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{{quote|''"Back to school, back to school, to prove to dad I'm not a fool..."''|''[[Billy Madison]]''}}
In [[Real Life]], adults furthering their education by returning to school is a fairly common
However, in the realm of movies and TV, this situation is looked upon as purely humorous. Plots in which the main adult
Your average John Q. Dropout's reason for completing his education is nearly always related to his career, sometimes to obtain a new job requiring a higher degree of education and other times because his current job demands it. Stupidity and incompetence will often be [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]]. The character will often be thrown amongst people outside their age group, or at least act in that way.
If you're looking for the 1986 comedy of the same name, go [[Back to School (
{{examples}}
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* The title character of ''[[Billy Madison]]'' had to retake all 12 grades in order to take over his father's company.
* In ''[[A Goofy Movie|An Extremely Goofy Movie]]'', Goofy had to return to college (and the same one his son, Max, was attending, no less!) to get a job.
** ''[[
* The premise of the movie ''[[Back to School (
* The title character in ''[[Ernest P. Worrell|Ernest Goes To School]]'' has to redo 12th grade to keep his job since the school board require all school employees to have a high school diploma.
* Nick Rivers from ''[[Top Secret]]'' appears to be back to school, painfully, in the middle of the movie. He is tremendously relieved when he realizes he was only being tortured by two goons and that was just a nightmare he had when he passed out.
* ''[[Larry Crowne]]'' is a fairly realistic version: Larry went into the Navy right out of college and only goes when he
* In ''[[Main Hoon Na]]'' Ram [[Invoked Trope|invokes]] this trope as his cover as a college student on his thirties, by claiming that he is retaking the education he had to abandon to take care of his family, when in truth he is a [[One Man Army|highly prepared general]] that actually infiltrated the institution to investigate a terrorist cell targeting it (and reconciliate with his long lost half brother on the side).
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Done in an episode of ''[[Friends]]'' where Phoebe wants to do a literature course, but has it ruined by Rachel who doesn't take it seriously. For a moment it looks like they'll subvert it by having Phoebe give a genuinely impassioned explanation of how she never got to go to high-school and genuinely wanted to learn something, only to go straight back to comedy by having neurotic control-freak overachiever Monica accompany her next-time.
* Judge Stone on ''[[Night Court]]'' was found not to have completed his education.
* The central premise of ''[[Strangers
{{quote|
* On ''[[Full House]]'', in episode 6 of season 6, D.J. and Kimmy request Joey and Jesse's help with a "Stay in School" campaign, and they are stunned by Jesse's refusal to help. The entire family pressures him into telling the truth: that he is actually a high school dropout. With only one English credit missing, Jesse is inspired by his wife to take a night course and earn his degree.
* In ''[[Phil of the Future]]'', Phil has to take a second grade class on penmanship.
* In ''[[The George Lopez Show]]'', George goes back to school after there is a PTA meeting specifically targeted at parents who didn't go to college. Max decides he doesn't need to go either so George wants to teach him a lesson. In the next episode, George drops out and tells the teacher he was in the military and got sent to Iraq. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* In ''[[The Steve Harvey Show]]'', Steve and the gang all have to take a required computer class, which Lovita teaches. The usually overachieving Regina fails the class miserably while slackers Steve and Ced pass. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* On ''[[The Golden Girls]]'', Rose goes to night school to earn her diploma as she missed most of her senior year due to a bad case of mono from manning the kissing booth at the school carnival. Dorothy is the teacher and fails Rose because she failed the history final. When Dorothy reviews the test paper with Rose, she uses some oddly applied knowledge and passes, thus earning her high school diploma.
* On ''[[
* On ''[[
** Peg talks Kelly into thinking she's going to have a great summer, allowing Peg to walk away. Kelly finally catches on ... many seconds later.
* Jill on ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'', after she got laid off from her journalistic employment. Her education lasted through the remainder of the series' run.
* This was the premise of the Rhea Perlman [[
* The entire premise of ''[[
* A subplot in ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' involved Lynette's husband Tom going back to college after getting laid off.
* This trope was the premise of the ''[[Moesha]]'' [[Spin-Off]], ''[[The Parkers]]''. Nikki Parker (Mo'Nique) had to put off going to college because of a [[Teen Pregnancy]] and a subsequent failed marriage. She decides to go to community college, much to her daughter Kim's embarrassment because she's also attending the same school. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* Bookman does this on ''[[Good Times]]''. When he and wife Violet were dating, he lies and tells her that he was in college, when in reality {{spoiler|he never finished high school}}. After much [[Hilarity Ensues]] and a [[Not What It Looks Like]], he finally tells her the truth and says that he was inspired to go back to school because he saw Jesse Jackson on TV encouraging Black people to get an education and be positive members of their community.
** In another episode, Florida employs this trope because she wanted to set an example for the children as well as have an accomplishment outside of being a wife and mother. James forbids her from going to school because he was insecure about having a wife who was more educated than him. Florida drops out, preferring to keep peace in the home. In the end, the kids and Willona convince James to allow Florida to resume her studies. James also enrolls in classes.
* Jimmy takes an elementary school science class in ''[[Yes, Dear]]'' after realizing he's not capable of helping Dominic with his homework. Christine also goes back to college during the series, and, in one episode, joins a sorority.
* In the [[
** In the [[DVD Commentary]], Smith says he liked the idea of sending Jay and Silent bob back to [[High School]] and the only reason why he hasn't done it is the royalties he'd have to pay the Degrassi people.
* In one episode of ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' Amy enrolls in a creative writing class at the local university after realizing she's bored with being a housewife, where she happens to enroll in Eric's class and proceeds to embarrass him. However, it's unclear if she stays in the class or not because it isn't brought up again after that episode.
* ''[[
== [[Literature]] ==
* In the ''[[Don Camillo
== Theatre ==
* In ''[[Avenue Q]]'', There is the song "I wish I could go back to college" In which Nicky, Kate, and Princeton [[Exactly What It Says
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* An episode of ''[[The Simpsons (
** There was an earlier episode where he had to take a night course run by his old high school principal because he never finished remedial science. His final exam gives us a classic:
{{quote|
'''Homer's Brain:''' It's a deal. }}
* A ''[[
** And Peter posed as a high school student to get kids to stop [[G-Rated Drug|licking toads]]. Hilarity ensued when he started [[The Ditz|believing he was real high school student]] and behaved as such, including dating the high school hottie Connie D'Amico.
** Inverted when Stewie, the infant, also poses as a high school student to show Brian how easy being cool is. He succeeds, and even wins the heart of the hottie Peter dated, unfortunately, being an infant, he wasn't well endowed, so she dumped him, and he got her taken away on child molestation charges.
** Peter also had to go back to school and finish the third grade in order to get a promotion at the brewery. [[Hilarity Ensues]] and like in the toad episode he starts believing he was a real third grader and acting as such, including getting Quagmire to pose as his father so he could leave school to attend a ball game.
** A small gag used in a third season episode when Peter is about to be killed by a bear while on a hunting trip with Chris, his childhood flashbacks appear showing he has to repeat the fourth grade several times and finally passed right before his hunting trip.
* In the ''[[
* An episode of ''[[
* In an episode of ''[[Hey Arnold
** [[Squick|And dates sixth grade girls.]]
* Lampshaded in the episode of ''[[
* ''[[The Flintstones]]'' had an episode where Fred has to attend classes in high school and it's a struggle. However, he's a whiz in the local geology course, which he notes he learned the hard way considering he works in a quarry.
* Done in an episode of ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'', "Prep School Johnny". Johnny goes back to school because he didn't finish a class. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* Cat of ''[[
* [[Beetlejuice (
* ''[[I Am Weasel]]'' and I. R. Baboon had to return to third grade because of a typo. If they don't, Weasel won't be allowed to keep his Nobel Prizes and Baboon won't be allowed to keep the banana he got as a consolation prize. Weasel's tendencies to overcomplicate third grade questions made it hard for him but they eventually passed. However, someone pointed out another typo, showing it was ''fourth'' grade they hadn't finished. It was revealed the Red Guy was the typist.
* In the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:School Tropes]]
[[Category:Plots]]
[[Category:
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