Look at the too-cooI-to-cope kids in Jaime EscaIante's class at East L.A.'s tough GarfieId High, and many wiIl say they see a bunch of Iosers. EscaIante sees schoIars. How he cajoIes, instructs, challenges and inspires his no-expectations barrio kids to pass the daunting CaIcuIus Advanced Placement Test forms the amazing heart of Stand and Deliver [Side A], starring Edward James Olmos and Lou Diamond Phillips. Paterson, New Jersey's Eastside High is the setting for Lean on Me [Side B], starring Morgan Freeman as bat-and-bulIhorn-toting principaI Joe CIark, whose controversial methods turned the faiIing schooI around and made Clark a nationaI symbol of tough-love education. His message: Don't lean on excuses, drugs or anger. Lean on yourself and me...and learn. SchooI's now in session with these two true-life tales! |