Line #19 Main/SuckySchool


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10	[[quoteright:209:[[Literature/CaptainUnderpants https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sucky_676.png]]]]
11	[[caption-width-right:209:[[SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp What happens when the bullies never leave school.]]]]
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13	->''"And my high school: it felt more to me\
14	Like a jail cell, a penitentiary''"
15	-->-- '''Music/GoodCharlotte''', "The Anthem"
16
17	The opposite of ElaborateUniversityHigh, a school that isn't very good at teaching because of budget issues. Expect the textbooks and the technology to be massively out of date and have Cold War-era information at best. It may or may not be an AssimilationAcademy. The school is often full of [[SadistTeacher ridiculously mean teachers]], [[TheBully bullies]] of [[EqualOpportunityEvil all races, colors, creeds, and social backgrounds]], [[FoulCafeteriaFood practically inedible lunch food]], and it's all run by an [[DeanBitterman even worse principal]]. The trope is often used to satirize or dramatize how horrible the public school system is (especially if this trope is used in an American work, as parents and adults worrying over the quality of children's education is a major issue). JuniorHigh in particular is a common target of derision, leading to the idea that MiddleSchoolIsMiserable.
18
19	The InnerCitySchool is often the victim of this trope. The BoardingSchoolOfHorrors is even worse, especially because you have to live there. A DustbinSchool often overlaps with this. Contrast the CoolSchool, where even if it's not all sunshine and rainbows, it's well worth it. See the PhonyDegree trope when the Sucky School is a college that's little more than a diploma mill. Faculty may include the SadistTeacher, SternTeacher, ApatheticTeacher, EvilTeacher, EvilPrincipal, DeanBitterman, and CrustyCaretaker. Peers might be in the [[SinisterSororitySisters awful sorority.]] See also DaycareNightmare, for even younger characters.
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21	------
22	!!Examples:
23	[[foldercontrol]]
24
25	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
26	* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'' distills this into a single class: it turns out the worst students are all stuffed into the same class with an alien teacher so the rest of the school has someone to look down on. When they start improving the school takes measures to keep them down.
27	* ''Manga/CromartieHighSchool'': No teachers in sight and a reputation that if you can write your name you can enroll. Not to mention a robot, a former plane hijacker, and a gorilla as students.
28	* Creator/GoNagai provided a couple interesting examples:
29	** The titular school of ''Harenchi Gakuen'' (it translates as "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Shameless School]]"), where the insane teachers go around naked, torment their students and even molest them sexually, and have tried to outright ''murder them'' more than once... And the students are just as bad, only clothed (usually). [[CrapsackWorld It's stated there's an international network of such schools]], with the Italian one getting shut down (as in ''bombed to rubble with all students and teachers killed'', with only one teacher escaping) at some point and the first part of the series having the (main) Japanese one fall to the same fate.
30	** ''Manga/KekkoKamen'' has Sparta Academy, that manages to mix this trope with ElaborateUniversityHigh: the place is a boarding school, with the students living in luxurious single rooms and the teachers being universally ''very'' competent (at one point the females' PE teacher explained that you can be hired there only with a Class A teaching license before listing the ''enormous'' skillset she had to acquire before achieving her license)... But, with a single exception, [[SadistTeacher the teachers are sadistic disciplinarians]] and perverts, and it's perfectly normal to be [[DisproportionateRetribution tortured for achieving less than 90% on a test]], to the point there's a high suicide rate among the students or the teachers make it look like one after said torture actually kills them. [[spoiler:[[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Said suicide rate prompted the police and the Ministry of Education to investigate]] by sending Kekko Kamen, who by the GrandFinale has found enough evidence to get the school shut down]].
31	* ''Anime/KillLaKill'': Honnouji Academy places ''death matches'' between students (mainly Ryuko); the loser will have to pay the price. It also has a policy where students ''[[SeriousBusiness have]]'' to remain on time for classes, [[DisproportionateRetribution or else]] they will [[ItMakesSenseInContext get pelted with tennis balls]] or ''face expulsion''. [[spoiler:This all changes, however, once its ruler [[BigBad Ragyo Kiryuin]] is defeated and out of the picture.]]
32	* Akehisa High in ''Manga/KyouKaraOreWa'', due to the high number of [[JapaneseDelinquent delinquents]] among their students... As in ''all of them''. They ''are not the worst school'', Hokunei is... Or rather was, as its students ''burned it down''.
33	* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': The demented Principal Kuno of Furinkan High is single-handedly responsible for the place being a hellhole loaded with traps that he gleefully uses to torture the students when they try to protest his latest absurd edict (especially his obsession with shaving them all bald). The constant battles that happen within school grounds from people trying to kill Ranma Saotome (such as the Principal's son Tatewaki) just do not help, although the students consider the latter almost an UnusuallyUninterestingSight.
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	[[folder:Comic Books]]
37	* The school from the Bash Street Kids in ''ComicBook/TheBeano''. One of the cartoon adaptations had the school shut down because of this ([[StatusQuoIsGod it was back by the end of the episode]].) No one learns, outdated books, falling apart building which has no central heating and (wasn't outdated then) teacher still wearing a mortarboard.
38	** Most of the pupils don't wear a uniform, either (the only one who does is a snobby elitist), and all attempts to get them to do so are farcical.
39	* Common in ''Comicbook/ChickTracts'', especially given that it's an AuthorTract.
40	** "[[https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=1006 War Zone]]" is about a school ruled by gangs, where Moose slashes a teacher's tire for giving him homework. The teachers can't teach the students anything, and some kids can't even read. Naturally, things turn around once Moose gets converted to Christianity.
41	** Other schools appear to be operating normally but are seen as tools to advance a Satanic agenda. For example, Li'l Susy's school teaches evolution, requires kids to dress up for Halloween, and teaches kids about gay couples, all things Chick considers terrible.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Fan Works]]
45	* A lot of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' stories cast Aldera Junior High School into this role. In canon, all we know is that Izuku Midoriya's class knew he was Quirkless and laughed at him for wanting to be a hero, and that Katsuki Bakugou bullied him for years and was somehow able to get away with it. This has led people to conclude that Aldera discriminates against Quirkless people, and was purposefully letting Katsuki get away with bullying Izuku. Considering that discrimination against Quirkless people does exist in canon (everyone was laughing at Izuku, ''because'' he was a Quirkless person trying to become a hero), and that Izuku's teacher stood there and did nothing as the class mocked Izuku, it's an understandable conclusion to reach.
46	** ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/29270898/chapters/71879817 Harmony in War]]'' Nezu sends Aizawa to find out about the stuff in Bakugo and Midoriya’s files and All Might goes undercover in his true form as U.A.’s secretary. The two find out Izuku was deemed worthless and portrayed as a troublemaker while Bakugo ‘s issues were ignored. The school faces consequences in the end.
47	** ''Fanfic/InASkyOfAMillionStars'': Aldera Junior High, Izuku and Katsuki's middle school. While Izuku's suicide attempt is the most prolific screw-up they've had thus far, the place was already seen in a bad light due to various cover-ups and scandals. Izuku himself has no clue how the place is still standing, let alone operational.
48	** ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/31814008/chapters/78759658 Safe]]'' has Izuku having to deliberately do worse than he was capable of because he was constantly humiliated, told his “underdeveloped” brain couldn’t do so well, physically abused once and even sexually abused by a teacher who kept saying he was an “inconvenience” and had to “thank him” for letting him stay in school. He has a panic attack when Aizawa wants to talk about his grades and thinks Aizawa ants the same thing. Fortunately Aizawa is horrified and is gentle and understanding, hugging a sobbing Izuku while planning to rain down hell on the school.
49	** ''Fanfic/{{Statistic}}'' has All Might learning firsthand just how awful Aldera Middle School is after he decides to start working there as the [[UnSorcerer Quirkless]] Toshinori Yagi. Not only do [[BarbaricBully Katsuki]] and most of the other students immediately decide the new teacher isn't worth listening to because of his Quirklessness, his new coworkers make no secret of their own scorn, openly mocking Toshinori and dismissing any complaints by [[JustJokingJustification claiming they were "just joking around"]]. They also repeatedly insist that [[CassandraTruth nobody will ever believe]] any of his or Izuku's claims about the abuse happening at their school, even ''cracking jokes'' when [[spoiler:Izuku goes missing]].
50	** This was [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by Bakugou in ''Fanfic/ChangingGears'' . Specifically he picked Aldera as his middle school ''because'' it was a shitty middle school for the sole purpose of making him look like a underdog and propping up his rise to being the No. 1 hero. Naturally he assumes Izuku had the same idea, but decided to "lie" about being Quirkless to give himself an even better backstory.
51	* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': "The School" depicts Penny's first week or so at a new secondary school, and she dislikes it immensely. Given that the place has FoulCafeteriaFood (featuring a [[NoseNuggets nose-picking lunch lady]]), an [[SadistTeacher English teacher who sends her to detention]] when she challenges his interpretation of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', and a horrifically incompetent football team, she's got good reason to feel this way.
52	* ''Fanfic/MiraculousThePhoenixRises'' gives readers Waterloo High, complete with a DeanBitterman, PsychoPsychologist, a ShoddyShindig, [[BarbaricBully barbaric bullies]], a MonsterOfTheWeek attacking, etc.
53	* ''Fanfic/TheNewRetcons'': Milborough’s elementary school still uses a blackboard and has no computer lab, despite it being 2009. While some like Elly Patterson are fine with it, Tracey Mayes is unhappy with the quality of education her children are getting and attempts to run for office to fix the problems.
54	* The crossover ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12028946/1/Senpai Senpai: A Story of Good Friends]]'' has, true to the source material, [[Manga/RanmaOneHalf Furinkan]], [[Manga/UruseiYatsura Tomobiki and Butsumetsu]] high schools (the latter having a junior high section that is identified as the school Ranma went at before going to China, where students routinely fought for the best meal), well known for their unruly and underperforming students. Turns out [[InvokedTrope someone's doing it on purpose]]: [[spoiler:Asuka Saginomiya runs a switching grades ring, with the grades of the best students from the supposedly lesser schools being switched around for those of people who can pay for the honor of entering the supposedly elite Kolkhoz High. With some of the people screwed up this way being Nabiki and Kasumi]]. Needless to say, when Kodachi (who has moved to Furinkan after her brother was hospitalized) and her student council (including, among others, Ranma and Nabiki) find out, they're not happy.
55	* In ''Fanfic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing'':
56	** WesternAnimation/MonsterHigh, [[AdaptationalMundanity here named Munster High]], is an InnerCitySchool with staff that blatantly favors white students (twins Jackson Jekyll and Holt Hyde got into a fight and the white-looking Jackson got a slap on the wrist while obviously-black Holt was suspended) and the non-white students take out their anger over being mistreated by white people on the white kids.
57	** [[WesternAnimation/{{Detentionaire}} A. Nigma High]] is a reform school which overlaps with JuvenileHell; the teachers sexually abuse, forcibly sterilise, and occasionally kill students under the nose of the honourable but rigid and half-blind principal, the older students are allowed to run riot to keep the younger ones scared and manipulable, Grayson and Kimmie are TroubledAbuser manipulators taking out their misery on their one-time friends, the janitor Li is a kidnapping victim, and the students are so stressed they suffer mass hallucinations of the Tatzelwurm sneaking around the building.
58	** Averted with WesternAnimation/GravedaleHigh; here it's an underfunded school on the Santa Ynez Native American reservation, but the special ed teacher Schneider cares deeply for the kids and goes the extra mile for them, and the school gives them a lot of leeway after all of them are traumatised from unjust imprisonment after the accident with Miss Fresno.
59	* Isei High in ''Roleplay/PersonaHeavenAfreaknamedpete'' is the Japanese high school equivalent of Springfield Elementary. It's openly considered a bottom-of-the-barrel school, the teachers are either apathetic, unmotivated, or unable to control their students, and if they are capable its because they were kicked out of better institutions because of politics. The students are just as bad with a serious bullying problem, class cutting is common, and most are easily influenced by the whims of the rumor mill. Though in spite of its openly poor reputation and problems [[DamnedByFaintPraise it's still better than Shujin.]]
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
63	* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainUnderpantsTheFirstEpicMovie'' carries over this status for Jerome Horwitz Elementary from the books (see Literature below).
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
67	%%* Shermer High is implied to be this in ''Film/TheBreakfastClub''.
68	* Exaggerated in ''Film/ClassOf1999'': By the year 1999 (in a [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture film made in 1990]]), inner-city schools have gotten so bad with so much gang violence that [[UrbanHellscape they and the ten-mile perimeter surrounding them have become miniature ripoffs of]] ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork''. The plan of the BigBad is to [[TerminatorImpersonator send military-grade robot infiltrators]] all over the country and sit back and watch them kill as many students as it takes to bring total pacification.
69	* In ''Film/TheFaculty'', there is a scene early on that takes place at a faculty meeting, where they are deciding how to divide the school's budget. Much to the teachers' chagrin, money that could be used for buying new textbooks or putting on a SchoolPlay other than ''Theatre/OurTown'' (which they did last year) is instead directed towards the football team, because, as [[Creator/BebeNeuwirth Principal Drake]] explains, [[SeriousBusiness they live in a football town]]. She doesn't think the football team deserves all the attention and funding, but it's what the ''parents'' want. As well, there are several points that hint the school is in some definite need of refurbishing, such as door frames in need of paint coatings.
70	** Also, take a look at the map of Europe in the history classroom. Despite the film being set in 1998, the map still shows a united Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia, implying that it's at least ten years old — and judging by the condition it's in, probably older.
71	* ''Film/FistFight'': Roosevelt High School. The students are incredibly unruly; the staff is either too spineless and incompetent to manage them or going too overboard with their methods; and the school board decides to lay off ''all'' the teachers to save funding. Not to mention the security guard, who clearly couldn't care less about his job. [[spoiler:Strickland's fight with Campbell does help the school go back on track and obtain enough funding.]]
72	* ''Film/HighSchoolHigh'' parodies this while also combining it with the InnerCitySchool. The teachers are either corrupt or undermined, hardly any of the students in the senior class graduate, the vice principal runs the school (particularly her fellow staff) with an iron hand and the principal himself was abducted ''twice'' (including [[CrossingTheLineTwice in broad daylight]]).
73	* ''Film/{{Matilda}}'': Crunchem Hall Elementary School is really bad due to a [[DeanBitterman truly vile principal]], who [[{{Sadist}} delights in inflicting terror and pain on all of the kids there.]] Thankfully, the goodly Miss Honey is actually nice and tries to protect the kids as best as she can. [[spoiler:At the end, Principal Trunchbull is permanently scared out of the school, leaving Miss Honey as the principal. She [[FriendToAllChildren makes the school so wonderful the kids never want to leave.]]]]
74	* In ''Film/Teachers1984'', students get stabbed, teachers fight, there's teacher-student sex, and a student sues the school after he graduated despite being illiterate.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Literature]]
78	!!By Author:
79	* Features prominently in many of the books of Creator/DanielPinkwater. Schools are typically populated by DrillSergeantNasty type gym teachers, academic teachers who are too crazy for their students to learn from them, and students who are cruel bullies.
80	** The aptly-named George Armstrong Custer High, from the ''Literature/SnarkoutBoys'' books is a classic example, full of crazy if not outright malicious teachers and apathetic students.
81	** In ''Literature/AlanMendelsohnTheBoyFromMars'', Bat Masterson Junior High is a dull and terrible place to be. All the kids are snobby and look down on anyone who isn't neat and well-dressed, but they're all stupid and sub-literate. The teachers all teach from the textbook and move so slowly that Leonard completely stops participating, causing the teachers to think he's feeble-minded even though he is quite intelligent. The gym teacher is an abusive DrillSergeantNasty type who is somehow popular with all the kids except for Leonard.
82
83	!!By Title:
84	* ''Literature/TheBrotherhoodOfTheConch'': In ''The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming'', Anand visits the village of Sona Dighi. He is never forced to attend the area's one school, but his new friend Ramu tells him that the students hardly learn anything because the teacher spends more time thinking about ways to punish them than about the lessons. Sometimes he makes the students stand in front of the school balancing bricks on their heads until their necks ache. Other times he makes them stand on one leg until they fall over, and then hits them with his long cane.
85	* Jerome Horwitz Elementary in ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' provides the page image. The school library is shown as being almost completely free of books, with a librarian who discourages reading. The school also has signs posted [[AssimilationAcademy encouraging mindless conformity]]. The teachers are also pretty much entirely either idiots or [[SadistTeacher sadists]]. Not to mention the principal, who is a complete {{Jerkass}} to the point of ''blackmailing students''- which is why those same students [[HypnoFool hypnotize him]] into becoming Captain Underpants (when he's in that mode, his personality takes a complete 180).
86	* ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'': Ewen High School is outright horrible. All of the popular girls are [[{{Jerkass}} quite vicious]] and like to [[KickTheDog make Carrie's life miserable]] [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence just because she's weird and uncool]]. That said, [[AlphaBitch Chris]] seems to be the most responsible for all this, and it's implied not all of the other girls are horrible people and are mainly just afraid of what Chris will do to them if they dare stand up for Carrie.
87	* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': The unnamed middle school Greg attends is so inadequately funded that it lacks heating systems. The teachers also tend to be either overly strict or straight-up incompetent. Due to the stupidity of the students, the playground equipment has been recalled. The rules are so tight that it is forbidden to simply ''sit down'' or play tag during recess.
88	* The ''Literature/DragonSlayersAcademy'' book series takes place at a school intended to teach kids how to slay dragons, but the headmaster is an extremely greedy man, to the point that he nearly suffers DeathByMaterialism several times, and so the school is very poorly run and underfunded. Most of the staff are incompetent or just weird and the food is terrible. In one book when some inspectors come to check the school out, they state that the only reason why they don't have the school shut down is because it has a really nice library, unaware that nobody ever uses the library aside from the main characters.
89	* Danish author Hans Scherfig's classic novel ''Literature/TheStolenSpring'' revolves around a group of pupils at the mercy of [[SadistTeacher Sadist teachers]] and outdated learning at a prestigious school in Copenhagen (a thinly veiled {{Expy}} of Scherfig's own alma mater, ''Metropolitanskolen'').
90	-->"Disciplina sollerti fingitur ingenium" is written over the gate. It means something like: "Beatings are good for spiritual development."
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
94	* In the Creator/{{Netflix}} adaptation of ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy'', the school's students and staff, while affluent, range anywhere between callously uncaring and deliberately cruel. The school counselor is playing on his phone while Hannah is trying to tell him that [[spoiler:Bryce, the popular jock, raped her at a party (and his "advice" to her amounts to "He'll be graduating soon, you won't have to see him again", seemingly not giving a damn about what the poor girl went through)]]. During the ensuing legal deposition, one student says that the staff only cares about boosting and propping up the egos of the popular kids (who are bullies at best and rapists at worst). The staff also give almost no shits that a student is dead, and are more concerned about if/when they will be facing a lawsuit.
95	* ''Series/BostonPublic'': A major storyline of the show's third season had [[InnerCitySchool Winslow High]] struggling with budget issues. The Mayor of Boston sent a representative, Dave Fields, to advise the administrators on how to improve the school, but his suggestions end up being AllForNothing and the school falls under threat of massive budget cuts. Principal Steven Harper and Vice Principal Scott Guber hit upon the radical solution to cut all funding for athletics to save academics, and Steven challenges parents to fund school sports themselves.
96	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Not only does Sunnydale High fulfill pretty much every bad high school trope in existence, but it's also on top of a Hellmouth that gets a substantial number of the students and staff killed on a regular basis.
97	* Greendale Community College of ''Series/{{Community}}'' is half this and half just bizarre. There aren't really mean teachers, however. Instead, the faculty seems to be composed of incompetent {{Cloud Cuckoolander}}s of every description. There are also money issues:
98	-->'''Dean Pelton''': We're broke, Ben! We now get 80% of our electricity from ''the apartment building across the street''!
99	** In later seasons it comes out that the school is primarily funded by private donations from alumni of the air conditioning repair annex, who go on to blue-collar but relatively well-paying careers in HVAC maintenance.
100	* ''Series/FamilyTies'' had Grant College, which [[TheDitz Mallory]] and Skippy attend. Again, no mean teachers but the college is known and shown to be remarkably substandard: their radio commercials mention it's "[[DamnedByFaintPraise conveniently located near several major highways]]" and they have a class on opening umbrellas.
101	* Applies to Sheffield Spires Academy in ''Series/TheFullMonty2023''. Pipes burst, leading to the bathrooms flooding. Music teacher Hetty notices the ceiling leak and gets her students out before the ceiling collapses, flooding her classroom as well.
102	* In ''Series/{{Glee}}'': Principal Figgins is constantly telling Mr Schue that he can't help out with monetary issues within the Glee Club, and he [the principal] is always talking about the school's very tight budget; however, the reason that the school has no money to spend on costumes and the like is that the Cheerios have [[ConspicuousConsumption their own private photocopier and get their dry cleaning done in Europe]].
103	* One ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' episode had Kelly, then employed as The Verminator, visit one. Hijinks included walking through a metal detector and receiving a PervyPatdown by the school principal, the school nurse, and then the principal ''as'' the nurse watched, having to [[TalkingDownTheSuicidal talk down a substitute teacher from a window ledge,]] and finally teaching the kids how to kill rats, roaches and something the school called [[ItCameFromTheFridge "sloppy joes".]] The kicker culminated in this line from her:
104	-->'''Kelly:''' [[TakeThat That'll be the last time I visit a Catholic school!]]
105	* ''Series/MrD'': Xavier Academy ''looks'' like an ElaborateUniversityHigh, but they have the title character as a teacher. And the others aren't ''that'' much better.
106	* ''Series/{{Outnumbered}}'' makes a RunningGag of implying the school Pete teaches at is one.
107	* ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'': During Season 2, Jughead is transferred from Riverdale High to Southside High. While Riverdale High is an affluent school, Southside High is essentially more like a prison: there’s guards everywhere, the lights are dim, the toilets are broken, there’s graffiti everywhere and most of the teachers are long burned out, save for the English teacher... [[spoiler:until he’s revealed to be a drug kingpin.]] It’s heavily implied that the school gets less funding on purpose due to Alice's classist campaigns against the South Side. By the end of the season, Southside High is shut down due to asbestos [[spoiler:but actually because Hiram bought it out]] and Jughead and the others are sent to Riverdale High.
108	* ''Series/StrangeHillHigh'': The headmaster is constantly cutting corners to save money, the teachers are either [[SadistTeacher sadists]] or idiots, the ScaryLibrarian does not like children touching the books, the caretaker has been at the school for centuries. Oh, and the entire school is a nexus for weird events.
109	* ''Series/WaterlooRoad'' was the worst sort of failing sink secondary modern before an idealistic and capable head (Angela Burton) took over. Even then it was a long road, faced with hostile parents, couldn't-care-less kids, and a hostile LEA.
110	[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
113	* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' [[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2013/03/17 discuss]] yet "another typical school day".
114	** And yet, [[WordOfGod according to Watterson in the 10th Anniversary Collection notes]], what Calvin's going through is far more pleasant than a job, so one has to wonder whether Calvin's just whining.
115	* ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'''s Walden College is another postsecondary example. It has a worse graduation rate than some for-profit colleges, and once marketed itself as "America's safety school".
116	** In the latest new daily strips so far (before a hiatus), Walden has ''become'' for-profit.
117	[[/folder]]
118
119	[[folder:Print Media]]
120	* A 1970s ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' feature takes the form of a supply catalogue catering specially to such schools. Items include [[NailsOnABlackboard extra-screechy blackboards]], chemistry glassware with measurement units that are either obsolete or in foreign scripts, as well as maps which indicate the "[[FlatWorld Edge of the World]]" and huge expanses of [[HereThereBeDragons unexplored territory]].
121	[[/folder]]
122
123	[[folder:Video Games]]
124	* Bullworth Academy in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'' is filled with corruption, bullying, violence, and vandalism, and none of the authority figures seem to care, or even ''acknowledge'' it, lauding it as school spirit.
125	* The Nether Institute Evil Academy, the setting of ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice''. It's located in the Netherworld and run by demons, and since ''Disgaea'' demons run on BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad, at the school students who skip class and break rules are considered [[CardCarryingVillain honor students]] whereas unashamed goody-two-shoes are considered delinquents. Not only that, but the teachers actually hate teaching, and will fight to keep students from their classes. An NPC even admits that because of this policy, no one has ever graduated [[spoiler:(except for Raspberyl and her posse)]], and students just keep paying tuition forever.
126	** Its UpdatedRerelease, ''Absence of Detention'', gives us Death Institute Majin Academy. Even though it is an elite school meant to raise Majins, the only actual Majins in the school are the Student Body President Stella Grossular and the Chief Director who is her father, [[spoiler:and who has been dead for a long time]]. In fact, the school has hardly any students and has been on the brink of being shut down. Stella's entire motivation has been to ruin the Evil Academy's reputation so that Majin Academy can get a boost in popularity.
127	* Shujin Academy in ''VideoGame/Persona5'' is not only full of GossipyHens who spread MaliciousSlander about anyone that stands out in a negative way, no matter how small it may be, its principal also allows a SadistTeacher to bully the students and ruin their lives for [[EvilIsPetty petty reasons]] to the point of physically abusing the males and sexually harassing the females ([[spoiler:It gets so bad that one of his victims is DrivenToSuicide in a desperate attempt to get away from him]]), and the principal turns a blind eye to all of this simply for the fact that this sexual predator is a former Olympian athlete [[SlaveToPR who is giving a lot of good publicity to the school]]. The principal is also willing to guilt-trip others into doing dirty, and often dangerous, jobs while [[FauxAffablyEvil keeping a friendly facade]]. [[spoiler:After Kamoshida's downfall, things begin to improve, insofar as students not being terrorized by a vicious, narcissistic pervert is an improvement, but the students are forced to take part in community service events that not a single one fails to recognize for the PR stunts they are, as if the horrendous legacy Kamoshida left could be made up for, and the same principal who was complicit in Kamoshida's abuse remains there until the would-be dictator he was loyal to orders him murdered for failing to expose the vigilante group his apathy created.]] Academically speaking, it's apparently a highly-regarded prep school, but it's still a rather horrible place to go to learn, with Ann even calling it a "sorry excuse of a school". How anyone can get good grades in such a toxic learning environment is a RiddleForTheAges.
128	** The first boss of ''VideoGame/Persona5Strikers'', Alice Hiiragi, is ''also'' from Shujin and her time there was bad enough that it eventually drove her to use the [=EMMA=] app to brainwash people and become a Monarch.[[spoiler: She was bullied horribly during that time, and while she graduated and started a highly-promising career as a fashion designer, her bullies followed her and spread yet more MaliciousSlander to ruin her, prompting her to turn to [=EMMA=] to make it stop.]]
129	* Stilwater University in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' isn't the best of colleges. Though the place itself looks decent, gangs patrol the campus and conduct business there, two feuding fraternities perform pledge hazings and pranks that get people hurt (if not killed), the institute has a drug problem, a (presumably illegal) brothel is being operated out of an internet cafe, [[MegaCorp Ultor]] uses it as a recruiting ground, there's a nuclear power plant located southwest of the U, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking it has a sports team that its cheerleaders boast about cheating and apparently isn't very good, and only seven subjects are taught]].
130	* Akademi High School in ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' isn't the best place to learn. The principal is in cahoots with the local MegaCorp (whose heiress runs the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil with an iron fist), one of the substitute teachers [[{{Ephebophile}} has a thing for teenage boys]], a MafiaPrincess orchestrates [[BulliedIntoDepression emotionally draining bullying]], one of the club leaders has [[SendInTheClones his own personal clone army]] hidden in the basement, and there is a [[{{Yandere}} love-obsessed maniac]] running amok. [[SarcasmMode Have fun]]!
131	[[/folder]]
132
133	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
134	* Hope's Peak Academy of ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' would probably function perfectly fine as a haven for the best and brightest of society to have their natural talents nurtured if it wasn't for the incredibly SkewedPriorities of its staff. ''Anime/Danganronpa3'' reveals the Ultimate students don't even have to attend class and are simply expected to practice their talents, which include ''luck'' and ''being a princess'' (albeit that Sonia, the princess in question, mentions that her education standards as a royal in her home country are quite strict, so she's probably still spending her time studying), and show them off at a demonstration; how the hell one is supposed to demonstrate skill at luck or princesshood remains a mystery. Also, [[spoiler:an immoral experiment to create the "Ultimate Hope" by implanting all Ultimate talents known into one person while causing DeathOfPersonality]] was so expensive that they opened the very exclusive school up to the public via an expensive reserve course which sees none of the benefits the talented students pretty much get for free. They also turned a blind eye to [[spoiler:Junko Enoshima's despair-inducing machinations involving the "Ultimate Hope" Izuru Kamukura until it was too late, leading to ''the end of civilization''.]]
135	[[/folder]]
136
137	[[folder:Webcomics]]
138	* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Moperville North High School is run by principal Verrückt in a somewhat crazy way -- such as blowing the security budget on propaganda, so there are no sprinklers or fire alarm autodialers, but lots of [[FauxtivationalPoster motivational murals]]. And then it starts enforcing a dress code, because ''one'' minor fight broke out over a student's shirt, which had resolved itself amicably without teacher intervention before the faculty even found out about it.
139	* Kat from ''Webcomic/SequentialArt'' [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=240 was]] in one, [[MortonsFork Catch 22]] [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=245 included]].
140	[[/folder]]
141
142	[[folder:Web Original]]
143	* Website/CollegeHumor: There's a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbsdlSpA2GU fake commercial]] for the Quendelton State University, where you can get ADegreeInUseless in literally thousands of disciplines, renovation projects will take decades to finish, the football team is worthless, the social culture of the school could best be described as [[CollegeIsHighSchoolPart2 High School Part Two]], tuition costs a fortune (yet the students don't get much out of their education and don't really care), and the nearby community is a complete ghost town. (Oh, and their graduate program isn't much better.)
144	* WebVideo/PieGuyRulz had to spend some time at "University X" (which is a real-life college that he refrained from mentioning its real name), featured in his [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8J90yu5IMkvo_-FZ15AufI_TYc1shdV4 College Confessions series]]. He went on a 40-minute rant about his bad roommates, along with terrible instructors and cheating students who bragged about stealing toilet paper.
145	* Detroit Central High School in ''[[Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest SOTF-TV]]'' is of the budget issues variant. Played in complete contrast to the other school of SOTF-TV, Silver Dragon Academy (a prestigious private school).
146	-->''"If we were a good university, we wouldn't need a commercial!"''
147	* Pretty much the entire focus of ''WebVideo/WeirdSchoolRulesInHongKong'' is on how ridiculous local schools' rules are, but Episode 17 takes the cake by comparing the conditions of a local, relatively elite secondary school to those of a local women's prison, and concluded that parents were better off sending their daughters to jail than that school.[[note]]The criteria compared are mealtime restrictions, dress code (tied), dealing with complaints, extra-curricular activities, equality, the presence/absence of "Reflection", whether MovingTheGoalposts applies for the rules, whether it's allowed to take pictures at the entrance, and extra-layers policy when a Cold Weather Warning is issued.[[/note]] The episode itself is titled "比坐監懲教所更嚴格校規", or in English, approximately "School Rules Stricter Than Those of Prisons Run by the Correctional Services Department".
148	%%* "[[http://seemikedraw.com.au/why-kids-is-stupid-these-days Why kids is stupid these days]]" by Mike Jacobsen. So much is said in two short speech bubbles.
149	* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'': Winslow High School. The teachers tend to be apathetic at best, there are multiple gang members and the school could use a lot of work. Plus, there's the fact that none of the adults is willing to keep bullying under control - such as what Taylor suffers, because one of her bullies is secretly a member of the Wards, and the school gets a stipend for having her as a student.
150	[[/folder]]
151
152	[[folder:Western Animation]]
153	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': While the facilities in Elmore Junior High are actually pretty good for a middle school (since the backgrounds [[RealPlaceBackground come from on a real-life high school]]), the staff members are all [[AdultsAreUseless incompetent/unprofessional/poorly qualified]]:
154	** Principal Brown somehow has had his job as principal for 20 years, despite having a fake diploma and dating one of his workers (Miss Simian), often in school and during class hours.
155	** Miss Simian hates her job as teacher (mostly because she's been assaulted and ostracized for teaching subject matter considered subversive or controversial, such as how to make fire and how to use the wheel, as mentioned in "The Pest"), has very little regard for her students' safety/well-being, and is most likely still a teacher because she's dating Principal Brown.
156	** Mr. Small, the guidance counselor, is more of an emotional wreck than anyone who comes to see him, dispenses useless advice (even though "The Advice" shows that, unlike most of the teachers at Elmore Junior High, he actually cares about his job and wants to be a good teacher), and is possibly a stoner.
157	** The school nurse has to put up with Teri the paper bear's hypochondria, Miss Simian treating her like dirt, and Gumball and Darwin trotting out tired excuses to get out of gym class. She spends most of her time huddled under her desk, trying to re-evaluate her career choices, once prescribed herself heavy sedatives and time off school to get away from Teri, and is not being paid well (cf. "The Parasite", where she tells Gumball she wishes she had a six-figure salary, a cabriolet, and a pension plan). As seen in "The Allergy", this sometimes results in her brushing off students' legitimate medical problems.
158	** The gym teacher/coach is bulky and out of shape, lets her BarbaricBully of a daughter (Jamie) push people around during class, is most likely lying about her past as an Olympic athlete, and doesn't seem to care when a student gets hurt or can't do anything she assigns them.
159	** The only somewhat competent worker at the school is Rocky, the janitor/bus driver/lost and found clerk/cafeteria worker, though even he can be oblivious and careless on the job, mostly due to listening to music on his Walkman, and "The Points" revealed that he spends most of his time in the broom closet eating pizza and spray cheese while listening to rock music. He's also a terrible cook.
160	* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
161	** Pearl Bailey High School is run by a perverted, psychotic, drug-addicted madman who, among other things, encourages his students to fight, carries guns on school grounds, drinks, and openly asks for sex from his subordinates. While he is the worst example, the teachers themselves aren't above having sex with frogs and gang-attacking students. The football and baseball coach got the wrestling program canceled by raping his athletes. You'll notice the program is gone, ''but the coach isn't''.
162	** Groff Community College was always treated as a joke school (tuition is less than $50 a semester), but as the series went on, it became this to the nth degree. The computer lab is a small room with one outdated 90's-era desktop; it pays so little that all staff and administration need second jobs; some of the professors don't know what class they are teaching until they look at the syllabus; and the most famous alumni is a serial killer.
163	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Master Yu's Earthbending school is an unsubtle parody of North American "[=McDojos=]", more interested in flattering its students by handing out meaningless belts and persuading them (or their parents) to hand over extra cash than actually producing proficient benders.
164	* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'': Highland High School. The principal is an [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] NervousWreck who abuses his power by threatening the lives of a couple of his students and even humiliating them. The teachers also tend to be either abusive, indifferent, or very misguided. Not to mention that the school is constantly vandalized by the titular duo, either [[ChaoticStupid by accident]] or [[ItAmusedMe for their own amusement]]. In fact, it is revealed in the episode "School Test" that the school has suffered significant debt as a result of their stupidity and poor performance.
165	* ''WesternAnimation/BromwellHigh'' is this in its ''entirety'', being the worst possible caricature of a school in South London. The teachers range from being [[AdultsAreUseless complete buffoons]] to outright ''war criminals'' and former white slavers. The students are mostly petty thugs straight out of ''Film/DangerousMinds'' who are also so stupid and poorly educated that most can't even read. The school barely "operates" on such a low budget that Headmaster Iqbal, who won the school in a poker game and only gets away with his crimes because he and his brother Mehkmet are [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem on the Board of Directors]], spends most of his time with embezzlement schemes to try and get rich quick off of the school. Violence, beatings, murders, losing the schoolyard to Gypsies, and wild animal attacks are the norm, and our "heroes" are a violent bully, a criminally stupid valley girl, and an overachiever who somehow manages to [[NotSoAboveItAll just as bad as her friends]].
166	* ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'': [=CatDog=] had to go back to one in the episode "Back to School". However, this justifies the fact that Cat is treated as TheUnfavourite by every teacher and student in that school.
167	* ''WesternAnimation/ChinaIL'': The University of China, IL is called "the worst school in America". The ''whole student body'' failed their exams at the end of the semester. The theme song is pretty much a warning about how bad the school is... before adding that the only good thing about the school is the teachers.
168	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'': Lawndale High School, where the paranoid principal, Ms. Li, regularly siphons off funding intended for education into elaborate, expensive, and unnecessary security and surveillance systems, She then attempts to make up the shortfall with dodgy get-rich-quick schemes and bogus sponsorship deals. All new pupils are psychologically screened; the teaching staff tends to be either sugary idealists or burnt-out basket cases with deep-seated personal issues; and extremely bright pupils are mistrusted as they tend to ask awkward questions. Daria Morgendorffer fits as well as a fish on a bicycle, and everyone, including her, knows it.
169	* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': Peach Creek Junior High, where the [[AdultsAreUseless staff]] not only ignores bullying but [[SelectiveEnforcement punishes students]] [[FelonyMisdemeanor for minor offenses]] [[MisplacedRetribution beyond their control]].
170	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
171	** Chris and Meg Griffin attend Creator/AdamWest (formerly Creator/JamesWoods) High School which uses the textbooks part of the trope as seen in the episode "No Chris Left Behind".
172	** Speaking of textbooks, in the episode where Lois and Peter run for a spot in the school council, among her campaign promises is to replace history textbooks that refer to the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement as "trouble ahead."
173	** The staff isn't much better, with a principal who places bets on fights between the students and drags his personal problems into the school. The faculty openly allows bullying, and the gym teacher requires his female students to kiss him at the end of class.
174	* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': P.S. 118 is an interesting subversion -- the school is hardly a model institution, its state of disrepair and shoestring budget being the focus of a number of episodes. Nevertheless, the school staff tries to make up for its shortcomings.
175	* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'': The "Skool" is regularly acknowledged as both militant and under budget. Illustrative of this are the "hall passes", from the "Dark Harvest" episode, the first being [[ExplosiveLeash a collar that explodes upon leaving school premises]] and the "auxiliary hall pass" being a radiator the student is expected to lug around.
176	* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Tom Landry Middle School shows budget and policy issues that reflect the real-life public school system whenever they're brought up by Principal Moss. Examples include a shop class converted into a study room when the school couldn't afford a substitute teacher or equipment, Bunsen burners that aren't hooked up to a gas line, and newly published Texas history textbooks that tell nothing significant about the history of Texas.
177	* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyB'': Honeybee Academy is run by Mrs. Gibbons, who makes budget cuts, encourages bullying (especially when [[ButtMonkey Bessie]] is involved), and is barely able to perform her duties.
178	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Springfield Elementary is the ''textbook example'' of this trope:
179	** It is regularly noted to be on a shoestring budget, mostly due to Principal Skinner (a Vietnam vet who still has flashbacks of the war and lives with his [[MyBelovedSmother controlling mother]]) slashing the budget to the point that the kids drink "malk" and the meat is "Grade F".
180	** The teachers run the mill between being apathetic, incompetent, or otherwise very controlling; the few good teachers tend to either be temporary substitutes or get driven out one way or another. The occasional substitute teacher who is a [[TyrantTakesTheHelm tyrannical asshole]] tends to arrive as well.
181	** Skinner also believes that almost none of the students have any future whatsoever and constantly tries to maintain discipline by [[HopeCrusher bringing down their spirits]] and molding them into a future of mediocrity and conformism.
182	** Whenever Bart and/or Lisa temporarily transfer to a better school, the stark difference in teaching standards becomes immediately noticeable for both. In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E2YouOnlyMoveTwice You Only Move Twice]]", Bart gets sent to a remedial class because he can't read cursive script. In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS20E19WaverlyHills9021Doh Waverly Hills, 9-0-2-1-D'oh]]", Lisa learns to her dismay that she's not a Grade-A student like she thought precisely ''because'' her teacher is too apathetic to bother correcting any of her mistakes and just gives her A grades and perfect scores without bothering to proofread.
183	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': South Park Elementary is this in spades:
184	** One of the teachers is the bewilderingly incapable Mr. Garrison, who hardly knows how to do his job and is most likely to traumatize his students with whatever shenanigans he comes up with. In fact, one time he ''deliberately'' traumatized his students as part of a scheme to get fired, and [[SpringtimeForHitler it didn't work]].
185	** The "teacher's ass" that he hired as part of his scheme, the nauseatingly fetishy (but admittedly decent-at-heart) Mr. Slave, is pretty much the best teacher that school has -- this should set the tone for exactly how awful the rest truly are.
186	** The thuggish dudebro of a principal, [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep PC Principal]], who will beat the manshit out of anyone, teachers, parents, and students alike, if they even ''accidentally'' do anything he can even remotely construe to be [[PoliticalCorrectnessIsEvil politically incorrect]], once even resorting to an actual hate crime against Kyle's Jewish heritage as revenge for him badmouthing Caitlyn Jenner.
187	[[/folder]]
188
189	[[folder:Real Life]]
190	* Creator/YunaKagesaki, author/artist of the manga ''Manga/{{Karin}}'', mentions in a supplementary chapter of an early volume of the series that she attended one of the ''bottom'' 5 high schools of Japan. Among the things she remembers from her stint: there were students that were taught things they already learned in middle school, they were dismissive of their teachers, and fights were common, with one memorable incident of a student being expelled after getting into a fight with a teacher.
191	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / SuckySchool