Awesome / Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade

• T.J. locks himself in his room as a protest against the school's unfair new policies. And when Tad White attempts to blackmail him by saying his friends will suffer in his place, T.J. pretends to cooperate, only to climb out his bedroom roof to get away from him. But when T.J. nearly falls off the roof, Prickley jumps into action and saves him, which leads to T.J. explaining to him why he did this protest in the first place; while the grownups do have a lot of other things to worry about in their daily lives, he is still just a kid. He had to least try to make a difference, because all he has to lose is his self-respect. This motivates Prickley into standing up against Tad White.
  Tad White: Prickley! Good work, you've captured him! Bring him down immediately, and I'll see that you get a promotion.
  Prickley: ...No, Sir. I cannot in good conscience do that.
  Tad White: This is no time for games, Prickley! Bring the boy down now, or it will cost you your job!
  Prickley: If keeping my job means going along with your lousy policies, then I don't want it anymore! I think I'd rather keep my self-respect, too.
  • And this inspires all the other members of the Board of Education (sans Tad) into admitting that they hated the new policy, and ultimately abolish it. "The little guy really can make a difference", indeed.
• Former King Bob drops in to the fifth-and-sixth grader clubhouse when T.J. informs him of how King Freddy's been inciting the older kids to act towards the younger children and tears them a new one over it.
  Bob: This clubhouse, this place of leisure, it has become a hotbed of intolerance towards little kids.
  Lawson: So what's wrong with that? And hey, what do I care what you say? You don't even go here no more.
  Bob: No, I don't. But next year, when you move on to the seventh grade, I'll be an eighth grader. Waiting for you. And then you'll see what's wrong with it.
  Lawson: Oh.