The Associated Press reported tonight that Jaime  Escalante, the math teacher who transformed Garfield High, a tough East Los Angeles high school, and inspired the 1988 movie, "Stand and Deliver," starring Edward James Olmos, died today, March 30, 2010, at his son's home near Sacramento, after battling bladder cancer for several years. He was 79 years old.

Jaime  Escalante was one of the most important educators of his generation. Why? Because -- as  Edward James Olmos said, "Jaime  Escalante exposed one of the most dangerous myths of our time — that inner city students can't be expected to perform at the highest levels. Because of him, that destructive idea has been shattered forever."

What Jaime  Escalante did was to change a school's  public image and its students self image by actually teaching and  motivating struggling students, to achieve, to excel. His means was teaching the students at Garfield High advanced math and science. "The school had more advanced placement calculus students than all but three other public high schools in the country." Jaime Escalante, R.I.P.

News Source: The Associated Press.