Jaime Escalante was born to two Bolivian schoolteachers who taught in a
small Aymara Indian village. After 9 years of teaching in Bolivia,
Escalante moved to the United States in 1964, and worked as a busboy, a
cook, and an electronics factory technician. He attended the
Universidad de Puerto Rico, later moving to California and studying at
Pasadena City College, earning a degree in Electronics.
In 1976 he began teaching at Garfield High School, in east Los Angeles,
California, where drugs, gangs and violence were facts of daily life.
Despite these obstacles, Escalante was able to motivate a small group
of students to take the AP calculus exam. In 1979, two of his students
passed the A.P. test. In 1980, seven of his students passed the test. A
year later, 14 students passed the test. In 1982, so many students
passed that the Educational Testing Service invalidated the scores,
believing that the students had cheated. Most of the pupils retook the
test and passed, making Escalante a national hero. In recognition of
his incredible achievements, Escalante was awarded the United States
Presidential Medal and the Andres Bello award by the Organization of
American States. By 1987, Garfield High's A.P. calculus program had
outpaced Beverly High's.
In 1991, he left Garfield High, citing faculty politics and petty
jealousies. He taught in Sacramento for several years, but later
retired to his native Bolivia. He is living in his wife's hometown and
teaching part time at the local university. He returns to the United
States frequently to visit his children.
