Not everyone loves school, but there's a good chance everyone has a favorite teacher. Of course, for some people, those favorites might even be fictional. A surprisingly large number of television shows feature teachers - in and out of the classroom - whether they're sitcoms, dramas, or even animated children's shows.
The best teachers in television are the ones who don't just entertain the audience, but also teach the characters valuable lessons. Sometimes, that might mean they're a little tough on their students, but in the end, their students always come out of their classroom all the better for it.
Cory Matthews (Girl Meets World)
Disney's Girl Meets World is a sequel series to the '90s family sitcom Boy Meets World. The follow up shows the audience what happens when the titular boy gets married and has a family of his own, but it also shows the audience that Cory learned a lot from the mistakes of his own childhood.
Cory's a history teacher, but he spends just as much time teaching his students (which includes his daughter) about the current world as he does the past. Sure, some of his lessons are pretty obvious to adults in the audience, but he manages to be charming, thoughtful, and genuinely caring toward his students. He encourages them to think outside of the box and push beyond their comfort zone, even though he struggles with that himself.
Annalise Keating (How To Get Away With Murder)
Annalise Keating gets caught up in murder mysteries and cover-ups after she take a group of students under her wing. She makes a lot of bad decisions and does a lot of horrible things in How To Get Away With Murder. None of that takes away from the fact that she's still an excellent teacher though.
Annalise has just the right amount of knowledge and intimidation to command respect in her classroom. Despite seemingly terrifying a few of her students, she also genuinely wants to help people get into their right career path. She does bad things for the right reasons and uses her own dramatic experiences to teach her class exactly what they should and shouldn't do.
Mr. Ratburn (Arthur)
Mr. Ratburn has a reputation amongst the students of long-running PBS series Arthur. He's known for being one of the toughest teachers in school because he dishes out plenty of homework and projects. Over the course of the two decades the series has aired, however, Mr. Ratburn has become a friend to Arthur and demonstrated how much he genuinely loves teaching.
Mr. Ratburn challenges his students, wanting to help them develop critical thinking skills. He's always ready with a kind piece of advice, whether it's about issues with stuttering, or how to perform a card trick.
Tami Taylor (Friday Night Lights)
Tami Taylor doesn't have her own classroom in Friday Night Lights, but she does more good for the students in Dillon, Texas than most of the teachers who stand in front of a chalkboard. She becomes the school guidance counselor, and that puts her in a position to do more than teach the regular curriculum.
Not only does she help Tyra study and get into college, but she regularly mentors students on and off the football team, putting their education and well-being before the game. That might cause friction with her football coach husband on occasion, but she always puts the students first.
Jiraiya (Naruto)
Jiraiya might be one of the most unconventional teachers on television. The sensei who takes the title character under his wing in Naruto, Jiraiya has a penchant for romance novels, beautiful women, and driving Lady Tsunade crazy. He doesn't seem like the best teacher at first.
Jiraiya, however, knows exactly what methods to use on his students. In some cases, like Naruto, that means giving his student a few pieces of advice and then seeing how far he can get on his own. In others, like the orphans of Amegakure he takes in, that means giving them step-by-step instructions to protect themselves from the outside world. He tailors his lessons to the personalities of the kids he teaches.
Eva Beadle (Little House On The Prairie)
Little House On The Prairie features such a large cast of children - with more seemingly popping up in every episode, that it's no wonder a lot of time is spent in school. Several characters even grow up to be teachers, and they're inspired by Eva Beadle.
Eva Beadle certainly makes a few mistakes during her tenure, but she always has the best interests of her students at heart. She doesn't just want to teach them a lesson, but wants to help them grow. Miss Beadle is the kind of teacher the students trust with their problems, not just their arithmetic.
Jessica Day (New Girl)
Much of her time as the titular New Girl is devoted to relationship problems and her own struggle to be a functioning adult, but Jessica Day is a great teacher. She loves teaching so much that when budget cuts mean she loses her job as a middle school science teacher, she finds another way to put her skills to use.
Not only does Jess teach creative writing to adults, she also tutors Cece and Schmidt's young daughter, brings an after school program into her home, finds a way to get her students their perfect field trip, and regularly attempts to teach her roommates some life skills. When she makes mistakes with her students (like breaking a science project), she owns up to them and finds a way to connect.
Carrie Bliss (Good Morning, Miss Bliss)
Before Zack Morris and his friends butted heads with the teachers in Saved By The Bell, some of them were in Miss Bliss' classroom. The short lived Good Morning, Miss Bliss paved the way for the more famous sitcom.
Carrie Bliss is the kind of teacher who is tough, but fair. She'll just as soon give Zack detention as she will laugh at his jokes and help him get out of tough situations. She understands that he's a teenager experiencing growing pains, but she doesn't let him off the hook either.
Valerie Frizzle (The Magic School Bus)
What child growing up in the '90s didn't want to take a field trip with Ms. Frizzle? With The Magic School Bus, kids learn lessons about the human body, the weather cycle, volcanoes, and even outer space.
Her students don't just do presentations in the classroom. They get to really experience the things they learn about, creating a (sometimes dangerous) unique environment that makes learning fun. Her field trips are almost always accompanied by a solution to a problem amongst her students as well, like understanding one another's point of view, or the value in telling the truth.
George Feeny (Boy Meets World)
There might not be another TV teacher remembered as well as Mr. Feeny. He's the reason Cory Matthews becomes such a good dispenser of life lessons in Girl Meets World, after all.
Mr. Feeny follows Cory Matthews and the rest of his class all through their academic careers. He begins his time on the series as an elementary school teacher trying to get his students to see the value in learning. His lessons have more depth as he makes the journey to middle and high school - and even college - with them. He is never off duty, even dispensing advice from the other side of the Matthews family's fence. Mr. Feeny never gives up on his students, even the ones who seem perpetually blind to his lessons, like Cory and his big brother Eric. He always believes in them, and that's probably his greatest gift.