How Abbott Elementary Teaches Us about School

//Get a whole month of great cinema FREE: mubi.com/skipintro//

"BLACK??” ”It's actually pronounced Zack." 😂😂😂😂

As a former middle school teacher, this feels like a documentary minus being cursed out by parents after report cards.

"I'm not a fast reader and I read too much." As a grad student I felt that in my soul. Re: the Philly bombing you unfortunately didn't even say the worst part. The remains of two small children was given to an ivy league school and were used in undergraduate biological anthrop[ology classes to look at trauma so hundreds if not thousands of students touched the remains of these kids. And before you ask about race. Yes, they were.

I attended one of those overfunded public schools in a predominantly white neighborhood. As an Indian student I was often paraded in public functions as the diversity… and used to HATE it- but the access I had to resources was insane. Our school budget was over 750 million dollars a year and tbh my school ended up being FANCIER than my university (I went to Cornell… just think about that for a second). And yet I’d visit public schools with more diversity in the area and… it was scary how very little they would have. While we had brand new fields, private locker rooms, upgraded showers, school lunch with a barista, panini station, sandwich bar, pasta bar, and salad station (as well as sushi) every AP offered, access to iPads and chrome books, an ilounge, mac computers EVERWHERE, and more, NO ONE ELSE HAD THESE RESOURCES! We even had Broadway producers work in our theater department. It was horrifying when I realized what I had access to WASNT NORMAL WHATSOEVER. And Abbott has been such an educational experience, and it’s made me an even bigger advocate for equity in public education, protections being launched to ensure public school funding is spread equitably to PUBLIC SCHOOLS (not charters) and that efforts to ensure the quality of education in every school is equitable! No child should lack opportunities to succeed and the fact race is so utterly a factor in this… I could type more and more but I shall stand in the back and listen. Because I have much to learn if I’m going to be an ally in change.

Am I going into teaching? Yes. Am I already complaining about the Education System? Also yes.

I love how Abbott handles character development. The characters core traits aren’t changed completely while they learn to become better versions of themselves. Ava wants to be a better principal but she’s still herself

My mama is an elementary teacher and has been for about two decades. Recently, a part of her contract has been changed to essentially “signing this you understand and take the risk of being shot”. What teachers go through is absolutely heartbreaking

My late husband and I started watching Abbott at the start, it is such a good show, I am so glad it continues to grow. I haven't watched much TV since he passed.

This is why so many teachers are leaving the profession. Who wants to be called a groomer and a pedophile? Nobody, especially when you're not just a teacher. You're also a nurse, a social worker, a guidance counselor/therapist, and even a part-time parent for a plethora of kids . It depends on how many classes you have and how big your school is? That's a lot of emotional labor, especially for one person, and on top of that, you're making about thirty-five thousand dollars a year with no real benefits and not even basic school supplies. That's why every teacher I had asked a student to bring in a pack of copy paper because the school sometimes wouldn't provide any.That's horrific.

As someone who went to public school in Philly I can confirm that this show is very accurate! I also went to elementary and middle school in the Kensington area of Philly and I went to high school in northeast Philly which is a predominantly white area and I was genuinely shocked with how behind I was being taught because of where I grew up. It made my high school experience horrible, and extremely frustrating, and made me hate school. The way black/brown areas are iced out when it comes to receiving funding is beyond upsetting. ALL programs are cut in those areas, meanwhile in white areas they have everything (sports,after school activities,good books, etc.) It’s so upsetting and it’s gotten so much worst since I graduated 12 years ago

Fun fact charter school in philly was shut down a few years ago for hosting night clubs in the cafeteria.

This show came at a perfect time in my life as I'm a black male in college to be a middle school teacher, so seeing how the characters interact in the environment has shown examples of what and what not to do

I feel like one of the reasons I don't ever think about how kids are treated in society is because as soon as I got out of school I just NEVER wanted to look back. Even thinking about how dehumanizing it is makes my head start to spin

Also, as someone raised and still living in Arkansas, I'm really glad you brought up Gov. Sanders, she and her constituents have been signing some truly terrifying bills lately and I wish there was more awareness around that. There's not only the use of taxpayer funds for religious schools, but they even opened up the legal working age to children (with so many adults in recent years becoming more and more fed up with exploitative labor, gee, I can't imagine why). Very sinister stuff.

As a former teacher, it took me a year after leaving teaching to watch Abbott Elementary because I was anxious that it would bring up bad memories of my time working in an inner-city school. But, for all the reasons you mentioned, it was refreshing to watch. The fact that it doesn't attack teachers and finds value in the optimism and change that new teachers can bring was incredibly soothing. I like that it also doesn't portray older teachers as beaten down by the system, but rather older teachers have just found a less aggressive way of working around the problems they face, even when it isn't a long-term solution.

Every time you look at a graph about the decline of any quality of life in the US (poverty, wealth gap, prison rates, ect.) and you locate where Ronald Raegan started, things make a TON of sense. I friggin hate that guy and hope he's rotting in hell.

I really adore this show. As a teacher myself, many of the characters and situations are instantly recognisable, and it's very well written and acted.

Its also one of the very few shows that can do internet jokes funny. The amounts of meme reference that I laughed at without cringing is amazing. And really illustrates Quinta Brunson abilities on her internet career

As someone who went to the same charter school from 4th grade, I saw the problems immediately and BEGGED my parents to let me go to a public school. I graduated from that school and I literally did not learn how to do high school level math. I’m in college now and I have to take remedial math classes to try and catch up.