1

Implementing the Subject of “Stand and Deliver

Brian Hack

[]Campus

LAS 36673: Teaching Through Film

Professor []

May 19, 2021

 2
“Pascal, famous mathematician and philosopher, said reason is poor if it cannot see its

own limitations” (Peterson, 2021, 57:17). This quote was selected due to the content of the

movie by Menéndez (1988) “Stand and Deliver”. The story revolves around a teacher teaching

Mathematics at a failing school, and ends up showing that the school does, indeed, have merit by

getting his assigned class to pass the AP Calculus exam despite not knowing the rigors of basic

math. People like to ask what good is Maths going to do for them, when we have technology. No

one seems to answer in a way that convinces them. The issue is not that Maths is worthless for

these people, rather that these people are still unable to reason properly and, as such, they fall

into the low expectations given to them. Although parental permission was requested due to,

likely, legal reasons, I am pretty sure if this class was drafted to a military boot camp and forced

to learn Calculus, the students would stop complaining after a few years whereas the parents

would be happy that something became of their children. Regardless, this documentary is

astounding at how well it depicts the ease of which students, given high expectations, can

succeed through proper use of authority.

Calculus is, to most lay people, seen as the ultimate field of Maths. This is incorrect:

Calculus; Trigonometry; Topology; Arithmetic; all fields of Maths are generally seen as coequal

and tackling different problems. The three issues that Calculus addresses are limitations, change,

and the aggregation of change. An example that is not mathematical, yet can use the facilities of

Calculus in a way the un-initiated can understand, would be examining the acceptability of

homosexuality in a society. While there may be a better argument than what will be presented,

the answer is that all current arguments fail to convince me that homosexuality is not acceptable;

whether in a pure abstract, or mathematical approach, or through the eyes of Christianity and

most other religions.

 3
First, we need to limit ourselves to a set of axioms, or facts. Let us use Christianity, since

people like to cherry-pick the Old Testament, particularly Genesis, for answers against

homosexuality given the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. We have to realize that the creation

story says that all people are created equal, in the image of God, so whatever God is does not

matter except for the divine spark we appear to have an intuition towards spotting when we see

it. Generally, truth is what we see. When we get to Sodom and Gomorrah, the popular

observation is that the people trying to force themselves onto the strangers were also men as

were the strangers; yet is this the key or not?

Second, let us now consider changes or differences. The creation story was talking about

people, not necessarily Man and Woman, though this is where the concept of Man and Woman is

established in Christianity. Also, this is speaking of creation and does not necessitate that forever

and ever Man and Woman are the only two ways a family unit can be formed in order for people

to propagate their biological selves. The rest of the Old Testament is talking about sustaining

prosperity, after creation, and does not have any solid answer on whether or not homosexuality is

forbidden by God. If something were to be forbidden, there should have been a story associated

with it. From this point alone, there appears to be no evidence against homosexuality privately,

publicly, or socially; except for generalized concepts of relationships, marriage, and meeting

strangers.

But what about Sodom and Gomorrah, you may be asking. The difference here is that

those cities were deemed evil before the inhabitants came to harass the strangers. Instead of

focusing on the homosexuality aspect, the main focus is likely that one should not force

themselves onto others. If you do, the creation of Judah and Israel in the Land of Canaan show

that you must wipe out everything in the first establishment of what you are forcing into that
 4
area. Whatever it is that you are forcing had better be a good thing otherwise those you are

forcing this thing onto will end up fighting you with everything they have. So, the differences

shown here would indicate that there is no actual stance on homosexuality except that it is a fact

that the strangers were men as were the inhabitants trying to force themselves onto another

against their will.

Third, the aggregation of changes or differences. There are many other aspects of

Christian theology that need to be considered however in this short use of limitations,

differentiation, and integration, the example in its insufficiency should be allowable. Given that

there is no solid stance, or quantifiable stance, against homosexuality in Christianity from this

brief exploration, the idea that Christianity does not accept homosexuality has no good

argumentation for this to be the case. Given that the examples given are also in the Torah, this

should apply to Judaism as well.

Of course, with Maths, we should show our work such that oneself or another can see

where or where we got the answer right or made a mistake in our logic. Instead of thinking of

Maths as a set of squiggles, letters, numbers, and a myriad of complex and abstract nonsense,

why not think of it as a presentation, a novel, or some other artistic expression? Calculus has

three main tools that can be labeled as limits, differentiation, and integration. If more people

would watch and ask their elected officials to apply this documentary’s subject’s example to

their children’s school curriculum, then perhaps we would have more peers of Einstein’s caliber

than we do today. The next Einstein is most definitely out there. The issue is, why should they be

burdened with all the thinking when we will not believe them unless they have five doctorates, a

medical license, and the ability to speak seven different languages as fluent natives?
 5
The discovery of Calculus led us to realize that “[God] made the world to work” and that

He was not constantly moving everything around little by little (Klavan, 2021, 8:09). As such,

why not learn some Calculus yourself such that you can spot systems that work without constant

input, such as placing one’s money in a stock that provides a decent dividend every year? You

have a stake in that company’s future and, as such, can work to influence it for your benefit or

for the benefit of other interests you may have.

 6
References

Menéndez, R. (Director, Writer), & Musca, T. (Writer). (1988). Stand and deliver [Film].

American Playhouse; Olmos Productions.

YouTube. (2021). A Brain Divided | Iain McGilchrist - Jordan B Peterson Podcast - S4 E21.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zld-MX11lA.

YouTube. (2021). That '70s Horror Show | Ep. 1031. Andrew Klavan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb_4lbxSusQ.