Introduction
This movie was made in 1988 and it is based on a true story; that is, the teacher, school and students all really exist and the major events of this movie actually happened.
The setting of the movie is a public high school in East Los Angelos, a working-class neighborhood made up mainly of Spanish-speaking immigrants. A teacher, Mr. Escalante, is
hired to teach basic math (arithmetic) but he decides to set higher goals for his students. He teaches them algebra instead, and then convinces the school to let him teach calculus the next year. He wants to teach calculus so that his students will be eligible to take the Advanced Placement Math Test. This is a test which graduating high school students across the country can take; if they pass the test, they get credit for calculus when they go to college. (That means that they don't have to take and pay for the usual required college math class).
The movie shows the the students preparing to take the test and what happens afterwards.
Questions
Think about these questions as we watch the first few scenes of the movie.
- What are your impressions of the neighborhood? Which things show you that there are many Hispanic people in this neighborhood?
- What is happening at the school when Mr Escalante arrives? What was Mr. Escalante expected to teach at the school? Why does he end up teaching math instead?
- What are your impressions of the school and the students? How do the students react to Mr. Escalante? Do they like math? Do they like to study?
- What was Mr. Escalante's job before he became a high-school teacher? How does Mr. Escalante's neighbor react when he hears that he quit a high paying job to become a teacher? Do you think people respect high-school teachers?
- At the beginning, the students don't even know how to do basic math, such as fractions. How does Mr. Escalante encourage them? How does he deal with the tough guys?
- What kind of attitude do the other math teachers have about the students? What do they think of Mr. Escalante?