Jaime Escalante In Sacramento Today

Had I known about this in advance, instead of reading it in the local paper in the staff lounge, I might have taken the day off to go watch. After all, Escalante is a rock star to us math teachers.

Jaime Escalante, whose success in teaching advanced mathematics to inner-city Los Angeles teenagers was immortalized in the movie "Stand and Deliver," will be honored today at the Capitol.

Escalante, 78, is one of 14 trailblazers receiving Latino Spirit Awards from the California Latino Legislative Caucus.

Escalante, now living and teaching college classes part time in Bolivia, taught for 17 years at Los Angeles' Garfield High School and for seven years at Sacramento's Hiram Johnson High School, retiring in 1998.

Here's what he had to say Friday in an interview....

He supports monolingual English instruction (the AP test comes in only one language, he'd say), he supports the High School Exit Exam, he says we spend plenty of money on education but waste too much of it, and he thinks schools need the help and support of parents if they're to do right by students.

I agree with him.