Leadership in The Movies: Stand and Deliver 1

Leadership in The Movies: Stand and Deliver

Celina Rosales
Recreation and Sports Management, Coastal Carolina University
Leadership Theory & Application in Sport Setting
Dr. McGlone
October 5th, 2020
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Stand and Deliver tells the true story of a dedicated math teacher who pushed through

obstacles, embraced setbacks, never gave up on his students, and exemplified leadership to the

highest degree. Jaime Escalante was initially set out to teach Computer Science at Garfield High,

a predominately Hispanic, underprivileged populated school in East Los Angeles. Having no

computers due to low funding at the school, he was placed in a classroom to teach math instead.

Mr. Escalante quickly realized that these students had potential to do great things. He gave them

the attention and motivation they needed to challenge themselves and the system by taking and

passing the Advanced Placement exam in calculus. With passing the exam came celebration and

unfortunately, controversy and rumors of cheating. Stand and Deliver shows how these students

overcame systemic racism with the help and support of their teacher, Mr. Escalante.

I chose this movie because of my connection to the characters through my Hispanic

background. I am very passionate about my Hispanic background because it has shaped me into

the person I am today, which I am very proud of. I am not close with my family in El Salvador

and the family I do have here in the country live in Maryland, however they play a pivotal role in

my everyday life and how I treat others. Although I did not live in an underprivileged area, I

have had to deal with stereotypically and racist comments related to the Hispanic community and

culture. This movie shows me that individual’s will doubt you based on where you come from,

but that cannot stop you from reaching your goals. I also realized I had a connection to the

students who had doubt in themselves. I can relate to them as I have had this issue of self-doubt

or that thought of “am I good enough?” For the past 4 years I was in a leadership position as the

director of a facility which helped put these questions of self-doubt away. Being able to relate to

Mr. Escalante also made it easy to pick this movie. He is spending his time giving back to these

students and trying to better the community. My vision for the future is to work for a sports
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organization’s charity or foundation and be the community outreach representative. I want to

make an impact in individual’s lives and give them something to look forward to, even if it’s just

for a day.

Throughout the movie Mr. Escalante is challenged on his leadership skills from the

beginning to end of the movie. He faces push back from the students at first who are hesitant to

listen or pay attention to him. Due to past treatment of the students from teachers and

administrators, Mr. Escalante has to figure out a new way to engage with the students and lead

them without being mean-spirited but rather with patience. He also struggles relating to his co-

workers as they aren’t willing to try harder with the students or put in effort to support the school

through academics. During staff meetings they are more opinionated about the classes they don’t

want to teach rather than innovating and brainstorming about new way to communicate with the

students or, any ideas for the school. Mr. Escalante voices that he recognizes the students have

potential and is willing to put in the time to guide them on the right path. Mr. Escalante not only

struggles with issues at the school but receives the backlash of issues that students have in their

home life. For example, a student has to drop out of school because her father wants her to work

for the family business. Mr. Escalante intervenes on the situation and encourages the family to

allow the student to come back. Although the student does return, Mr. Escalante is stepping into

new territories of advocation and leadership for his students. The students are timid to agree on

working towards the Advanced Placement test because they aren’t confident or don’t believe it is

worth it. Throughout the movie students are quick to quit or drop out of the class and Mr.

Escalante uses a different approach to motivating and encouraging them. He simply lets them

leave and make the choice on their own. The students recognize that isn’t to be mean or cruel but

that he really does care by letting them make the decision on their own, not because he told them
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to. Mr. Escalante’s primary goal is to push the students to their fullest potential and prove

everyone wrong by passing the AP Calculus exam. His drive was so hard it drove him to a mild

heart attack. This put stress not only on him but the students as well because they believed they

put this pressure on him. Mr. Escalante, not worried about himself, ensured the students to not

worry about him and keep their studies up. After 2 long years of intense studying, even on the

weekends and during the summer it was time to take the exam that only a few students at

Garfield High school had passed before. All 18 students passed with flying colors. At a time for

celebration there was also sadness, and suspicion. The Education Testing Services accused the

students of cheating as there were similar right and wrong answers from the exams. Mr.

Escalante outraged by the accusations fights for his students and adamantly states there is no way

they would have cheated. He even states that the ETS is quick to ride these accusations out

because of who these students are racial and where they come from economically. Mr. Escalante

inspires the students to keep going, which persuaded them to take the exam again. The students

come out on top once again, proving everyone wrong and that they really can stand and deliver.

Mr. Escalante shows an immense amount of Leadership throughout the movie. Leaders

are visionary, align people in the right direction and inspire (McGlone, Leadership Primer 2,

2020). He had a vision for the students and the school. He wanted the students to succeed at this

one goal to show that they can do anything if they work hard enough. His vision for the school

was to encourage more students to take on challenges they think they cannot overcome. He also

had a vision for the teachers as he wanted them to put more effort into their students and teaching

for the school. He aligned the students towards this vision or goal by giving them the tools they

needed to do well. He inspired them as well to overcome hardships, whether that be at school, at

home, at work and use all of that as their motivation to pass this exam. He also ensured them that
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they are enough, which inspired them to stay in the class and prove to themselves they could

reach this achievement. Mr. Escalate also displayed purpose, meaning, and produced results in

the movie. He gave the students a reason to come to school and stay off the streets. There was a

high rate of dropouts at Garfield High School as well as violence in the area. In the movie one of

the students, Angel Guzman, is seen riding around the streets with a gang called the “Maravilla”

(Menendez, 1988). He wants to be seen as a tough guy who doesn’t care about his education but

slowly learns that it could lead to a good career. Mr. Escalante gives Angel purpose which results

in him receiving a perfect score on the exam in the end. Another student named, Fransico Garcia

nicknamed, “Pancho” struggles with math at the beginning of the movie and figures he should

cut his losses now and accept a job in the Union. Mr. Escalante’s devotion to the students starts

to convince Pancho that receiving an education can benefit him in the future. Pancho has the

biggest change after Mr. Escalante’s heart attack as he realized the meaning his life now has

because of him. Mr. Escalante produced results by never giving up even when it would have

been easy to. His hard work resulted in the entire class passing the exam twice. This then led to

more and more students passing the exam every year after that at Garfield High School.

Mr. Escalante resembles multiple leadership styles in the movie. He is seen to have an

Authoritative style during the entire movie. He has everyone working towards the same vision

and has everyone on the same path to reach that vision. He also focuses on each student

individually, not leaving anyone behind. This is seen when he goes to Ana Delgado’s family

restaurant and talks to her father about how bright she is and letting her stay in school could help

the business improve. He would not stand to see one of his students go this way as she was part

of the vision. This way of leading allows the students to produce quality work and help them get

a step closer to the vision. Mr. Escalante also demonstrates an Affiliative style of Leadership in
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the middle to end of the movie. Once he realizes the bottled-up potential the students have he

starts to build a relationship with them. A relationship they can trust, and rely on. This

relationship then strengthens their emotional bond which is seen when he has his heart attack.

The students are upset, and distraught with the thought of Mr. Escalante being hurt as they now

have a connection and bond with him. Mr. Escalante also dives into the Coaching style of

Leadership. Although the primary goal is to pass the AP exam he is also considering the bigger

picture for the students and how this exam can affect their future. As he repeats many times in

the movie, “All you need is ganas” (Menendez, 1988) meaning all you need is desire to pursue

and get ahead. He promotes development from each student by engaging with them in class,

homework, helping out at home, and allowing them to be creative in the classroom. This helps

the students to continue with their studies and to not take the easy way out. Mr. Escalante

touches the Coercive style of Leadership by demanding agreement from the students in some

areas. For example, he demands that all students go to class on Saturdays and during the Summer

to study for the exam. If any student didn’t meet this demand then they would not have been able

to continue with the course or work toward the vision at hand. Although Mr. Escalante has both

Transactional and Transformational leadership traits he mostly can relate to the Transformational

style. He has his attention on the overall vision for Garfied High School and their academics.

During staff meetings he advocates for his students and has the idea to teach them calculus. The

other teachers and staff take his idea and put their own harsh opinions into. He doesn’t back

down and looks towards what is important.

Mr. Escalante’s vision at the end of the day was to help every student see how much

potential they had and realize how much they have not even tapped into. Mr. Escalante does this

through different leadership skills. He uses Conceptualization to set the direction for Garfield
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High in another way. Before he got there the school though they had done all that they could

with what they were given and weren’t looking to improve academically. Mr. Escalante

recognized this, as well as the environment and dynamic of his surroundings. In 1982, in East

LA systemic racism is a big issue, which made it harder for funding in these areas including

schools. He used this as a motivator to change the future for not only these students specifically

in his class but for future students at Garfield High. That his classroom and teaching could be a

place to unlock your hidden potential and use what you what already have to the fullest. This can

be related to the sports organization because employees underestimate themselves all the time

and are unaware of what they are capable of. This can be solved by having weekly staff or one-

on-one meetings, and opening up the table for employees to brainstorm and be creative amongst

each other. He also used Stewardship to advance the students and their potential. He makes the

decision to continue teaching the students, and eventually at a higher level with their best interest

at heart. He also knows that this will help Garfield High in the long run as they may get more

funding as a result of better test scores from the students. This can be used within sports

organizations when making decisions which happens daily. Taking into consideration the

organizations goals and the best way to achieve them, you would be using stewardship. Writing

down pros and cons to decide what to for the organization could be a good route to take when

figuring out if it is in their best interest. Mr. Escalante has the capability to succeed by picking up

on the strengths and weakness of each student and focuses on those. Mr. Escalante recognizes

that Guadalupe Escobar, one of the students in his class, has strengthens not only in the

classroom but in her personal life as well. As seen in the movie she takes care of her younger

siblings, cooks and cleans for her parents, all while juggling school and a complicated

relationship. Feeding into this, Mr. Escalante challenges her when she refuses to take one of his
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quizzes and he places her in a “time out chair” in the front of the class. This challenge was

accepted as she became one of the most dedicated in the class. Teaching to her strengthens was

smart as he was able to tell she wanted to be there and work. She was one of the students who

got a perfect score on the exam. Having the capability to succeed in the sports organizational

field can be difficult as you are forced to assess individuals’ skills, faults, and how they can

affect the organization. Learning about your employees and what they shine in and what they fall

short is vital as you can use this as an advantage. Someone who has great communication skills

but doesn’t have any confidence needs help opening about their ideas and thoughts. Having them

go through workshops could help boost their confidence and allow them to have a positive

impact on the organization as they can give future employees the tools to help with their lack of

self-confidence as well. Mr. Escalante uses motivation to connect with his students. For

instances, he shows engagement in class by talking to the students on a personal level. He is

teaching them negative numbers and has the whole class repeat after him, “A negative times a

negative, equals a positive” (Menendez, 1988). Using this method of teaching is very motivating

for the students as they are easily able to grasp the concept. In the sports organizational field

being a motivator for your followers is vital. This can produce more quality work, happy

employees, and pleased customers. “Job satisfaction, perceived equity, and organizational

commitment are key factors to making followers experiences positive” (McGlone, Motivation,

2020). Giving your employees praise when needed will motivate them to keep up the great work.

They will feel appreciated in the workplace.

Stand and Deliver is one of the top movies that illustrates leadership from start to finish.

Mr. Escalante is the type of leader every teacher should strive to be like. He did not care that he

left his high paying job for a lower paying one. He did not care that he was not teaching
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computer science for the school. He did not care that the school was struggling financially. He

took all these hindrances and led anyways. He led using multiple styles of leadership when and

where they were needed. He was coercive and authoritative when the students needed direction.

He was affiliative when he started to bond with the students and realized this would help them

trust him and generate good work. He coached when it got hard on the students and led them

back on track. Overall, he was transformational in working relentlessly to assist the students in

seeing the bigger picture and the overall vision of using their full potential to pass the AP exam

to enhance their future. Having a teacher like Mr. Escalante growing up would have helped my

fellow classmates, and myself to be more involved in our studies. This would have also helped

me be more focused on my grades and push me to think about how those grades could affect me

in the future. Whether that be getting into a good college, or how hard I would be willing to work

to get a good job.

The movie was based on a true story making Mr. Escalante a true legend for the

community. He had to deal with real doubt and negativity from his peers just like many people

do today. People can learn from how he dealt with all these obstacles though. Not by running

away, quitting, giving up, not speaking up, but by perseverance, determination, hard work,

dedication, being a leader, and through “ganas” (Menendez, 1988). He left his legacy on Garfield

High for years as more and more students passed the AP Calculus exam. In 1983 31 students

passed, in 1984 63 students passed, in 1985 77 students passed, in 1986 78 students passed, and

in 1987 87 students passed. Mr. Escalante’s leadership skills and characteristics poured over into

his students since they passed the exam not once but twice. The commitment he made was very

powerful in my opinion. He devoted all his time to teaching once he understood the impact it had

on the students lives. It also affected his life as he had to deal with pressure from his wife who
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wanted him to slow down and spend more time with the family. Over time though she saw how

much his students meant to him and how he had a positive effect in their lives. That is what a

leader should do, impact their followers in a positive and productive way. By motivating,

encouraging, critiquing, engaging, learning, listening, and by teaching the students so they can be

ready to succeed at anything. Mr. Escalante passed away in 2010 at the age of 79. His legacy still

lives on today as “he built one of the largest and most successful Advanced placement programs

in the nation” (Woo, 2013). Through his leadership he showed that you truly can be successful if

you just stand and deliver.

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References

McGlone, C. (2020, September). Leadership Primer 2. Retrieved from moodle.coastal.edu:

https://moodle.coastal.edu/course/view.php?id=15247

McGlone, C. (2020, September). Motivation. Retrieved from moodle.coastal.edu:

https://moodle.coastal.edu/course/view.php?id=15247

Menendez, R. (Director). (1988). Stand and Deliver [Motion Picture].

Woo, E. (2013, April 25). Jaime Escalante dies at 79; math who challenges East LA students to 'Stand and
Deliver'. Retrieved from Los Angeles Times: https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-
jaime-escalante31-2010mar31-story.html