Stand and Deliver: part 1

I always forget that I have seen Stand and Deliver before, until I am about half way through it. What I really appreciate about Mr. Escalante is his ability to adapt. This quality is obvious from the very beginning, when he showed up to teach computer class and they send him to his classroom to teach math. He didn’t put up a big fuss or walk out and say he didn’t want to teach math; he accepted the challenge and walked into his room and started to teach math. He spent the first day observing his students and sort of sizing them up, came back on the second day and approached them in a way that they could relate to him and respect him. He had his work cut out for him. Entering a school that was losing its accreditation, teaching students who had extremely hard home lives and did not feel that getting a high school education was going to help them in anyway. It was a joke to them, a waste of time. In being adaptable, creative, and receptive to what his students had to say; I feel like Mr. Escalante helped to change his student’s view of education and also their personal lives at home.