14
show; we focus on preparing ourselves for the show.
We don’t have a cast party after the show. The show
is
the party, and when it’s over we start the next day
preparing for next year’s show.”
He wears the same outfit to school every day:
vest, tie and white
tennis shoes.
“It’s
about
consistency.
I
might be the most
stable force in
their lives and I
want them to
know what they
can expect every
day from me.”
Why
would
someone
with
Esquith’s obvious
talents
and
abilities spend his
whole life teaching
fifth-graders
in
inner-city
Los
Angeles?
“My
smart-alec answer
is for the money,”
he said with a
laugh.
Really, it’s about his deep commitment to his
students. His father died of lung cancer when Rafe
was nine years old, so he truly can relate to children
from single-parent homes. He listed his wife and a
former student as his two biggest influences.
“My wife is the person who taught me that tests
matter, but the things tests don’t measure are the
most important things about a person,” he said.
“Then there was one child, the only student whose
name I didn’t change in my books. Her name is
Joann and she was 10 when I met her. She was a
musician, not just an ordinary musician, but an
extraordinary musician – and no one knew it. She
was so humble that her friends didn’t even know that
she played the piano. I found her humility to be so
special. I learned from her that the reward is to be
great, not to show people that you’re great.”
Joann, who went on to attain a Ph.D. in music
from Northwestern, now serves as the Hobart
Shakespeareans director of music. She is one of a
small army of former students who still are actively
involved with Hobart and Esquith’s programs.
Another, a graduate of the Yale School of Law,
helped establish a 501(c)3, raised money to fund the
special programs at the school and chairs Esquith’s
non-profit board. (“It’s kind of neat that one of my
former students is
now my boss.”) The
Shakespeareans’
website was designed
by two other former
students, and another
former student is now
teaching at Hobart.
Though
Esquith
probably could rival
the
Lakers
for
hardware, he’s not
really about awards.
The humility he saw in
Joann is a loftier goal.
But one award, the
Sondheim Award he
received in 2011 from
the Kennedy Center,
does have special
meaning for Esquith.
That’s because you
can
only
be
nominated by former
students.
Esquith has turned down offers for a movie about
his life and teaching career. He said the Hollywood
treatment is too phony for his taste.
“In the teacher movies I’ve seen, they save every
kid. I know some of those teachers and I’ve never
seen that happen. I think it does a disservice to
young teachers,” he said. “I fail all of the time,
sometimes heart-breaking failure and Hollywood
wouldn’t allow that.”
So there probably won’t be a movie about the
teacher called “a modern day Thoreau” by Newsday,
“a genius and a saint” by the New York Times, and
“the most interesting and influential classroom
teacher in America” by the Washington Post. But if
there were…
“I think the title of it would be ‘We’re Never Done,’
“ Esquith said with a chuckle, adding that at age 60
he’s not close to being done. “Wait ‘til you see my
next 30 years!”
(Continued from page 13)
“In the teacher movies I’ve seen, they save
every kid. I know some of those teachers and
I’ve never seen that happen. I think it does a
disservice to young teachers. I fail all of the
time, sometimes heart-breaking failure and
Hollywood wouldn’t allow that.”
- Rafe Esquith
