My recation to part 2 of "Stand and Deliver"

In the first part of Stand and Deliver, we were introduced to several students in a public high school in East Los Angeles. Some teachers would describe these students as “illiterate”.  We watched as those same students were encouraged to push their learning abilities by their new teacher, Mr. Escalante.  With his unique personality and “tough love” teaching style, the students started to grasp the importance of education and genuinely wanted to succeed. The second part of “Stand and Deliver” was inspiring to watch. There were some unexpected twists that made the movie grasp you emotionally.

 We saw many of the students become frustrated with the learning process of calculus. For example, when Pancho is in front of the class doing a problem on the blackboard, he throws down the chalk and says “My mind doesn’t work this way…Everyone knows I’m the dumbest, I can’t handle calculus!” Another time, Claudia, gazing out the window at her friends, decides to get up and leave class. This is followed by a rude remark by Mr. Escalante. “I don’t appreciate you using my person life to entertain this class.” She shouts at him. You started to get the sense that the students were being overworked and becoming discouraged. But they were not the only ones overworking.

Mr. Escalante’s home life was obviously taking a toll because of his multiple teaching jobs and grueling work hours. In one scene at the dinner table, His wife makes some remarks to her sons about her husband never being home. She is clearly frustrated with him. This does not stop him, however. His overwhelming schedule and high stress level eventually lead to him having a heart attack. Even though he was instructed by the doctor to not have any stress for a while, he shows up in the classroom later, ready to teach.

The time finally comes for the students to take the AP Calculus exam. They all pass with high scores; But It wasn’t long before the school board accused them of cheating. They were suspicious because although the students did well, they got many of the same questions wrong. Later, Mr. E suggests that the scores were being questioned because of the race of his students. He says to the school officials “If this was Beverly Hills High School they wouldn’t have sent you into investigate.”  Not giving up, the students and Mr. E decide it best to re-take the test. During a one day long study session, Escalante lifts his student’s spirits by saying “You are true dreamers. And dreams accomplish wonderful things.”

In the end, the students pass the test. As the test scores are being read, we watch as the screen flashes to the different student at the very beginning of the movie. This scene really put everything into prospective. Mr. Escalante took on a challenging group of students who were un-motivated and far from engaged when it came to learning. He took these same students and turned their world around by teaching them the importance of education. More importantly, he taught them that they are capable of doing anything they set their minds to. In the very last scene, we see Mr. Escalante walking away proud as we read of the successful testing rates in the following years at Garfield High School. A touching way to end such an inspiring story!