Author: D. Marolla

"Whoever says that he 'belongs to his time' is only saying that he agrees with the largest number of fools at that moment." - Nicolás Gómez Dávila

Non-Fiction – Incentives and Behavior

by D. Marolla

Learning Target: How incentives affect human behavior.

Classwork Today – Answer (20 points): How is it possible that the staff of Garfield HS would trade the lowering of performance for getting rid of Jaime Escalante? Wouldn’t it seem risky to do such a thing? Explain in a short paragraph using what you saw in the movie “Stand and Deliver”, as well as the article.

Today we’ll watch the next section of “Stand and Deliver”.

From the Article.  Pay close attention:

“Word got out to sophomores. (There are no freshmen in Los Angeles City schools; it is a three-year program.) If they wanted in to Escalante’s AP class, they had to work like mad in the first two years of math. They started doing this. It was a badge of honor to get accepted into his calculus class.

He was a hard-nosed disciplinarian. He would not tolerate second-best from known bright students. He threw them out. But he did whatever he could to help not-so-bright students who worked hard to pass his class.

This is the way great teachers have taught from the beginning of time. This is the way students master the material. To get his reputation as a great teacher, he must first become a salesman. He must persuade students to work harder than their peers. He must keep them motivated to persevere. This is not easy in the early stages of a teacher’s career.

When the buzz gets going, and students perceive that they will gain respect from peers and adults for having persevered, the dynamics change. It is not so difficult to sell students on the benefits. But in the early phases of a career, it is no picnic. The teacher must persevere.

The movie shows the dynamics of the faculty. Escalante was not welcomed with open arms. He said later that the movie was 10% dramatic fiction and 90% accurate. I suspect that the movie’s chairwoman of the department was not so bad in real life as the movie portrays. I hope not. She expressed fear that the students would fail. They did not need another failure. Escalante countered that students will rise to a challenge. He proved his point.

ENVY

His big institutional problem was envy. This is the desire to pull down a high achiever. It was a factor in the faculty.

Every institution suffers from envy. The question is this: How can the system be designed to restrict it? Here is the institutional problem. If someone is hired who is a spectacular performer, he exposes the other members as time-serving hacks. On the other hand, if a new employee is substandard, word may get out. The next layer up in the system may ask: “How did this person get through the screening process?” That is a huge risk. Officials in the next layer up may decide to interfere with the sieve-like lower level. Every institution wants two things: (1) more autonomy; (2) more money. A threat to its autonomy is a major threat.

What is the reaction? Unofficially, the screeners opt for mediocrity.”

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Class Notes:

  • “The Economy” is the behavior of individuals.
  • People respond to incentives
  • Envy corrupted some of the staff at Garfield HS.

Escalante with one of his classes before he was pushed out of the school:

“Master Teacher, Envious System” – Themes and Direction

by D. Marolla

Learning Target: What are the main THEMES discussed in the movie “Stand and Deliver” and the article “Master Teacher, Envious System”?

Review Definition: THEME: a subject of discourse, discussion, meditation, or composition; topic // a unifying or dominant idea, motif, etc., as in a work of art.

Written Classwork (20 points):

  • What are the themes discussed in the movie so far and the article?       You should be able to write what the theme is in one sentence.
  • Defend your theme with two or three points or pieces of evidence that support your premise.

Today’s Excerpt:

HOW DID HE DO IT?

He was an immigrant from Bolivia. He had taught school in Bolivia, but he was legally unqualified to teach in the United States. He could not speak English. He got a job as a bus boy in a restaurant. Within six months, he was the head cook. He was that kind of man.

He enrolled in a local community college. With scholarship aid and a day job with Burroughs, he graduated in mathematics from a four-year school. He still wanted to teach. So, he quit his job and applied for a position in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He was sent to Garfield.

This made sense. He spoke Spanish. He was a new teacher. Garfield was not on any new teacher’s list as the preferred school. So, he wound up in a school where there was no advanced mathematics training.

He was not content with this arrangement. He was able to add courses on more advanced math. He called mathematics the great equalizer. It does not care what your social background is. It does not care what language you speak. It is objective. Either you get the answer correctly or you don’t. He told them they could go to college. “I’ll teach you math and that’s your language. With that you’re going to make it. You’re going to college and sit in the first row, not the back, because you’re going to know more than anybody.”

He persuaded students that they were the best. This comes out clearly in the movie. He pushed them, he manipulated them, he sometimes humiliated them, but he got them to take his class. They showed up before school began. They stayed after school. They came to class on Saturdays. They came to summer school. They worked harder than students in their peer group, and I don’t mean just in East L.A. I mean the whole age group. They worked like the children of Asian immigrants.

They also scored like the children of Asian immigrants. Year after year, more of his students passed the AP. This was considered impossible — not genetically, but socially and culturally.

Escalante said that what students needed was desire — “ganas,” in Spanish. They needed a challenge, and he was going to give it to them. He did, year after year.

Edward James Olmos and Jaime Escalante:

Jaime Escalante – ‘Master Teacher’ => “Stand and Deliver”.

by D. Marolla

How can group dynamics affect high achievers in a negative way?

Learning Target: How group dynamics affect high achievers in a negative way.

Do Now (20 points): What is the difference between envy and jealousy?

Jealousy: _________________________________

Envy: ____________________________________

  • How and where did you learn to be envious or jealous?       (Think about TV, Stories, other people….)

Article read aloud: “Jaime Escalante, Master Teacher, Envious System” https://www.lewrockwell.com/2010/04/gary-north/killing-the-spirit-of-learning/

Key Excerpt: 

“If you are really good at what you do, you have a problem. Some of your peers are gunning for you — not to beat you by outperforming you, but by taking you down or out. To understand why, you would be wise to know the story of Jaime Escalante.

Jaime Escalante died of cancer on March 30, 2010. If you ever saw the HBO movie, Stand and Deliver, you know who he was. If you have not seen it, you probably don’t know.

He was a mathematics teacher in a Los Angeles high school from 1974 to 1991. The school was Garfield High. It had nothing going for it in 1974, either athletically or academically. It was in East Los Angeles, in what was functionally an Hispanic barrio.

When he arrived, there was no course in calculus. The school was about to lose its accreditation. It was arguably the worst school academically in the state, or close to it. By the time he left, it was the #3 school in the United States for the number of students enrolled in the Advanced Placement program for calculus. By then, there were almost 600 students enrolled in various AP courses, not just calculus.

One man’s presence produced that change. This is the enormous power of one . . . for a time. But then the law of large numbers reasserted itself: regression to the mean.

HBO broadcast the movie in 1988. He resigned out of frustration in 1991. He grew tired of the resentment of other teachers, who regarded him as a prima donna, which he surely was. Today, there are few students enrolled in AP courses at Garfield. It is no longer the best tax-funded high school in California to study for the AP exam in calculus.”

NOTES:

  • Non- Fiction
  • Bolivian born calculus teacher
  • Taught at Garfield HS – Central LA
  • Had high expectations for himself and his students
  • Created an exceedingly successful math program – this was unexpected
  • Was the object of institutional envy
  • Eventually driven out of the school

Movie Preview:  

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QUIZ – “Runaway Train” Scene / PLOT Analysis

by D. Marolla

Learning Target: Themes in  in “Runaway Train” with some further analysis.

Do Now (20 points QUIZ): 2 Scenes analyzed:

1)      “The ‘itty bitty spot” scene. What, on the surface, is Manny saying to Buck? In the second half of the scene, what is the deeper meaning of what he is saying, particularly the part where he says he ‘wishes he could’. Explain in at least one well developed paragraph. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTdjoA8HeAM

2)      “No, worse – human!” scene.   There are many layers to this scene. Explain what the message / theme is. What did Manny mean when he said this to Sara? Then, pay particular attention to how Sara eventually reacts, what she is screaming for Buck to do. Put your reactions in writing. You may want to take notes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnNZTo8aYHs

Discussion:

Ending quote from Shakespeare’s “Richard III”

ANNE: Villain, you don’t know the laws of God or of man. Even the fiercest wild animal has some touch of pity.
RICHARD: But I know none, and therefore am no beast.

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Character Analysis – Hero vs. Anti-Hero

by D. Marolla

Learning Target: What can we take away from “Runaway Train”?

Today: Classwork – 20pts.

·        Character analysis – review all of the characters from the movie.  Which ones (one?) are described as ‘good’ or ‘bad’?  1 -2 paragraphs please.

  1. Manny
  2. Buck
  3. Sara
  4. Warden Rankin
  5. Barstow
  6. The train

Thought for consideration: Does Manny ever lie?  Is he the only person in the film who is 100% truthful?

Review and analyze to use for your written work: 

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Theme and Characterization in “Runaway Train” – CONCLUSION

by D. Marolla

There is no new written work today.  We are finishing the movie.

As we watch, please analyze the following things about “Runaway Train”:

  • What is the THEME?

Characters to watch:

  • Manny
  • Buck
  • Warden Rankin
  • Frank Barstow
  • Sara

Tomorrow we will have questions and answers about these things, so please watch closely.  There is also an unorthodox, somewhoat IRONIC twist at the end.

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PLOT Twist – The Story / Monomyth Cycle and the Hero

by D. Marolla

There is no written work today.  

REVIEW: The Monomyth cycle – Discuss what these images all have in common:

In today’s section of the movie “Runaway Train”, we will see a Plot Twist that sends the two main characters (good? bad?) into the next phase of the journey:

Place this event on the Monomyth Chart – Discuss:

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The Archetype and the Monomyth Cycle

by D. Marolla

We have discussed Archetypes this year.  The obvious bad guys in” Apocalypto”, the Cyclops in The Odyssey, and Gen. Zaroff in “The Most Dangerous Game”.  Please copy the definition below for your notes:

We have also seen the Monomyth Cycle in the Odyssey, as well as other stories.  Discuss the pattern with some of the other tales we’ve read and analyzed this year – particularly the Odyssey.  

Classwork Due (10 points): LIST 3 archetypical ‘good main characters’, and 3 archetypical ‘bad’ antagonists.

Example: 1) Good: Rainsford ===> Bad: Gen Zaroff

Analyze and Discuss the Monomyth cycle below.  Then we will begin the movie “Runaway Train”, and try to figure out who is the ‘good’ character, and who is ‘bad’.

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Leverage – What it is and How to Use it

by D. Marolla

Today we have a short video.  We will connect it to “2081” and “Harrison Bergeron”.  

Think about the concepts involved when talking about how so few people are able to control so many. 

Due Monday (Homework – 20 points):

  • If you were to comment on this video, what would your comment be?

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Asch Conformity Experiment: Psychology and ‘Harrison Bergeron’

by D. Marolla

Learning Target: “Harrison Bergeron” and its literary connection to Psychology and Today.

Directions: Which of the two lines match the one on the left? A, B, or C?

It’s obvious that the answer is A. Discuss

Read, Review and Discuss the following explanation of the Asch Conformity Experiment:

https://infogalactic.com/info/Asch_conformity_experiments

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Going along with the crowd is a powerful force. Remember George Bergeron:

“You been so tired lately-kind of wore out,” said Hazel. “If there was just some way we could make a little hole in the bottom of the bag, and just take out a few of them lead balls. Just a few.”

“Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out,” said George. “I don’t call that a bargain.”

“If you could just take a few out when you came home from work,” said Hazel. “I mean-you don’t compete with anybody around here. You just sit around.”

“If I tried to get away with it,” said George, “then other people’d get away with it-and pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn’t like that, would you?”

He is going along with the crowd, as well as following Authority.

Watch and analyze the following video, and answer the following 2 questions (20 points): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrtqBpgPjiw

1)      What did you learn from the video “How to Crack the Conformity?”

2)      How easy or difficult is it for YOU to go against conformity or peer pressure? Are you George Bergeron …? Or are you more like Harrison Bergeron?