Garfield History

     

James A. Garfield High School
Address
5101 E. Sixth Street East Los Angeles, California 90022 United States
Motto	"A clear head, a true heart, a strong arm"
Established	1925
School district	Los Angeles Unified School District
Principal	Mario Cantu
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	2,538 (2014-15)[1]
Color(s)	White, Blue, & Crimson
Mascot	Bulldog
Rivals	Roosevelt High School[2]
Website	Official website

 James A. Garfield High School Building was built in 1925.

During World War II, the students of James A Garfield High School worked on war aircraft and other war related machining and assembly projects to support the War Effort, for school credit and pay. The efforts and details about the program of Garfield High School appeared in a film created for the Army and Navy servicemen and women in 1944 by the Army-Navy Screen Magazine.^[4][5]

Garfield was one of the five schools to initiate student protests known as the East L.A. walkouts in 1968, and contributed to the walkouts in 2006, in protest to the HR 4437 bill.

Garfield achieved fame because of Jaime Escalante who, in the 1980s, along with the administration of Henry Gradillas built an exceptional advanced placement program. In 1982, 18 of his students passed the advanced placement calculus test. The College Board suspected cheating and required the students to re-take the examination. Further testing showed that the students had actually learned the material.^[18]

In 1987, 73 students passed, while another 12 passed the second year calculus test. In 1988, a popular film titled Stand and Deliver starring Academy Award-nominee Edward James Olmos was made about the events of 1982. In 1990, there were over 400 students in Escalante's math program from algebra to calculus. In 1991, he had a falling out with the school administration and as a result left the Garfield school system. By 1996, only seven passed the basic calculus exam, with four passing the advanced exam. That was a total of eleven passing students, down from a high of 87 nine years earlier. In 2001, the school made a slight recovery in its calculus scores, with 17 passing the basic test and seven passing the second year test.^[19]

In 2004, Newsweek ranked Garfield 581st top high school in the nation. The rank was based on the number of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests taken by all students at a school in 2004 divided by the number of graduating seniors.^[20]

 

 

 

• Notable alumni
• Alexander Gonzalez - President at Sacramento State University
• Maria Helena Viramontes, writer and professor^[25] Viramontes is currently a professor of English at Cornell University.
• Esteban Edward Torres – former Congress member from California and former United States Ambassador to the UNESCO^{[citation needed]}
• Oscar De La Hoya – Former world champion and gold medal winning boxer and founder of Golden Boy Promotions^[26]
• Los Lobos – multiple Grammy Award-winning American Chicano rock band. Alumni members include David Hidalgo,^{[citation needed]} Louie Pérez,^{[citation needed]} Cesar Rosas,^{[citation needed]} and Conrad Lozano^{[citation needed]}
• George Ramos – Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist for the Los Angeles Times
• Richard Polanco – former California State Senate Majority leader and member of the California State Assembly.
• Carlos Mencia^[27] - comedian
• John Arguelles - former Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
• Steve Edward Monreal - Professional Basketball Player Cal State Monterey Bay, Abejas de Guanajuato and Rayos de Hermosillo