by Adrian Rocha
(This article was written before Jaime Escalante’s death on march 30.)
At age 79, Jaime Escalante, the legendary East Los Angeles math teacher who inspired the classic 1988 motion picture Stand and Deliver is fighting for his life.
This time “ganas” — the Spanish word he used to indoctrinate thousands of Latino students with a fierce desire to learn, may not be enough to save him. A month ago, doctors gave the Bolivian native, now in late stages of gall bladder cancer, two months to live, actor Edward James Olmos, his longtime friend, tells Hispanic Link News Service.
Olmos, who earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Escalante, is on a mission to raise funds to help the teacher and his family in Sacramento, Calif., meet mounting medical bills. “It is not that we are trying to save his life,” Olmos says with resignation. “It’s that we want to make his days more comfortable.”
Olmos spent most of a year with Escalante prior to starting the film. “I was able to build a friendship with one of the greatest people on the planet,” he says, proclaiming that Escalante has the greatest depth of any character he has ever played.
Born in La Paz, Bolivia, Escalante taught physics and math for 14 years in his homeland before migrating to the United States in 1964. In California he confronted a new language and the need for U.S. teaching credentials.
On earning them, he obtained a job as a math teacher at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles.
After cajoling school administrators, some students and their parents to accept his challenge, he instituted Garfield’s first college- level calculus classes.
His greatest triumph — and shock — came in 1982 when he guided 18 of his students to pass the rigorous national Advanced Placement calculus exam, an accomplishment comparable to excelling in college competition.
The shock? Test administrators couldn’t believe Chicano students from East L.A. could be that smart. Suspecting they cheated, AP test officials demanded they take the examination over. The students complied and passed again, many scoring even higher than before.
The sour memory of how the media played the drama has remained with Olmos. “The press came after him,” as the cheating charges received far more attention than the achievements of Escalante and his students, Olmos recalls with lingering rancor.
The actor first met Escalante in the early ’80s when both were being honored by the NAACP — Olmos for his relent- less devotion to helping the community and Escalante for his classroom magic.
Escalante’s odyssey made its way to the big screen in 1988, showing the world that kids from disadvantaged backgrounds are just as capable as students from affluent ones. They possess the potential to “understand the highest form of mental use achieved by mathematics,” Olmos says. Stand and Deliver continues to be screened regularly in high schools and middle schools throughout the country. Olmos makes the claim it is “the world’s number 1 most influential movie.”
His big acting break came as El Pachuco in Zoot Suit. His roles over the years include Gaff in Blade Runner, Lt. Martin Castillo in Miami Vice, Montoya Santana in American Me, which he directed, and most recently, Admiral William Adama in Battlestar Galactica.
But today Escalante remains foremost in his thoughts. Three presidents — Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and William Clinton — have hosted the remarkable teacher at the White House in the past.
With Escalante unable to travel, Olmos says. “I’m praying that President Obama will find a way to see Jaime and thank him for all he’s done for our nation.” Hispanic Link.
(Adrian Rocha is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C. His email: Arocha41@gmail.com) To help the family of Jaime Escalante, contact: “Friends of Jaime” c/o FASE 236 West Mountain Street, Suite 105 Pasadena, CA 91103 Or call 626-793-5300).
