Hey Arnold!: School Days

 Arnold and his friends are in the 4th grade.
Going strictly from memory, I don't think they spent a lot of episodes on lessons and tests. At least not the typical tests you expect to see: English, Math, Science, History etc. In fact, more time in the series is spent on their relationship with their teachers and Principal Wartz. 

During season one, their teacher was Ms. Slovak. With the exception of maybe one noteable episode, she didn't leave a lasting impression on me compared to her successor. 
Once or twice, the episode will start in class and she'll make a comment that elicits the main plot point. In "Olga Comes Home," she mentions that she's back for college and tells Helga (her younger sister) to pass on her well wishes because she was one of their brightest students. And "Tutoring Torvald," she tells Arnold that he needs to help tutor a fellow student who's 13 and still in the 4th grade. 

Her most memorable moment: Teacher's Strike

The episode begins with students being scrunched two to a desk, having to share a textbook and an announcement comes over the P.A. System from Principal Wartz that teachers will be limited to one piece of chalk per week. 

Due to all of these budget cuts, all of the teachers strike... something Arnold and his friends love because they don't have to go to school. But then they find out they're losing their summer vacation in the process, so they do everything they can think of to mend the fence between the teachers and the principal. 
One disagreement they overheard was about coffee so they get a new coffee machine donate to the school... but that's not quite enough. 

Finally, the students just go to the school and sit in class to study. The adults witness them doing this and after more discussion, they slowly come to a resolution. 

Yeah, it's a little far-fetched that a bunch of kids are able to find a solution to a teachers' strike, but by this show's standards, nearly everything is possible. 

New Teacher

After Ms. Slovak retires (apparently to pursue a golf career... I was under the impression she won the lottery like Ms. Clifton in "Family Guy" did... ), the students get a new teacher.

Mr. Simmons is very exuberant and encourages his students to do things they're not used to doing in school: to never stop asking questions and to be open with their feelings. They're over his sentimental shtick pretty quickly and employ a series of tricks to throw him off his game. Switching names, the choreographed pencil drop...
But what ends up breaking him was Harold eating his lunch. 

The teacher that comes in to replace him... couldn't be anymore different. Lt. Major Goose is a literal drill sargent who doesn't take garbage from anybody. 
Curly tries the pencil trick on his own and he proceeds to interrogate. 

"What's your name?!"
"Curly!"
"Your hair ain't curly, boy! What's your real name?!"
"Thaddeus..."
"Curly, go stand in that corner over there!"

(Haha... I think of this quote every time there's a character named Curly who doesn't have curly harly)

The scene continues with him sending other people into corners for giggling. Stinky is the last one... without even doing anything. "Why?"/"Symmetry!"

...I honestly don't get why Arnold even went with all of the shenangians to begin with, but he rallies everyone to get Mr. Simmons to come back. When they go to his house, he's so dejected that he has no feeling left in him. 
But they eventually do convince him. First, they do the "truth crown" exercise he showed them earlier. You wear the crown and say something nice about the person across the room from you. Stinky says how he likes his "caring and giving nature" and Harold makes him a replacement sandwich. 

They have him convinced, but now they have to take care of Lt. Major Goose. 
All it really takes is all of them asking "why" questions. Some questioning his army history, his teaching ability (Curly throws in "why do fools fall in love?"). 

By the time Principal Wartz shows up, he's on his knees with his hands clasping his ears. And he asks to be relieved of his duties and runs away screaming... 

It's great that Mr. Simmons agrees to come back and everyone else welcomes him back. He's up there with a lot of those idealistic teachers in some of my favorite movies like "Dead Poet's Society" and "Freedom Writers".
... but this also makes me think about someone I follow on YouTube. She was an art teacher for maybe 4 years. As passionate as she was about her job, it became so stressful that she wound up resigning. Some students were beyond disrespectful and concerns she had dealing with them were pretty much ignored by the administration. She found a new calling on YouTube with her video game paintings and has really blossomed as an artist during that time.
Seriously... teachers don't deserve to be treated like that... it's even sadder when the actions of a few bad eggs deprieves the other good eggs of a priceless experience. 

Career Day

All of the students were randomly assigned to people in various professions. They'd spend the day with them, learning about their job and they'd be given a grade at the end of a day. 

Phoebe gets paired with Ernie Potts and he allows her to operate the wrecking ball for one of his demolitions. It's kinda funny... one of the most soft-spoken students matched with this scenario. 
Helga gets to spend a day with the cops. At one point, they do a huge bust and she makes a comment like "I hope you like prison food because you'll be getting a lot of it"... her supervisor very much appreciates that. 

Arnold... he gets paired with Mr. Price Gouger himself, the Jolly Olly man. 

He spends the first few hours of the day in the back of his ice cream truck, freezing his tail off. And every attempt to help out is quashed. The guy is just so angry that he's ready to give Arnold an F... 
Then he receives an ultimatum from his boss/father... if he doesn't sell out his stock of ice cream, he'll be fired. Arnold offers to help him out so he can keep his job. In one instance, he encourages him to smile and it winds up being scarier... some people just shouldn't try to smile, haha.

The two of them wind up at the school at the end of the day and with everyone else coming back at that time, they succeed and Arnold gets an A. 

The Aptitude Test

...dang, I wish I was able to take this test in school. 
I'm one of those people who never knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. Once in high school and once in college, I was sent in the direction of a counselor or career center, but it ended up with an awkward interaction and I left as soon as I arrived. Being an introvert SUCKS... 

Anyway, everyone takes the test in class. Harold is so bored that he draws a giant "H" on his test paper. Helga, meanwhile, fills hers out in purple ink. 
...and through an accident caused by the jinx himself, Eugene, their tests and results get scrambled. 

So Helga thinks she's dumb and fully takes on her project career as a "woodsperson."
She asks what the heck it is and Stinky says "we used to call them woodsman where I come from, but now that would be considered politically incorrect."
She goes so far into this new persona that she gives up trying in class, tries to trap game, build birdhouses and has her mom burn up her journals and diaries, having no need for them anymore. 

Harold, meanwhile, thinks he's a genius. And it has a hugely positive impact on him. At home, he has an idea to build a gazebo on the roof... or some sort of outer decorating project. His mom asks him why it feels like it takes less time to come home than it is to go out and he says it has to do with the anticipation of it. 

Mr. Simmons makes a series of observations and realizes the mistake that had happened.

Helga is overenthused... up until the point her mom actually starts burning her journals and poems. 

Harold is devestated, thinking he's as dumb as a bag of hammers. 
Mr. Simmons explains, "you didn't actually take the test, Harold. You answered every question 'E: Take a hike in the woods.'" But reassures him that he improved in school the past week because he applied himself. 

The Flood

The title sums it up... there's a massive flood while everyone's in school and the students are stuck in the building until help arrives. Tensions accerelate over time until Helga launches a mutiny against Mr. Simmons and the other students follow her out of the room. 

One memorable scene is an instance where Helga goes out on her own to vacate the school and runs into Principal Wartz in the hallway. He's dressed in a serape and sombero, holding maracas. Both stop cold, regarding each other. 
"Are you attempting to leave school guards without permission, Miss Pataki?"
"Are you attempting to do the flamenco, Principal Wartz?"
..."this moment never happened."
"Gotcha..."

It's so random and out of nowhere... I love it!

Eventually, everyone comes back together and they go outside to make their escape. One mishap results in Helga falling into the water... she and Arnold share a moment of concern before she's saved... that exchange just came out of nowhere and despite the dire circumstances, I loved it. Helga always gives him such a hard time, so the fact he likes her enough to care about her well-being is great. 
...I might be overthinking this, but I don't care :P 

Everyone is eventually saved by Arnold's Grandpa who comes by with a raft. Oskar is with him and tries (and fails) to charge them admission to come aboard. 
And for some reason, Principal Wartz is on the roof, proudly offering to go down with the school... ok, then... 

Egg Story

This took place in one of the later seasons... but I had to include it because something very similiar was featured in "Danny Phantom" but instead of taking care of a flour sack, the students are paired up and entrusted with an egg.

Harold and Rhonda don't get along well... and when it's Harold's time to watch the egg, he gets hungry... and eats it. She come to his house and exclaims "you ate our baby!"

But central to the plot... of course... is Arnold and Helga being paired up. Neither is happy to be with the other. And there are numerous incidents where each of them accidentally loses it. The first time is when they're on the city bus and they forget to take it with them because they're too busy arguing. 

Eventually they set their differences aside and manage to get an A on the project. 
Beyond that... I don't remember much else about this episode in particular. 

...

almost forgot this one...

Crush on Teacher

Arnold has a crush on his sub, Ms. Felter. It all starts when she takes attendance and makes a comment about being very partial to that name.

Only Gerard seems to be aware of what's going on and he thinks he's just being crazy as usual. He finds him reading Shakespeare and Arnold tries to brush it off "I like poetry, it has nothing to do with her." 
But as Gerald is leaving, he muses "O soft, what light from yonder window breaks. It is the east... and Ms. Felter is the sun..." and Gerald groans, "Man, now I'm puking..." before leaving. 

Next scene: Gerald overhears a conversation where Ms. Felter tells another teacher about how she can't wait to be alone with Arnold... and he immediately tells his friend and the two of them scramble to take action. Going by some of his brother, Jamie-O's favorite movies, he gives him advice about "warning signs" of what would constitute a date. Folding napkins in a fancy way, sappy music, and candles.

Arnold dresses up really nice and meets her at her house. Gerald, naturally, is his wingman... via walkie-talkie. She's happy to have him over, but also a little confused about why he's there. Meanwhile, she checks all of the boxes. 
He talks to Gerald and he keeps asking him "did you purr?"
One pickup line he'd given him: "you've set a beautiful table, my senorita... purr"... Arnold asks "do I have to purr?" Gerald insists, "yes, chicks dig the purr!"

In the end, it's a big misunderstanding... of course... 

Yeah, Arnold Skelter is her fiance and he was the one she'd been doing all of the preparations for. But she's still nice and lets Arnold down nice and easy. 

Also- I didn't know this before today- Julia-Louis Dreyfuss did her voice.