Sunnydale High
"And they say young people don't learn anything in high school nowadays, but, um, I've learned to be afraid." -XanderHere you can find some of the information that Buffy and the Scooby Gang learned in school. It's not finished yet, but there is some. Also, feel free to send other info that belongs here to me, and I will credit.
Episode: Season 1, Teachers Pet
- Their ancestors were here long before we were. Their progeny will be here long after we are gone. The simple and ubiquitous ant.
- If you read the homework you should know the two ways that ants communicate.That would be 'touch' and 'smell'.
- The praying mantis is a fascinating creature. Forced to live alone. There is nothing ugly about these unique creatures. The reason they live alone is because they're cannibals! Oh, well, it's hardly their fault! It's the way nature designed them: noble, solitary and prolific.
- Over 1800 species worldwide, and in nearly all of them the female is larger and more aggressive than the male.
- The California Mantis lays her eggs, and then finds a mate to fertilize them. Once he's played his part, she covers the eggs in a protective sack and attaches it to a leaf or twig out of danger. Now, if she's done her job correctly, in a few months she'll have several hundred offspring.
- The praying mantis can rotate its head 180 degrees while waiting for its next meal to walk by.
- I know, I read all about it, it's call, um, a pheromone. It's a chemical attractant that insects give off.
- It's the way they feed, head first. It's also the way they mate. The female bites off the male's head while they're...
- Bats eat them. The mantis hears sonar, its entire nervous system goes kaplooey.
Episode: Season 6, Life Serial
The following dialogue can teach us a little about Social Construction of Reality.
Teacher: Social Construction of Reality. Who can tell me what that is? Rachel.
Rachel: A concept involving a couple of opposing theories, one stressing the externality and independence of social reality from individuals.
Teacher: And the flip side? Steve?
Steve: That each individual participates fully in the construction of his or her own life.
Teacher: Good, and who can expand on that? Chuck?
Chuck: Well, those on the latter side of the theoretical divide stress...
Buffy: Will, I'm not following this too well.
Willow: Oh. The trick is to get in the rhythm, kinda go with the flow.
Buffy: Flow-going would be a lot easier if your classmates weren't such big brains.
Willow: Buffy, that's ridiculous! They are no smarter than you or me.
Teacher: Willow.
Willow: Because social phenomena don't have unproblematic objective existences. They have to be interpreted and given meanings by those who encounter them.
Teacher: Nicely put. So, Ruby, does that mean there are countless realities?
Willow: [off Buffy's look] What?
Rachel: A concept involving a couple of opposing theories, one stressing the externality and independence of social reality from individuals.
Teacher: And the flip side? Steve?
Steve: That each individual participates fully in the construction of his or her own life.
Teacher: Good, and who can expand on that? Chuck?
Chuck: Well, those on the latter side of the theoretical divide stress...
Buffy: Will, I'm not following this too well.
Willow: Oh. The trick is to get in the rhythm, kinda go with the flow.
Buffy: Flow-going would be a lot easier if your classmates weren't such big brains.
Willow: Buffy, that's ridiculous! They are no smarter than you or me.
Teacher: Willow.
Willow: Because social phenomena don't have unproblematic objective existences. They have to be interpreted and given meanings by those who encounter them.
Teacher: Nicely put. So, Ruby, does that mean there are countless realities?
Willow: [off Buffy's look] What?
Episode: Season 5, Out of my Mind
Willow and Buffy discuss the French Revolution.
Willow and Buffy discuss the French Revolution.
Willow: You can't possibly be arguing that Marat didn't betray the French Revolutionaries.
Willow: This was the guy who declared the rights of man, and then the next thing you know he's ... killing Girondin like it's going out of style.
Buffy: Will, you're totally missing my point. Now, I agree that Marat wasn't a real martyr, but the death in the tub ... the neck wound, all that blood, just a little more fang-y than knife-y. I mean, Charlotte Corday wasn't a real martyr either, but...
Willow: Buffy!
Buffy: What?
Willow: (smiling hugely) Listen to us! We-we're arguing! We're having a debate about a college lecture! I have dreamt of this day since ... forever! (proudly) You are turning into quite the student. (Buffy smiles) Should I be watching my occipital lobe?
Buffy: Your what?
Willow: Occipital. (pointing to her head) The lobe in the back of your brain. You know, like, "should I be watching my back?" But, you know, the ... back of your brain. (sighs)
Buffy: Apparently not. Don't worry, Will, you still wear the smarty-pants in the family.
Willow: I don't know. You've been studying ... really a lot.
Buffy: I'm trying. But they're really piling on the reading, and Giles fills any free time I have with extra training ... I'm starting to think this working hard is hard work.
Willow: Isn't it crazy like that?
Buffy: I thought it was gonna be like in the movies. You know, inspirational music ... a montage, me sharpening my pencils, me reading, writing, falling asleep on a big pile of books with my glasses all crooked, 'cause in my montage I have glasses. (Willow nods) But real life is slow, and it's starting to hurt my occipital lobe.
Willow: (sympathetic) Aw. Poor Buffy's brain. (Pats Buffy on the head)
Buffy: Actually, I'm heading to training now. Do you wanna come with?
Willow: I'm in. (They start walking again) Maybe we can argue some more about the French Revolution. Hey! Wasn't that Robespierre the coolest?
Buffy: Robespierre? You're kidding me, right?
Willow: I'm just gettin' it goin'.
Willow: This was the guy who declared the rights of man, and then the next thing you know he's ... killing Girondin like it's going out of style.
Buffy: Will, you're totally missing my point. Now, I agree that Marat wasn't a real martyr, but the death in the tub ... the neck wound, all that blood, just a little more fang-y than knife-y. I mean, Charlotte Corday wasn't a real martyr either, but...
Willow: Buffy!
Buffy: What?
Willow: (smiling hugely) Listen to us! We-we're arguing! We're having a debate about a college lecture! I have dreamt of this day since ... forever! (proudly) You are turning into quite the student. (Buffy smiles) Should I be watching my occipital lobe?
Buffy: Your what?
Willow: Occipital. (pointing to her head) The lobe in the back of your brain. You know, like, "should I be watching my back?" But, you know, the ... back of your brain. (sighs)
Buffy: Apparently not. Don't worry, Will, you still wear the smarty-pants in the family.
Willow: I don't know. You've been studying ... really a lot.
Buffy: I'm trying. But they're really piling on the reading, and Giles fills any free time I have with extra training ... I'm starting to think this working hard is hard work.
Willow: Isn't it crazy like that?
Buffy: I thought it was gonna be like in the movies. You know, inspirational music ... a montage, me sharpening my pencils, me reading, writing, falling asleep on a big pile of books with my glasses all crooked, 'cause in my montage I have glasses. (Willow nods) But real life is slow, and it's starting to hurt my occipital lobe.
Willow: (sympathetic) Aw. Poor Buffy's brain. (Pats Buffy on the head)
Buffy: Actually, I'm heading to training now. Do you wanna come with?
Willow: I'm in. (They start walking again) Maybe we can argue some more about the French Revolution. Hey! Wasn't that Robespierre the coolest?
Buffy: Robespierre? You're kidding me, right?
Willow: I'm just gettin' it goin'.
Episode: Season 5, Checkpoint
Buffy speculates that Rasputin could have been a vampire.
Buffy speculates that Rasputin could have been a vampire.
Professor: Now, Rasputin was associated with a certain obscure religious sect. They held the tenet that in order to be forgiven, one first had to sin. Rasputin embraced this doctrine and proceeded to sin impressively and repeatedly. The notion that he was in fact evil gained strength years later when the conspirators who set out to kill him found it nearly impossible to do so.
Buffy: (to herself) Nearly impossible?
Professor: I'm sorry, there's a question?
Professor: Miss Summers, of course.
Buffy: I, uh, about, you know, killing him ... you know, they, they poisoned him and, and they beat him and they shot him, and he didn't die.
Professor: Until they rolled his body in a carpet and drowned him in a canal.
Buffy: But there are reported sightings of him as late as the 1930s, aren't there?
Professor: I can assure you there is near consensus in the academic community regarding the death of Rasputin.
Buffy: There was also near consensus about Columbus, you know, until someone asked the Vikings what they were up to in the 1400s, and they're like, "discovering this America-shaped continent." I just ... I'm only saying, you know, it might be interesting, if we .... came at it from, you know, a different perspective, that's all.
Professor: Well, I'm sorry if you find these facts so boring, Miss Summers. Maybe you'd prefer I step aside, so that you can teach your own course. Speculation 101 perhaps? Intro to Flights of Fancy?
Buffy: I only meant-
Professor: What was it you were going on about last week? Mysterious sleeping patterns of the Prussian generals? Now, some of us are here to learn. Believe it or not, we're interested in finding out what actually happened. It's called studying history. You can sit down now. Unless you have something else to add, professor?
Buffy: (to herself) Nearly impossible?
Professor: I'm sorry, there's a question?
Professor: Miss Summers, of course.
Buffy: I, uh, about, you know, killing him ... you know, they, they poisoned him and, and they beat him and they shot him, and he didn't die.
Professor: Until they rolled his body in a carpet and drowned him in a canal.
Buffy: But there are reported sightings of him as late as the 1930s, aren't there?
Professor: I can assure you there is near consensus in the academic community regarding the death of Rasputin.
Buffy: There was also near consensus about Columbus, you know, until someone asked the Vikings what they were up to in the 1400s, and they're like, "discovering this America-shaped continent." I just ... I'm only saying, you know, it might be interesting, if we .... came at it from, you know, a different perspective, that's all.
Professor: Well, I'm sorry if you find these facts so boring, Miss Summers. Maybe you'd prefer I step aside, so that you can teach your own course. Speculation 101 perhaps? Intro to Flights of Fancy?
Buffy: I only meant-
Professor: What was it you were going on about last week? Mysterious sleeping patterns of the Prussian generals? Now, some of us are here to learn. Believe it or not, we're interested in finding out what actually happened. It's called studying history. You can sit down now. Unless you have something else to add, professor?