Stand and Deliver

The movie starts in a great way - showing the viewer the neighborhood that Esclante is in. Even though it is a low-income area, it's not presented as a ghetto or dangerous.

As the movie goes on, the viewer can see that Esclante is not cut out for this job. He wanted to teach kids how to use computers, but is stuck with a low-level math class instead. The class is full of kids who aren't given second chances due to their track record or race. It's sad, but Esclante does his best to try and teach them anyway. (his finger-multiplication thing is freaking genius!)

The way the kids are presented is actually pretty tame compared to how high school kids can really be. Sure, Angel is considered a troublemaker, but the viewer can see that he really does want to learn. In fact, all of the kids are like that. Compared to my experiences with high school kids, these kids are pretty tame. In real life, they were probably hell, but in the movie they are just normal kids.

Teaching is also seen as a poor mans job. Some people don't understand why Esclante left his work to go teach. The girls father at the restaurant doesn't think school is all that important in the real world.

When the kids try to revolt, it reminded me of something that happened in my 8th grade year. My class hated my teacher (she was pretty mean to us, especially this one kid, Sawyer), so Sawyer convinced most of the class to purposefully show up late to her class on the last day of school. Of course, my teacher was pissed and called the principal down and threatened to give us Saturday school. Let's just say I never participated in a school-related revolt ever again.

Another thing I noticed about the movie is that all the kids come from broken backgrounds. Sick family, working parents, unsupportive parents - you name it. The thing that makes Esclante so likable is that even though he says that he doesn't care about their personal lives, he actually does. To these kids, Esclante is the adult figure that they all need.

The AP test was very relatable for me. I know how nerve-wracking it is to wait months for your scores, your heart beating so hard in your chest as you open the envelope, the relief that washes over you when you see that you passed - I know all those feelings. So it made me really sad that those kids were obviously being discriminated against because the test people found out they were Latino. Esclante was right - if the kids had been white, no one would have thought twice about the scores they got.

The movie overall was very good, but I felt that it didn't really go that deep into the story. I only remember one of the kids names (Angel), and I just wish that I could have gotten to know the other kids better. It was a good movie about Esclante's teacher career though.