SACRAMENTO — Jaime Escalante--California's most famous high school math teacher, and probably the planet's--has plenty of what he preaches: Ganas. Desire.
Desire to challenge students so they'll achieve beyond anyone's dreams. Desire to challenge mediocrity in schools even if it ruffles fellow teachers. A desire now to challenge--and drastically change--California's system of bilingual education.
He pounds both fists on his chest over his heart as he says it: "Ganas."
There's a wide banner across the left side of the front wall in his classroom here, declaring in bright red letters: "Ganas--That's All You Need." At the wall's middle is a big sign: "The Time to Study for Final Exams is Now." Across the right side is the most eye-catching banner: "Stand and Deliver."
Escalante's life changed significantly after Hollywood made the movie about him. The 1988 hit "Stand and Deliver," starring Edward James Olmos, depicted Escalante's extraordinary feats as a calculus teacher at East L.A.'s Garfield High. He became famous and his colleagues, he says, became envious.
"What the movie did, it created a lot of enemies for me," he says. "Some of the math teachers didn't like what I was doing. Some said, 'He's a comedian.' The kids used to talk about me, 'We have a great teacher.' That created jealousy in some teachers. They said, 'We don't need this guy.' "
Finally, he got sick of the faculty fights. "I said, 'Have a nice day, sir,' " he recalls. "I'd done my homework. I called [Sacramento]."
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Escalante, now 66, has been teaching math since 1991 at Hiram Johnson High, a multiracial school in a working-class neighborhood. He still wears his trademark touring cap. He entertains to capture students' attention. He tutors after school and on Saturdays. He rewards good students with cookies or NBA tickets.
"I work with those who are not motivated," he says. "Troublemakers."
He's a troublemaker himself, of sorts; a malcontent in a positive way. But in Sacramento--at least until recently--he has ducked publicity and controversy. "I have experience," he notes. "I don't really get involved because [if I do] I know I'm going to get kicked out again. Here I'm fine."
But the ganas--the desire to change--cannot permanently be repressed. Recently, Escalante accepted wealthy computer whiz Ron Unz's entreaty to become honorary chairman of his anti-bilingual ed initiative.
