Abbott Elementary is one of those series that goes out of its way to remind people of the good in the world. At the start, one might not think so, as it takes place in a public school in Philadelphia that doesn’t get nearly as much funding as it should in order to provide the best education to its students.
Still, it depicts a group of devoted teachers who care deeply about what they do and work overtime to ensure that they are the best educators that they can be. Additionally, they can all be ranked by how much intelligence they display during the course of the series.
Tariq
The mark of a successful sitcom is its ability to craft strong ing characters. Though he only appears sporadically, Tariq is definitely one of those great characters. Though he is perhaps not the best match for Janine in of his temperament or his work ethic, he is still a very intelligent person. In particular, he demonstrates that he has a great deal of skill when it comes to being a rapper, as he shows when he bonds with the students by rapping against using drugs.
Jacob
There have been many great teachers in the history of television, and it’s clear that Jacob is going to be one of those. Like his fellow educators at the titular school, he really does care a great deal about his students, and he works very hard to make sure that they get the best education that he can provide. He has both an emotional and a cerebral intelligence, and he puts both of these to use as he tries to find new ways of stimulating his students (even if not all of them work out quite as well as he had intended).
Gregory
When he first begins at Abbott Elementary, Gregory makes it clear that he views it as a strictly temporary position. Slowly but surely, however, he demonstrates that he has a great deal of intelligence, at least when it comes to his intellect (he can be a bit emotionally unaware of anything that’s going on around him).
Like the other teachers, he’s a very good teacher, and he finds new ways and strategies of getting through to them even if, as is the case with Gregory, they don’t don’t always pan out as well as he would like. What’s more, he’s also a very good gardener.
Mr. Johnson
The janitor is one of the key characters that appears in many TV series, particularly those that are set at a school. Though he is only a secondary character, Mr. Johnson still demonstrates that he is a very intelligent person. Though he can at times be a bit ironic in his approach to the school and to the students, the truth is that he takes his job as a custodian very seriously, and he has his own methods and strategies. He also has a particular form of intelligence that allows him to cut through the nonsense.
Janine
Janine is part of what makes this series such a feel-good sitcom. She truly does love what she does, and though her enthusiasm can sometimes get in the way of her actual good intentions, she nevertheless shows that she is still one of the series’ most intelligent characters. In particular, she shows that she has an emotional intelligence that allows her to connect deeply with others even if, as is sometimes the case, they aren’t particularly enthused about the ideas that she comes up with. Nevertheless, she makes the school better just by being there.
Barbara
Barbara is another of the great teachers that have found a home at Abbott Elementary. Unlike some of the others, she has a rather acerbic manner, and she has a tendency to want her students to inhabit the world as it is, rather than as she would like it to be.
At the same time, she repeatedly shows that she is very intelligent and that she knows what it takes to be a good and effective teacher. What’s more, her intelligence allows her to set appropriate boundaries that work best for her and her own emotional health.
Ava
Ava is one of the most humorous people in the show, even if she isn’t fated to be seen as one of the best TV school principals. While she clearly got the job not through talent but through good luck, she still shows that she is intelligent, if only by avoiding work as much as she possibly can. However, she also shows that she’s smart in other ways, ranging from her ability to step to her emotional intelligence that allows her to take care of an elderly relative. She is definitely one of the series best characters.
Melissa
Of all of the characters that appear in Abbott Elementary, Melissa is arguably the most intelligent. It’s not just that she is a very good teacher–though that is the case–but also that she has a clear-eyed approach to life that makes her the envy of all of the other teachers. Though she can be prickly, she still shows that she has the type of emotional intelligence that allows her to be a good friend, even if she sometimes loses patience with people like Janine who assume that they know everything about teaching.