San Diego , California ( CNN ) -- Jaime Escalante was ahead of his time . And today , more than 30 years after the Bolivian-born math teacher put East Los Angeles ' Garfield High School on the map by convening 14 students in his very first AP calculus class , the rest of the educational establishment is still trying to catch up . Escalante -- who was immortalized in the 1988 film `` Stand and Deliver '' -- died this week at his son 's home in Roseville , California , after a bout with cancer . It was way back in 1978 when Escalante began teaching calculus to Mexican-American kids from the barrio . That 's more than two decades before President George W. Bush challenged the nation 's public schools to acknowledge and overcome the `` soft bigotry of low expectations , '' and Escalante was already fighting that battle . He knew all about low expectations -- most of them coming from jealous colleagues and visionless administrators . More important , Escalante knew the recipe for how to overcome those low expectations and teach students to succeed . It starts , he would say , with `` ganas '' -- the desire of students to learn , coupled with the desire of teachers to teach . Mix in two parts hard work , a cup of sacrifice , and a dash of `` anything is possible . '' Oh , because you 'll inevitability meet up with cynics and critics who try to derail you , to make themselves feel better about their own failings and to sustain their prejudices about who can learn and who ca n't , it does n't hurt to put in a spoonful of attitude of the sort embodied in Evita Peron 's quip : `` It does n't matter what the morons say . '' All across the United States , students and teachers come to the classroom with tons of built-in excuses of why they ca n't or wo n't do what they know they need to do . And so , it 's no wonder so little gets done . Just as it 's no wonder that those who try to break through that culture and actually teach students who have been written off often meet with resistance . One of the things I remember from the years I spent teaching the children of Mexican farm workers in central California was that sometimes , it seems , students and teachers are competing to see which group is the most victimized . Escalante had no interest in that game . Personally , I think it was because he was an immigrant . Here you have someone who arrived in the United States with very little money , who was n't able to speak the language , but went on to mop floors and work as a short-order cook by day . He learned English and earned math degrees , and a teaching credential by night , on his way to working for an electronics company . Then he followed his passion into teaching . You know people like that , or you did . Think Grandpa . Think Grandma . Take out `` Bolivia '' and fill in `` Italy '' or `` Ireland . '' Those people do n't want to hear your problems and why you think you ca n't do something . It 's embarrassing . You whine about how hard you have it and how the odds are against you , and they just arrived from a place that makes your troubles look like a day at the beach . That 's how it was for the man who was eulogized this week by Jay Matthews , education reporter for the Washington Post , as `` the most famous and influential American public school teacher of his generation . '' Escalante had no interest in hearing why poor Mexican-American kids from a barrio high school could n't learn calculus , ace a national test and go on to attend prestigious universities . He was too busy making it happen . I met Escalante once in the late 1980 's at a black-tie affair in Washington . But , the more memorable encounter took place a couple of years earlier , while I was in college . I had placed a long distance call to Garfield High School and left a message . A student group on campus wanted him to speak . To my surprise , after seeing a message that the school receptionist had scribbled down as being from simply `` Ruben at Harvard , '' he called me back . To my amusement , I soon realized the reason he did was because he thought I was another Ruben at Harvard -- a former student . For a lot of public school teachers in America , especially those who teach socio-economically disadvantaged kids , that kind of call might be unusual . Not Escalante . His former students from Garfield were sprinkled all over the Ivy League -- not just at Harvard , but also at Yale , Princeton , Columbia , Cornell and other universities . I 'd sometimes meet them at student conferences , and there was always something special about them and how they carried themselves . There was that badge of honor , that additional bit of confidence that came from being one of an elite group of high achievers who demolished the low expectations of others . These were Jaime 's kids . That 's an impressive legacy -- and , in the case of an extraordinary educator who still teaches us what 's possible in our public schools when you ditch the excuses , and have the ganas to make it happen , a well-deserved one . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette Jr .
Today 's schools still have a lot to learn from Jaime Reyes , who spoke this week . Ruben Navarrette says the celebrated teacher did n't expect low achievement from poor , minority students . He believes that by aiming high , Escalante got extraordinary results from students .