Marin Voice: ‘Abbott Elementary’ a justifiable hit for more than just educators

The teachers in my family told me that I “must” watch the hit sitcom “Abbott Elementary.” I’m glad I listened to them. It’s beautifully written, perceptive and funny. It delights me, especially given my years of lamenting the many poor portrayals of educators in film and television. Very few have portrayed schools in a complex and realistic fashion.

“Abbott Elementary” is a breath of fresh air. It’s a mockumentary-style series on ABC created by Quinta Brunson, who stars as Janine Teagues, a second-grade teacher at a fictional Philadelphia school. Since premiering in 2021, it’s become a popular and critical hit, nominated for 15 Emmys and winning four.

It’s an especially big hit with educators, who see it as closely depicting real school and school district dynamics through very comical plots and dialog. It’s not just funny. It’s dead-on accurate in many ways, capturing the serious challenges facing schools, especially in the inner city and other areas where poverty and racial inequity exists.

Schools have very frequent absurd moments. The show captures this absurdity with accuracy and humor through its great writing and acting. And the one-liners are so good that the internet is filled with entries capturing them.

As one example, a recent episode began with the disclosure that the school was named after a racist, Willard Abbott (that should sound familiar to Marin residents who remember the Sir Francis Drake High School name change story). Janine finds a relative of Abbott who renounces racism and is committed to making the planet a better place. At the ceremony introducing him to the school, he discloses that the world is flat, and the moon is a spaceship.

“There is no place for racism from one edge of the Earth all the way to the other,” he proclaims. When challenged, he says “have you ever looked at a map?” Most educators can recognize front-office madness, the name-changing phenomenon and the way good intentions often go crazily down the drain.

Another major character is the janitor. Few janitors are half as funny as Mr. Johnson, but janitors in our schools are often very savvy about the staff and students. Johnson is perceptive and funny. The internet is filled with viewers reciting their favorite Mr. Johnson lines, such as “I’m a pacifist. You mess with me, I’m-a pass a fist across your face.”

The principal, Ava Coleman, is a comic take on the inept, somewhat amoral, scatterbrained administrator. She displays continual incompetence (and obtained her job by blackmailing the superintendent), but is the subject of continual eye rolls, not anger. This fits the warm and positive environment in the school and of the show.

From TikTok to YouTube, the show is lauded, laughed with and continually quoted. Even if you’re not an educator, the writing and acting draw you in.

Yet, as noted by Valerie Strauss, the education columnist for the Washington Post, there’s nothing funny about the reality that undergirds the show’s humor. “Abbott Elementary” is funny, but the conditions it highlights are scandalous. The show slyly notes how schools with a large presence of Black students are often underserved.

Still, judging from teacher comments across the internet, it appears that for teachers today the show provides uplifting and cathartic escape. They recognize the characters and situations.

Perhaps this is captured best by statements from the characters themselves.

Melissa says, “I can use the extra money. I made that terrible financial decision years ago.”  She’s asked, “Getting divorced? Betting on the Sixers?”  “Nah,” Melissa replies, “I became a teacher.”

And when Gregory tells Janine that his military father doesn’t want him to pursue education as a career, she says, “Teaching is the best job in the world. … “I don’t care if you think I’m good at this or not anymore. I care about whether or not I can make a change.”

The serious parts are never mean spirited and there is a realistic camaraderie that almost all teachers I know seek. As noted in a review on the entertainment news website Collider.com, when things do get serious, the teachers still emerge as everyday heroes who keep the school afloat despite the continual challenges they face.

No wonder teachers love it. No wonder they’re not alone.

Mark Phillips of Woodacre is a professor emeritus of education at San Francisco State University.