History Recap / TheSimpsonsS6E21ThePTADisbands

* LaserGuidedKarma: Bart deliberately provokes the strike simply because he thought it would be a fun alternative to school, and indeed he proceeds to wreck havoc on the town, and scares off substitutes whenhe is forced to go back to school That said, it comes back to bite him in the ass ''hard'' when he has to suffer the embarrassment of having his particularly-embarassing mother teach his class, along with Nelson and his gang taking advantage of this to freely beat him up while distracting Marge.

** And finally, he ends up not only getting beaten up by the bullies for causing the parents to come in in the first place, but they also become a bit more insidious as a result, deliberately distracting Marge so she wouldn't intervene or even ''notice'' it happening. After all that, he's understandably ready for it to finish and ends up helping to settle the very strike he provoked to begin with.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Bart deliberately provokes the strike simply because he thought it would be a fun alternative to school, and indeed he proceeds to raise anarchy throughout the town, deliberately provoking a riot at the bank and using his similar voice to that of a construction company's boss to mess around on a construction site. That said, it comes back to bite him in the ass ''hard'':
** His best friend Milhouse ends up unable to hang out with him, as his parents arranged for him to be homeschooled the ''moment'' they found out about the strike;
** He ends up having to go ''back'' to school anyway, ''and'' has to suffer the embarrassment of having his particularly-embarassing mother teach his class;

* TakeThat: Lisa: "I probably won't even get into Vassar." Called out as an unwarranted slam by Homer: "I've had ''just'' about enough of your Vassar bashing, young lady!"

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/simpsons_06_20.jpg]]

* EnemyMine: For all the fighting the two have in this episode, it's entirely possible Skinner and Edna were in on Marge specifically substituting Bart's class; not only were both frequently tormented by Bart already, but it's also likely both realized Bart only made the disagreement worse by deliberately provoking their emotions and by deliberately spreading false rumors when it seems like the worst of the strike was over. Not only would this force Bart to stop aggravating the strike, but this would also be a case of payback for the both of them.

* HairTriggerExplosive: {{Subverted}}, a tour guide in Fort Springfield is giving a lecture on a "fully restored and in ready to fire condition" Civil War cannon aimed directly at the base of a manned lookout tower. She mentions that these cannons are "''very'' sensitive" and that the "''slightest'' jolt" can set them off as the Springfield Elementary bus starts swerving towards the cannon. The bus hits it and... one of the cannon's wheels falls off.

* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: The battle being reenacted at Fort Springfield is one from the American Civil War. In 1864, the Ninth Bearded Infantry were just standing around when the troops they were fighting crested the hill they were standing at the bottom of. The enemy troops were surrendering unconditionally, many of them waving [[WhiteFlag white flags]]. All of them were injured, some sporting bandages, others leaning on crutches; one soldier was on a stretcher. A soldier spoke for the group, saying that they were sick and "need leeches, and hacksaws to cut off [their] gangrenous limbs". How did the Ninth Bearded Infantry take to this surrender? By ''[[LeaveNoSurvivors charging up the hill, and brutally finishing their enemies off!]]'' And what's worse, they're ''celebrated'' for this! And the children who were watching the reenactment cheered!

* NeverTrustATitle: The episode is called "The PTA Disbands," yet it focuses on a teacher's strike. Lampshaded when a person horrifyingly yells [[TitleDrop "The PTA has disbanded!"]], and jumps out the nearby window, before Flanders explains that the PTA has ''not'' disbanded, prompting that man to jump back through the window, dusting himself off.[[note]](The writer who pitched the strike plot thought the PTA disbanding could be the most exciting part of the story. One of the showrunners found her focusing on such a dull point amusing, so he chose the title and wrote the scene as a light-hearted jab at her.)[[/note]]

* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: The battle being reenacted at Fort Springfield is one from the American Civil War. In 1864, the Ninth Bearded Infantry were just standing around when the troops they were fighting crested the hill they were standing at the bottom of. The enemy troops were surrendering unconditionally, many of them waving [[WhiteFlag white flags]]. All of them were injured, some sporting bandages, others leaning on crutches; one soldier was on a stretcher. A soldier spoke for the group, saying that they were sick and "need leeches, and hacksaws to cut off [their] gangrenous limbs". How did the Ninth Bearded Infantry take to this surrender? By ''[[LeaveNoSurvivors charging up the hill, and brutally finishing their enemies off!]]'' And what's worse, they're ''celebrated'' for this! And the children who were watching the reenactment cheered!
-->'''Soldier:''' Come on, boys! Those white flags are no match for our muskets!
-->'''Narrator''': And the Springfielders heroically slaughtered their enemies as they prayed for mercy.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Bart is at first having the time of his life after manipulating the teachers into striking and then prolonging the strike to stay out of school (so he can cause even more chaos). And then he drives away his class's substitutes until Marge is forced to take over as teacher, which leads to untold humiliation for Bart as he is forced to become a TeachersPet and a target for bullies.

* IncrediblyLameFun: Milhouse gets a recess during his tutoring, but with the assignment of reading two chapters of a book about the Teapot Dome Scandal. He cheers anyway.

* DisasterDominoes: Subverted. The tour guide explains that their cannon could go off if hit with the slightest touch, and is pointed to a lookout tower which is occupied by a friendly staff member. After the cannon is violently crashed into, she explains that it wasn't loaded for safety reasons ("It's just common sense").
* DissonantSerenity:

-->'''Tour Guide''': Of course for safety reasons, we don't keep the cannon ''loaded''. That's just common sense.

* NoodleImplement: Exactly what Bart is ''doing'' flying his kite at night, and the motives behind it, are left to the imagination.

-->'''Homer:''' In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

* AllCrimesAreEqual: Doing anything and everything gets you paddled by Jasper, including paddling the school canoe.
* TheAllegedCar: The Springfield Elementary school bus is in extremely poor repair, with a rusted out hole in the floor that keeps getting bigger and brakes so worn that students need to use their jackets as drag chutes to help slow the vehicle down. This is nothing next to the other bus the school owns, which is in such a bad shape that a CutawayGag shows, just as Skinner says this, the bus sitting on the school's parking lot on top of some bricks and '''[[MadeOfExplodium exploding]]''' when [[TheLastStraw a little leaf falls on its roof]].

-->'''Mrs. Krabappel:''' Seymour, by doing this you're denying these children's future.
-->'''Seymour:''' Oh, come on, Edna. We both know that these children ''have'' no future!

-->'''Seymour:''' Prove me wrong, children. Prove me wrong!

** A tour guide in Fort Springfield is giving a lecture on a "fully restored and in ready to fire condition" Civil War cannon aimed directly at the base of a manned lookout tower. She mentions that these cannons are "''very'' sensitive and that the ''slightest'' jolt can set them off" as the Springfield Elementary bus starts swerving towards the cannon. The bus hits it, one of the cannon's wheels falls off, and... nothing. As the guide then points out, the cannon is not kept loaded, for safety reasons.

-->'''Tour Guide''': Of course for safety reasons, we don't keep the cannon ''loaded''. [[RealityEnsues That's just common sense.]]

* RealityEnsues: A tour guide in Fort Springfield is giving a lecture on a "fully restored and in ready to fire condition" Civil War cannon aimed directly at the base of a manned lookout tower. She mentions that these cannons are "''very'' sensitive and that the ''slightest'' jolt can set them off" as the Springfield Elementary bus starts swerving towards the cannon. The bus hits it, one of the cannon's wheels falls off, and... nothing. As the guide then points out, the cannon is not kept loaded, for safety reasons.

* NotNowKiddo: While the teachers are protesting, Lisa asks Miss Hoover what would they be learning if she were teaching class at that day. Her answer to Lisa's question? "[[GetOut get away]] [[ApatheticTeacher from me]]".

* RealityEnsues: A tour guide in Fort Springfield is giving a lecture on a "fully restored and in ready to fire condition" Civil War cannon aimed directly at the base of a manned lookout tower. She mentions that these cannons are "''very'' sensitive and that the ''slightest'' jolt can set them off" as the Springfield Elementary bus starts swerving towards the cannon. The bus hits it, one of the cannon's wheels falls off, and... nothing. As the guide then points out, there is no reason as to why the cannon would be kept ''loaded''.

* NeverTrustATitle: The episode is called "The PTA Disbands," yet it focuses on a teacher's strike. Lampshaded when a person horrifyingly yells [[TitleDrop "The PTA has disbanded!"]], and jumps out the nearby window, before Flanders explains that the PTA has ''not'' disbanded, prompting that man to jump back through the window, dusting himself off.[[note]](The writer who pitched the strike plot thought the PTA disbanding could be the most exciting part of the story. One of the showrunners found her focusing on such a dull point amusing, so he chose the title and wrote the scene as a [[AffectionateParody light-hearted]] [[TakeThat jab]] at her.)[[/note]]

* NoodleIncident: Before Moe, the other substitute teachers humiliated by Bart included Chief Wiggum, Barney, Lionel Hutz and [[Series/WelcomeBackKotter Gabe Kaplan]].

* AgreeToDisagree: Defied. When Flanders points out that Skinner and Krabappel have their respective good points on their discussion and says this, they refuse to agree even on ''that'' before storming off. Also provides the page quote.

Homer, of all people, complains about Lisa's so-called perpetual motion machine... because it "just keeps getting faster and faster".

** At Fort Springfield, the tour guide explains how they had restored a cannon to firing condition, and how it was very sensitive and could go off from slight jolts and was also aimed at the base of a watch tower. The Springfield Elementary crashes into it, knocking off a wheel, and... nothing happens. The guide then explain sit's unloaded.

* RealityEnsues: A tour guide in Fort Springfield is giving a lecture on a "fully restored and in ready to fire condition" Civil War cannon aimed directly at the base of a manned lookout tower. She mentions that these cannons are "''very'' sensitive and that the ''slightest'' jolt can set them off" as the Springfield Elementary bus starts swerving towards the cannon. The bus hits it and... one of the cannon's wheels falls off. As the guide then points out, there is no reason as to why the cannon would be kept ''loaded''.

** At Fort Springfield, the tour guide explains how they had restored a cannon to firing condition, and how it was very sensitive and could go off from slight jolts and was also aimed at the base of a watch tower. The Springfield Elementary crashes into it, knocking off a wheel. The guide then explain sit's unloaded.