"They rise, or fall, to the level of the expectations of those around them..."

I recently came across a Bolivian educator, known for making any student at Garfield High School into a master of algebra, trigonometry and calculus – Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutierrez.

Both of Escalante’s parents were teachers in Bolivia, and he taught math for 12 years before arriving to the US. Upon immigrating, he had to work a variety of jobs, teaching himself English in the process, until he was finally able to return to the classroom again. In his mid-40s, he began teaching at Garfield High School in East LA, starting an advanced mathematics program with a few students. In 1982, Escalante became the subject of national debate when his largest class of 18 students all took and passed the advanced placement test in Calculus. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) found the scores to be suspicious, and asked 14 of the 18 students to retake the test, suspecting cheating. The majority of the students retook the test and had their grades reinstated, proving that they had a mastery over the material.

Escalante often said that in order to succeed you only needed ganas – Spanish for drive, and what is more commonly called “grit” these days. He inspired his students to live, breathe, and sleep mathematics. His students put in two to three hours of extra work every school day, with practice on Saturdays and during the summer. Escalante believed that the success of his students was also due to his high expectations of them, saying “If we expect kids to be losers, they will be losers; if we expect them to be winners, they will be winners. They rise, or fall, to the level of the expectations of those around them, especially their parents and their teachers.”

Escalante passed away in 2010, but his message and theory on how students succeed lives on. In fact, two of the most prominently studied concepts in the education world these days are grit and high expectations. Whether they are the silver bullet that (some) studies claim that they are or not, we can hopefully agree that instilling resilience and having high expectations of our scholars can only benefit them in the long run. It’s always important to keep in mind that each of our students has the potential to answer complex questions, complete school achievement tests, and gain a mastery over numeracy and literacy skills. It’s our collective responsibility – as teachers, as mentors, and as leaders – to ensure that we “see the potential in every student”, as Escalante believed.

- Reshma