Education in Springfield
From Springfield
Education is a common recurring theme in the Television show The Simpsons. Many of the episodes feature scenes at the fictional Springfield Elementary School and several plotlines have also revolved around education. Many different themes have been featured, including lack of funding of public schools (The PTA Disbands) and evolution vs. creationism (The Monkey Suit).
Other episodes have revolved around the fictional Springfield University, which is where Homer went when fired from the Nuclear Power Plant (Homer Goes to College). Lisa also secretly started attending it in the episode Little Girl in the Big Ten.
In general, many of Springfield's citizens are uneducated, even though several have gone onto post-high school education.
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Daycares & Pre-Schools
Ayn Rand School for Tots
Run by "Ms. Sinclair", the sister of a musical director, this daycare is featured in the episode "A Streetcar Named Marge". She runs her school under the strict teachings of Ayn Rand and does not believe in baby bottles, trying to develop "the bottle within". She also does not allow pacifiers, which leads Maggie and her fellow babies to rebel.
Miss Wickerbottom's Pre-Nursery School
First seen in Smart and Smarter, Wickerbottom's is an elite school for intelligent infants. Applicants are subject to rigorous tests administered by a Simon Cowell sound-alike.
Elementary Schools
Springfield Elementary School
- Main Article: Springfield Elementary School
- Principal: Seymour Skinner
- Superintendent: Superintendent Chalmers
- Teachers: Mrs. Krabappel, Miss Hoover, Mr. Largo, Mrs. Pommelhorst
- Janitorial Staff: Groundskeeper Willie
- Cafeteria Staff: Lunchlady Doris, Squeaky Voiced Teen
- PTA President: Ned Flanders
Once the most dilapidated school in Missouri, it was moved to Springfield brick by brick. Springfield has long been an underfunded school with a computer-less computer lab, a less than enthusiastic staff and a group of very uneducated students. On many occasions it has been said that Lisa is the only one keeping the school going. There are several subjects that have been cut, such as Geography (which was proving to be an embarrassment), math, and music, gym and art (due to a lack of funding). The majority of Springfield's adults attended Springfield Elementary.
The school is horribly underfunded. For instance, there is a cinder block in place of a tether ball, and it has several grossly incompetent teachers; a camp of gypsies were once shown living on the school's playground as well. Also, only the teachers and the student body president eat french fries made from potatoes. The milk was shown to be from rats provided by Fat Tony.
The school's lack of funding has been the center of several episodes, including The PTA Disbands, in which the teachers go on strike until more funding is provided and The President Wore Pearls in which Lisa leads a student strike to get music, gym and art back.
West Springfield Elementary School
This school has been seen only in the episode Trilogy of Error. Lisa, in a rush to get to school, hitches a ride with Krusty who accidentally goes to the wrong school. West Springfield Elementary has a French class and is attended by a boy named Thelonious, who Lisa fell in love with. The fact that West Springfield Elementary resembles Springfield Elementary is a parody on how some public school systems build elementary schools that use the exact same blueprints.
Springfield Preparatory School
Encountered by the Simpson family in The Bart Wants What it Wants, it is attended by the children of many of Springfield's more affluent citizens, including Dr. Hibbert's daughter, Kent Brockman's daughter and Rainier Wolfcastle's daughter Greta.
Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children
Attended by Bart after he cheated on a test in the episode Bart the Genius.
Springfield Magnet School for the Gifted and Troublesome
At the end of The President Wore Pearls, Lisa is sent here by Skinner, intending to stop the strike she started. She discovers a charming French boy who tells her of their large library, but Homer immediately stopped her from going due to not wanting to drive 45 minutes every day. This school may have been the same as the one in Trilogy of Error.
Cypress Creek school
Attended by Bart when the family moves to Cypress Creek in You Only Move Twice. It is a very advanced school; It has a website of its own, which very few schools had in 1995. However, it was too advanced for Bart, and after being asked if he ever learned cursive and started swearing at the teacher, he was placed in the remedial class. He hated it, as he was surrounded by "Arsonists, and kids with mittens pinned to their jackets all year round".
Rommelwood
Chief Wiggum suggests sending Bart to Rommelwood, a military school. The entire Simpson family takes Bart to the school, where Lisa sees that the students are being given challenging school work. Instead of going home, she decides to stay at the school with Bart; although Marge and the school's Commandant are both originally against the idea, they reluctantly agree to let her attend. The Secret War of Lisa Simpson
High Schools
Springfield High
Because there are very few teenage characters in The Simpsons, Springfield High School is most often seen in flashbacks, notably to when Homer and Marge met.
Springfield Magnet High
A Springfield Magnet High is mentioned by Thelonious in Trilogy of Error as where he will meet Lisa again.
Colleges
Springfield University
Springfield has a large and prestigious college which Homer attended in the episode Homer Goes to College. It teaches several different courses, including nuclear physics, and the meaning of cartoons.
Springfield A&M
The longtime rival of Springfield U, its mascot is a pig named "Sir Oinks-a-lot" who has several powerful friends, including Richard Nixon. The two schools meet in an annual football game. The college is often referred to as a "cow college," as it was literally founded by a cow. Lenny and Carl are both alumni.
Springfield Heights Institute of Technology
Attended by Apu during the 1970s, where he enrolled in Professor Frink's Computer Science class. During Apu's stay they had a least one supercomputer which ran on punch cards.
Springfield Community College
Marge took a painting class here in Brush with Greatness. Also, Homer briefly taught a class on Secrets of a Successful Marriage. Other classes taught there include "how to chew tobacco", "orange eating", "funk dancing for self-defence" and "Strip for your wife".
Alma Mater
Several of the characters on the show went to college or University, including:
- Homer Simpson: Springfield University
- Bart Simpson: DeVry University, though he got dropped off
- Lisa Simpson: Springfield University, though she never graduated
- Lenny Leonard: Has a Master of Physics from Springfield A&M
- Carl Carlson: Has a Master of Physics from Springfield A&M
- Mr. Burns: Yale, has a seat on the board at Springfield U
- Otto: Brown
- Sideshow Mel: Cornell
- Sideshow Bob: Yale
- Cecil Terwilliger: Princeton
- Lionel Hutz: Harvard, Yale, MIT, Oxford, the Sorbonne, "the Lou-vra"
- Edna Krabappel: Bryn Mawr
- Snake Jailbird: Ball State and Middlebury
- Dr. Hibbert: Johns Hopkins Medical School
- Moe Szyslak: Swigmore University
- Apu Nahasapeemapetilon: Calcutta Technical Institute, Springfield Heights Institute of Technology
- Frank Grimes: Degree in Nuclear Physics in a correspondence course from an unknown school
- Professor Frink: Professor at Springfield Heights Institute of Technology
- Superintendent Chalmers: Ball State
- Kirk Van Houten: Gudger College
- Barney Gumble: Claims to have given a guest lecture (while drunk) at Villanova, or perhaps a street corner
- Ned Flanders: Has a Degree in Pharmacology from Oral Roberts University
- Selma Bouvier: Springfield University
- Herbert Powell: Harvard
- Dr. Nick: Hollywood Upstairs Medical College
Harvard and the Ivies
Many of the Simpsons writers attended Harvard, including: [1]
- Al Jean
- Dan McGrath
- John Collier
- Patric Verrone
- Bill Canterbury
- David X. Cohen
- Jon Vitti
- Richard Appel
- Bill Oakley
- David Sacks
- Ken Keeler
- Steve Tompkins
- Conan O'Brien (Also president of the Harvard Lampoon)
- George Meyer
- Max Pross
- Steve Young
- Dan Greaney
- Jeff Martin
- Mike Reiss
- Tom Gammill
- Nell Scovell
- Daniel Chun
- Matt Warburton
Former director Lauren MacMullan is also a Harvard alumni, and was briefly president of the Harvard Lampoon. [2]
Other Simpsons writers who have attended well-known universities (Ivy League or otherwise) include:
Episodes that focus around education
- "Bart the Genius"
- "Lisa's Substitute"
- "Homer Goes to College"
- "The PTA Disbands!"
- "Lisa Gets an "A""
- "The President Wore Pearls"
- "The Monkey Suit"
- "Girls Just Want to Have Sums"
- "Little Girl in the Big Ten"
