Beyond Legend: Stand and Deliver as a Study in School Organizational Culture

The institution of schooling is a natural breeding ground for legend, and legends play a vital role in the creation of meaning within schools. Students pass stories down to their younger peers, teachers pass them to their newer colleagues, and over time the stories blend into that “curious mélange” of culture building described by Willard Waller (1932, p. 107)) so many years ago. Often using battle-like imagery, Waller framed the idea of school culture as contested space from which individual values and collective norms were developed. This process can also be seen in legends created and handed down outside of the school, notably in the form of the “school movie.” Films like Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939), Blackboard Jungle (1955), To Sir With Love (1967), Lean on Me (1989), and even the Chinese pseudo-documentary Not One Less (1999) not only offer lessons and legends of great classroom failure and success, but also represent a substantial contribution to ongoing moral, ethical, and cultural debates regarding the way schools “ought to be.”

Stand and Deliver (1988) is in many ways the epitome of such school movies. On its surface, the film offers an inspirational story of a teacher on a mission. Working mostly in isolation, but armed with intense motivation and aggressive expectation, Jaime Escalante tackles academic apathy in an “at risk”¹ Los Angeles high school. Equipped with a rough and tumble zeal, Escalante challenges students and teachers alike to rid themselves of old patterns of thinking. He brings new life and meaning to the school, turns it around, and begins to change its culture. Like most legends, the film presents an intense moral drama from which follow a set of prescriptions for success, if not “victory.” “With desire, or ganas, you can accomplish anything!” “Students will rise to the level of teacher expectation!” “If you want to ‘turn things around,’ start from the top!” “If life is unfair, you must work even harder!” Thus are the slogans, the “battle cries,” from the Escalante/Stand and Deliver legend.

Yet, while the messages seem honest and appealing, this kind of sloganeering has opened Stand and Deliver (and other school films) to some rather harsh criticism; as being one-dimensional, socially disturbing, or even racially oppressive (see Chennault, 2006; Giroux, 2002; Smith, 1999). Though some of these criticisms seem a bit simplistic or exaggerated, it is fair to say that the film’s emotional and slightly clichéd plot tends to distract viewers from finding deeper meaning. This is unfortunate, for beyond the main narrative lies a wealth of subtext – events, issues, tensions, and conflicts – illustrating the ways schools function as social systems and as norm generating institutions. Viewed this way, Stand and Deliver challenges its audience to consider and reconsider some current, widely held beliefs and values surrounding American teaching and schooling.

Highlighting several of these challenges, this article seeks to illustrate why Stand and Deliver is an excellent resource for classes in educational leadership, foundations, and sociology. Its value here lies in its presentation of a rugged, organic, and authentic model of school culture, one that stands in stark contrast to the cool, clinical, and bureaucratic visions that tend to be advocated in many colleges of education today.

Escalante and the Culture of Schooling

Stand and Deliver serves as a key component of my classes on teaching and leadership. Before showing the film to my students, I ask them two questions.

1. 1. What is the hardest, most demanding work done by anyone inside a school?

2. 2. What values and deep assumptions of schooling does Jaime Escalante either illustrate or appear to contest?

The first of these two questions is discussed later in this article. Suffice it to say for now that no student has ever come up with the same answer as mine. The second question targets the very meaning of “school culture,” a concept in need of some discussion before delving into the film itself.

In its broadest sense, “culture” refers to a fairly stable set of deep tacit assumptions, beliefs, meanings, values, and dispositions shared among members of a...