I’m not a big South Park fan, but once in a while, I’ll watch to catch a glimpse of my favorite character, Towelie. (And no, he’s not my favorite because I share his, um, habits.)

Last night’s episode, “Eek, A Penis!” makes me wonder if South Park has Chicanos from East LA on the writing staff. Half the episode was a parody of Stand and Deliver (1988). The film, based on a true story, chronicles the efforts of Jaime Escalante, an advanced placement calculus teacher at Garfield High School in East LA. Escalante, an immigrant from Bolivia, struggles to motivate and inspire his Chicano students to pass the AP exam in calculus while they deal with all sorts of issues. Many of the students pass the exam, but then are accused of cheating and have to re-take the exam.

The South Park version has Cartman playing the Escalante role (played by Edward James Olmos) as Mr. Carmantez.

Meanwhile, Cartman, taking Kyle’s warning about the dangers of inner-city students, disguises himself as a Mexican man (“Mr. Cartmanez”) and teaches his students how white people are able to succeed better than they do: by cheating. He then teaches his class numerous cheating techniques, explaining that as long as they succeed, no one will judge them. He teaches them to memorize test answers, use cameras, and, in the case of a pregnant girl, getting an abortion (which he explains is “cheating nature itself”). When the kids do amazingly well, they are then challenged to take the hardest, most secure standardized test in the state, and pass. The class honors “Mr. Cartmanez” for teaching them “The White People Method,” and he is universally praised. (source)

The name of the school Cartman teaches at, Jim Davis High School, also parodies the school.

I’ve yet to find a clip online for the episode, but I’m sure you can find something on YouTube or Hulu in a day or two. In the mean time, if you haven’t seen Stand and Deliver watch it!

Via / TV Squad and Wikipedia