Escalante: The Best Teacher in America

Mathews did an excellent job in chronicling the rise of Jaime Escalante, including a significant amount of background from his youth in Bolivia. It's always fascinating to see what all is involved in the development of the character of famous people. Mathews' story is fascinating, even more so than the movie, as it is closer to the real situation of E LA's Garfield. The compressed time frame of the movie gives the impression that students went from math illiterates to Calculus in 1-2 years which simply isn't true or even possible for Escalante. The take home message, however, of a long-term committment and an undying belief that many to most students can do better despite significant background challenges remains. Fortunately most students in US schools are not sold as short as they were in Escalante's Garfield - problems remain in our schools for sure but most schools are in much better shape than what he started with. Indeed, Mathews chronicles of a couple times when Escalante planned to leave Garfield, which makes what he and his students accomplished all the more amazing. There is still a need to review what he did and see what aspects of it can be replicated. One lesson I got from this is that in fact it's not just the teachers but it needs some support from the "system" - indeed only when Escalante finally got some admin help did Garfield reach it's height. {You can read on the net what happened after Escalante left when some of his administrative cover was lost} Part of what is fascinating and fun in this textbook is the chance to peer into Escalante's personality - not necessarily duplicable and in some ways he was the right fit for the right place at the right time. His avoidance of meetings, the coordination with the counselors and assistant principals/principals (well, those who would work with him), and other quirks are interesting and fun to read. As an aside to Escalante, in many ways this book guided the career of its author, Jay Mathews, who still writes ed columns for the Washington Post. Escalante did not just influence his students but even the author who still appears strongly influenced in his ed opinions by what he learned first hand of Escalante's accomplishments. For the rest of us this book is the best way to get to better know Escalante, at least the Escalante of the events popularized in the movie.

I first heard about this book in the summer of 2006 when I was taking an AP Calculus Institute. I of course was familiar with the "Stand and Deliver" film, and I was very curious to read this book. The book tells you the TRUE story of what happened to Escalante and his students. Don't believe everything the film tells you! The film will have you believe that Escalante took students who didn't know how to add and he turned them into AP Calculus stars. That is not true. Escalante spent years developing a PROGRAM where weaker students could correct their deficiences by enrolling in a summer course, etc. I did find the book to be very motivational, especially since I read it right before I taught AP for the first time. I liked the line where Escalante said AP results are kind of like a "report card for the teacher". The book also details the fact that Escalante would kick a student out of AP (or at least strongly threaten to) if they missed ONE homework. So while Escalante's accomplishment was extraordinary, I wish I had the luxury of kicking a student out of AP if they missed one assignment!! The overall message of the book and film though is that with hard work, a person can succeed at anything they put their mind too. So it's nice to read a book with a positive message like that.

A visiting nerd from Mars might well decide that sports was the cult/religion of choice among Americans. This conclusion would work if the visitor compared Sunday TV-tube activity with, say, church attendance. It would also make sense of activity at many American high schools, with its cheerleaders, heros and stars. After his success at teaching calculus to (yep, here we go again) mostly poor Latino students was dramatized in the movie Stand and Deliver, Jaime Escalante became the closest thing to a star in the little world of education. His story intersects the American sports-obsession in a number of important ways. Escalante, who considered school sports a distraction for his students, in his own classrooms took the teacher-as-coach metaphor way beyond the 100-yard-line. A Bolivian immigrant and Lakers fan, he had a lot of sympathy and understanding for his students. But as an accomplished, determined professional, he had no time for their excuses or laziness: He used threats and jokes, camaraderie and charisma, insults and incessant drill, much the way a football coach does. He also had the "big game", a clearly defined goal with visible results: The advanced placement (AP) test that high-school students attempt for college credit. Better than basketball as a ticket to a future. Like many sports coaches--and very few teachers--Escalante got 110% from his team. Starting from zero in 1978 (when he arrived there), by 1987 Garfield High was fourth in the United States in number of students taking AP calculus, and accounted for about a quarter of all Mexican-American high-school students who passed the test. Journalist Jay Mathews starts with Escalante's childhood and teaching career in Bolivia, but spends about 2/3 of the fast-moving narrative on Garfield. It includes numerous vignettes of students dealing with Escalante's personality, his rigorous calculus teaching, and crises (or simply grinding poverty) in their lives. Mathews goes easy on generalizations, but here are his first two "lessons" near the books conclusion: "Teachers who bring students up to high standards are precious commodities. Leave them alone.... If left alone, teachers who work hard and care for their students will produce better results than ten times their number dutifully following the ten best recommendations of the ten latest presidential commissions on education." Nancie Atwell says Shut your door and do what you need to. The Garfield mascot, which became Escalante's symbol for himself and his students, is a bulldog. I believe that we are still "a nation at risk," especially where the education of poor and minority children, the life of our cities, is concerned. Jay Matthew's book, the story of a few determined teachers (and their principal!) will not hold the same lesson for everyone, but is an extremely valuable encounter.

If this book doesn't make you want to quit your job and do something meaningful with your life, nothing will.

Actually, the review title pretty much says it. This is the book that was the basis for "Stand by Me." A slightly less dramatic, but more accurate and detailed account of the amazing results when one man believed in his students and helped them learn to believe in themselves. Also includes a section on the value of high standards exams such as the AP Calculus test to showing that the ability of students from disadvantaged areas can be a match for students from anywhere.