2006-05-16

A single-panel comic set in a classroom. A balding teacher in glasses and a green shirt sits at a desk, gesturing toward two children seen from behind; a chalkboard with "2x2" and worksheet notes is behind him. He asks, "Kids, do you even like me?" One child flatly answers "No." He presses, "Not even a little?" and the child replies "Nope!" He then says, "Heck, you'll probably just do the opposite of whatever I teach, won't you?" A caption beneath reframes the scene: "'Well excuse me!' barked Mr. Anders between bites of his snack cake. 'I guess I'm the only one at this PTA meeting who doesn't want our kids smoking pot.'" The joke is that the teacher is exploiting the kids' contrarianism as reverse psychology. In the votey aftercomic, a rough sketch of the same teacher's face says, "Now to teach you to avoid porno," implying he plans the same reverse-psychology trick again.