Jaime was born in La Paz, Bolivia.
Both of his parents were teachers, so it was no surprise that their son
came to love learning. He attended
college and earned his teaching degree in mathematics. Becoming a teacher himself, Jaime soon got married
and had a son. By the time he was in his
early thirties, he had developed a reputation for excellence throughout his
twelve years teaching math and physics in Bolivia. However, he wanted to provide a better life
for his family, and decided that they should move to the United States.
Arriving in California, they moved into a single room that Jaime’s
brother-in-law owned. Jaime needed a job
urgently, but although he possessed the knowledge and experience to teach math,
there was a clear barrier preventing him from doing so: he didn’t speak English. He would have to learn the language if he would
ever be able to teach in America, but he also needed to support his wife and
son in the meantime.
At the age of 33, Jaime interviewed with the gruff, sour-tempered
manager of a local restaurant, who was hiring someone to clean and bus
tables. Jaime got the job, and soon was
sweeping, mopping, and scrubbing the restaurant’s dirty linoleum floor. The once-renowned Bolivian math teacher was
the only non-English speaking employee at the establishment, and it represented
a new challenge in his life. But he knew
the situation wouldn’t be permanent, and tried to take what he could from
it. He was anxious to communicate and
interact with new people, wanted to learn, and was determined to make things
happen.
Jaime decided to attend Pasadena City College, which happened to
be right across the street from his job.
He went to classes in the evenings after he finished work, taking
English, math, and electronics, all while learning the language of his new
country at the same time. He had always
been a good student, but with a full-time job, a full load of classes in a new
language, and a family, it was the most difficult time of his life. Every night after classes were over, he was
in the library studying until the security guards asked him to leave.
Even though he was actually making more money in the restaurant
than he had as a teacher in Bolivia, the family struggled. But Jaime was determined to reach his goal of
being able to teach in the USA, and knew that the education he was getting would
enable him to do so. For four years, he
continued with the evening classes, until finally he graduated with a degree in
Electronics.
After finishing school, a plant located in the northeast part of
Pasadena offered him a job as an assembly line supervisor. He continued with his schooling, finishing a
second degree in Mathematics, and worked his way up in the company. Eventually, due to his skills at solving production
and electrical problems, he was offered a supervisor's job in a new plant in
Guadalajara, Mexico.
Jaime declined the offer. Moving
to Mexico was not his goal.
Finishing his education at Cal State, Jaime immediately received teaching
offers from several Los Angeles school district officials. He had his pick from three senior high
schools in different areas of the city that all had large Latino student
populations. Finally, after all his hard
work, he was going to be a teacher again.
Jaime went on to become one of the most famous educators in the
United States. He began teaching at
Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, where drugs, gangs and violence were everyday
facts of life. Despite these conditions,
Jaime was able to motivate a group of students to take and pass the AP calculus
exam. At first, The Educational Testing
Service invalidated the scores, believing the students had cheated, but the
pupils retook the test and passed, making Jaime Escalante a national hero
almost overnight. The story was
dramatized in the movie Stand and Deliver,
which depicted Escalante’s efforts to help the underachieving Latino students
beat the odds and realize their own capabilities for success.
As you pursue your goals in life, remember the Passion First
mindset, which teaches that, if you want to do something extraordinary, your
dreams must leverage your strengths and interests, align with who you are, and
matter greatly to you. When all of this
is in place, you will feel your best and perform at your best. As Jaime Escalante put it, “What a person truly
needs to succeed is el deseo de triunfar… the desire to triumph!” This sort of desire only comes when you take a
stand and pursue your most authentic passions.
Until next week...
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