Bergstrom (Dustin Hoffman in a cameo voice role). Lisa falls, intellectually, for her lively substitute teacher, Mr. This classic episode came along just as the show was hitting its stride. Lisa’s Substitute (S2, Ep 19 April 25, 1991) Of course, Bart cheats his way, briefly, into the Enriched Learning School for Gifted Children, where enthusiastic “learning coordinator” Miss Mellon tells her pupils, “Discover your desks, people!” The episode sets the tone for casting a sharp satirical eye on the conventions of U.S. Springfield Elementary School becomes the focus very early in the series, as Bart takes an intelligence test, with his memorable effort to visualize a question about the number of passengers on trains traveling in different directions. So, without further Apu:īart the Genius (Season 1, Episode 2 premiered Jan. Here is my list of the Top Ten education episodes of “The Simpsons.” In the spirit of the FXX marathon, I present the list in chronological order. “The Simpsons” has been the subject of all manner of scholarly study, some of it bordering on the level of absurdity that would be satirized on, well, “The Simpsons.” (One example-which I’m not calling absurd because I haven’t read it-is The Simpsons in the Classroom: Embiggening the Learning Experience With the Wisdom of Springfield, a 2010 book by Karma Waltonen and Denise Du Vernay. But no evidence yet on whether those lawmakers and education bureaucrats in Capital City, in whatever state Springfield is in (see this, but also this ), have adopted the Common Core State Standards. In recent years in particular, the show has targeted public school testing trends for special skewering. Over the years, Bart, Lisa, or Maggie have, at one time another, attended cutthroat preschools, military schools, competitive prep schools, and Roman Catholic schools, and been homeschooled.īut over the long haul, the Simpsons are a public school family. The Simpson family arguably is for school choice. And then there are the educational film spoofs, including “Fuzzy Bunny’s Guide to You-Know-What " “Meat and You,” from the Meat Council and the ones merely mentioned by omnipresent Hollywood actor Troy McClure (the late, much-missed Phil Hartman), such as “Locker Room Towel Fights: The Blinding of Larry Driscoll.” Over the years, “The Simpsons” has addressed substitute teachers, essay contests, summer camps, yearbooks, high school reunions, teacher strikes, snow days, spelling bees, corporate influences on schools, and “rubber rooms” for accused teachers. The FXX marathon was a chance to catch those early “Simpsons” school episodes that have long been considered classics, and to view some more recent ones that I hadn’t seen before. And it was a reminder, as if one was needed, that education has been a running theme on the show from the very beginning. But it was a good chance to binge-watch one of my favorite shows and be able to call it work. (With the SimpsonsWorld app coming in October, cable subscribers will be able to view any particular episode on demand.) The FXX cable channel wrapped up its airing of all 25 seasons of “The Simpsons” at midnight on Labor Day.
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