Introduction
Stand and Deliver is a film in which a high school mathematics teacher Jaime Escalante helps students from Hispanic neighborhoods to pass a difficult test. The teenagers initially have no ambitions to succeed in class but search for ways to express themselves through defiant behavior. The film shows the development of communication between the teacher and his students as Escalante puts faith in their future success. Stand and Deliver illustrates the issues of emotions, self-realization, listening, and nonverbal communication regarding school students of Hispanic origin.
The Finger Man Scene
Jaime Escalante walks around the class, explaining the concept of percentage and fractions when two trouble makers enter the room. They are late and show no intention to apologize or be respectful toward the teacher. Escalante mocks the finger gestures one of the newcomers used to state he did not care about mathematics, but instead of an obscene figure, he shows how hands could be used for effective multiplication. After the end of the class period, the troublemakers are still disrespectful, but the teacher’s response caught their interest.
In Hispanic culture, pride and respect are valued highly, and the newcomers from other ethnicities have to earn the right to be included. Culture incorporates traditions and expectations of a large group of people of particular heritage or upbringing (McCornack and Morrison 124). The school location is in an economically challenging district, and the two troublemakers have to show they are tough to the new teacher. They do not smile or welcome Escalante, as it could be regarded as a sign of weakness.
Teenagers go through the process of social comparison as they become grown-up members of their society and choose a niche to occupy in it. It requires seeing how a person fits with other people around them, what the hierarchy and order of things are (McCornack and Morrison 32). In the Finger Man scene, the troublemakers probe how far they can push the borders with their teacher: they come late, do not bring the materials, act rudely, but look and listen to get the feedback. In the end, the boys stress their independent position by stating that Escalante is not going to stay at the school for a long time.
Humans react to biological responses of their surroundings from the brain through emotion management (McCornack and Morrison 94). Emotions are unconscious reactions people experience when something affects their lives, and humans can either only experience or try to control them. In the Finger Man scene, the troublemakers are annoyed by the teacher remaining unphased by their egoistic attitude. At the same time, Escalante already knew that these two boys represent a challenge, therefore, his behavior is steady and confident.
All people have feelings as the short conscious reactions of their minds to something they experience. Feelings include positive, negative, and neutral feedback a person provides to the events happening, but they do not last for a long time (McCornack and Morrison 95). In the scene, the boys are cautious as they do not know what to expect from the unfamiliar situation with a new teacher, but Escalante chooses to control his reactions and not let any annoyance or nervousness show.
The teacher and students did not achieve competence, as their communication was not appropriate, ethical, or effective on the boys’ side. On the other hand, Escalante started to establish his authority with the hooligans. The two sides began developing their relationship, which could lead to achieving competence in the future.
The Restaurant Scene
One of Escalante’s students, a bright girl named Anita, tells her teacher she will stop coming to school. Jaime and his wife decide to visit her family’s restaurant to find out about the details. Anita’s father would like her to support his business and work as a waitress instead of continuing her education. Escalante tries to convince him otherwise, and the scene results in a conflict.
Sometimes instead of verbally expressing themselves, people use kinesics or body movements that show their attitude towards the events happening around them (McCornack and Morrison 240). In some instances, these anatomic gestures can reveal more about the person’s real attitude than words. Anita’s father’s kinesics change dramatically in the restaurant scene when Escalante becomes someone telling him what to do instead of just being a customer. At first, the owner opens his arms in welcoming waves, and towards the end of the dialogue, he raises his shoulders to show dominance and disagreement.
Mixed messages confuse those they are addressed to because people have to choose which meaning is the real one. Most of the time, they support opposite concepts, like being friendly and hostile at the same time (McCornack and Morrison 252). In the restaurant scene, once Anita’s father realizes that Escalante and his wife came to talk about his daughter, he is still sitting facing them with a smile, but the eye-rolling and one-sided smirk show that he is not friendly toward them anymore.
People choose to keep several meters of distance from strangers when they are in a public space like a cafe or the street (McCornack and Morrison 244). Humans prefer not to touch each other unless they feel comfortable, which is usually the case with friends or family members. The restaurant scene depicts a public place where waiters do not come too close to the customers, and people generally do not talk to each other unless they came together. Anita’s father tries to shorten the distance by sitting down across from the couple since they want to talk to him.
On the other hand, an intimate space is a very short distance that allows people to touch each other and speak in soft voices. People stay less than one meter apart when they feel comfortable around each other, so much space usage is common for family members and close friends (McCornack and Morrison 250). In the restaurant scene, Escalante and his wife sit near each other. They are comfortable at this distance and do not show any desire to move away. When Anita’s father makes it clear that the couple is no longer welcomed at his restaurant, they stay together as they are leaving the place.
In this case, the participants did not achieve competence as their communication was not effective. Escalante wanted to convince Anita’s father that her education could help their family more than her work as a waitress, but his arguments were ignored. On the other hand, the restaurant owner communicated his point about the stable family business and traditional Hispanic families with many children. The teacher also did not want to consider those statements as valuable.
The Scene Between the Investigators and Escalante
Because Escalante’s students have scored unusually high at a challenging calculus test and finished quickly, the officials suspect them of cheating and send specialists to investigate. The teacher tries to convince them to at least show him the papers, but the investigators refuse and insist on performing the procedure again for the whole class. Escalante goes as far as accusing the officials of racism as his students are not well off financially and have Hispanic heritage.
Content-oriented listening occurs when the meaning of the words is more important than the speaker or their tone when providing the information. This process is typical when the listener needs to know or confirm particular facts to make the decision (McCornack and Morrison 188). When Escalante enters the room with investigators, he has a genuine desire to understand the reasons behind the accusations toward his students. The teacher is carefully listening to officials’ arguments and tries to convince them to show the tests.
Aggressive listening focuses on the words that could be used to suppress the speaker, to dominate them emotionally and verbally. It happens when the conversation is turning into a conflict, and agreement is no longer its point (McCornack and Morrison 193). Starting in the middle of the scene with the officials and Escalante, the teacher leaves the idea of reversing the investigation and begins to point at the works that would make his opponents incorrect. The officials follow his behavior, which leads to interrupting and raising the voices.
Vocalists study the non-verbal usage of voice and its meaning, including such aspects as tone and pitch. Sometimes the words that people say show less of the speaker’s intentions than the way they are spoken (McCornack and Morrison 240). In the middle of the scene, the officials try to stay civil and professional by using polite and respectful phrases with Escalante. Still, they speak rather loudly and defensively at the same time. They also start to separate the speech flow into separate words, putting emphasis on the importance of their instructions. It is no longer a polite conversation between two specialists from different spheres, but one side exhibiting authority over the other.
Blended emotions represent a mix of the primal ones, like anger, anticipation, joy, trust, and others. The more complex human reactions could include awe, submission, love, remorse, or something similar (McCornack and Morrison 98). In the case of the scene from the film, Escalante’s strong interest in the outcome of the conversation and his anger about the situation made him feel aggressive towards the officials. The surprise about the events and sadness also made the teacher experience disapproval of the methods the investigators chose to use.
In this scene, the sides did not achieve competence, and furthermore, it ended in a conflict. The investigators and Escalante started with an appropriate and ethical exchange of facts, but towards the end of the conversation, they were raising voices and ignoring each other’s arguments. The communication was not effective and did not lead to any sort of agreement.
Conclusion
Stand and Deliver film shows issues regarding emotions, self-realization, listening to the teacher, and nonverbal communication for the students, teachers, and education officials of a Hispanic neighborhood school. Teenagers have to find their place in life, while adults around them may choose to either encourage or suppress them. Jaime Escalante is an example of a person who decided to believe in his students’ potential despite their original lack of motivation.
Works Cited
McCornack, Steven and Kelly Morrison. Reflect & Relate. Bedford, 2019.
Stand and Deliver. Directed by Ramon Menendez, performance by Edward Olmos, Warner Bros., 1988.