MOVIE · 1988

Stand and Deliver

Drama103 min

At Garfield High in East Los Angeles, math teacher Jaime Escalante refuses to accept the low expectations surrounding his students and pushes them toward calculus and the Advanced Placement exam. Edward James Olmos is Escalante, a demanding teacher whose classes stretch from basic algebra to college-level work, with Lou Diamond Phillips among the teenagers trying to keep up with him. Drawn from a true story, the film follows a Latino classroom often written off by the school system as Escalante’s methods, discipline, and ambition start changing what the students think is possible.