Stand and Deliver took place at James A. Garfield High School, a real school in Eastern Los Angeles in the 1980's. It was a coed public school in a poor area in the west coast. The students were disadvantaged and lacked discipline. Compare that to the school in Dead Poets Society which took place at the fictional school of Welton Academy, an east coast prestigious private prep school in Vermont in the 1950's where tradition, honor, discipline and excellence was the school motto.
There were obvious racial and socio-economical differences between both schools. This is due to the difference in time period, location and the nature of the type of school the students attend.
A Garfield High, the educational standards are set low. Most students are not expected to attend college. They come from working class families whose parents did not go to college themselves. At Welton Academy, tradition of families attending the school for generations is a common theme. As a prep school, it is primarily meant as a place to prepare for college, usually an Ivy league school such as Harvard or Yale. Most students plan on going to law or medical school.
Another difference is the availability of financial resources. At Garfield, students lived at home with their families where they had many responsibilities such as taking care of family and jobs. They lacked textbooks, higher end classes and money for technology such as computers. At Welton, the boys stayed in dormitories, concentrated on their studies, and had many options for enriching extracurricular activities such as the school paper, drama, rowing, and fencing. Welton was primarily a high society upper class population.
The two schools were completely different. Money definitely plays a large role in the quality of education a student may receive.
Great Comparisons!!
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