Talk:Jaime Escalante

Bias?

Well obviously people were jealous. But if there isn't a whole lot of info about the critics, you can't really expect it to be put here. I don't thinks it's POV, just a lack of adequate knowledge about the criticisms.

It's very easy for this page to be laudatory toward Escalante and dismissive toward critics when editors have the benefit of hindsight and little knowledge about a school system. Late in his career, Escalante was involved in a power struggle with school administration. I don't think anyone at the time was certain of what Escalante was doing or if they were hurting anyone. All they knew was that Escalante was thinking of the extreme long term and taking up school resources. School admin probably was thinking about the short term and all the resources he was taking up. An argument ensued and thus a POV-esque page was born Mosquito-001 22:12, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

The page is biased in favor of Escalante to the point of being just plain wrong. One of its sources is the Reason essay, which is typically sloppy work written to bolster a particular ideology. (In this case, libertarian ideology, but it doesn't really matter which ideology.) Of course the most famous source of all is the movie Stand and Deliver, which is also biased in typical Hollywood fashion.

A much better source is Jay Matthews' book, The Best Teacher in America. Matthews is another big fan of Escalante, as the title suggests. But he is also honest. I personally was surprised and disgusted by the Escalante that he described. If I ever find time, I might edit this biography page to make it more truthful. Greg Kuperberg 22:43, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

It's been almost a year since the previous comments were posted, and still there's absolutely nothing here from his critics' POV. Where's the neutrality that Wikipedia is so proud of? Zurqoxn 05:27, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

Probably waiting on the critics to contribute something. Easier to throw stones than build a wall I guess. 71.77.9.57 (talk) 07:16, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Presidential Award?

I've seen the award that he is claimed to have been given by the President been called several different names. Some sources have it awarded to him in 1998, yet the photo on the site shows Ronald Reagan 'awarding' him something, and Reagan wasn't president in 1998. Some places call it the Presidential Medal for Excellence, others the United States Presidential Medal and the photo caption calls it the Teach Freedom Award. I've found no evidence in a google search that any of these metals even exist, at least under any of those names.

I have found several bios of him, so I can start to try to work on this article but until I see something that gives the exact true name of the award with some kind of official proof, I consider it fictional. Presidential Medal of Freedom and Presidential Citizens Medal exist but not any of the ones named. Fanra 06:09, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

George H.W. Bush was inaugurated in January 1989, so in fact Reagan was still president in 1988. Presidents take office in the year after the election year. - Mark Dixon (talk) 20:25, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

You are correct that Reagan was president in 1988. However, Fanra is correct that Reagan was NOT president in 1998. What sources list him as getting the award in '98? LoverOfJoy (talk) 18:23, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

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I'm not sure I'm entering this in the right fashion, but does this link help? (http://www.yic.gov/paceea/adcom/bios.html). The site appears to be the legitimate page of a governemnt body and lists Jaime Escalante as being a recipient of the Presidential Medal for Excellence in Education as well as a member of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. They don't give an award date or other details. There is a contact us section if you want to dig deeper.

71.164.252.214 01:05, 28 September 2007 (UTC)srobidoux@verizon.net

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There is another award from Reagan, given at an earlier date: on Sept. 14, 1984, Escalante received some sort of award from Reagan -- perhaps the "Outstanding Leadership Award from the U.S. Department of Educ." or the "Hispanic Excellence in Education" award (it's not clear from the transcript). Source = http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/91484a.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.96.217.85 (talk) 04:40, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

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Regardless of the name of the award or the date in which it was given, I believe it is not correct to refer to a President of the United States as 'former' - even after leaving office, they retain the title of POTUS. Whether or not this is important, I leave to others to decide. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arcadian Del Sol (talk • contribs) 22:45, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Arcadian Del Sol (talk) 22:46, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Nickname

what did those kids call him in Stand and Deliver? It doesn't sound like his name. What does it mean? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.172.77.40 (talk) 23:00, 9 May 2007 (UTC). They called him "Kimo," as in Kimosabe: the nickname for the fictional Lone Ranger as appended by his sidekick Tonto.Samename 18:52, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

??? Work of a vandel ???

??? 1998-08: (10-12) Gas Station attendent ??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.243.124.10 (talk) 09:52, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Sevenfold

Is there a better way to re-word "a sevenfold drop". Once something decreases by 100% it is gone, so it clearly can't decrease 700%. In an article about a math teacher this should be clarified. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.155.200.88 (talk) 13:43, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Cochabamba

That article says he was born there. Then much later it says he returned there because it is his wife's hometown. Both could be true, but is it his original hometown too, just a weird coincidence, or maybe another town name is missing? I don't know for a fact that anything is wrong, it just seems odd. --Wolfram.Tungsten (talk) 15:02, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

Was it Jaime? or the Hawthorne Effect?

I know nothing about Jaime Escalante. However, I do know of the "Hawthorne Effect", for which there is a WikiPedia article. It might be helpful if those who know the details about Jaime Escalante's remarkable career, would also study the material about the "Hawthorne Effect", and related effects, such as the "Pygmalion effect". A research hypothesis might be phrased as "Did the remarkable results originate from Jaime Escalante's unique but reproducible teaching methods? Or did the high achievement result simply from just another case of the Hawthorne Effect? In that case, Jaime Escalante's teaching methods would probably not get results, when applied across an entire school system." 71.207.224.57 (talk) 23:59, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

The Hawthorne Effect postulates that subjects improve their behavior out of recognition that they are being studied. I wonder, at what point were Escalante's students part of a controlled experiment? The Pygmalion Effect asserts that there exists a positive correlation between increased expectations and improved performance. If, indeed, this was the case, Escalante's role as the students' guide remains critical. Finally, the sociological hypothesis you suggest would have had to have been administered during Escalante's tenure, not after the fact. Researching such a hypothesis now would necessarily rely upon historical methods, not sociological methods, and it would be nearly impossible to distinguish the vitality of Escalante's role from mere phenomenon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.231.221.253 (talk) 02:21, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

216.164.62.93 (talk) 02:37, 7 March 2010 (UTC) he is not "native american" He's from Bolivia and likely mestizo. Why does his race matter?