I made it a point this past weekend to watch the 1980s movie “Stand and Deliver” in order to have some symbolism about the graduation process, the process of leaving school and venturing onward to new opportunities.

In past years I’ve often watched the 1967 movie “The Graduate”. It was a very forward thinking movie then as well as now. It asked important questions.

Dustin Hoffman starred as a truly aimless graduate. He drifted into an affair with the legendary Mrs. Robinson, portrayed by Minnesota’s very own Anne Bancroft.

Mrs. Robinson was truly a lost soul. She persisted in telling her daughter Elaine that it was too late to be anything other than a wife. Elaine defiantly responded that it wasn’t too late and proceeded to run off with Ben.

They jammed a cross into a church door (not a crucifix since that would have maybe gone too far). Just the cross was enough to symbolize what director Mike Nichols and his assistants wanted, an indication of how people were locked within their conventional way of life and how Ben and Elaine were free.

Stand and Deliver in the 1980s symbolized an extra dimension for me. It brought about the question of what actually happens in school.

It showed that high school students are more than just mindless teens. They have goals. They look forward to the future. They at least to some extent look ahead to leaving a legacy, for their families and maybe even others who they could help.

Teacher Jaime Escalante, a high school math instructor in Hispanic Los Angeles, started with students who struggled with algebra. He insisted to school officials that he could teach them calculus math.

He overcame their doubts. Students in his class earned passing grades on advanced placement tests, achieving college credit that they never considered possible,

I admired what his students accomplished because I was someone who couldn’t learn what he was teaching. I hit the math wall very early. I couldn’t comprehend basics when it came to variables and detailed equations.

Fortunately God blessed me with other skills. My factual recall, ability with languages, and people skills have served me well all throughout my life. It’s proof that everyone has different talents, and that it’s up to our educators to bring out the best in all students.

Escalante gave his students a valuable knowledge base that helped them after graduation. The movie showed how students responded positively to him, how they made his calculus studies a priority in balance with other personal and work related commitments.

It proves that you have to think twice whenever you get to the point of feeling like you can’t do something. Maybe it’s true that you can’t. It depends on the goal, and it depends on someone’s abilities.

Maybe it’s possible. The time to find out is when someone goes to college as a teenager, when there are choices, when different pathways are open.

In some respects it’s never too late. There’s no age limit to writing a first novel, starting a business, or earning a post graduate degree.

It gets to the point, however, when you have to weigh costs and benefits. It’s good if someone identifies goals early in life, pursues them, and gets the results.

I have confidence that anyone who walks down the aisle at a graduation has what it takes. I hope they look upon the 40-plus years of a career as an opportunity, something to treasure rather than something to fear.

They have plenty of time. They have the ability to plan. They’re capable of being someone who makes things happen instead of someone who watches things happen, or worse yet ends up wondering what happened.

My high school class motto from 1986 was a time honored quote about the end of a beginning. High school isn’t an end, or even a beginning of an end. There are millions of opportunities. All graduates should be able to choose their own destiny.

— Jim Muchlinski is a longtime reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent