Through a Dog's Eyes

Be sure to set your DVR on April 21st (and probably grab a box or two of tissues) because this documentary on PBS is sure to be a gem.

(And be sure to check out their website.)

Jaime Escalante -- America's Master Math Teacher

News came today that Jaime Escalante, the math teacher whose story was the basis for the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver, passed away at the age of  79. 

In a July 2002 story for Reason Magazine, Jerry Jesness takes the reader through the "the famous rise -- and shameful fall -- of Jaime Escalante, America's master math teacher." 

In the article, Mr. Jesness takes us through Mr. Escalante's background.  We learn that unlike in the movie, Jaime's successes were slow coming.  It was three years into the program before more than 10 students passed the A.P. calculus test, rather than the single year that the movie portrayed.  And I have no problem with the Hollywood version of the story's time line being accelerated, as they only had an hour and a half to get the story told.  But, as Mr. Jesness points out:

The Stand and Deliver message, that the touch of a master could bring unmotivated students from arithmetic to calculus in a single year, was preached in schools throughout the nation. While the film did a great service to education by showing what students from disadvantaged backgrounds can achieve in demanding classes, the Hollywood fiction had at least one negative side effect. By showing students moving from fractions to calculus in a single year, it gave the false impression that students can neglect their studies for several years and then be redeemed by a few months of hard work.

This Hollywood message had a pernicious effect on teacher training. The lessons of Escalante's patience and hard work in building his program, especially his attention to the classes that fed into calculus, were largely ignored in the faculty workshops and college education classes that routinely showed Stand and Deliver to their students. To the pedagogues, how Escalante succeeded mattered less than the mere fact that he succeeded. They were happy to cheer Escalante the icon; they were less interested in learning from Escalante the teacher. They were like physicians getting excited about a colleague who can cure cancer without wanting to know how to replicate the cure.

I can remember this movie being referenced a couple of times during my years in the teacher education program at my college.  While we never viewed it in class, I do remember it being recommended to me by someone in the program.  I remember being inspired by the movie.  The movie fed into my desire to change lives.  Yet, with all of the emotion and inspirational feelings this movie brought to me, it did nothing to inspire me to find out why and how Mr. Escalante was able to bring such success to students who society had basically written off as never being able to accomplish such a feat.  A movie of this magnitude should have caused me to seek out Mr. Escalante's blueprint for success.  But it didn't, and I didn't. 

A movie as moving as Stand and Deliver did nothing to make me a better future teacher (which I'm sure was not the motivation of the filmmakers in making the movie).  Yet, after watching The Legend of Bagger Vance I remember I was inspired to go out and pound golf balls on the driving range.  After countless viewings of Friday Night Lights in high school, I was inspired to work harder in football practice so that I might be able to make the big catch in the big game.  After Space Jam I was out on the basketball court working on my jump shot in the event that I was ever pulled into a cartoon universe to help Bugs and Daffy defeat some evil villains.  And sure, I never did make the big catch in the big game nor did I ever join up with Bugs Bunny & Co. to shoot hoops.  (I'm still holding out hope that Will Smith will help me fight off the demons that are keeping me from winning a match against Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen).  But, at least these movies challenged me to improve myself.  Unfortunately, Stand and Deliver did not have that effect on my life, which is a shame.

Another failure of the movie (again, not completely the filmmaker's fault) was that it left the viewer with the impression that everyone in the story lived happily ever after.  Unfortunately for Mr. Escalante and the students he never got to help, his tenure as the maverick math teacher for that East L.A. school was cut short 10 years after the group of students featured in the movie passed their A.P. tests.

Escalante's open admission policy, a major reason for his success, also paved the way for his departure. Calculus grew so popular at Garfield that classes grew beyond the 35-student limit set by the union contract. Some had more than 50 students. Escalante would have preferred to keep the classes below the limit had he been able to do so without either denying calculus to willing students or using teachers who were not up to his high standards. Neither was possible, and the teachers union complained about Garfield's class sizes. Rather than compromise, Escalante moved on.

Other problems had been brewing as well. After Stand and Deliver was released, Escalante became an overnight celebrity. Teachers and other interested observers asked to sit in on his classes, and he received visits from political leaders and celebrities, including President George H.W. Bush and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This attention aroused feelings of jealousy. In his last few years at Garfield, Escalante even received threats and hate mail. In 1990 he lost the math department chairmanship, the position that had enabled him to direct the pipeline.

  [Emphasis mine]

The culture that is the modern public education system is one that discourages innovation and extra effort.  Rather than embrace Mr. Escalante's successes, his peers (and the union) grew jealous and saw his work as an assault against the status quo.  There were no incentives in place for others to follow in his footsteps.  And incentives matter. 

One of the driving forces behind my decision to leave the teaching profession was the lack of incentives for me to try hard.  While I never encountered explicit challenges to the way I ran my classroom, there were plenty of implicit demands that I maintain within the confines of the teaching bureaucracy bubble.  Mr. Lesness touched on some of these forces in his closing paragraphs about Jaime Escalante's legacy. 

Lyndon Johnson said it takes a master carpenter to build a barn, but any jackass can kick one down. In retrospect, it's fortunate that Escalante's program survived as long as it did. Had Garfield's counselors refused to let a handful of basic math students take algebra back in 1974, or had the janitor who objected to Escalante's early-bird ways been more influential, America's greatest math teacher might just now be retiring from Unisys.
Gradillas has an explanation for the decline of A.P. calculus at Garfield: Escalante and Villavicencio were not allowed to run the program they had created on their own terms. In his phrase, the teachers no longer "owned" their program. He's speaking metaphorically, but there's something to be said for taking him literally.

In the real world, those who provide a service can usually find a way to get it to those who want it, even if their current employer disapproves. If someone feels that he can build a better mousetrap than his employer wants to make, he can find a way to make it, market it, and perhaps put his former boss out of business. Public school teachers lack that option.

There are very few ways to compete for education dollars without being part of the government school system. If that system is inflexible, sooner or later even excellent programs will run into obstacles. (...)

One-size-fits-all standardized tests are driving curricula, and top-down reforms are mandating lockstep procedures for classroom instructors. These steps might help make dismal teachers into mediocre ones, but what will they do to brilliant mavericks like Escalante?

Now, I would never suggest that I was 1/10 of the innovator in the classroom that Jaime Escalante was, but because the current system lacks (lacked) the incentives for me to try, I will may never know what could have been.
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SONG:  "Hands of God" by the Dave Matthews Band

LOOKING FORWARD TO:  the eventful summer that is to come.  I'll be playing volleyball on the "Chuck Bo-Buck and the Banana Fanna Five" team with my coworkers (and, yes, I suggested the name, and, yes, I am proud about that fact).  I'll also be playing as much golf and will be attending as many Omaha and Kansas City Royals baseball games as my wife will allow. 

AMERICAN IDOL 2010 BET:  Since I don't know if my cousin JB dvr'd tonight's show, I cannot yet harass him on Facebook or by text message about the fact that his pick, Didi, was kicked off the show tonight.  So, I shall gloat here.  One down, four to go!!!

My Favorite Television Shows of the 2000s

Daniel Fienberg has a great rundown of the 31 Best Television Shows of the Decade at his blog.  As I looked through his list, I noticed how few of his choices would be on my list.  But that is probably because my list would consist of my favorite shows, not the "best" shows of the decade.  I rarely judge a show based upon its production value or the story arches or the set design, as people like Dan Fienberg are paid to do.  Instead, I judge shows based up their ability to keep my interest.   

Here is my list:

1. The Office -- The greatest comedy writing and acting of the decade.  Every season has improved from the one before it, which is tough for a show to do.  By spending time developing the characters, such as Dwight, Jim, Micheal, Creed, Kevin, Andy, Pam, and Angela, the show didn't always have to have a solid storyline to be hilarious.  And they were able to fight through some "jump the shark" moments (Jim&Pam breakups, Micheal Scott Paper Company, a merger) and come out the other side even stronger.  I just hope they pull a Seinfeld and bow out while I'm still wanting more. 
2. Generation Kill -- This mini-series is the most compelling drama of the decade.  I would contend that this is the best and most important show HBO has ever produced.
   
3. The Ultimate Fighter -- Combining mixed martial arts and competition-based reality-show production?  Count me in.
   
4. Scrubs -- I love the different character combos this show has:  JD&Turk, JD&Cox, JD&Janitor, etc.  And with a great supporting cast, the lead characters shine all the brighter.
   
5. Saturday Night Live -- With cast members such as Ferrell, Fallon, Fey, Poehler, Morgan, Shannon, Rudolph, Meyers, Kattan, Samberg, Wiig, Hammond, and Thompson, the 2000s ended up being a great decade for SNL.
   
6. Psych -- The perfect "buddy" show, Shawn & Gus are hilarious.  I love all of the 80s and 90s pop-culture references that they use in their banter.  And the names Shawn uses when introducing Gus always crack me up, especially when Gus becomes the persona that the name implies.
   
7. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia -- The Gang tackles topics that no other sitcom would dare touch in an always funny way.
   
8. Top Chef -- Combine my love of cooking and my love of competitive reality shows?  How could I not love this show?
   
9. American Idol -- The best of the reality-genre, their combo of train wreck awful and goose-bump-inducing fabulous keeps me tuning in year after year.
   
10. Dexter -- An amazing premise that is flawlessly executed.
    
11. The Big Bang Theory -- Nerds/dorks/geeks have never been so cool.
    
12. Family Guy -- "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Conway Twitty..." or "Mom, mom, mommy, ma, mom, mom, ma, ma, mommy, mommy....hi!" or "Drop it, Patches".  Genius.
    
13. 24 -- While I've found it harder and harder to remain committed to the premise of this show as the series has progressed, Seasons 1&2 alone get this show onto this list. 
    
14. Six Feet Under -- The way this show makes a funeral home interesting is a feat in and of itself.  And the cast of this show was fabulous (although I could have lived without the Brenda/Billy story line).
    
15. Project Runway -- One of my guilty pleasures.  As Time Gunn would say, "Make it work."
    
16. Jackass -- Johnny Knoxville is a genius.  One part Evel Knievel and one part Ashton Kutcher, he brought the stupid things guys do to make each other laugh to the mainstream.
    
17. House -- One of the greatest leading characters of the decade.
    
18. Big Brother -- While no other player will compare to Dr. Will, I still tune into this experiment three times a week during the summer.
    
19. Sleeper Cell -- An amazingly bold television show considering the topic (home-grown terrorism) and the fact that it came out only 4 years after 9/11.  A great show that they thankfully ended after two seasons and before they got wacky with the story line. 
    
20. Penn & Teller BS -- One of the few television shows coming from a libertarian worldview, magicians Penn & Teller call bullshit on such topics as alternative medicine, environmental hysteria, and the war on drugs. 
    
21. King of Queens -- My wife and I love this show because we are so similar to Doug and Carrie Heffernan.
    
22. True Blood -- The best of the recent vampire craze.
    
23. Mad Men -- Watching this show makes me long for the days when you could (and were encouraged) to smoke and drink whiskey at work.
    
24. Prison Break -- I have never been so nervous or anxious while watching a television show as I was while watching Season 1.  The later years were not as compelling, but were still entertaining.
    
25. Burn Notice -- I've learned more about being a spy from this show than I'd ever learn in the CIA.
    
26. Last Comic Standing -- While the format of the show often annoys me, this show has introduced me to many great comedians, especially John Heffron.
    
27. Life -- The best "canceled-too-soon" show of the decade.
    
28. South Park -- Even after 10+ seasons, the show still finds a way to remain relevant, topical, and edgy. 
    
29. Alias -- The show that proved that an actress could carry an action show to success (leading to Dollhouse and The Sarah Connor Chronicles later in the decade).
    
30. The Big Break -- The best (and only) golfing reality show.  I loved all the unique challenges the producers threw in front of the competitors. 

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

Malcolm in the Middle, Day Break, My Boys, Bones, The Joe Schmo Show, That 70's Show, Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, Dollhouse, Iceroad Truckers, Dirty Jobs, Myth Busters, Biggest Loser, Undeclared, Parks and Recreations, 30 Rock, Numbers, The Wire, Futurama, Weakest Link, Survivor, Modern Family, Glee, Sex and the City,

LIFE

The wife and I just completed Season 2 of the television show LIFE. We loved the show so much that we decided to see when Season 3 would be starting, as many of our favorite shows have begun their season. And then we discovered that last May, NBC decided to not have another season.

I blame Jay Leno.

While I understand the decision from a short sighted business stand point, I feel that this is a poor decision long term. I understand that shows like Jay Leno's, or Who Wants to be a Millionaire, or Dancing with the Stars, or American Idol, etc.. are much, much cheaper to produce than hour long dramas like LIFE. But shows like Jay Leno are firecrackers compared to the atomic bombs that are shows like LIFE. Sure, you might save some money up front producing a variety/reality/talk show, but you lose back end profit from DVD sales and syndication for smart, edgy, original programing like Life.

LIFE was not the typical crime show. It had a solid story line (Det. Crews spent 12 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, and now that he has been reinstated with the police department, he is on a mission to discover who set him up) as the backbone to the weekly crime mysteries they solved along the way. The interweaving of the serial crime stories with the who-done-it conspiracy puzzle made for riveting television. The characters were complex, the story was intreguing, and the plot twists were interesting without being cliche (at least until the last few episodes of the second season, when it appeared the writters and producers could see that the end may be near and decided to tie up some loose ends should a third season not occur).

So thank you NBC for deciding to commit 5 hours a week to a rarely amusing or entertaining "comidian" instead of commiting to original and unique programming like LIFE. I shall take my television viewing to CBS, FOX, and ABC during primetime (except for a half hour each week when I tune in for THE OFFICE) so long as they continue to churn out decent televion, such as Flashforward, House, Bones, Modern Family and Family Guy.

I hope that you continue to be shut out of the top 25 most viewed shows during primetime. Heck, your only show in the Top 25 in total viewers last week was a Sunday Night Football game. Keep it up NBC, and pretty soon, even Nickelodeon will have more viewers (if they don't already).