![]() ![]() There is a scene in the movie that seems to suggest this possibility the teacher comes up with an assertion that everyone in the classroom tells him is wrong, but he won't back down. What the screenplay needed, I think, was at least one speech in simple, clear dialogue, explaining what I assume to be true: The kids all made the same mistake because their teacher made that mistake in teaching them. ![]() But the ETS authorities cannot be blamed for their suspicions. Because we have been through the movie and the experience with the kids, we know they were not cheating. After the 18 kids have taken, and passed, the exam, their test scores are questioned by the Educational Testing Service for two reasons: (1) it seems extremely unlikely that all of these kids could pass the exam without cheating, and (2) they all suspiciously made some of the same mistakes. I was also disturbed by the cloudiness of the screenplay in the movie's most crucial scene. Some of these scenes are important to the story - as when we discover why it is so hard for some of the kids to find time for their homework - but others, including a high school romance, are simply marking time. Not so fascinating, however, are the vignettes of student life outside the school. The kids themselves are amazed that this strategy works and more amazed still to find that they're expected to do 30 hours of homework a week and come in on Saturday mornings for extra classes.Īll of this material is fine and strong. Then he starts teaching, using examples out of the everyday lives of his students, making them think things out for themselves, announcing that the “punishment” for not working hard in class is to be banished from the class - a class most of the kids would rather be out of, anyway. Adopting a weird sideways shuffle and a strange habit of talking to himself, he strikes them at first as simply bizarre they stop making noise because they want to hear what foolish thing he'll say next. He doesn't confront them he outflanks them. His class is undisciplined, unmotivated and rebellious. What he proved is that motivation and hard work can rewrite the destinies of kids that society might be willing to write off.Įscalante, played in the film by Edward James Olmos, faces a disheartening challenge on the first day of school. The story is based on fact, on the life of Jaime Escalante, an East Los Angeles man who left a higher-paying job in business to return to education and prove something.
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