Who doesn't like a story about kids succeeding educationally? And even more so when those kids come from a disadvantaged community, home, and school.
The late 80's gave us a few school reform movies: The Principal, Stand and Deliver, and Lean on Me. Stand and Deliver was the only one of the three that focused on a teacher and a singular class instead of the entire school.
Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos) left his decent paying computer job to teach computer science at James Garfield High School in Los Angeles. Too bad they didn't have any computers. No problem, Mr. Escalante opted to teach math in-lieu of the computer science class. With very little resistance, Escalante was able to settle in and gain a rapport with the students. What's more is that he was able to teach them and they grasped it.
From basic algebra Escalante convinced his class to step up to calculus. This would require the students to give up their summer as well as their weekends and they all did.
You have to love a movie showing underprivileged youth bettering themselves against all odds. I still like Lean on Me better because of the excellent acting from Morgan Freeman and Robert Guillaume, but this movie held its own.
The late 80's gave us a few school reform movies: The Principal, Stand and Deliver, and Lean on Me. Stand and Deliver was the only one of the three that focused on a teacher and a singular class instead of the entire school.
Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos) left his decent paying computer job to teach computer science at James Garfield High School in Los Angeles. Too bad they didn't have any computers. No problem, Mr. Escalante opted to teach math in-lieu of the computer science class. With very little resistance, Escalante was able to settle in and gain a rapport with the students. What's more is that he was able to teach them and they grasped it.
From basic algebra Escalante convinced his class to step up to calculus. This would require the students to give up their summer as well as their weekends and they all did.
You have to love a movie showing underprivileged youth bettering themselves against all odds. I still like Lean on Me better because of the excellent acting from Morgan Freeman and Robert Guillaume, but this movie held its own.