Jaime Escalante is a new teacher at Garfield High School determined to change the system and challenge the students to a higher level of achievement. Leaving a steady job for a position as a math teacher in a school where rebellion runs high and teachers are more focused on discipline than academics. As the year progresses, he is able to win over the attention of the students by implementing innovative teaching techniques. He is able to transform even the most troublesome teens into dedicated students. While Escalante teaches basic arithmetic and elementary and intermediate algebra, he realizes that his students have far more potential. The students begin to like Mr. Escalante and start understanding his teaching. Through the classes on every Monday through Saturday in the summertime, they succeed at the tests they had to take and the educational system flourishes because of it. This movie really connects with Akeelah in the Bee due to the fact that there are teachers that see the potential in their students when no one else can. The students come from bad environments but they have the choice to make their own future. But instead of succumbing to the environment that surrounds them, the characters rise above the challenges that lie before
Jaime Escalante is a new teacher at Garfield High School determined to change the system and challenge the students to a higher level of achievement. Leaving a steady job for a position as a math teacher in a school where rebellion runs high and teachers are more focused on discipline than academics. As the year progresses, he is able to win over the attention of the students by implementing innovative teaching techniques. He is able to transform even the most troublesome teens into dedicated students. While Escalante teaches basic arithmetic and elementary and intermediate algebra, he realizes that his students have far more potential. The students begin to like Mr. Escalante and start understanding his teaching. Through the classes on every Monday through Saturday in the summertime, they succeed at the tests they had to take and the educational system flourishes because of it. This movie really connects with Akeelah in the Bee due to the fact that there are teachers that see the potential in their students when no one else can. The students come from bad environments but they have the choice to make their own future. But instead of succumbing to the environment that surrounds them, the characters rise above the challenges that lie before