1987 · Movie
Summer School
Freddy Shoop, a high school Phys Ed teacher at Oceanfront High School, chose teaching as a profession solely because he thought it would be an easy job, having the entire summer off. He does not take his job seriously. Just before he is to head off on his summer vacation to Hawaii with his girlfriend Kim, he is blackmailed by the school's Vice-Principal, the officious Phil Gills, to teach the remedial English class during summer school. The class is populated by a bunch of underachievers, who have just failed the English skills test, which they have to retake and pass at the end of their summer school term. Like the regular school year, Freddy doesn't take this job seriously, which is made all the more easy for him as the students don't seem to care. Gills extends that blackmail to make Freddy need to care with his status as tenured teacher, the review for which is for this upcoming school year, on the line. The students need to pass the test as a collective or else he loses not only that tenure, but his job, period. Beyond Gills' threats, Freddy has to find a way to motivate the students. In the end, he may find that getting his students to pass the test to keep his job may not be his primary goal. Through it all, Robin Bishop is literally by his side as the American History teacher in the class next to his. Beyond Robin wanting to see the students and Freddy succeed, Freddy has in mind her as a replacement for Kim as his girlfriend, which may be difficult as Robin is already dating another man, namely Gills.