Original subtitles

What you see here is an example of equilibrium.

Now it looks like the forks should fall over, but they don't.

Can anybody tell me why?

Come on. Any ideas at all?

It's some kind of trick.

Yeah, but it's a trick of nature.

It does this because the center of gravity and the center of mass

are balanced in exactly the same place.

Big deal, man.

Oh, come on, it is a big deal.

What's your name?

Deron.

Deron, do you by any chance play football?

Yeah. Why?

Let me guess, uh,

Defensive tackle, 6'3", 220?

Uh, 235.

That's perfect.

Deron, I want you to come up here

and help me demonstrate how physics affects our everyday lives.

Especially yours.

Man, I don't need physics.

I'm an athlete.

All the more reason you should pay attention.

Come on, Deron, it's just you and me,

on the five yard line, it's a goal line stand.

Your back's up against the wall. There's no tomorrow.

Come on, for the school, Deron!

Come on down!

All right.

Okay.

All right.

You are a large mass.

I am a much smaller mass,

but with a lower center of gravity.

Now let's check out this equilibrium principle.

It's your funeral, man.

Yeah.

Maybe so.

On three.

Flying clef! Dog blue!

90!

Set!

Hut, hut,

Hut.

Come on, don't laugh.

Some of the greatest of scientific discoveries

have been made in exactly the same way.

Like, the lever.

Archimedes once said,

"Give me a place to stand, and I will move the world."

Archimedes, huh?

Sounds like a cool dude, but, uh, who does he play for?

I'm telling you, Deron, if you tune in to this stuff,

there's no telling how far you'll go.

Before and after the Super Bowl.

Remember, class, tomorrow we'll be in the science lab.

Mr. MacGyver's going to show you a few things

about earthquakes that will really shake you up.

Talk about your hands-on teaching techniques.

I've never seen my remedial class so turned on,

I thought it was dumb.

Tony Milani.

One of our, uh, tougher cases.

Seems bright. What's he doing in a remedial class?

Good question.

I'm afraid Tony's well on his way

to becoming one more of our country's

700,000 dropouts this year.

Come on. I want to show you something.

Vicki, there are still ways you can finish high school

and get your diploma.

You know my door is always open.

Let's talk about it, okay?

Pregnant at 15.

Probably won't graduate.

Now you know how high school principals

spend their valuable time.

Well, your foundation

wanted a school with a high dropout rate,

you've got it.

I hear you, Mrs. Juarez, believe me.

If our pilot program can work here at Dillard,

maybe we can turn our schools

into places where kids want to be.

- Wouldn't that be lovely. - Come here!

Hey, you two!

Take those off! No gang colors. You know the rules.

And no running!

You're not on the street, this is a school.

MacGyver, do you have the feeling that, uh,

we have our work cut out for us?

As you can see, these kids love the science scholarship competition.

Well, when MacGyver reminded the Phoenix board

that our country was rated with third world nations

in quality of scientific education,

they sat up and took notice.

Believe me, we appreciate it.

Don't know what we'd do without it.

Here, let me show you some of the exhibits.

Now, Mike is on the creative side.

Wait till you get a load of his high voltage exhibit.

Oh, that's doctor, uh, what's his name?

Yeah, he's getting a real charge out of this.

That's wild.

Looking good, Mike.

Hey, you did it!

This jerk used this to wreck my project!

Yo!

Hey, hey, hey. Come on! Come on!

All right, all right, break it up.

Settle down, come on!

Welcome to the real world of public education.

- Did you rig this thing? - Yeah. What of it?

Nothing. It's just pretty clever, that's all.

And I'm kind of curious

as to why you didn't enter your own science project

instead of wrecking somebody else's?

Because he's a master at tearing down anything

and everything that's decent.

Last week he blew up his gym locker.

That's how he gets attention. Right, Tony?

Let's go, Milani.

What is this?

Security men with handcuffs and guns? I don't believe it.

I'm afraid it's a way of life around here now.

You Phoenix people with your namby-pamby quick fixes!

You should come down from your ivory towers

once in a while and get in touch with reality!

Hey, I think we know the reality, okay?

What you need to do is stop coddling troublemakers like Milani.

He's a lost cause. Give it up.

Worry about the kids who give a damn.

All right. Come on, back in class. Come on.

Who was that guy?

George Fraley.

He's our toughest critic.

Hey, Milani!

The school just called. They want you down there again.

It's that kid of mine. He's always getting in trouble.

We're losing too much money on this project.

Two weeks behind schedule.

You know what that's costing me, Buck?

What do you suggest?

Well, you're the foreman, be creative.

You know what I mean.

Well, I know the books were already ordered.

Hey, MacGyver! Good news.

I tracked down that equipment you wanted.

For tomorrow?

Oh, that's great, Gus. Thanks.

Nick Milani. I got a call about my kid.

So what do you gotta say this time, huh?

You look at me when I'm talking to you!

In here, Mr. Milani. You, too, Tony.

Hey, when are you gonna listen to me?

You don't wanna be in school,

you quit, and get yourself a decent job.

Hope.

We don't provide potential dropouts

with a sense of hope.

A belief in themselves.

And how else are they going to feel

or know that they can make it?

Which brings us to the most important phase of Operation Uplift.

The mentor program.

Now we make it work here at Dillard,

and it could breathe new life

into this nation's entire public school system.

It could have a real impact.

Now quite simply, the mentor program

pinpoints the potential dropout before it's too late.

And then assigns two positive role models

who take a very active and personal interest

in his or her scholastic career.

Wouldn't higher fences be a lot cheaper?

Not really.

The mentor program doesn't cost anything.

Just a little time

and a lot of old-fashioned caring.

Oh, come on.

Old-fashioned means

spare the rod and spoil the child.

What you're proposing is pure and simple nouveau pap. And you know it.

The only thing we know for sure right now

is that the dropout rate is skyrocketing.

You said two mentors to each student?

That's right. One is a teacher and the other

is a volunteer role model from the community.

And they work together to provide positive reinforcement.

After looking over the files,

Mr. MacGyver suggested a student that

we feel would make an excellent first subject.

Who?

Tony Milani.

You've got to be kidding.

You just suspended him.

His actions were inexcusable.

Sure they were.

But then, maybe no one ever showed him

a positive way to attract attention.

Did you ever think of that?

So, we're going to unsuspend Tony.

And really put the mentor program to the test.

So, who are the two mentors going to be?

Mr. MacGyver asked if he could serve as the community representative.

And the teacher mentor? Who would that be?

I'd sure like to work with George Fraley.

Just for the record, MacGyver,

I am not here by choice.

If it wasn't for Mrs. Juarez...

George, will you relax?

We've got a real opportunity here.

Opportunity?

This is ridiculous.

I'm paid to teach, not play nursemaid.

Yes?

Mrs. Milani?

I'm Mr. Fraley, this is Mr. MacGyver.

- We're from Dillard High School. - We'd like to talk to Tony.

Who is it, Sophie?

Two men from school.

They want to see Tony.

Please, come in.

If it's about my kid, there's nothing to say.

Uh, we think there is, Mr. Milani.

Yeah, so what's this all about?

Well, just what it says.

Tony's suspension has been lifted.

Right. So it's lifted.

So he can keep on humiliating us.

Pulling all 'em dumb stunts, flunking his classes.

Costing me or his mother half a day's work

every time we got to run over there

just to listen to some pencil pusher read us the Riot Act. No way, pal.

He's 16, let him get a job.

Nick, they came all this way.

Let them talk to the boy.

Sure.

Sure, why not? I just pay the rent around here.

Don't mind my husband.

He's a good man, but stubborn, you know.

Tony's in the basement. I'll show you the stairs.

Hey, Tony.

In case you're interested,

your suspension has been lifted.

Didn't my old man tell you?

I ain't coming back, I'm going to work.

Thermocouple amplifier, not too shabby.

"Introduction to Electrical Engineering."

You want to be an engineer?

I use it as a doorstop, okay?

Pays a lot more than $6 an hour, that's for sure.

Come on, MacGyver, we're just wasting our time.

Yeah. Listen to the man.

All right, fine.

You want to throw away your talent, no problem.

- What talent? - What do you mean, "what talent?"

These sketches, that crazy remote control you invented.

Now come on, Tony, you're not gonna be happy

flipping burgers all your life.

What do you know?

I know that if you stay in school

you at least got a shot at being what you want to be.

Now, come on. I'll see you in science lab tomorrow.

What do you say, huh?

A lot of good that did.

- We'll see. - Yeah, right.

You think that kid's going to show up, you're dreaming.

All right! Fraley, I'll make you a little wager.

Tony doesn't show up tomorrow,

You're off the hook as a mentor.

What's the catch?

If he does, you run the program after I leave.

- You're on. - All right.

Well,

looks like you lost that bet, MacGyver.

Maybe not.

Hey, just thought I'd, uh, see what's shaking.

That's great.

Yeah.

So how's your dad feel about this?

He don't know about this. He thinks I'm out looking for a job.

You want me to talk to him?

No, no, uh, I'll do it. I just have to, uh,

I have to pick the right time.

Need some help?

Yeah. Grab an end.

Watch your back.

Tony, right in front of this counter.

All right, kids, let's gather round here.

Okay, now for a little earthquake technology.

MacGyver.

Can anybody tell me what that thing is?

A martian toothbrush.

No. Actually, what it's called is a nuclear densometer.

It's used to measure soil compaction or density

by sending out radioactive particles.

Tony? You want to help me out?

Set that probe in the sample there?

Yeah, sure.

That's it. Now, just squeeze the handle.

Get the probe to go down in there.

All right, now flip that top switch and get a reading on it.

Got one.

All right, same process. New sample.

Get a reading?

Okay. Now the soil samples appear to be the same.

But the readings will show

that the density of the soil sample on the right

is twice as great as the one on the left.

Can anybody tell me why that information might be important?

To see how much punishment a football field can take.

That's wrong.

Anybody else want to take a guess?

What about using it in construction?

To see how far down pilings should go

so a building won't collapse in an earthquake?

You've got it.

All right! Milani!

Tony!

Shame on you! You scared me to death.

What's that?

That is the readmittance slip to all my classes.

I am not even on probation this time.

Oh, Tony! That makes me so happy.

Tony, is that you?

Yeah, Pop.

Pop, get a load of this.

Your son, he's got good news.

Yeah, well, I got better news.

One of the men got hurt down at the construction site today.

They needed a replacement so, uh,

I pulled a favor to get you the job.

$10 an hour and you don't even have to apprentice.

What do you think of that, huh?

Huh, Tony, isn't that great?

Just heard from Washington.

The education department is sending out an observer next week.

- That's great. - Maybe not... so great.

The mentor program may not have much for your observer to see.

What are you talking about?

Mrs. Juarez, she just told me.

Tony Milani has dropped out of school for good.

That's the way it is, in the real world.

Well, onward and upward.

How's it coming, Nick?

Hey, I'm going as fast as I can, Buck.

Concrete seems thinner than the stuff we tested.

Don't worry about it. How's your kid doin'?

Well enough you shouldn't be asking.

Yeah, but just keep it that way.

Yeah, right over there.

Hey, Tony.

What are you doing here?

I was gonna ask you the same thing.

What happened?

Hey, man, $10 an hour happened.

Steady. A down payment on a car.

Money in my pocket for a change.

No teachers bugging me, okay?

Is that you talking or somebody else?

Come on, Tony, you're a bright kid.

You could do whatever you want.

I am doing what I want.

Is that true? Really?

Here.

I got these engineering scholarship forms

from the guidance office.

Come on, man, with my marks?

No, with your imagination. Will you take a look?

Come on.

Those awards are based on designs, not marks.

What if I ain't interested?

Then that's your choice.

If this is really what you want for yourself, great.

That's no crime.

But if it isn't,

if you wake up 30 years from now

and all you are is 30 years older,

that is a crime.

Hey, you! Hey, MacGyver, can't you read?

No trespassing.

I was just talking to Tony

about coming back to school, Mr. Milani.

Yeah, well, the talk's over. Get lost.

The kid is only 16 years old.

He'll be 17 next week. Now beat it.

You, back to work. And you, you leave my kid alone.

I guess I'm out of here.

Look, if you need anything...

I won't.

It's cool, okay?

You're building on landfill, Clovis.

Your pile ratio is off.

By how much?

Good 10%.

That's not to mention the other deficiencies.

Concrete mix, rebar size and grade.

Forms.

Come on, Barney, I'm behind schedule.

What do you expect me to do, tear all this down?

Buck, trust me. You're below specs.

Look, Barney, you got to give me a break here.

We never had a code violation before.

On second thought,

maybe some of my figures are off.

Come on. I'll buy you a cup of coffee.

Pop!

Hey, Tony, you finish up already?

Pop, I think you better read this.

Yeah, what is it?

It's about the job specs. Clovis was talking to the inspector

- and what they were saying... - Where'd you get this?

In a waste basket. Look what it says there, Pop.

It says you're nosing into stuff you got no business nosing into.

Now you get back to work and mind your own business.

But, Pop, the pile ratio, y-y-you think it's all right?

Pile ratio, huh? Listen to him. Pile ratio.

A few days on the job and he thinks he's already a hotshot engineer.

Pop, I just thought...

Well, stop thinking, that's not your job!

Cleaning up the site, that's your job, you got that?

Now get back to work, you hear me?

Problem, Milani?

No, my kid, he was dumping out the trash.

Came across this old inspection form.

He thought it might have been something important.

Well, is it?

Hey, what do either one of us know about this kind of stuff, huh?

I didn't even bother to read it.

Working pretty late, aren't you, Mr. Fraley?

Yeah, tell me about it.

Well, good night.

Good night, Blake.

What are you doing here? It's almost midnight.

Oh, Mrs. Juarez wanted a report on Tony.

Ah, the mentor program's first big success.

No.

Just another fine example of how the system has failed kids like Tony.

You know, you're part of that system, Fraley.

Wait a minute!

Who are you to judge?

Let me tell you something about the system.

You think you're so idealistic.

When I first started teaching,

I was Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King,

Bobby Kennedy, all rolled into one.

Full of innovative ideas!

Excited about turning kids on to their own potential.

Race, color, poverty, the drug scene,

they weren't a problem, I had all the answers.

What happened?

What happened?

This is what happened.

I have one drawer

and a desk that I have to share with two other teachers.

No homeroom of my own. 45 kids in a class!

45 kids in a class!

Not enough textbooks to go around.

A day that starts with 20% teaching

and 80% just trying to keep order.

$2,000 in the bank, and a mortgage that won't quit.

You saying it's not worth it?

All I am saying is that I am your average overworked,

underpaid, under appreciated teacher

whose biggest thrill is to discover

a senior who could find Washington, D.C. on a map

and spell the word "necessary!"

And I was gonna change the world.

George, you've got every right to be bitter,

but you can still make a difference.

How?

By not taking your frustration out on these kids.

Look,

obviously the system needs help,

and both you and Tony Milani

are getting the short end of the stick.

Okay. So tell me, what more can I do?

For starters,

get back in touch

with the George Fraley who used to care.

Hey, you! Stop! Hold it! Stop!

Stop right there!

Whoa, whoa, slow down, slow down.

Wait! Wait! Wait a minute now! What's going on?

This punk broke into the science lab.

I was not trying to steal anything.

I just wanted to borrow that nuclear thing.

I think somebody's gonna get hurt.

Come on, kid, let's go.

Hey, come on, just take it easy, will you?

Can we talk to him privately?

Okay. Uh, it's all right, Blake.

I'll take responsibility, thank you.

Now, what's this about somebody getting hurt?

Down at the construction site,

I saw the foreman give the inspector

an envelope of money to ignore some violations.

What?

That's when I remembered that thing you showed us in class.

The... the densometer.

How they measure soil compaction so that everything's safe.

Wait a minute.

Did you tell somebody about this?

I did.

I told my old man. I even showed him the inspector's report.

He... He pretended like there was nothing wrong.

Did he read that report?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You want me to say it?

Okay.

My dad's in on it.

Now wait a minute, Tony.

Before you go judging your dad,

why don't we make sure exactly what was on that paper?

Forget it.

I saw the foreman burn it after my dad gave it to him. It's too late.

Maybe not.

George, would you ask Blake to keep the school open?

Sure, you got it.

All right, we'll be back. Come on.

Okay.

The paper's in that butt can by the cement walls down there.

All right.

I'll work around back.

What do you want me to do?

Keep an eye on the guard.

Any problems,

use that imagination of yours.

Who's there?

Hey, you!

Excuse me, could I borrow your flashlight?

Skip, is that you?

What are you doing here?

I lost my wallet.

At 3:00 in the morning? You're putting me on.

No, I bought a cup of coffee off the truck this afternoon.

This is the last place I could think of.

Hey, come on, could you sleep not knowing

if you just lost your first paycheck?

Hey, what's this?

That's it.

You saved my life, Skip. Thanks a lot.

You have a good night now.

The foreman must have known this report could ruin him.

But you can't read it, it's burned.

Well, sometimes things are hidden under the surface.

You just got to know how to bring them out.

What are you doing?

Glycerol.

It'll soften the ash.

Want to check that darkroom?

Need a camera with some infrared film.

How'd you learn to do all this stuff?

How do you think?

Is there a tripod around here?

Yeah. Set the camera up.

What's with the light?

It'll bring out the phosphorescent properties in the ink.

Well?

You were right.

According to this, that construction site

is a disaster waiting to happen.

Low pile ratio?

Substandard supports, concrete, the whole works.

We better let your dad know about this.

He read that report already. I showed it to him, remember?

You showed it to him, Tony, but I don't think he read it.

What?

Tony, I don't think your father knows how to read.

What? I-I-I've seen him read.

No. I think that's just an act.

I first suspected it when he looked at

the school reinstatement form.

And then he completely misread a sign out at the site.

Why would he fake it?

I don't know. Maybe he's ashamed, angry at himself.

Maybe he's afraid of what people would think if they knew.

MacGyver, if you're right, that means he's not in on the scam.

Your father's a very proud man, but I don't think he's a crook.

His shift started at 6:00. Come on, we'd better tell him.

We just finished the corner section.

As soon as Milani's done, we're gonna pour secondaries.

I figure we're just about back on schedule.

Where there's a will there's a way, huh, buck?

- Hey, hey, what is that? - What's that?

It's moving!

Call the fire department!

Give me a hand!

There's Nick under there.

Hey!

Need some help.

You all right?

Where's my pop?

He's trapped in there!

Pop! Are you there? Are you okay?

Come on guys, help me move this thing. My dad's in there!

Pop, answer me! Answer me!

I-If you can hear me, answer me, please!

Pop! Pop, don't be hurt. Please, answer me!

Pop! Pop!

Pop! Pop!

Tony, wait. Listen.

That's him. He's alive.

MacGyver, we gotta do something.

All right, it looks like we've got a fulcrum under here,

but we're gonna need more leverage.

All right, some of you men give me a hand with this beam.

Come on, you guys, let's move!

Come on, guys, my dad's under there. Hurry up!

Feed it through the rebar.

Easy, easy.

All right, gently, get your weight on it.

Come on, come on, lend a hand now.

Rock it up, nice and slow.

Come on. Go. Come on.

Let it come. Come on.

Easy.

All right, hold it right there.

All right. Let it down.

You might not want to move around too much

till the paramedics look you over.

You okay, Pop?

The two of you saved my life.

Tony, you didn't come home last night, I thought maybe you...

Pop, we came to show you something.

What is it?

MacGyver and me, we restored the inspection report.

It shows all the reasons why this place is falling apart.

All right, gentlemen,

you might want to stick around.

I think you've got some questions to answer.

Tony, I...

I got to tell you something about me.

No.

No, you don't, Pop. I know.

I love you, Pop.

You gotta know that.

I love you.

MacGyver! Good news.

My pop's being released from the hospital this morning.

That's great, Tony.

And something else.

We had a long talk about, you know, the reading,

and he decided to start taking night classes.

Well, that is really good. Congratulations.

Uh, maybe he could use a tutor to help him get started.

You got somebody in mind, George?

Yeah. I just might.

Somebody who's getting excited about education again.