Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Mexicans celebrate this day in remembrance of their victory over the French in their war for Independence.  But, Mexicans have a great legacy beyond being fighters for independence.  “Math is in your blood.”  Jaime Escalante, math teacher extraordinaire in Los Angeles, California, told his basic math kids this as he was teaching them Algebra.

He’s passed on now, but scores of kids went onto college and into careers in math and science because of him.  Hollywood made a movie about his teaching career called Stand and Deliver.  It came out in 1988.  Here is a short clip of Mr. Escalante (played by Edward James Olmos) teaching his basic math class.