![]() And the rest of the film doesn't fare much better, particularly the the incredibly aggrevating soundtrack. ![]() Even the ending comes off as contrived, trying far too hard to move you even an inch. The entire thing plays out like a poorly written account of Husker teaching how to subtract 2 from 2 to a roomful of robots with their "poor Latino stereotype" settings turned to eleven. However, I quickly learned to ignore such reasoning because this film doesn't do asingle thing you haven't seen before. And drivers and passers-by stuff money into buckets shaken by two Garfield mascots - 6-foot felt bulldogs.Īt the end of the day, the former students have raised almost $17,000, a sign that Escalante's kids and the community he made so proud were ready to stand and deliver for him.Despite a recommendation from one of my friends (who has recommended mostly crappy movies in the past), I was willing to give this movie a chance if only to see the venerable Edward James Olmos as a professor. He is staying with his son, Jaime Jr., in Sacramento, Calif., so he can commute to Reno, Nev., for medical treatment.Īs a Bolivian band plays in homage to Escalante's birth country, some people write checks or contribute cash. After all that Kimo has done for us, it's the least we can do."īack at Garfield, more people stream onto the school's lawn to sign a big banner that will be sent to Escalante. But what we want is to die in comfort and dignity, with our loved ones around us. "Even if you weren't his student, he would always ask you, 'How're you doing in trig? What’s happening with your grades?'" Arredondo says.Īctor Edward James Olmos, who received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Escalante in the 1988 hit movie Stand and Deliver, is spearheading an effort to support Escalante and his family in what looks to be the teacher's final days. "Not only did he come, he came with a suitcase full of tamales made in East L.A." A thoughtful taste of home for students who hadn't been there in a while.ĭolores Arredondo (left) and Alicia Barrera look over their 1991 yearbook from Garfield High School. Escalante to speak, and he did," Arredondo says. It was a home-style Thanksgiving for those who couldn't afford to fly home. ![]() She said that one year, Escalante appeared at the Pachanga celebration for Latino students that the Ivy League and Seven Sisters colleges held on the East Coast. Lerma reels off a partial list of where she and other Escalante students from the class of 1991 went: Occidental, Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, MIT, Wellesley.ĭolores Arredondo, who is now a bank vice president went to Wellesley. And he showed them that the best colleges in the country were not beyond their reach. He would teach anybody who wanted to learn - they didn't have to be designated gifted and talented by the school.Įscalante, whose students mischievously nicknamed him "Kimo" (a play on The Lone Ranger's Kemosabe moniker), would not only work with his students until they were all ready to drop from exhaustion, he employed them in the summers as tutors. Garfield educates some of Los Angeles' poorest students, many of them from immigrant families, and many of whom never conceived of college as a possibility. To the astonishment of the outside world, Escalante taught many of these returning graduates math - advanced math, like trigonometry and calculus. The medical costs have depleted Escalante's savings, and the students are determined to help out. But the weather didn't dampen the enthusiasm of many Garfield graduates, who came from all over Los Angeles and beyond to show their support for their former teacher, Jaime Escalante.Įscalante's former students recently learned he is in the end stages of bladder cancer that has spread throughout his body. The lawn in front of Garfield High School in East Los Angeles was sodden from the morning's rain. Many of Escalante's former students are raising money to help pay for their teacher's medical costs as he battles bladder cancer. ![]() Jaime Escalante is seen here teaching math at Garfield High School in Los Angeles in March 1988.
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