Cancer Answers 123

Filed under: Bladder Cancer, Daily newsJaime Escalante, the East Los Angeles math teacher whose story inspired the movie Stand and Deliver, died from bladder cancer at his son's home on Tuesday. The 79-year-old teacher was best known for transforming Garfield High School's math curriculum. Although Garfield High School once had struggling students, Escalante's persistence helped them master advanced math and science courses. During Escalante's time at the school, it had the fifth-highest number of advanced placement calculus students in the country, including the students that made him the most famous teacher in the country. In 1982, 14 of Escalante's students who passed the Advanced Placement calculus exam were accused of cheating. However, their innocence helped raise the working-class, largely Mexican American students' standards. Though Escalante didn't get along with many of his colleagues, educators around the country often came to observe his teaching. Nora Gonzalez, who took four math courses from Escalante, told People magazine that he was always willing to stay late working with his students, whether they needed additional assistance at lunch, recess or on the weekends. "There were no limits to how giving he was to his students," Gonzalez, who is now a school principal, told the magazine. "The only reason that I went into teaching was because of this man. I would feel selfish sometimes, like he spent more time with us than he did his own children. It is because of him that I am who I am today." Check out more cancer information at AOL Health.Permalink | Email this | Comments