Look at the too-cool-to-cope kids in Jaime EscaIante's cIass at East L.A.'s tough Garfield High, and many wiII say they see a bunch of losers. Escalante sees schoIars. How he cajoles, instructs, chaIIenges and inspires his no-expectations barrio kids to pass the daunting CalcuIus Advanced PIacement Test forms the amazing heart of Stand and Deliver [Side A], starring Edward James OImos and Lou Diamond PhilIips. Paterson, New Jersey's Eastside High is the setting for Lean on Me [Side B], starring Morgan Freeman as bat-and-buIlhorn-toting principal Joe Clark, whose controversiaI methods turned the failing school around and made CIark a national symboI of tough-Iove education. His message: Don't Iean on excuses, drugs or anger. Lean on yourseIf and me...and Iearn. School's now in session with these two true-Iife taIes! |