inept, mediocre, and afraid they won’t move up the chain of command.’Jaime Escalante was willing to take on the bureaucracy. (The Escalante program is still thriving today at East Lost Angeles College, with a summer enrollment of over 4,000 from all across the city. Millions of schoolchildren now get two free meals a day on campus. Jamie Escalante did not look like anybody’s idea of a celebrity. He was built like a corcho – cork. Your second choice was a family of modest means who would love your children, spend lots of time with them, encourage them, and do all they could to make them happy … We have seen how parents, desperate for their children to get a good education, have found a variety of ways around the bloated, misguided, and myopic bureaucracy that controls so much of American public education. Some are exceptional, some are not as good. ARCO had been donating $100,000 a year to Escalante for his summer school at Garfield. Along with Jaime’s rare level of dedication and ability to inspire and motivate his pupils, other components were equally essential. “That’s where the result of low expectations is most acute. As director Ramón Menéndez explained to New York Times film critic Aljean Harmetz, it had been a tough sell to distributors. “Fine,’ Escalante answered, “you can wear it, but you can’t wear it in my class.’ He, not the principal or a dress code, would decide what was a distraction in his class and what was not.When another math teacher despaired over the bad behavior of his students, Escalante offered to exchange classes with him for a couple of days. But one teacher, Jaime Escalante, represented the best of what a teacher can be and how a teacher can motivate his students. Students observed a
(In return, other students were sometimes transferred to Garfield to make a fresh start or separate them from a gang. The following year, the class size increased to nine students, seven of whom passed the AP calculus test.