From Deficit Thinking to Systemic Analysis: Utilizing Abbott Elementary as Public Pedagogy in the Interdisciplinary Classroom

In an era where entertainment media increasingly functions as public pedagogy, higher education instructors must navigate how these platforms shape students’ perceptions of social and political issues. This study explores the possibilities of integrating the sitcom Abbott Elementary into an undergraduate interdisciplinary Honors seminar to challenge deficit-based perspectives on urban education and shift student focus toward systemic policy analysis. Using a qualitative exploratory design, this localized course design inquiry analyzed Initial and Final Reflections from 24 students with diverse academic backgrounds. The curriculum employed a multiperspectival analysis, pairing television episodes with scholarly research and authentic community voices. Findings reveal a qualitative thematic shift in student discourse: participants moved from articulating hegemonic, deficit-oriented views toward more humanizing and complex conceptualizations of critical issues shaping urban education. Students increasingly identified policy-driven factors over individual community “failures”. These results suggest that leveraging contemporary popular culture as a primary academic text provides a useful framework for fostering critical thinking and policy literacy. Consequently, interdisciplinary media-based pedagogy serves as an engaging tool for involving diverse student populations in educational equity discourse.