Education is the foundation of our society. It is supposed to help children of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds succeed with equal opportunity, however, this is often not the case. Race and class unfairly play an important role in whether or not schools get sufficient funding and the success rate of the students attending. Stand and Deliver, released in 1988, highlights the social issues surrounding education in a Hispanic high school in a poorer area of Los Angeles.
Education in America is a major problem. Our system is plagued with racism and elitism, which we see in in Stand and Deliver. The minority students in the movie faced racial discrimination, family obligations, and low expectations from both the school staff and their own …show more content…
The AP testing integrity office only decided to investigate the student’s unusually high calculus scores because of their Hispanic names; it was assumed that they couldn’t achieve high academic success unless it was due to cheating. Another issue Stand and Deliver brings to attention is the stereotype threat, which is the risk of confirming in oneself a characteristic that is a negative stereotype (Leon-Guerrero 2016). The calculus students were afraid of not doing well on the retake of the test and that the Testing Integrity Office would confirm the “cheating” and confirm the stereotype that Hispanics have lower academic abilities than do white students. A major problem that students deal with is the need to fit in and be cool so if being smart doesn’t fit their image then it impairs their intellectual ability. In the movie the character Angel felt the pressure to conform to his bad boy image with his “gang” of friends who often skipped class and caused trouble, but he secretly wanted to do well and went to his teacher Mr. Escalante to ask for a second chance.
Violence and harassment in schools is a major problem and in areas of lower socioeconomic standings it is more prevalent. Property crimes can be specifically noted in Stand and Deliver, from the graffiti on the walls, the feces in the office, and the throwing of school property off balconies gives a stereotype …show more content…
Studies have shown that with a high number of minority students, they have “less than a 50 percent chance of getting a math or science teacher with a license and degree in the field” (Darling-Hammond 1998). This was demonstrated in the movie when the math department held a meeting and one teacher said he couldn’t teach math anymore because he was supposed to be a gym teacher; even Mr. Escalante wasn’t supposed to be a math teacher. Wealthier schools hire most of the highly educated teachers and teachers with lower education are assigned to low-income and high-minority schools (Darling-Hammond
Education in America is a major problem. Our system is plagued with racism and elitism, which we see in in Stand and Deliver. The minority students in the movie faced racial discrimination, family obligations, and low expectations from both the school staff and their own …show more content…
The AP testing integrity office only decided to investigate the student’s unusually high calculus scores because of their Hispanic names; it was assumed that they couldn’t achieve high academic success unless it was due to cheating. Another issue Stand and Deliver brings to attention is the stereotype threat, which is the risk of confirming in oneself a characteristic that is a negative stereotype (Leon-Guerrero 2016). The calculus students were afraid of not doing well on the retake of the test and that the Testing Integrity Office would confirm the “cheating” and confirm the stereotype that Hispanics have lower academic abilities than do white students. A major problem that students deal with is the need to fit in and be cool so if being smart doesn’t fit their image then it impairs their intellectual ability. In the movie the character Angel felt the pressure to conform to his bad boy image with his “gang” of friends who often skipped class and caused trouble, but he secretly wanted to do well and went to his teacher Mr. Escalante to ask for a second chance.
Violence and harassment in schools is a major problem and in areas of lower socioeconomic standings it is more prevalent. Property crimes can be specifically noted in Stand and Deliver, from the graffiti on the walls, the feces in the office, and the throwing of school property off balconies gives a stereotype …show more content…
Studies have shown that with a high number of minority students, they have “less than a 50 percent chance of getting a math or science teacher with a license and degree in the field” (Darling-Hammond 1998). This was demonstrated in the movie when the math department held a meeting and one teacher said he couldn’t teach math anymore because he was supposed to be a gym teacher; even Mr. Escalante wasn’t supposed to be a math teacher. Wealthier schools hire most of the highly educated teachers and teachers with lower education are assigned to low-income and high-minority schools (Darling-Hammond