TVSquad

(S06E21)

Marge: It took the children forty minutes to locate Canada on the map.

Homer: Marge, anyone can miss Canada, all tucked away down there.

More than anything, this episode shows just how poorly-lacking public schools are when it comes to funding. We begin with a bus ride taking place on a bus that really shouldn't even be in use. Bart and Milhouse watch as a hole in the bus floor becomes wider, forcing them to leap into the next seat while their old one is sucked under the bus. When it comes time to stop, the kids have to hold their coats out the windows like drag chutes.

When they arrive at the Civil War reenactment, it turns out it's no longer free. Since they have no money to get in, they watch from over the fence until one of the actors spots them and everyone chases after the kids for trying to learn without paying first.

Back at the school, we get even more evidence that money is an issue. The kids are being served something called malk instead of milk (it has Vitamin R, by the way), and the food is being made by torn up newspaper, which includes the roughage and necessary inks the kids need. Krabappel is fed up and threatens to strike, and thanks to Bart's underhanded work (he tells Skinner that Krabappel said he would "fold faster than Superman on laundry day"), the teachers split.

I love how Bart and Lisa both handle the news differently. Bart is thrilled, which is understandable since he orchestrated the strike in the first place. Lisa, on the other hand, can't handle not being graded and evaluated every day, and slowly begins to lose her mind. Actually, they both start to go a little nutsy, with Bart flying a kite at night and Lisa building a perpetual motion machine, despite Homer's insistence that in this house they "obey the laws of thermodynamics!"

Bart continues to feed the fire, spreading a rumor among the striking teachers that Skinner is saying they'll crack any minute. By the time it reaches Krabappel the phrase "purple monkey dishwasher" has been slipped in, and that nonsensical phrases really makes her angry.

To make up for the lack of teachers, members of the community are brought in to teach the kids. Marge teaches Bart's class, which means he can't prank her like the other substitutes. Finally, Bart realizes the chaos he caused needs to be corrected, so he locks Krabappel and Skinner in his office, where they get the idea to rent out the cloak rooms as prison cells. You have to admit, it seems like a better idea than a bake sale.

Stuff I liked:

• Bart getting inside the crawlspace when he's upset, and Marge beating the wall with the broom to get him out
• At the PTA meeting, a man thinks the PTA is disbanding and jumps through the window in a panic. When Ned says it's okay, the man actually jumps back through the hole in the window
• Homer telling his family that it's wrong to go on strike, the better option is to do just do your job half ass
• Springfield's proud moment during the Civil War when they attacked and killed wounded soldiers who were only trying to surrender.