It’s almost summer break, and the television show, Abbott Elementary, is also on break between season 1 and 2. In between seasons, we’ll be diving into some of the episodes to talk about why this show has been so successful and hits so close to home.
THE PILOT EPISODE:
The show starts with a bang introducing audiences to quirky teachers, an underprivileged school, and the complexities of the teacher-principal-superintendent relationship. It almost feels like the theme of the show is “teachers have no help and no power in the Philadelphia public school system.”
For example, one storyline in the first episode is entirely about the teacher, Janine, and her classroom rug. A child pees on the classroom rug, and it is so gross that Janine must throw it away. Janine explains that the rug might seem like simple classroom decor, but it is a tool for classroom management, a comfort to certain students, and an element that makes the room more inviting. She petitions the school principal over and over for help getting a new rug.
Finally, the principal requests more money to “purchase supplies” and receives a check. Janine believes her classroom is saved! But just when she’s hoping for a new rug, she discovers the principal has spent everything on a giant billboard of herself as a sign outside the school. Not to mention, the audience learns pretty quickly that the principal blackmailed the superintendent for her job.
Although the billboard-like sign is a clear exaggeration, the episode’s comedy lands because so much of it feels true. Dysfunction abounds when teachers have limited control over conditions in their classroom. Instead, students and teachers often feel trapped when power-hungry, self-serving bureaucrats think less of students and classrooms and more of their own status or advancement.
The issue here is not the school itself but the fact that students and teachers are often stuck in education environments they have no control over and cannot significantly change. The episode even describes how few teachers stay. The minute they have an out, they take it as fast as they can.
Good comedy allows us to laugh at the absurd problems of fictional characters even when they seem hopeless. But Abbott Elementary takes its subject matter from absurd, but real-life drama that is far from funny. Fortunately, in the real world, there can be solutions for the teachers and students of Abbott Elementary. Would a school like Abbott Elementary survive if families had the opportunity to choose a better school? The answer is probably not.
Too many of our public school systems are in such a state that they could be made into a comedic mockumentary. And an extremely successful one at that. It is now ABC’s highest-rated comedy since Modern Family. Think about why everyone’s talking about Abbott Elementary and consider how we could change our school systems.