Separate Vocations
American actor and television personality Steve Allen guest starred in the episode as the electronically altered voice of Bart in a fantasy sequence.
Heartbroken, she tries to prove the test results are wrong and consults a music teacher about her dream of becoming a professional saxophone player.
She encounters two delinquent students smoking in the bathroom and suggests they TP Skinner's beloved school mascot, a puma statue.
Series creator Matt Groening said he and some of the writers who were old enough to remember Allen's TV show from the 1950s–60s were thrilled to have him guest-star, especially John Swartzwelder.
The music school that Lisa visits has a sign out front with a picture of a diapered baby Ludwig van Beethoven on it.
[1][6] In the sequence where Bart imagines himself testifying in court, his face is obscured with a blue dot; this is a references to the television coverage of the rape trial of William Kennedy Smith, in which the woman who accused Smith of raping her was obscured with a blue dot over her face.
[2] The song heard when Bart and Skinner search through the lockers for the Teachers' Editions is a variation of Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F" from Beverly Hills Cop (1984).
In his book The Small Screen: How Television Equips Us to Live in the Information Age, Brian L. Ott describes this scene as one of the "key ways The Simpsons appeals to audience, which tends to be younger, by critiquing authority figures, and in particular educators".
[7] Toby Daspit and John Weaver write in their book Popular Culture and Critical Pedagogy: Reading, Constructing, Connecting that the writers of The Simpsons are "particularly interested" in questions about authority and the abuses of powers in school.
"[8] One of the discussants said she believes everyone has experienced similar situations in their school years, and she thinks the thought that "an educator could ever do something so useless and pointless with the children's time" is "frightening".
The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought the episode displayed The Simpsons "at its best – not only hilarious but daringly outspoken on a whole range of issues – the failures of the education system, police abuses of power, the stifling of children's creativity".
[6] Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict said "Separate Vocations" represents The Simpsons "at its apex as a well tuned talent machine grinding out the good stuff with surprising accuracy and skill".
[12] Gibron added that the episode shows that "even in territory they're not used to (Bart as a safety patrol, Lisa as a cursing class cut up), the Simpsons' kids are funny and inventive".
[12] Nate Meyers of Digitally Obsessed rated the episode a four (out of five) and commented that the script's "departure from the traditional roles assigned to Bart and Lisa makes for a fresh experience with many laughs".
[13] DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought the theme of the episode was unoriginal, but commented that Bart's "rapid embrace of fascism" and Lisa's "descent into hooliganism" provide "a number of funny opportunities, and 'Separate Vocations' exploits them well.
