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Mar 17, 2006

"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.
" --Mark van Doren

Assisting Discovery

For 24 years, National Award Winning teacher, Rafe Esquith has continued to work at Hobart Elementary, an inner-city school in Los Angeles. Hobart is the second largest elementary school in the country and 90% of its students live below the poverty line. Esquith's unorthodox teaching methods push these kids past their limitations: His ten-year olds volunteer to show up at 6:30 in the morning, not to mention Saturdays, lunch breaks and vacations. They read Twain, play classical guitar and study algebra. They've even performed Shakespeare at the Old Globe in London. Esquith took on extra jobs and went into debt to pay for the supplements -- the pay-off? His students consistently rank among the top five to ten percentile in the country.