Teachers is a 1984 American satirical black comedy-drama film written by W. R. McKinney, directed by Arthur Hiller, and starring Nick Nolte, JoBeth Williams, Ralph Macchio, and Judd Hirsch.

On a typical Monday morning at John F. Kennedy High School in the inner city of Columbus, Ohio, there is conflict between teachers, a student with a stab wound, and a talk of an upcoming lawsuit.

Herbert Gower is a mental institution outpatient who has been mistaken for a substitute teacher and placed in charge of a history class that he makes fun, educational, and engaging.

The website's critical consensus reads, "With moments of stinging satire undermined by jarring tonal shifts, Teachers offers an education in the limits of a strong cast's ability to prop up uneven writing.

[4] Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader remarked that "the characters [in the film] have all been invented for strictly didactic purposes: they come on waving their moral conflicts like big white bed sheets, and as soon as you see them you can predict every trite turn of the plot.

"[7] Pat Collins of the CBS Morning News remarked that "there's an overwhelming urge to take out a giant eraser and wipe the screen clean of what is absolutely the worst 'high school is a jungle' movie to come down the locker line corridor in a long time," singling out "the ham in the performances of the actors who have all done better in the past" before calling the film "a shrill, preachy and superficial treatment of the subject of public school education."

Collins continued: "[T]eachers, students and parents in the real world don't need Hollywood to tell them what's wrong with the problems of public schools ... compared to Teachers, homework is more fun.

[citation needed] Cash Box said of Seger's "Understanding" that it "is by and large successful in bringing together a good, singable melody, meaningful lyrics, and superb performances" but said that the chorus "remains on one plateau and never fully takes hold.