Celebrated Math Teacher Escalante Says He’ll Quit

Taking aim at what he called the “ingratitude” of fellow teachers and at parents who do not value academic achievement, celebrated calculus instructor Jaime Escalante said Wednesday that he will resign from the Garfield High School faculty.

Escalante, 59, whose unorthodox methods brought national acclaim to his faltering East Los Angeles high school, said he may leave Garfield as early as June. He said he may seek employment in another school district--perhaps in San Diego, Ventura or San Francisco--or return to the private sector to design computers. An engineer before switching to teaching, he has taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 16 years.

The Bolivian-born educator, whose success in teaching calculus to inner-city Latino youngsters was the subject of the 1988 movie “Stand and Deliver,” said the “No. 1” reason for his unhappiness is a handful of letters he received recently from parents who said their children want to drop advanced mathematics classes. In some cases, Escalante said, the letters indicated that students preferred sports over advanced math.

The requests “hurt me more than anything else,” Escalante said in his office, which adjoins a classroom plastered with colorful movie posters from “Stand and Deliver” and unique motivational slogans. “They (parents) don’t see education as the way to succeed in this country.”

Escalante said he has received anonymous phone calls, both at school and at his home, from people threatening to do him bodily harm. The calls are worrying his wife and two sons, he said.

Escalante also cited what he perceived as the “ingratitude” of fellow faculty members, particularly in Garfield’s math department, as well as a lack of district administrative support, as major reasons for his decision to leave.

However, some teachers at the school speculated that Escalante may be grandstanding for more resources for the calculus program.

Teachers and students also said they believe that Garfield’s calculus program would do well under teacher Ben Jimenez if Escalante leaves. Jimenez is an Escalante protege who won a $25,000 California Educator Award from the state Department of Education last year.

Escalante said he has neither received nor sought job offers from private companies or school districts, but he believes that finding another position “is not going to be a problem.”

“I have to leave sooner or later,” he said. “But I have to finish this semester.” He is helping students prepare for the advanced placement exams in calculus, which take place in May.

But Escalante said there is a chance he will prolong his stay for another year because of a commitment to supervise a National Science Foundation program at East Los Angeles College, which offers low-income Latino students accelerated mathematics, science and English classes and trains teachers in Escalante’s methods.

Los Angeles District Supt. Leonard Britton said Wednesday he had not heard from Escalante but is upset at news that the teacher plans to resign. Britton said he will investigate Escalante’s complaints.

“He’d be a loss (to) any school district and (to) any school, particularly at Garfield,” Britton said. “I’d hate to see him leave because of perceived or real administrative issues.”

Escalante rose to national prominence because of his success teaching calculus to low-achieving students, who many educators believed could not handle the difficult subject. The results of a 1982 advanced placement calculus test were so stunning that the Educational Testing Service, which administers the exam, invalidated Escalante’s students’ scores. They took the exam again, with most earning passing marks.

Since then, the numbers of students enrolled in advanced placement courses have soared at Garfield. And Garfield, which was in danger of losing its accreditation eight years ago, now ranks high nationally among schools offering the rigorous academic exams.

In 1988, school officials said that distractions connected to the movie--including a visit to Garfield from then-Vice President George Bush and his wife, Barbara--contributed to a worrisome drop in the calculus advanced placement test scores. However, scores bounced up impressively in 1989, said Philip Arbolino, national associate director of the ETS advanced placement program.

About 57% of the Garfield students who took the rigorous exam in May received a passing score of 3 or higher on a scale of 1 to 5, up from 46% in 1988 but still below the 65% in 1987. Garfield students ranked 22nd in the nation and eighth in California last year in all advanced placement subjects, including calculus, according to Arbolino.

Escalante said he receives 30 requests a day from education groups across the country to share his expertise. He is busy with such engagements nearly every weekend in addition to chairing the math department and teaching a full load of five classes.

As for his relations with other Garfield teachers, Escalante expressed dismay at what he believes is a lack of appreciation of his efforts to improve teaching skills and to draw more students into tough academic courses.

“Mainly, it is a kind of jealousy,” he said.

The teachers’ union representative at Garfield, Brian Wallace, said that Escalante has been disgruntled for months over a perceived lack of support from the school district and the Garfield administration. Escalante was particularly upset that Garfield Principal Maria Tostado criticized him at a faculty meeting for his use of a federally funded aide in the advanced placement program when the aide was supposed to be used only in remedial courses, Wallace said.

Tostado denied that the issue of the assistant led to Escalante’s decision to leave the school, especially since she found district funds to pay for the aide.

Instead, Tostado said, Escalante is mainly upset about the recent transfer of a student out of his class to an accounting course at the request of the student’s parents. Tostado said she would be sorry to lose Escalante but that she could not ignore a parent’s wishes.

Wallace also said the movie about Escalante neglected the vast majority of students who were not in Escalante’s courses and the many other instructors at the school. Some teachers resented the Bush visit and Escalante’s endorsement of Bush for president.

However, Escalante won back much favor from fellow teachers when he supported the Los Angeles teachers strike last spring, Wallace said.

Escalante often takes controversial stands that rankle other teachers. For example, while most other educators decry large classes, Escalante tolerates them. One of his current classes has 60 students.

Lupe Robles, Garfield’s PTA president, said she had not heard of many parents who want to take their children out of advanced math classes. “They all feel our kids need to be challenged,” she said of Garfield parents.

Many Garfield students said they hope that Escalante stays at the school.

“It would be terrible for the school if he left,” said junior Jose Sandoval, who has taken algebra, trigonometry and calculus with Escalante. “He is an inspiration to us all. He motivates us and forces us to do our work and keep on learning.”

Other teachers and former students, however, said that because of resentment over Escalante’s celebrity status, some people will actually welcome his departure.

“I think once he leaves, the school will go back to normal again and start doing good things. The movie really made things bad for us at school,” said Alfonso Gil, a UCLA freshman, who was in Escalante’s classes for three years and graduated from Garfield in June. Catherine Carey, a spokeswoman for United Teachers-Los Angeles, said that she is sorry to hear that Escalante is leaving Garfield but that his departure symbolizes deeper frustrations.

“If he is frustrated with the school district, imagine what the other teachers are feeling,” she said of Escalante.

Escalante’s summer program at East Los Angeles College and the “Stand and Deliver” movie received financial support from the Atlantic Richfield Co. On Wednesday, Larry Bershon, Arco’s director of corporate advertising, predicted that Escalante “will find another Garfield and do his thing all over again. He will never stop teaching. He will die in the saddle teaching.”