Episode list

In the pilot episode (which opens as essentially a continuation of the scenes in the opening credits), Pete Dixon teaches history in Room 222 at Walt Whitman High School. Principal Seymour Kaufman introduces Pete to Alice Johnson, a perky but painfully insecure student teacher. Pete's most enthusiastic student is Richie Lane, who goes so far as to dress a lot like Pete and even takes roll in his absence. But Guidance Counselor Liz McIntire has discovered some disturbing news about Richie -- the home address he submitted is fake, suggesting that he may not live in the school district, and therefore might be ineligible to keep attending Whitman.

When one of the long-time teachers resigns as the advisor for the Junior Class Night, a musical presentation, Alice Johnson eagerly volunteers for the position. Principal Kaufman is reluctant at first to appoint her, but he relents under pressure from Pete Dixon and Liz McIntyre. Alice promises the class that it will be "their" presentation, and that she will allow them to run it the way that they want. She comes to regret this, however, when her shyest student, Helen Loomis, comes up with an unforgettable finale: everyone in the cast will strip naked on stage.

One of Pete Dixon's fellow history teachers complains about a boy named Harvey Butcher, who continually disrupts his American history class. When Principal Kaufman suggests that they may have to transfer Butcher to another school, Pete Dixon argues that the school administration isn't working with the boy. Kaufman, aided by a suggestion from Alice Johnson, decides instead to reassign him to Pete's history class. Pete initially finds that he's gotten more than he bargained for -- but he also sees a talent for humor and imagination in the boy and tries to find a more productive outlet for it.

Liz McIntyre is concerned about Jason Allen, who believes that he's not college material, and also that he's unlikely to get far in life because of his race. When she discovers that Jason is a talented artist, however, she arranges for him to get a job at a local department store's art department. Jason thanks her by giving her an expensive coat -- only it slowly dawns on Liz that the coat was likely stolen, not purchased.

A city-wide flu epidemic causes so many teachers to call in sick that the very real possibility of having to close Walt Whitman High looms for Principal Seymour Kaufman. In the meantime, Kaufman's son Martin unexpectedly shows up from a year and-a-half stint in the Peace Corps in Uganda. Martin's background as a teacher comes in handy because of the shortage of teachers caused by the epidemic -- but his continuing presence at Whitman also brings up unresolved emotional issues between him and his father.

News reports suggest that a proposed school bond will fail by a large margin, and its defeat will mean cutting a number of programs at Walt Whitman High. The teachers initially propose only adopting a petition in support of the bond, but when Pete Dixon is elected to head a group of teachers to take a more active stance in favor of the bond, they decide to go on a half-day strike and to stage a demonstration to bring attention to their position -- much to the dismay of Principal Kaufman, who, although he supports the bond, sees the action as a useless gesture that likely won't change many voters' minds.

Two men from a company named Automation West, which helps find employment for high school dropouts, come to visit Walt Whitman. Although they have worked with Pete Dixon on assisting dropouts in the past, their goal this time is to offer him a job with their company, at a substantial increase in salary. Pete is tempted by the offer, particularly because it will still involve working with kids -- but the possibility of his departure creates great consternation for his coworkers, especially Principal Kaufman, as well as among his students.

Liz McIntyre is assigned to substitute in the "Preparation for Marriage" class taught by middle-aged Miss Tandy. Liz discovers that the class is based entirely on Miss Tandy reading aloud from a book composed of notes she has compiled over the years, much of which is no longer relevant to her students' lives. Liz decides to put the book aside to lead a discussion among the students -- something the students like so much that they ask for Liz to replace Miss Tandy as the teacher for the class.

Jason Allen becomes smitten with a girl from the school named Elaine Harris. Elaine and Jason hit it off, but their attempt at a first date is spoiled by her uptight, somewhat conservative father, who doesn't take to Jason's laconic style and apparent lack of ambition. Then Jason comes up with an elaborate plan to use Richie Lane, the buttoned-down class overachiever, as a go-between to get Elaine out of her house for a date -- but things don't go quite as Jason hoped.

Pete Dixon's class is studying civil disobedience apostle Henry David Thoreau, and Pete mentions that the city is planning to cut down the trees along his street to widen it for better traffic circulation. His class is inspired to show up there to stage a protest against the removal of the trees. The ringleader is Grady Garrett, an impressionable young student who already clashes frequently with his father, a doctor who is distressed that Grady doesn't want to follow him into the profession. Grady's father decides that the cause of Grady's new-found rebelliousness is Pete Dixon, whom he wants removed as a teacher.

Alice Johnson is due for a review by the school district's supervisor of student teachers, and she's nervous about teaching the class by herself. Pete Dixon first tries letting her teach while he's present, but then decides that the best thing is to let her "go solo" without him -- which first leads to Alice losing control of the class, and then overcompensating by exercising iron discipline. With the day of her review approaching, Alice begins to wonder whether teaching is the right profession for her after all.

The sometimes outlandish clothing that the students are wearing to school, especially one boy named Jerry Shaffer, has become an issue at Walt Whitman, with some complaining that Principal Kaufman is failing to enforce the dress code. Kaufman, backed by Pete Dixon, sees that the dress code (adopted in 1940) may need some updating, but isn't sure how far to go. Kaufman appoints a committee composed of parents and teachers, chaired by Pete, to advise him on the issue. Pete however, pushes to have student participation on the committee -- which ends up including both Jerry and his indecisive father.

Pete Dixon is at a diner alone when a young woman asks his help to avoid a man she claims was stalking her. He buys her dinner and drives her home, but draws the line when she tries to become romantic. Then Pete discovers that she's actually a 17 year-old student from Walt Whitman who set up their meeting because she has an infatuation with him -- that she hopes will end in marriage.

Walt Whitman High has arranged for an exchange teacher from England, Dora Hughes, who teaches creative writing and surprises the students with her novel approach to teaching -- including no permanent seating, no assignments, and the use of songs from Simon & Garfunkel and The Beatles in classroom discussions. While this energizes the students' interest in writing, some of her other quirks -- such as disregarding the bell schedule, not taking roll, and leading her students off on impromptu field trips -- place her on a collision course with the administration, especially Lloyd Hollis, the crusty head of her department.

Robert Salazar, a Mexican-American student with a high aptitude but who is indifferent about school, comes alive one day during a discussion of the Alamo in Pete Dixon's class. Alice Johnson decides to make him her "special project," hoping to convince him to consider college instead of going to work immediately after high school. At first, Salazar follows her suggestions, but soon runs into some frustrating dead ends, and not only gives up on college, but decides to quit Walt Whitman.

More than 100 colleges are competing to recruit Whitman's talented halfback Ronnie Moore. Uncertain about which school to select, Ronnie turns to Seymour Kaufman and Pete Dixon for advice. They accompany Ronnie to Atlantic State, where one of its former star players, Jim Williams, takes Ronnie on a tour of the school -- which also happens to be Seymour Kaufman's alma mater. But as they speak to some of the school's officials and its current football players, Seymour and Pete learn some disturbing things about the school's treatment of student athletes -- and about Jim Williams himself.

Walt Whitman High -- and Principal Kaufman -- is plagued with two problems on the same day. First, Pam Hundley is forced to bring her infant sister to Pete Dixon's class when the babysitter fails to show up; this starts a spate of students bringing their younger siblings to school. Then Sara Olson, another of Pete's students, begins to complain that she doesn't understand how the required high school courses have any value for her life, when her long-term ambition is to marry and raise a family. This gives Kaufman an idea that may allow him to solve both problems at once.

Walt Whitman is planning an assembly to encourage its students to stay in school, but Pete Dixon is concerned that it won't be enough to convince Whitman's contemporary students. He recalls seeing former Whitman student Michelle Scott, now a famous singer, joking about how she was a high school drop out, and suggests that she might actually be embarrassed by her lack of a diploma. Pete and Liz McIntyre convince her to make an appearance at the assembly, and afterward she continues working on the problem of student dropouts. But Liz fears that her efforts may be more because she's attracted to Pete than just because she cares about students.

Pete Dixon has his doubts about Roger Duncan, who teaches government at Whitman, but tries to pass himself off as a peer to the students with his flamboyant dress, "with it" lingo, and seemingly liberal attitude toward marijuana. Duncan changes his attitude quickly, however, when the students in his class plant what appears to be a joint on his desk -- and he's accused of bringing drugs to school.

A discussion in Pete Dixon's class about the difference that one person can make leads Jason and Richie to become involved in a class project -- to raise the money to purchase 1 minute of air time on a local television station to try to raise awareness about air pollution. Jason and Richie also have to write and produce the announcement -- and when they start looking for an announcer, they decide that Pete Dixon himself would be the perfect choice.

Liz McIntyre finds herself caught between the desires of Sharon Stopps, one of the students she counsels, and Sharon's obnoxious, overbearing father. Sharon has decided that she would prefer to become a beautician instead of going to college, something that her blue-collar father doesn't understand. So he insists -- loudly and frequently -- that Liz change Sharon's class schedule to one that will make her college-bound.

Pete Dixon starts teaching an evening adult education class at Walt Whitman to earn some extra money, and discovers that the students are much more interested and motivated to learn the subject than his daytime high school students. On the other hand, he finds himself plagued by self-described "history nut" Ralph Fisk, whose love for the subject makes it hard to carry on a conversation with Ralph about anything else -- and who "adopts" Pete as his new best friend because Pete it too polite to refuse Ralph's attentions.

Charlie and Abby, two of Walt Whitman's students, approach Pete Dixon and Liz McIntyre to announce that they are planning to marry at the end of the semester, and to request that Pete and Liz be the couple's best man and maid of honor, respectively. Pete and Liz believe it would be a mistake for the couple to marry so young, so they try to befriend them, hoping to persuade them gently to reconsider. Charlie and Abby mistake Liz and Pete's entreaties as approval, and announce that they have decided to move up their wedding date to the following weekend.

A new transfer student, Dennis Joplin, comes to Walt Whitman from John Adams High, and brings with him a lengthy disciplinary record. He provides a reasonable explanation for some of his behavior to Seymour Kaufman and Pete Dixon -- but within a short time they begin to realize that Dennis has a much more serious problem -- he lies almost all the time about almost everything.

Principal Seymour Kaufman asks Pete Dixon to take over a remedial reading class that the current teacher has trouble controlling. Pete finds that the students are sarcastic and unmotivated, and so he decides to try something unorthodox: pay the students if they will do their assignments.

Over Principal Seymour Kaufman's objections, the school district forces Walt Whitman to accept hundreds of new students on short notice, causing significant unhappiness among the teachers. Kaufman approaches Pete Dixon, who holds an important position with the P.T.A., and asks him not to raise objections about Whitman's new enrollees at the upcoming P.T.A. meeting, but Dixon feels that he must stand up for this fellow teachers -- causing a serious rift in Dixon's relationship with Kaufman.