History Film / Teachers1984

It's an average day at John F. Kennedy High School in Columbus, Ohio: Fights in the hallways, a stabbing, 10% of teachers failing to even show up, and lawyers in the office chomping at the bit with depositions.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Rubell has this bad, only caring about his image and selfish interests than actually ensuring his kids can succeed in life. [[spoiler: When admonishing the gym teacher for sleeping with some of the girls, he's mainly upset about how this makes him look]].

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: PlayedForDrama: The fact that Rubell doesn't bat an eye over his school's psychologist throwing a childish fit and one of his other students being stabbed shows how awful of a place it truly is.

Among the supporting players are Creator/CrispinGlover as Eddie's bullied best friend, Creator/LauraDern as one of the popular students, Creator/JuddHirsch as the school principal, Creator/RichardMulligan as a psychiatric hospital inmate turned history teacher, Creator/JoBethWilliams as a lawyer for a recent graduate who's suing the school for giving him a diploma even though he can't read, and Creator/MorganFreeman (in an early film role) as a lawyer for the school.

** Danny Reese himself qualifies - although himself a juvenile delinquent, he's mercilessly ridiculed and often beaten up by his classmates.

** Gower's issues aren't specified beyond having an issue with his own identity.

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teachers_poster.jpg]]

* CoolTeacher: Jurel is generally seen as one of the better teachers in the school.

* DeanBitterman: Vice Principal Rubell, who is resigned to the crappiness of his school and is happy to let his students slide through school rather than actually help them, while punishing anybody who tries to speak up.
* DeathByIrony: One of the teacher's boasts about his class is the most orderly (read: because he doesn't actually teach, just sits quietly and makes his students do work books). [[spoiler: The man dies because he is already so inert, none of his students notice him suffering a heart attack since he's already asleep]].

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Aside from being admonished by Rubell, the gym teacher isn't punished or fired for sleeping with one of his students]].

* PsychoPsychologist: The school psychologist throws a huge tantrum because she didn't get to use the mimeograph first.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Danny Reese seems to suffer from some unspecified mental illness, his odd behavior (often endangering himself and others) goes far beyond that of the typical juvenile delinquent or high school social outcast.

* CreepyGymCoach: The high school gym teacher who has locker room sex with Diane and several other students, getting three of them pregnant.

* TroubledButCute: Eddie Pilikian.

* ButtMonkey: Rosenberg is bitten by a student, has his car stolen, his teaching supplies pilfered, is treated with nothing but contempt by the school's administration, and is ostracized from his fellow teachers for telling the truth.

* Dramedy: The film has many instances of MoodWhiplash as it alternates between scenes of farcical comedy to scenes focusing on personal tragedy and serious social issues.

* CreepyGymCoach: The high school gym teacher who has locker room sex with Diane and eventually gets her pregnant.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: In spite of being an escaped psychiatric hospital inmate, Gower's unusual teaching style proves to be effective. He's one of the only teachers in the school whose students are engaged and seem interested in learning the material. In Gower's final scene in the film, the students ask him questions about the Battle of Little Bighorn and are genuinely dismayed when staff from the psychiatric hospital finally take Gower away.

* CreapyGymCoach: The high school gym teacher who has locker room sex with Diane and eventually gets her pregnant.

* ButtMonkey: Rosenberg is bitten by a student, has his car stolen, his teaching supplies pilfered, and is treated with nothing but contempt by the school's administration.

* DistractedFromDeath: One of the teachers (nicknamed "Ditto" because the photocopier does most of the teaching for him) has such a structured and hands off approach to his teaching that he dies seemingly reading a newspaper and at least 2 periods of classes come and go before anyone notices.

* ExtremeDoormat: Rosenberg is treated with utter contempt and disregard not only by his students but by the school administration, and usually does nothing about it. He does stand up to them a little at the end by refusing to tell lies to protect the administration.
* SuckySchool: A school full of juvenile delinquents and incompetent/corrupt teachers and staff. Among the highlights are students getting stabbed or shot, teachers fighting one another or refusing to work, teachers having sex with students, a student suing the school after he graduated despite being illiterate, and an escaped insane asylum inmate as a substitute teacher.
* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Gower becomes the performer to everyone else's technician. He is a mental patient with zero teaching background or experience, and yet he does a far better job at teaching history than any of the trained instructors, since he actually engages with his students and makes the history fun and interactive.

* ExtremeDoormat: Rosenberg is treated with utter contempt and disregard not only by his students but by the school administration, and usually does nothing about it. He does stand up to them a little at the end by refusing to tell lies to protect the administration at the end.

* ButtMonkey: Rosenberg is bitten by a student, has his car stolen, his teaching supplies pilfered, and is treated like a doormat by the school's administration.

* ExtremeDoorman: Rosenberg is treated with utter contempt and disregard not only by his students but by the school administration, and usually does nothing about it. He does stand up to them a little at the end by refusing to tell lies to protect the administration at the end.

* ActorAllusion: Creator/RichardMulligan as Gower dresses up as George Custer for his lesson on the Battle of Little Bighorn. Years earlier, Mulligan played George Custer in Film/LittleBigMan.