A show about teachers doing their best in impossible situations
Quinta Brunson’s workplace comedy, Abbot Elementary, follows a Philadelphia elementary school’s teaching staff as they deal with their students and problems that arise due to the district, budget cuts and government involvement. As a fan of The Office who grew up in Philly, Brunson was inspired by her mom who works as a teacher to create the award-winning sitcom which confronts issues facing teachers with sympathy and optimism.
Abbot Elementary is hyper-aware of the struggles teachers face today with government restrictions on what teachers can discuss, critical parents, and charter schools trying to take over public education. However, instead of dwelling on these ever-present issues or offering up a way to solve them, the show chooses to focus on how the cast of teachers and administrators react and deal with their everyday lives. The show’s main setting, Abbot Elementary, is consistently shown to be literally falling apart, with pieces of the ceiling collapsing and running jokes about the asbestos in the walls. While the teachers complain about the district’s lack of financial help, the episodes follow the teachers making do with what they have in order to be the best for their students.
Brunson’s character, a young teacher named Janine, spends episodes rallying the teachers who have been worn down by both the daily problems and legislation changes that affect their school and ability to educate. The pilot episode shows Janine’s student destroying their storytime rug, and instead of the district getting them a new one, one of the other teachers is forced to use their own money to purchase one. All over the country, teachers selflessly invest in their classrooms and students without district or government help in order to provide an ideal learning environment. The show displays the thankless work of teaching and struggles teachers face without preaching to their audience or becoming superficially political.
When the character of Gregory receives an award for being the best educator of the year, he makes a speech about what he thinks it means to be a teacher. He states that it’s not about being the best, but doing your best. This message of doing what you can with the resources you are provided strings each episode of the series together. Optimism and themes of trying one’s best radiate from the show’s every frame.
Outside of its core messages, the sitcom also expertly handles character development and interpersonal dynamics and includes a cast of incredible, comedic actors. The writers hold a great understanding of each and every character, gradually allowing them to evolve while maintaining the flaws that accentuate their personalities. Abbot Elementary manages to balance its optimistic message with its realistic depiction of the struggles of teaching all while remaining an incredibly funny and entertaining comedy.