Helping Dangerous Minds

Inner city schools havehad themselves a reputation for crime, violence and poor academic performance. Over the years there have been many resolute instructors who have gone directly into the eyes of the storm determined to break tradition and make changes. Jaime Escalante, Rafe Esquith and Erin Gruwell are three of those teachers, and all of them have had a tremendous influence on their students in their own way. Originally a Bolivian, Mr. Escalante is best noted for his tenure as teach math at Garfield High in Los Angeles spanning the from the early 70s on into the 1990s. He described his personal teaching philosophy as making every effort for both the teacher and the student and his methods reflected pedigree. Escalante's first Algebra class at the school had only a few pupils. He roused angst when he demanded students respond to a homework question before being let into course. When a new principal took over, inspired by the instructor, he totally overhauled the math dept. and implemented a policy forbidding extracurriculars for students without at least a "C" in their class. After much hard work in the math program at the high school, Escalante initiated the first Calculus course in 1978 for a handful of kids and a short time later had over a dozen students where all save one passed. By 1990, his math enrichment program had grown to 400 and he personally taught as many as fifty in all of his courses. Escalante succeeded as a result of working hard and projecting such tremendous expectations on his pupils. He convinced them success demands tremendous amounts of work. He put faith in them and they in turn believed. Mr. Esquith started teaching at Hobart Elementary School, LA in the mid 1980s. The majority of his 5th grade students come from poor Asian-American and Central American immigrant homes. Esquith begins his day at 6:30 and often doesn't return home until 6 at night. His enthusiasm is infectious, as many of his students volunteer the same hours he invests. Esquith tailors his teaching according to the different learning personalities of his students and expects his students to advance beyond their level. The students are known for the classics they perform each spring. The influence he has made is evident in the fact that many of his former pupils have come back to help him with classes or to showcase their experiences. Ms Gruwell began her educationcareer at Woodrow Wilson of Longbeach. Califo ia in 1994. Much of her class came from troubled homes with parents who were convicted criminals, had left their families or dead. She was appalled by the ethnic divisions among her pupils and managed to get through to them with music and literature, specifically stories of the Holocaust. She also demanded her students keep a diary and her students began to call themselves Writers for Freedom. All of Gruwell's writers graduated from high school and a number went on to university. Gruwell credited her success with the class to the fact that she was a mentor in addition to an instructor. Although these three teachers each had varying personas and philosophies, they had some things in common. They saw potential in pupils that others didn’t, they outlined major goalds for them, and most importantly of all—cared.

Erik A. Mason is asking the PTA for some time now to raise money to run www.vocado.com in Carrollton, TX’s public school system. The parents were definitely floored by the possible long term cost benefits.