Welton Academy vs. Garfield High School

Garfield High School from “Stand and Deliver” and Welton Academy from “Dead Poets Society” have a broad range of differences between them. Garfield HS is a public school in the heart of East Los Angeles. Teachers and faculty at Garfield do not expect much from the students.  Welton Academy for Boys is a private high school occupied by promising young men. Unlike Garfield HS, Parents and faculty at Welton have extremely high expectations for the students and expect them to earn excellent grades, and eventually peruse higher education after they graduate.  The majority of students at Garfield HS are Hispanic, different from Welton Academy where most of the students are Caucasian. 

 It is obvious that the boys from Welton and the students from Garfield grew up very differently. In Stand and Deliver, we saw poverty stricken families, who were struggling to make ends-meat. In most cases, the students had to work in order to help support their families. Whereas in Dead Poets Society, the families of the boys were well-to-do. They were able to afford to send their child to private school, and strived for their children to become successful like them. 

One of the main differences between Welton Academy and Garfield HS was the students will to learn. Right away, we see the young men at Welton organizing study groups, working on projects, and talking about assignments. At Garfield, it wasn’t until the students found motivation in Mr. Escalante that they started to become eager to learn. These differences are what makes each school unique.