Yesterday evening, Katherine, 13-year-old Lukas, and I watched Stand and Deliver (1988), which I own on DVD. I saw this movie many years ago and enjoyed it very much. It stars Edward James Olmos (who played Lieutenant Martin Castillo in Miami Vice) as a math teacher in East Los Angeles who refuses to accept mediocrity from his students. He whips them into shape the way a drill instructor whips raw recruits into shape in boot camp. It's inspiring.
I was continually shocked by the familiarity shown by the teacher toward his students. He made references to their appearance and relationships; he went to their homes; he welcomed some of them into his own home; and he even touched some of them. (He hugged a disconsolate female student, for example.) Nobody would dare do such things these days, for fear of being sued or fired. It shows the changes that have taken place in education in the past three decades.
Here is a trailer.
