Super Math Teacher Jaime Escalante

I think the editorial missed the point. Anyone who expects gratitude is always going to be disappointed. It is much more gratifying to savor it when it occurs unexpectedly. Were Escalante’s remarkable accomplishments done for gratitude or for the students?

He has hardly been denied wide recognition and overwhelming kudos; now he seems to want everyone to bow to him and to feel that rules should not apply to him.

As a retired teacher, I cannot help wondering if the Escalante method--forbidding after school work or activities to students, depending upon 100% cooperation from parents--wouldn’t raise L.A.’s abysmal reading scores.

EUGENE FRIEDMAN

Granada Hills