History Main / BacktoSchool

* This was the premise of the Rhea Perlman SitCom ''{{Pearl}}''. Pearl was a mature woman from modest up-bringings. When she realized she had missed out on a lot, she decided to go back to college, in spite of her grown son's protests. She made a bunch of new, but weird, friends and was constantly in conflict with her snob philosophy professor (played by Malcolm [=McDowell=]).

* An episode of ''TheSimpsons'' had Homer go to college to attain his degree in nuclear physics (because he works at a nuclear power plant, people--it just makes sense). The joke was that he kept on expecting college life to be like a [[WackyFratBoyHijinx raunchy frat comedy]] (like the one he was watching called ''School of Hard Knockers'') and [[WrongGenreSavvy kept on being dumbfounded when it wasn't.]]

* A ''FamilyGuy'' episode revolves around Brian returning to Brown University after it's revealed early in the episode that he dropped out, and ''The New Yorker'' doesn't hire anyone without a college degree. Mentioned later in "Jerome is the New Black" when Quagmire chews out Brian on everything that he hates about him, one of which is that Brian "...failed college twice, which isn't nearly as bad as your failure as a father..."

* In an episode of ''TaleSpin'', Baloo returns to finish school so he'll be able to attend a class reunion. The really [[HilarityEnsues hilarious part]] is that it's ''elementary'' school, the same one ''Kit attends'' and we see him trying to fit into the tiny little desk and everything.
* An episode of ''SouthPark'' has Officer Barbrady go back to school--and the third grade no less--after it's revealed that he's illiterate.
* In an episode of ''HeyArnold'', Arnold's 81-year-old grandfather, who dropped out due to the Great Depression, goes back to elementary school. He quickly advances to the sixth grade, and then becomes a delinquent.

* Lampshaded in the episode of ''{{Futurama}}'' where Fry has to prove he has what it takes to be a College Dropout after Leela told him that the increase in education standards put him on the level of a ''high school'' dropout. He was formerly a dropout of Coney Island University ([[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Go White Fish!]])

* The entire premise of ''{{Community}}'' is that the main character is forced to go back to college and earn his bachelors' after the government learned his was a fake. It is also revealed that [[spoiler:Senior Chang]] did the same thing and will be joining the group as a student the next semester.

* On ''[=~Mama's Family~=]'', Thelma Harper went back to school to earn her high school diploma by completing English Literature - a class she had trouble with originally because she didn't understand the material. She has trouble learning to appreciate ''TheScarletLetter'' until her friend, Iola, describes it in the manner of a romance novel which results in Thelma reading the book and impressing her teacher.

* The entire premise of ''[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Community Community]]'' is that the main character is forced to go back to college and earn his law degree after the government learned his was a fake.
** Actually his law degree was real. It was his undergraduate degree that he got from an online diploma mill. This is why he goes back to community college and not back to law school.
** It is also revealed that [[spoiler:Senior Chang]] did the same thing and will be joining the group as a student the next semester.

* {{Beetlejuice}} in the cartoon, has to finish kindergarten in order earn his license back. His license to drive people crazy, that is.

* In one episode of '''BoyMeetsWorld'' Amy enrolls in a creative writing class at the local university after realizing she's bored with being a housewife, where she happens to enroll in Eric's class and proceeds to embarrass him. However, it's unclear if she stays in the class or not because it isn't brought up again after that episode.

* An episode of ''TheSimpsons'' had Homer go to college to attain his degree in nuclear physics (because he works at a nuclear power plant, people--it just makes sense). The joke was that he kept on expecting college life to be like a [[WackyFratBoyHijinx raunchy frat comedy]] and [[WrongGenreSavvy kept on being dumbfounded when it wasn't.]]

* Nick Rivers from TopSecret appears to be back to school, painfully, in the middle of the movie. He is tremendously relieved when he realizes he was only being tortured by two goons and that was just a nightmare he had when he passed out.

** There was an earlier episode where he had to take a night course run by his old highschool principal because he never finished remedial science. His final exam gives us a classic:

* In an episode of ''HeyArnold!'', Arnold's 81-year-old grandfather, who dropped out due to the Great Depression, goes back to elementary school. He quickly advances to the sixth grade, and then becomes a delinquent.

-> "If I don't graduate by the time I'm fifty, I'll be the laughingstock of Flatpoint High!"

* On ''[=~Mama's Family~=]'', Thelma Harper went back to school to earn her high school diploma by completing English Literature - a class she had trouble with originally because she didn't understand the material. She has trouble learning to appreciate "The Scarlet Letter" until her friend, Iola, describes it in the manner of a romance novel which results in Thelma reading the book and impressing her teacher.

* The entire premise of [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Community Community]] is that the main character is forced to go back to college and earn his law degree after the government learned his was a fake.

* In the ''Don Camillo e Peppone'' series, there is one arc where Peppone (the mayor of the village) has to take the primary school finals because he missed them during the troubled years of WW2. He almost fails; Don Camillo trades the correct solutions for political concessions.

* Done in an episode of ''JohnnyBravo'', "Prep School Johnny". Johnny goes back to school because he didn't finish a class. HilarityEnsues.

* The premise of the movie ''{{Film/BackToSchool}}'' is that Rodney Dangerfield's character goes to college in order to convince his son that it's worthwhile (after the son uses the father's self-made success as an argument that college isn't necessary).

** ''GoofTroop'' actually had one were he had to repeat ''grade school''.
* The premise of the movie ''Back to School'' is that Rodney Dangerfield's character goes to college in order to convince his son that it's worthwhile (after the son uses the father's self-made success as an argument that college isn't necessary).

* Bookman does this on ''GoodTimes''. When he and wife Violet were dating, he lies and tells her that he was in college, when in reality [[spoiler: he never finished high school]]. After much HilarityEnsues, he finally tells her the truth and says that he was inspired to go back to school because he saw Jesse Jackson on TV encouraging Black people to get an education and be positive members of their community.