An unusual teacherA math teacher walks into his classroom holding an apple and a meat cleaver(砍肉刀). His students look interested. He puts on a cook’s hat and an apron, slowly raises the meat cleaver high into the air, and then cuts the apple into two pieces. His students look shocked. Believe it or not, this is the beginning of a lesson on fractions (分数).There are many scenes like this in stand and deliver. This movie is about real-life teacher Jaime Escalante and his students at Garfield high school in East Los Angeles. Actor Edward James Olmos captures Escalante’s passion and drive. The young actors who play students show how a school known for its drugs and gangs (团伙) becomes famous for its big improvements in math。Escalante sets rules for his students but also cares deeply about them. If he sees that a student is not listening, he playfully hits him with a red pillow. He tells students that they must have ganas, a Spanish word meaning “desire”. He reminds them that they are the hope for the future.Escalante also understands each student’s special problems. In one scene, a student named angel comes to see Escalante after class. Angel says that he wants to study at home, but he can’t let the members of his gang see him carrying books. So Escalante gives angel two sets of books---one to keep at home and one to keep in his locker.Some of the most moving scenes in the movie are based on actual events that took place in 1982. Escalante prepares his students to take a test in calculus(微积分), a difficult form of math. Officials are shocked when all 18 students, who come mostly from poor Hispanic families, pass the test. Accused of cheating, many of the students must retake the test. Again, they get high scores. Escalante complains that his students’ scores were challenged only because the students are Hispanic.
The student named angel is a member of a gang group.