It's been more than 20 years since the movie Stand and Deliver first hit theaters, but it's still hard to watch the final scene without wanting to applaud. The story of math teacher Jaime Escalante is inspiring now for the same reason it was then: the idea of introducing AP calculus at a failing East L.A. school seems daring and exceptional.

Ravitch, meanwhile, insists that the entire teaching profession needs to be reinvented. It's not an unusual argument -- teacher burnout is one of the key items on Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's agenda. But it's intriguing to hear Ravitch contrast the United States with high-performing nations like Finland, where becoming a schoolteacher is not just an altruistic job but a respected and highly coveted career.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.
Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, a former senior editor at The Atlantic, is now a senior editor at Smithsonian magazine.