Stand and deliver!
Reviewed in the Straits Times (Ch. 5) some time ago!

Jaime Escalante is one of those teachers you thought existed only in books or the movies.

He gives up a lucrative job in electronics to teach Mathematics in Garfield High, an East Los Angeles school notorious for drugs and gang-related violence. His students can barely write their own names, let alone do calculus.

But Escalante, eschewing orthodox teaching methods for emotional blackmail, arm-twists his charges to sign a contract. The terms include 30 hours of homework a week and compulsory extra lessons.

The students pass the exams, but the incredulous Education Testing Service arranges for a re-sit. And of course, Escalante’s students Stand and Deliver the goods.

Edward James Olmos is brilliant as Escalante. The film also stars Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba) and Andy Garcia (The Untouchables).

By the way, the real Jaime Escalante is still teaching and performing the same miracle.