Stand and Deliver

My reaction to the protagonist in the film “Stand and Deliver is that he is a fair teacher who wants to do more for his students by raising his expectations of them. His first day he sees the chaos of the classroom, no discipline, no students care and they do not feel they are cared about. Right away he dives in, pushing them, pressing their buttons and almost making fun of them for acting out, putting them in their place. He does the same to teachers, he calls them out for having low expectations, for not even trying to teach their students at a higher level. He constantly pushes to get more, teaching basic math students algebra and then calculus. When is allowed to teach calculus, his expectations rise still, he makes the students come in early, stay late, come in on Saturday and even get a contract saying they will do it. It is impressive that a teacher, new to a school that is in a bad part of town, can motivate and push a diverse group of students to strive for higher education. I agree that students will rise to the challenge that is put in front of them, especially if they are pushed to do it.