Jaime Escalante

Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher who wants to raise his students to become something in the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver, one of two late 1980s classics about teachers fixing up schools.

He was portrayed by James Edward Olmos.

Much like Joe Clark, Jaime wants change. However, Escalante is more personal, as his mission is to save a classroom from hopelessness and the streets. While Escalante is sarcastic, he never becomes a villain, doing mean and horrible things to his students like the fictionalized Joe Clark does (not to be confused with the real man whom he's based on, who never has done the things the portrayal did).

He is very tough and expects the best for his kids. He is also very optimistic and sees greatness in all his students.