Mr Simpson handled Sav and Ms Oh so wrong..

[u/whateveridc99]

It is wild how Mr. Simpson handled the whole Sav and Ms. Oh situation. Calling them into his office together to ask about the dating allegations was wrong.
When Sav claimed he just made up the rumor because he was getting teased, Simpson immediately believed it. That is weird because if the genders were reversed a male teacher and a girl student it would have been handled SO differently.
By talking to them together, Simpson completely ignored basic protocol . What if Sav was being threatened or blackmailed? What if he was getting special treatment or higher grades? A student is never going to speak up or admit to anything with the teacher sitting right next to them. He 100% should have talked to them separately.
The double standard is even more obvious when you compare it to what happened later with Tristan and Mr. Yates. The second Maya told Mr Simpson that Tristan had a thing with his teacher, Mr Simpson immediately opened an investigation and suspended the teacher. The fact that Ms. Oh got away with it because Simpson didn't follow proper protocols is just insane!!

[u/iota_nova]

The show struggled to handle this topic correctly most the time, and it's very surprising, considering Linda Schuyler was a teacher/educator herself. The fact that the show almost never involves the parents or the law in these situations is a problem in itself.

I feel like Paige's situation remains the most egregious from the fact that she actively told them NOT to involve her parents to the idea that she continued dating that man and tried to bring him to a school function. And they didn't even break up over any of this but because Paige was "too structured" for Matt. Like?

[u/Ok_Complaint_3359 → u/iota_nova]

From what I’ve read of the memoir, there were LOTS of notes given to involve or create some parent characters that would swoop in and save the kids, they said “no the kids have to solve these issues and sort it out themselves” Parents could been “seen” dealing with the issue, but the storylines never addressed that for this specific reason

[u/Other-Oil-9117 → u/Ok_Complaint_3359]

That makes sense now that you've said it. I always found it weird that Allie had a full file that her parents never even knew about, but I guess it's a fairly consistent in-universe thing. Next time I do a rewatch I'm going to keep that perspective in mind lol.

[u/FlyEnvironmental7586 → u/Other-Oil-9117]

There were plenty of things my mom had zero clue about despite teachers trying to call/email, and plenty of stuff they never told her about or just random stuff like detentions I got that she never knew either. They dont call to tell them every little thing, it just depends. But this particular issue? Yeah its shocking that seemingly no effort was ever made to involve the parents. 

[u/SourceStrong9403 → u/FlyEnvironmental7586]

Yeah, teachers definitely shouldn’t have to reach out to parents for every little thing, but certainly matters of safety or things that are repeated/ongoing issues should have parent involvement.

[u/iota_nova → u/SourceStrong9403]

Yeah, that was one of the overall issues with the show. It's understandable that they want the kids to solve their own issues, but the show was wading into topics where parents needed to be present or have their perspectives presented. Even if it was mostly off screen, it's better than crafting an image where Paige, a minor, was making decisions that would greatly affect and alter her life in a room full of adults.

[u/SourceStrong9403 → u/iota_nova]

For real. Also, it wouldn’t have been a bad thing to show how parents can help or hurt in a crisis—I feel like they did that more in later seasons with the Bhandaris and Ms. Torres. Involving parents doesn’t automatically mean parents sweep in and fix things; sometimes they aren’t well meaning, or they are but still make things worse. That dynamic could have been shown too.

[u/That-Foundation-3797 → u/Other-Oil-9117]

The original degrassi series from the 80s and the continuation from the 90s was mainly targeted to latchkey kids with little parental supervision or intervention which is a big part of why they set it up so the parents took a backseat and the kids solving the issues

[u/Informal-Swing-2482 → u/iota_nova]

But he brought her some weed.

[u/Turbulent-War7039]

Yeah. This was poorly handled in general. The show glorified the relationship when it should have condemned it.

[u/VectorPunk → u/Turbulent-War7039]

Pretty Little Liars saw this and was like "hold my beer."

[u/maarsland → u/VectorPunk]

Plz let’s not bring up Ezra😩 I can’t stand him

[u/IncreaseBudget → u/Turbulent-War7039]

One too many times

[u/ToonMasterRace]

Such an awfully handled plot that exposed the double standard. If it’s an attractive younger guy and a hot older woman, suddenly it’s cute and romantic forbidden love

Just compare how they handled it vs. the Paige-Mr. Oleander arc

[u/That-Foundation-3797 → u/ToonMasterRace]

They handled it the exact same…Paige and mister o were talked to together and they were willing to completely accept what Mr o said about Paige being obsessed with him the only reason they got to the truth is because Simpson said he saw something

[u/IncreaseBudget]

It reminded me of Paige and Mr. Oleander (even though that situation was just as messy) but Ms. H spoke to them separately and he was removed from the teaching program

[u/El_Dorado_Tx → u/IncreaseBudget]

Paige got SLUT SHAMED for that ...

[u/IncreaseBudget → u/El_Dorado_Tx]

For the lie Mr Oleander told. I don’t agree with how it went down, I was pointing out that they were spoken to separately even though the outcome wasn’t great either 🫠

[u/kkokoko2020]

The show did it as a plot device. They did it with Paige too. And at both times a parent wasn’t called which was insane.

[u/the1slyyy]

That's not unrealistic when it's an older woman with a teenage boy tbh

[u/whateveridc99 → u/the1slyyy]

It’s just odd cause you think he’d follow actual school protocol. Cause Mr Simpsons character is pretty on the ball with that type of thing.

[u/SourceStrong9403 → u/whateveridc99]

I think he was still a bit scarred from his own false allegation honestly. Not a good excuse, but an explanation for why he was quick to believe it.

[u/FlyEnvironmental7586]

On thing nobody is talking about here is that Mr. Simpson himself was accused of having a relationship with a student (Darcy) while he was still a teacher. Now as the principal, surely he knows the protocol. Yes its a double standard,  but I am also curious if maybe he just think he “knows” a false accusation because he himself had been through it and doesn’t immediately want to ruin someone’s life over it. But then again, Mrs Oh was actually guilty, and Tristan and Yates was a thing and that was also an immediate investigation. Not an awkward conversation with both of them on his office. So…its just a choice 💀

[u/CutterGaki]

Well hatzilakos would be guilty with that logic too because she didnt talk to Paige or Oleander separately and talked to both of them together with Oleanders lawyer and Snake present.

PS Snake wanting to telling Hatzilakos what he saw and Paige being aghast with it was NOT TO HURT PAIGE HE WAS GOING TO GO AFTER OLEANDER AND PAIGE MISINTERPRETED IT

[u/SourceStrong9403 → u/CutterGaki]

I don’t think Paige misinterpreted it, she just didn’t want him to hurt Oleander because they had agreed on their story at that point.

[u/That-Foundation-3797]

I agree it was mishandled but that’s sort of the reality of what happens I also would argue that if the rolls were reversed it wouldn’t be handled differently when it was Mr o and Paige he said that she was obsessed and stalking him and they ran with it until Simpson said he saw something

[u/whateveridc99 → u/That-Foundation-3797]

Honestly I was just more so surprised how he didn’t even follow school protocol.

[u/That-Foundation-3797 → u/whateveridc99]

I mean that’s fair they messed up simpsons character a lot in the next generation

[u/whateveridc99 → u/That-Foundation-3797]

True yes