 In their book Education in Popular Culture , Alma Harris , Roy Fisher , Ann Harris , and Christine Jarvis analyzes the adult education aspects of this episode that portrays adult learners as " stupid and lazy " . After Homer is appointed as a teacher , he feels immensely proud and boasts to all his acquaintances about it , initially making it seem like if the show is indicating that adult education tutors have a relatively high status in society . " However , " the authors added , " Homer 's pride is undercut for the audience by the awareness of how he came to be appointed and by the subsequent representation of the adult education center . It seems that anyone can become a tutor . [ ... ] Homer 's fellow tutors are drunks , incompetents and down @-@ and @-@ outs , adult education is therefore presented as an amateur business staffed by the dregs of society . " The writers of the book thought the whole idea of storytelling and building on experience that Homer uses , and that many adult education tutors uses in real life , is represented in the episode " simply as an excuse for gossip and prurient curiosity " . They also thought that statements like " I can 't believe I paid ten thousand dollars for this course . What the heck was the lab fee for ? " imply that adult education is " exploitative and poor value for money , and that the students themselves contribute to this by demanding an essentially recreational service . " The authors concluded that the episode " certainly sustains a popular view of adult education as pointless and recreational . Similarly , no value whatsoever is attributed to the extensively researched , proven through practice and well @-@ argued perspective that adult learners do best when the curriculum builds on and values their experience . " 
