History Main / ArtisticLicenseEducation

** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Dolores Umbridge puts Harry in detention for entire evenings, and the higher-ups are okay with this, even though it means he has to stay up past midnight to complete his homework for other subjects. Even if she were just making him write regular lines (and not making him writes lines with a [[ColdBloodedTorture Blood Quill]]), this would still be considered disproportionate. Umbridge also tells Harry and the Weasley twins they will receive a ''lifetime ban'' from playing Quidditch after they get into a fight with Malfoy and his cronies after a match. While she might have the authority to have Harry and the Weasley twins removed from the Gryffindor Quidditch team, banning someone from playing Quidditch for life would most likely be a matter for the Department of Magical Games and Sports, not a schoolteacher. Granted, the story states that Umbridge was a Ministry-appointed hire, so it's likely that Dumbledore and the others aren't in much of a position to put a stop to it.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' episode "[[Recap/DariaS5E06 Lucky Strike]]", when Ms. Li is hiring scab teachers to replace the ones on strike, she gets Daria to sub a class because she can't find anyone else. Not only does Daria not have the qualifications to be a teacher (you need at least a Bachelor's degree), but she's ''still attending the school''.

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', we have Shota "Eraser Head" Aizawa's infamous (especially InUniverse) act of expelling an entire class of U.A. on the very first day because he didn't think they would cut it as Heroes (because they didn't take the Quirk Apprehension Test that students take on that day as seriously as Aizawa wanted). While this demonstrates that he is a serious SinkOrSwimMentor,[[note]][[TheReveal we find out approximately a couple of hundred chapters later]] that Aizawa only expelled them for a few minutes and re-enrolled them [[ScareEmStraight once the message was finally understood]], and one of the students of that class (now in her second year in U.A.) even shows up to ''thank'' Aizawa for it.[[/note]] the fact still stands that Aizawa performed this action with no red tape getting in the way, and even by the current day of the story, the people in charge of administering U.A. still have not put anything in place to prevent him from doing it again.

* [[GymClassHell Physical education, in particular, resembling a military training program more than a school that would typically have to consider disabilities.]]

* School meals being portrayed as FoulCafeteriaFood, with the kids having to choose between eating it and going hungry. Not only does the food served in real life school cafeterias have to meet certain standards when it comes to nutrition, failing to make allowances for special dietary needs is a form of discrimination and, in the case of kids with allergies, can be downright dangerous.

Be mindful of ValuesDissonance when adding examples. If something in a school is acceptable in one place/time period but not another, and the work takes place in the former, then it doesn't count (ex: Corporal punishment is not allowed in modern-day Western schools, but in schools from the past or in another country, it is acceptable).

Be mindful of ValuesDissonance when adding examples. If something in a school is acceptable in one place/time period but not another, and the work takes place in the former, then it doesn't count (ex: Corporal punishment is not allowed in modern-day American schools, but in schools from the past or in another country, it is acceptable).

** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Dolores Umbridge puts Harry in detention for entire evenings, and the higher-ups are okay with this, even though it means he has to stay up past midnight to complete his homework for other subjects. Even if she were just making him write regular lines (and not making him writes lines with a [[ColdBloodedTorture Blood Quill]]), this would still be considered disproportionate. Granted, the story states that Umbridge was a Ministry-appointed hire, so it's likely that Dumbledore and the others aren't in much of a position to put a stop to it.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': Most of the staff at South Park Elementary are extremely incompetent at their jobs, especially Mr. Garrison, who acts inappropriate in front of his students and is a {{jerkass}} on top of that. In one episode, sex ed was taught to the entire school, including ''Kindergartners''. The closest thing the school had to a competent, responsible adult was Chef, a womanizing {{Casanova}} whose advice often caused misunderstandings, but he was eventually KilledOffForReal. Things only get worse when Principal Victoria is replaced by [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad PC Principal]], who yells at his students and is willing to ''[[WouldHurtAChild assault them]]'' just for using microaggressions.

* ''Literature/{{Katy}} by Jacqueline Wilson (an updated version of ''Literature/WhatKatyDid'', in which the protagonist's accident leaves her permanently, not temporarily as in the original, paralysed) takes a few liberties when it comes to how an accident involving a disabled pupil would be handled. During a PE lesson, Katy crashes her wheelchair into another girl, who complains to her mother. The mother then reports the incident to the headmistress, who takes the on-the-spot decision that Katy is a danger to herself and others and forbids her to take part in contact sports, or even rough games in the playground. While this would be believable as a short-term sanction to teach Katy to be more careful in future, the fact that the headmistress tells Katy she can never take part in such activities on school premises again is not. Using "health and safety" as a spurious reason to exclude a disabled pupil from an activity is discrimination and would be grounds for their parents or guardians to sue the school. It's also unlikely that the decision would have been taken without consulting Katy's father and stepmother.

** In the episode "Teacher's Union", the kids are shown [[GymClassHell completing in a very hard obstacle course that would kill someone in real life]] ([[ToonPhysics it had a giant block that crushes one kid]]). Then, at the end, the coach tries to outright ''murder'' Lincoln and Clyde. How he managed to not get fired for these actions is a mystery.

* ''Series/ICarly'': In the episode "[[Recap/ICarlyS02Ep07IChristmas IChristmas]]"[[note]]which takes place in an AlternateUniverse where Spencer was normal[[/note]], school is shown being open even though it's during the Christmas season. Even if it's not ''actually'' Christmas, most schools let students go on winter break for the weeks of Christmas and New Year's Day so they can spend some time with relatives.

* Detentions being insanely long[[note]]In real life, weekday detention last for 1-2 hours, while Saturday detentions last for four hours at most[[/note]], having insane punishments like being forced to [[ToothbrushFloorScrubbing wax entire rooms with a toothbrush]], and/or having actual torture going on.

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', we have Shota "Eraser Head" Aizawa's infamous (especially InUniverse) act of expelling an entire class of U.A. on the very first day because he didn't think they would cut it as Heroes (because they didn't take the Quirk Apprehension Test that students take on that day as seriously as Aizawa wanted). While this demonstrates that he is a serious SinkOrSwimMentor[[note]][[TheReveal we find out approximately a couple of hundred chapters later]] that Aizawa only expelled them for a few minutes and re-enrolled them [[ScareEmStraight once the message was finally understood]], and one of the students of that class (now in her second year in U.A.) even shows up to ''thank'' Aizawa for it.[[/note]], the fact still stands that Aizawa performed this action with no red tape getting in the way, and even by the current day of the story, the people in charge of administering U.A. still have not put anything in place to prevent him from doing it again.

* Detentions being insanely long,[[note]]Detentions in real life (on weekdays; Saturday detentions are longer) usually last one or two hours[[/note]] having insane punishments like being forced to [[ToothbrushFloorScrubbing wax entire rooms with a toothbrush]], and having actual torture going on.

* Anachronisms in how the school's run. CorporalPunishment would be the most obvious, but others include learning to read with a slate or having a centuries-old curriculum. The inverse is also the case, like having ancient Greeks with a classroom teaching Women's Studies.

* Parallels drawn between the classroom and a Soviet-style organization where BigBrotherIsWatching, a military organization, feudal Japan, or some other setting.
* Teacher with tenures being able to break the rules without any punishment whatsoever, or a tenured teacher getting fired for a minor infraction. While the former is (sadly) TruthInTelevision, tenured teachers do ''not'' get fired easily. Tenured teachers have to do something ''really'' bad in order to to get fired (such as hitting a kid or say/do something controversial), and even non-tenured teachers wouldn't get fired for a minor infraction -- at worst, they'd get a stern talking-to from one of their higher-ups before being sent back to their classroom.
* A [[EmbarrassingRelativeTeacher student being taught by a parent or another relative]]. Schools in Real Life usually separate them to avoid favoritism issues, with the only exception being if the class only has one teacher for it.

* School staff being allowed to date each other. In real life, fraternization between teachers is usually not allowed, and when it is, it's still heavily stigmatized because of possible violations of personal display of affection, ''especially'' around elementary-age children. There are also fears of causing favoritism issues such as the teacher getting a job because they are dating a member of the staff.

* In ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'', DumbJock CrazyJealousGuy Moose constantly gets away with [[AmusingInjuries assaulting other students]] in and out of school with no consequence.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Titeuf}}'', the main characters are in elementary school, but in class, they are learning things that you're not supposed to learn until later, such as square roots (which is usually taught in middle school).
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Cassie]]'s history teacher never gets questioned or reprimanded for targeting Cassie for detentions every time he suspects she's not paying complete attention in his class, which she does because she ''already knows'' everything he's teaching and can answer his questions when he snaps at her in class to try to catch her off guard, which he then decides aren't respectful and gets her sent to after-school detention.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', where Charlie Brown, who's implied to be in second or third grade, gets assigned to read ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' and is forced to do complex math equations, to emphasize his ButtMonkey nature.

* ''Fanfic/{{Coyote}}'': As mentioned under the Anime & Manga folder, Aizawa's special dispensation to expel students under his own authority from Canon is highlighted further here, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome in a]] "[[AccusationFic I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I allowed it]]" fashion.
* ''Fanfic/LightOfTheFirefliesTrilogy'': In Part 2, Setsuko's school follows the Western school year, which starts in autumn and finishes at the beginning of summer. In Japan, the new school year begins in the spring. Averted in Part 3, where the school follows the Japanese school year.

* ''WesternAnimation/AnExtremelyGoofyMovie'': Sylvia mentions that the university library uses the Dewey Decimal classification system. In reality, most large educational institutions' libraries use the Library of Congress classification system, a somewhat newer system that uses a combination of letters and numbers to classify materials.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls1'', Twilight's crown is mistaken for the Fall Formal crown. In order for her to reclaim it, Twilight decides to run for Fall Formal Princess to earn it legitimately, which she has to sign up for with the principal. In reality, that fact would derail the scheme ''very'' quickly because doing so would likely require someone to look into her academic standing, which would reveal that she was never enrolled as a student. Additionally, even if the faculty assumed that she hadn't been officially put in the system yet due to being a new student, a look into her academic portfolio would reveal that she had never attended any prior schools.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirlsMovie'', the titular heroes end up destroying Pokey Oaks Kindergarten (as well as the rest of Townsville) on their first day after using their powers during a game of tag. The next day, they and the other students have to come in despite the school being in shambles. In real life, children would ''not'' be allowed to come into a school building that is half destroyed. Classes would either be canceled or held somewhere else until the original building is fixed.

* In ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle'', the main characters are assigned to clean out an obnoxiously cluttered room for their detention, as if their punishment leading from their various infractions was designed as a unique occasion. In reality, detention is far too common to have special assignments like this, and would typically just have the kids be forced to sit in a defined area with no stimuli for a length of time to punish them with boredom (i.e. you are being ''detained'').

* In the film adaptation of ''Literature/WhereTheWildThingsAre'', Max's astronomy teacher tells the class about how everything is going to die one day and lists the possible ways that humanity could be wiped out. Yes, he tells all of this to ''a bunch of 9-year-old kids'', and what's worse is that he does so ''cheerfully'' as if he doesn't see anything wrong with it.

* ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'': Most schools have qualifications that a candidate for prom queen must meet, such as being a model student, being actively involved in school activities, and being well-liked by the student body. There is no way that Carrie would have qualified (''especially'' for that last point), so the book has the school only vote for the male candidates, and their dates are just along for the ride (and it's mentioned that the girls think this is sexist).

** Severus Snape shows blatant favoritism towards the Slytherin House by taking points from other houses get point deductions for flimsy reasons and either overlooking or not noticing Slytherin transgressions, and he treats Harry like crap because [[SinsOfOurFathers his father used to bully him]]. He also has a practical lesson on his first day of class, using materials that can (and do) result in student injury if handled improperly without first ensuring that the students know enough about proper lab technique to follow instructions safely, something that would get a real chemistry teacher sacked on the spot. (Come to that, none of the teachers seem to show any concern for classroom safety given all the ways spells can go wrong or magic creatures can hurt people...) Dumbledore is aware of this and never tries to reign Snape in because he values having a defected Death Eater more than having a competent teacher.
** Gilderoy Lockhart in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' is an attention seeker and [[spoiler:fraud]]. On the first day of the school year, he has his students do a pop quiz that's just about himself. In a normal school situation, the fact that a new teacher has middle-school-age students do a graded quiz ''on their first day back'' would get them reprimanded and likely lead to them being briefly suspended -- said quiz having nothing to do with the subject and being blatantly ego-inflating would likely have the teacher's future classes be supervised by a higher-up at the very least. Following that up with a practical demonstration that he almost immediately loses control of and then leaves his students to clean up after would also put him in hot water.
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Dolores Umbridge puts Harry in detention for entire evenings, and the higher-ups are okay with this, even though it means he has to stay up past midnight to complete his homework for other subjects. Even if she were just making him write regular lines (and not making him writes lines with a [[ColdBloodedTorture Blood Quill]]), this would be considered disproportionate. Then again, considering Umbridge was a Ministry-appointed hire, it's likely Dumbledore and others aren't in much of a position to put a stop to it.
* In ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'', the Trunchbull's reign of terror over the students of Trunchem Hall. Sure, it ''is'' Roald Dahl (who actually wrote about how he had to endure a BoardingSchoolOfHorrors in his autobiography) and AdultsAreUseless and so on, but no matter how [[RefugeInAudacity over-the-top]] Trunchbull goes with her cruelty, ''somebody'' would have thought it weird to hear their kid talking about how there is an ''Iron Maiden in their school'', or how Trunchbull used a kid as a human cannonball toss.

* Even though ''Literature/{{Woodwalkers}}'' is set in the US, it still uses the German grade system with "One" as the best grade and "Six" as the worst grade.

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Buffy is trying to get into a full class at the beginning of her Freshman year by talking to the professor on the first day of class. The professor viciously mocks her in front of the rest of the class, which then breaks out into laughter. In RealLife, having some sort of waitlist and/or force-add option is fairly standard practice, and usually, the worst that would happen would be the annoyed professor saying something to the effect of "I don't do waitlists". In addition, if a professor ''were'' to do this in real life, the reaction from the rest of the students would likely be [[StunnedSilence silent shock]] as they realized that this cruel teacher was going to be grading them for the rest of the semester, instead of joining in on the laughter.

* Greendale Community College in ''Series/{{Community}}'' is completely unlike any community college in real life. The campus allows alcohol which is not allowed at campus-sponsored activities due to regulations and by-laws, even if everyone's old enough to drink. This is especially important in "[[Recap/CommunityS1E11ThePoliticsOfHumanSexuality The Politics Of Human Sexuality]]"; a lack of alcohol and the subsequent sexy activities would have made the last few moments much less urgent and [[RuleOfFunny funny]]. [[CollegeIsHighSchoolPart2 Greendale also has lockers]].
* In the second season of ''Series/DanceAcademy'', [[SadistTeacher Saskia Duncan]] shows contempt towards Tara because she's [[GreenEyedMonster jealous of her dancing skills]] and [[spoiler:injures Tara's back when she forces her into a dangerous stretch]]. When Ben (who witnessed this) tells Miss Raine what happened, she doesn't fire Saskia, but makes her apologize, which she refuses to do. While she ends up quitting anyway when her students harass her over the incident, Miss Raine should have actually fired Saskia, since in Australia (and most western countries, for that matter), [[spoiler:injuring a student]] is grounds for immediate termination.

** Another one is the entire concept of school ''districts''. Blaine and Unique both transfer to [=McKinley=] High despite not actually living in Lima, UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}}. Unique is from Akron, and Blaine is presumably from the Columbus area since Westerville, the home of Dalton Academy, is a suburb. Ignoring the fact that Lima is [[TelevisionGeography about two hours away from both cities]], in Ohio it is ''illegal'' for parents to send their kids to public schools outside of the district where they pay local taxes. Parents have been prosecuted for this.

** The show takes place in the UK, but was broadcast for a largely American audience on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}. So, the portrayal of schooling is very much American-based and not UK-based, right down to TheMovie taking place at the students' high school graduation... something that doesn't even ''exist'' in the UK, as they don't consider graduating from High School an achievement the same way Americans do. This was most likely done so the American audience could understand what was happening, despite it being unrealistic for the setting.

* ''Series/TheParkers'' has a tendency to depict activities and services usually associated with state universities with a community college, Santa Monica College. For example, community colleges don't have fraternities and sororities.

** In the episode "[[Recap/CobraKaiS1E5Counterbalance Counterbalance]]", Miguel beats up Kyler and his posse in the cafeteria and is dragged to the office where the counselor attempts to call his mother. However, Miguel's grandma, who doesn't speak English, answers the phone instead. In the end, Miguel is implied to [[KarmaHoudini get away with the fight]] without his mother finding out and without a hint of some sort of punishment. In real life, Miguel would most likely be kept in the office until the school could get ahold of his mother, and he would ''certainly'' be getting suspended for fighting in school, as most schools have zero-tolerance policies and suspend everyone involved in a fight, regardless of who was actually fighting. It's odd because there's an aversion of this in the fallout to the West Valley Brawl of the season 2 finale, where everyone involved in that fight ''is'' suspended, while Tory and Robby are expelled (Tory for instigating the brawl by challenging Samantha to a fight and then injuring her, Robby for putting Miguel in the hospital with a spinal cord injury).

* ''Theatre/TheShapeOfThings'': Critics have noted that Evelyn would need the approval of her professor to [[spoiler:do her art project]], and since it involves [[spoiler:blatantly manipulating and publicly humiliating another person]], no professor would approve it because doing so would mean they would lose their tenure and be fired.

** Beat up as many students and prefects as you want, you'll only either get sent to the Dean's office or get detention... at least until the climax where [[spoiler:Jimmy finally gets expelled for his behavior -- and this gets reversed after defeating Gary]].
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'' overlaps this with MildlyMilitary, due to the main setting being a military academy. For instance, it's mentioned that only forty percent of graduates from Thors' Military Academy end up joining the military, even though the ''entire purpose'' of a military academy is to produce junior officers. The behavior of the students also warrants discipline several times, yet the most anyone will get is a scolding for their actions. For instance, during one of the training exercises in the third game, Ash sneaks into the [[RealRobot Hector]] one of the teachers was using during the exercise and attacks Rean unprovoked, forcing Rean to fight back. Despite attacking a teacher, Ash only gets scolded for his actions.

** Principal Brown is revealed to have a fake diploma well into the series. How he managed to get a job with no credentials and avoid getting caught is anyone's guess.
** In many episodes, Gumball receives detentions that are longer than two hours, such as in "The End" when he and Darwin got detention for six hours. The episode takes place within a time-span of an entire day, which means that they served the detention in one sitting.

* The last season of ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'' had an episode where Ginger got [[DetentionEpisode Saturday detention]]. What for, exactly? [[AsleepInClass Sleeping in English class]] because of a caffeine crash. While falling asleep in class would warrant a punishment, such as being told off by the teacher or getting a small detention after school on a weekday, no school would give a student Saturday detention for something like that. Additionally, the English teacher seems to have it out for Ginger because of a personal conflict with her cousin (Ginger's middle school English teacher), which implies that she actually ''was'' in more trouble than she deserved. This gets lampshaded by Ginger.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' episode "Splitting Images", Poindexter was ruthlessly bullied by everyone when he was in high school and the principal made bullying him ''a requirement to graduate''. Even in the 1950s, a principal couldn't make bullying (especially bullying directed at a specific student) mandatory. To be fair there's no indication of whether this was true or just a myth since the story was told by Tucker who was born long after the 50s.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' episode "[[Recap/DariaS5E06 Lucky Strike]]", when Ms. Li is hiring scab teachers to replace the ones on strike, she gets Daria to sub a class because she can't find anyone else. Not only does Daria not have the qualifications to be a teacher (you need at least a Bachelor's degree), but she's a ''high school student''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' with Dimmsdale Elementary. Crocker's UltimateJobSecurity is the most obvious example. When he isn't ranting about fairies, he's intentionally causing his class to fail out of [[ItAmusedMe pure malice]]. What little we see outside his class is also unrealistic. "Timvisible" takes place on the last day of school, yet classes are running like it's a normal day (most schools don't give assignments on the last day of school, and if they do they're not taken for a grade), and the classes seem to involve some high school level stuff (like [[FreeTheFrogs dissecting frogs]]).
* ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'' is oozing with examples of unrealistic school. Stand out episode examples include:
** "Excuse Me": Fanboy, Chum Chum and Kyle get away with missing class constantly due to all kinds of unrealistic fake excuse notes, and Mr. Mufflin falls for all of them until it is discovered outright that they are lying. He even accepts an excuse note to excuse [=FanKyleChum=] (actually a real student) from class forever. Even given RuleOfFunny, a teacher would ''eventually'' wise up to this.

** In the episode "Teacher's Union", the kids are shown [[GymClassHell completing in a very hard obstacle course that would kill someone in real life]] ([[ToonPhysics it had a giant block that crushes one kid]]). Then, at the end, the coach tried to outright ''murder'' Lincoln and Clyde. How he managed to not get fired for these actions is a mystery.
** In the episode "Frog Wild", the 5th graders are [[FreeTheFrogs dissecting live frogs]]. Firstly, dissecting frogs is something that is usually only done in middle school or high school. Secondly, most schools have the to-be-dissected frogs already dead so students can't pull a FreeTheFrogs.
** The episode "Snow Bored," Lisa tries to cancel a potential snow day by pointing out that brain functionality decreases for every school day someone misses. Even if what she says is TruthInTelevision, most school districts actually require students to make up days where they unexpectedly miss school (which are typically snow days) at either the end of the year or on designated days during the year, so students don't miss out on their education. So, even if the Loud siblings had a snow day, they would still need to make it up at some point, rendering Lisa's efforts to ruin everyone's snow day moot.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', we have an InUniverse example. Chloé often avoids punishment or foists it off on someone else by threatening to call her father, the Mayor and have him close the school, which Mr. Damocles believes she can do. However, as the Mayor himself points out in "Malediktator", he can’t actually close the school for more than a few days without grossly exceeding his power.
* In the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' animated special ''WesternAnimation/HappyNewYearCharlieBrown'', Charlie Brown's class is assigned ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' over winter break. Not only would an elementary school teacher not assign [[{{Doorstopper}} such a long and complicated book]] to read, but the students also would certainly not be expected to read the whole thing in such a short time -- at most, they would be assigned a few selected chapters to read. When Charlie Brown does a report on the same book in ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'', it's because he chose it to impress the Little Red-Haired Girl (who was assigned his report partner), not because he was assigned it.
* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', Morty's math teacher Mr. Goldenfold hands out a test to his students, which has at least six questions that all use addition. Morty's supposed to be in a high school math class.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Everything regarding Springfield Elementary, which is crappy to a point that is absurd or horrifying DependingOnTheWriter. The building is literally falling apart, children are fed ''shredded cushions'', teachers not only ignore bullying but encourage it in a fashion worthy of TheSocialDarwinist and actively seek to destroy children's capacity to be anything but a drone (and not a well-educated one at that), and there is a chapter in the school's charter that says that they won't care if children are killed under their watch (or at least Bart). The only [[EveryoneHasStandards limit]] the faculty has is that they don't let teachers [[WouldHurtAChild physically attack children]], and even ''that'' depends on the episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/XavierRiddleAndTheSecretMuseum'': "I Am Helen Keller" as well as its sister episode, "I Am Alexander Graham Bell" portray clear speech as much easier to learn/achieve for profoundly deaf people than it typically is in real life, and the latter episode also features a deaf student reacting with an answer to Yadina talking to them almost before they've even turned their head to try reading her lips. To some extent this can be forgiven due to the simplification of plots for the episodes; Helen Keller's episode, for instance, omits some aspects of its book version, like Keller's use of home signs (signs deaf children make up to communicate with their families before they are exposed to established sign languages) prior to Anne Sullivan's arrival, likely to keep the pacing steady.

** Another one is the entire concept of school ''districts''. Blaine and Unique both transfer to [=McKinley=] High despite not actually living in Lima. Unique is from Akron, and Blaine is presumably from the Columbus area since Westerville, the home of Dalton Academy, is a suburb. Ignoring the fact that Lima is [[TelevisionGeography about two hours away from both cities]], in Ohio it is ''illegal'' for parents to send their kids to public schools outside of the district where they pay local taxes. Parents have been prosecuted for this.

** Another one is the entire concept of school ''districts''. Blaine and Unique both transfer to [=McKinley=] High despite not actually living in Lima. Unique is from Akron, and Blaine is presumably from the Columbus area since Westerville, the home of Dalton Academy, is a suburb. Ignoring the fact that Lima is [[TelevisionGeography about two hours away from both cities]], in Ohio it is ''illegal'' to send your kids to public schools outside of the district where you pay local taxes. Parents have been prosecuted for this.

** Another one is the entire concept of school ''districts''. Blaine and Unique both transfer to [=McKinley=] High despite not actually living in Lima. Unique is from Akron, and Blaine is presumably from the Columbus area since Westerville, the home of Dalton Academy, is a suburb. Ignoring the fact that Lima is [[TelevisionGeography about two hours away from both cities]], in Ohio it is ''illegal'' to send your kids to public schools outside of the district where you pay local taxes. Parents have been prosecuted for this exact thing.

* ''Series/{{Glee}}'' runs on this. A teacher who not only bullies students but encourages them to do it to others, a student with a ''0.0'' GPA being permitted to do athletic competitions, a club that seems to meet at all hours of the day, a Spanish teacher who isn't actually qualified on the subject (and has to go to night school to learn the subject he's supposed to be teaching), a female student being punished by the glee club coach for refusing to wear a clamshell bikini during a performance (it's important to note that she is 15 years old and has an eating disorder that the coach already knew about), a student in a wheelchair being allowed to play football by invoking LoopholeAbuse, a teacher becoming so close to his students that one of them is ''the best man at his wedding'',the student who brought [[AxesAtSchool a gun to school]] post-UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}}, the list goes on.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' episode "Splitting Images", Poindexter was ruthlessly bullied by everyone when he was in high school and the principal made bullying him ''a requirement to graduate''. Even in the 1950s, a principal couldn't make bullying (especially bullying directed at a specific student) mandatory.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', we have Madame Bustier and Principal Damocles and how they deal with students like [[AlphaBitch Chloé]] and [[ConsummateLiar Lila]]:
** Bustier believed that Chloé shouldn't be punished for her actions but that she should learn from a positive ''student'' role model even though, as a teacher, ''she'' should be that role model. On Damocles' end, he fears her father's reprisal even though he doesn't have real power over the school (despite -- or rather, ''because'' her father's the Mayor -- if he does something to the school, he can be ousted for corruption or it might cause a major scandal).
** Lila has made claims about her "disabilities", but Bustier never asked for any form of verification -- a doctor's note, the school's nurse to check her over, or even just contacting her mother to confirm (especially because her major claims are that she has tinnitus and a ''mental disorder'' that forces her to lie impulsively).
** They also completely buy into Lila's claims that Marinette stole her necklace, cheated on a test, and pushed her down the stairs without investigating properly. Ignoring the fact that Marinette is a good student and gets good grades (meaning it would be unlikely that she did those things), when Lila claimed to be pushed down the stairs, they didn't check her injuries in any capacity. While it could have been off-screen, as Lila was later shown with bandages wrapped haphazardly around her knee, she could've done it herself because she can't fake an injured knee to a competent nurse.

** "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha": Fanboy and Chum Chum accidentally end up in a kindergarten where they are forced to stay all day because the teacher refuses to believe that they're 5th graders. While there, they discover that their former classmate Marsha was sent here after Fanboy got snot all over her standardized test. No teacher would use something like this as a reason to send a student =back five grades -- at worst, she would either be held back or ''maybe'' sent back a grade. Additionally, considering ''why'' she failed the test, the school would have made Marsha retake the test at a later date, especially since it wasn't her fault the test got ruined.

** Also, the girls wouldn’t just be able to sign up for a dorm at the beginning of the school year. Dorms are typically booked well in advance.

* Teacher with tenures being able to break the rules without any punishment whatsoever, or a tenured teacher getting fired for a minor infraction. While the former is (sadly) TruthInTelevision, tenured teachers do ''not'' get fired easily. Tenured teachers have to do something ''really'' bad in order to to get fired (such as hitting a kid or say/do something controversial), and even non-tenured teachers wouldn't get fired for a minor infraction - at worst, they'd get a stern talking-to from one of their higher-ups before being sent back to their classroom.

** Gilderoy Lockhart in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' is an attention seeker and [[spoiler:fraud]]. On the first day of the school year, he has his students do a pop quiz that's just about himself. In a normal school situation, the fact that a new teacher has middle-school-age students do a graded quiz ''on their first day back'' would get them reprimanded and likely lead to them being briefly suspended - said quiz having nothing to do with the subject and being blatantly ego-inflating would likely have the teacher's future classes be supervised by a higher-up at the very least. Following that up with a practical demonstration that he almost immediately loses control of and then leaves his students to clean up after would also put him in hot water.

** Beat up as many students and prefects as you want, you'll only either get sent to the Dean's office or get detention... at least until the climax where [[spoiler:Jimmy finally gets expelled for his behavior - and this gets reversed after defeating Gary]].

** "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha": Fanboy and Chum Chum accidentally end up in a kindergarten where they are forced to stay all day because the teacher refuses to believe that they're 5th graders. While there, they discover that their former classmate Marsha was sent here after Fanboy got snot all over her standardized test. No teacher would use something like this as a reason to send a student =back five grades - at worst, she would either be held back or ''maybe'' sent back a grade. Additionally, considering ''why'' she failed the test, the school would have made Marsha retake the test at a later date, especially since it wasn't her fault the test got ruined.

** Bustier believed that Chloé shouldn't be punished for her actions but that she should learn from a positive ''student'' role model even though, as a teacher, ''she'' should be that role model. On Damocles' end, he fears her father's reprisal even though he doesn't have real power over the school (despite - or rather, ''because'' her father's the Mayor - if he does something to the school, he can be ousted for corruption or it might cause a major scandal).
** Lila has made claims about her "disabilities", but Bustier never asked for any form of verification - a doctor's note, the school's nurse to check her over, or even just contacting her mother to confirm (especially because her major claims are that she has tinnitus and a ''mental disorder'' that forces her to lie impulsively).

* In the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' animated special ''WesternAnimation/HappyNewYearCharlieBrown'', Charlie Brown's class is assigned ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' over winter break. Not only would an elementary school teacher not assign [[{{Doorstopper}} such a long and complicated book]] to read, but the students also would certainly not be expected to read the whole thing in such a short time - at most, they would be assigned a few selected chapters to read. When Charlie Brown does a report on the same book in ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'', it's because he chose it to impress the Little Red-Haired Girl (who was assigned his report partner), not because he was assigned it.

** Severus Snape shows blatant favoritism towards the Slytherin House by giving them points for anything while the other houses get point deductions for flimsy reasons, and he treats Harry like crap because [[SinsOfOurFathers his father used to bully him]]. He also has a practical lesson on his first day of class, using materials that can (and do) result in student injury if handled improperly without first ensuring that the students know enough about proper lab technique to follow instructions safely, something that would get a real chemistry teacher sacked on the spot. Dumbledore is aware of this and never tries to reign Snape in because he values having a defected Death Eater more than having a competent teacher.

* ''Series/MacGyver2016'': Almost all universities require their professors to have a doctorate in their field. As an MIT dropout, Mac would not be able to become a professor in only 18 months.

** Gilderoy Lockhart in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' is an attention seeker and [[spoiler:fraud]]. On the first day of the school year, he has his students do a pop quiz that's just about himself. In a normal school situation, the fact that a new teacher has middle-school-age students do a graded quiz ''on their first day back'' would get them reprimanded and likely lead to them being briefly suspended - said quiz having nothing to do with the subject and being blatantly ego-inflating would likely have the teacher's future classes be supervised by a higher-up at the very least.