M&M: Stand and Deliver

This movie from the year 1988 was based on the true life of mathematics teacher Jaime Escalante. Don't moan just yet without watching it first. This movie came before some of the others, sadly better known “real-life teacher stories”. By the way, the real Jaime Escalante is quoted on imdb for saying that the movie is “90% truth and 10% drama”, which seems pretty good to me.

Jaime Escalante was a really tough teacher. He had to be, teaching a class of Hispanic immigrant teenagers. He's played by Edward James Olmos. Some of you may know him from Battlestar Galactica where he was William “Bill“ Adama. Olmos got an Oscar nomination for his role as Escalante. The movie mostly focuses on the mathematics classes. But we do get to see glimpses into Escalante's private life. He's got a son, who is played by Olmos' real-life son, Bodie Olmos.

Escalante has to teach those teenagers mathematics and he's really passionate about it, which certainly also helps the teenagers to get interested and pay attention during those classes. He's honest with the students and tells them that they have two strikes against them: their name and their complexion. That will make the world assume they know less than they do. Their bosses at work won't care about their problems, so neither does he. He still ends up helping out one of the girls in class when he finds out her parents took her off school and talks to the father. Of course the class also has a trouble maker. Escalante calls him “Finger Man” for obvious reasons. I like the way Escalante deals with him by teaching him some cool mathematics with his fingers. Judging from Youtube comments, I'm not the only one wishing that my teacher taught me that trick. You'll know what I mean when you watch the movie and get to that scene.

The students get well enough to do the AP Calculus in their senior year. Escalante has his students take summer classes in advanced mathematics in preparation for this. The other teachers start being cynic towards Escalante. They don't think the students are capable of it. But Escalante and the students prove them all wrong. They take the test and pass it, too. However the Educational Testing Service doubt the results. They accuse the students of cheating, since several students have the same mistakes. Escalante believes there is a racism problem behind this. In a short scene where they try to question the some of the students, one of them seemingly cracks and has just the right answers. Among the people questioning them is a fairly young Andy Garcia as Dr. Ramirez, by the way. You can clearly see him fight not to laugh along with the students, but at least he shows a short smile, before he and his colleagues go away. Escalante suggests the students take the test again. They're granted that wish with only one day to prepare for it.

How did they do the second time with the exam? See for yourself. Really, go watch the movie. I know it's an old one, but it's got some great scenes in it. Well worth it in my opinion.