Public High School Teachers Depicted Negatively

2 Tropes 2 Movies
Table Of Contents

Explanation of Conservative Trope

Public high school teachers are often depicted as lazy and uninterested in educating students and the teachers who do seem to care about educating are often caricatured in such a way that they come across as overbearing or worse.

Main Description

Public high school teachers are more often than not lampooned in movies and TV shows. They are often portrayed as woefully unprepared, bored, and downright unqualified. In real life the vast majority of teachers are hardworking and passionate about their jobs educating our youth, but Hollywood tends to focus more on the conservative idea that public school educators are nothing more than disinterested and lazy talking heads who can't be disciplined because they belong to a union.

Conservative Trope Examples

  • Varsity Blues (1999)
    The football players high school teacher is also a stripper who does a dance to the song "hot for teacher."
    Staff Aside
    There is a conflict in the movie from his coach and Dad around Mox prioritizing education over football and getting an academic scholarship to Brown. So, they at least depict that favorably, but they still had to make a teacher moonlight as a stripper.
  • Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
    Monotone voiced teacher Ben Stein calls out Bueller three times while the students look completely and utterly bored. Later, he bores the students more with a quirky lecture style, "In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the... Anyone? Anyone?... the Great Depression, passed the... Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? Which, anyone? Raised or lowered?... raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal government. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work."
    Staff Aside
    It's an iconic funny scene. Which also perpetuates an anti-teacher, anti-intellectual mindset through comedy. We all know it's a joke but some students may use this as an excuse to mock teachers rather than learn. Conservatives benefit from a less educated voter base. The smarter they are the less likely they'll vote for today's Republican party.
    Other Tropes: Iconic Scenes with Conservative Biases