Anthony DeMartino: Difference between revisions

{{quote|...conserve your energy. Do as little as possible. '''PRETEND YOU'RE IN CLASS!'''|[[Antisocial Climbers]]}}

 

 

==Character Overview==

 

===Teaching===

 

From the very beginning of the show, he is shown as having become ''very'' disillusioned with his role as an educator. One of the show's running gags was Mr. DeMartino's bitterness over his low salary and disgust at the incompetence of several of his students, particularly [[Brittany Taylor]] and [[Kevin Thompson]], who never seemed to make any effort to succeed in his class, and, if their classroom performance was any indication of their abilities, may have been educationally incompetent to the point of functional illiteracy and therefore thoroughly unteachable in a conventional classroom setting. In "[[The Daria Hunter]]" and "[[Fair Enough]]", where he has a chance to cause suffering and pain to some students and get away with it (paintballing and in a jousting game respectively), he gleefully takes it. Principal Li has a standing order that DeMartino is to be no longer request retirement ''during'' classes. In "[[Is It Fall Yet?]]", in his lowest hour, he broke down at the idea that he was just "no good at working with young people".

 

While frustrated with his life to an almost maniac state, Mr. DeMartino is shown at points to enjoy teaching ''some'' students. This is highlighted by his frequent almost-friendly tolerance for Daria Morgendorffer on occasion, as well as for her sister Quinn Morgendorffer on those few occasions when she shows some depth or displays some of her true academic prowess and potential. [[Helen Morgendorffer]] appears to view him as the only competent teacher at the school, turning him to get information in "[[The Lawndale File]]" as "he's a bit high-strung but he's a fixture at that school". In "[[Antisocial Climbers]]", while grumbling about it, he went out on his own in a blizzard to find help for the trapped students.

 

In "[[Is It Fall Yet?]]", he reached a dark night of the soul where he could no longer remember why he had wanted to be a teacher. His doctor ordered him to volunteer at the [[Okay To Cry Corral]] for sensitive young children. To his utter amazement and joy, he found out the young campers thought "Uncle Anthony" was cool and constantly turned to him for aid; at one point, snapping at the arts and crafts, he threw a sink through the window and led the cheering hordes on a hike. At the end of the movie, after the campers demanded "Uncle Anthony" give the end-of-camp speech, he remarked that the experience has rekindled his love for teaching and gave advice to the campers:

===Relationship with his students===

 

 

Mr. DeMartino appears to have a general dislike for most of the student body at [[Lawndale High]], because the majority of them are either lazy, slackers, or absurdly stupid. All of these characteristics in turn make his job less fulfilling. However students that are usually well behaved, such as [[Jane Lane]], seldom arouse his true ire and Mr. DeMartino's is rarely violent towards any of the student body with the exception of Kevin (who he once started strangling). Kevin's near mythic levels of idiocy and stupidity constantly frustrate Mr. DeMartino's efforts to teach, as Kevin appears incapable of learning practically anything beyond a football play. Kevin also seems incapable of noticing when DeMartino is ranting at or insulting him.