American Notes SCHOOLS

The movie Stand and Deliver has turned James A. Garfield High School in East Los Angeles into a worldwide symbol of educational hope. Its barrio-bound Hispanic students were inspired by Teacher Jaime Escalante to achieve startlingly high scores in that difficult subject calculus. But now the scores are falling. Only 46% of participating Garfield students passed a rigorous College Board math exam this year, vs. 65% in 1987.

Escalante blames the film, says Principal Maria Elena Tostado. "He said the kids saw the movie so many times they thought passing the test was going to be as easy as the movie made it out to be. He said they didn't know it was so much hard work." A contributing factor: the distraction caused by endless visits from celebrities.