Stand and Deliver seems to be a really great story/film so far. I have really enjoyed it. The whole story just keeps shocking me on how far Mr. Escalante is going with these high school students. At first he seemed very frustrated to not be teaching computer science. A lot of teachers weren’t teaching what they were hired to be teaching. People were somewhat mean to him at the beginning and weren’t intimidated by him what so ever. But then started to really listen to him and obey him. He really got into these kids brains and had them learn so much. He users humor and speaks down to their level to get them interested in learning math. The students already have made so much progress. A lot of them do seem ready to take the calculus AP exam for a college credit. And I love why Mr. Escalante is doing this to them. He believes they can do can learn it and do well, he also wants them to get a college credit so they can believe they can actually go to college. Because a lot of those students had no intention of going to college. They just wanted to start making awesome amounts of money then. But he was trying to get through to them that they wont go places in life without all this education. Which I thought was a great thing for a teacher to do. He is so compassionate about teaching and puts so much time and effort into going so far with these students. He even taught over the summer and winter break with them. His teaching ways were different but seemed to really help with those group of students. He didnt teach in the best school district in the area and he quit his other job to work there. That shows how much he cares and I really value that. Especially when he was hired to teach a completely different subject.
I really agree with what you’re saying about Mr. Escalante trying to stress that they need an education in order to be more then fast food cooks and dish washers for the rest of their lives. If I would have had a teacher stressing my education as hard as he did maybe I could have avoided all that construction work misery! All and all you did a great job summing up the first half.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I missed the part about him quitting his better job to work there so thanks for filling me in!
Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteMr. Escalante is a great teacher and motivator. The love, compassion, humor and enthusiasm you described is apparent with every step forward, in some cases leaps forward his students made. How else could a group of first generation immigrants make so much progress? He gained their trust and launched them into a world they had no idea existed or was possible.
Your observations regarding the time and effort Mr. Escalante has put into the teachings of his class is one to explore further. At what point do you think ‘dedication’ turns to ‘obsession’ and how much sacrifice is too much sacrifice? Yes, he became the father figure, big brother, motivator and mentor to his 30plus students, but at what cost? His wife had to pick up the slack within the household, his son feels neglected and his entire family feels the lack of his presence. His priorities shifted from house and home to school and college preparations for the ‘student family’ he created. Do you think that the price he is paying (neglecting his family) outweighs the ‘pay off’ of his students going to college? Without seeing the end of the movie to know if there are statistics available, do we even know how many of the students he mentored moved on to bigger and better lives? (Opportunities only available to a college graduate.)
ReplyDeleteIt’s going to be interesting to see if his gamble to ‘take a chance on the kids’ pays off…
Great dialogue here--you each bring a unique point of view to this discussion, and it's great to see how you're building on the meaning of the film by responding to each other and asking questions!
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