Rest in Peace, Jaime Escalante, who was depicted in the movie starring Edward James Olmos, Stand and Deliver. He died in his native Bolivia of bladder cancer. Story here.

As a math teacher at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, Escalante completely transformed the school’s mathematics curriculum and pushed his struggling students to master advanced math and science courses. At one point, Garfield High School had the fifth-highest number of advanced placement calculus students in the country.

He showed that excellence could be had in places where society (the left) least expected:

“Jaime exposed one of the most dangerous myths of our time — that inner city students can’t be expected to perform at the highest levels,” Olmos told the AP. “Because of him, that destructive idea has been shattered forever.”

Except, unfortunately, in the inner workings of our schools. ELL ring a bell, anyone?