Back to School: D23 Salutes Disney’s Animated and Live-Action Teachers

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It’s that time of year when students go back to school and meet up with that special person who will enlighten them… or is his or her worst nightmare! Disney teachers, like any other, come in all shapes, sizes, and even temperaments. From as far back as the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon short titled Oh Teacher to the most recent example of Cory Matthews as the father/teacher on Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World, Disney has filled its stories with pixie-dusted professors and demonic disciplinarians.

Let’s take a look at some of our favorites!

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Goofy as a teacher in Teachers Are People

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Wise Old Owl from So Dear to My Heart

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Mr. Rzykruski from Frankenweenie

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Dean Hardscrabble from Monsters University

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Professor Owl from Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom

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Professor Derek Knight from Monsters University

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Teachers from Meet the Robinsons

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Mr. Bernie Kropp from The Incredibles

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Mr. Ray from Finding Nemo

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Ichabod Crane from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

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Mr. Woolensworth from Chicken Little

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Merlin as a mentor to the Wart in The Sword in the Stone

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Professor Ludwig Von Drake from An Adventure in Color/Mathmagic Land

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Professor Phillip Brainard from Flubber

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Emelius Browne from Bedknobs and Broomsticks

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Professor Ned Brainard from The Absent-Minded Professor

Disney’s heavy class load doesn’t end there.

There’s also Jiminy Cricket in the I’m No Fool series, Friend Owl from Bambi, Alice’s sister from Alice in Wonderland, Professor from Lady and the Tramp, Charles Bryan from Summer Magic, Professor Wonderful from the Mickey Mouse Club, Alice from The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, Albert Dooley from Million Dollar Duck, Professor Quigley from The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Professor Shattuck from The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, John Keating from Dead Poets Society, Miss Bliss from Good Morning, Miss Bliss (the forerunner to Saved by the Bell), Glenn Holland from Mr. Holland’s Opus, Anna Montgomery from The Big Green, Jim Morris from The Rookie, Papale from Invincible, Professor Harold Hill from Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, Mary Helperman from Teacher’s Pet, Mr. Parentheses is a character from Hercules: The Animated Series, Ms. Nesbit from Monsters, Inc., Ms. Muriel P. Finster from Recess, George Feeny from Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World, Sir Gillium from Sofia the First, Mary from The Muppets, Emily Kristal from Doug, Principal Powers from Sky High, Mr. Pulman from Dinosaurs, Miss Hatchet from Kim Possible, Mr. Zimbaldi from A.N.T. Farm, Miss Taylor from Pete’s Dragon, Principal Mazur from A Goofy Movie, Mr. Flaco Moleguaco from The Emperor’s New School, Ms. Darbus and Coach Bolton from High School Musical, and Ms. Birch from American Dragon: Jake Long. Whew!

Also, the sea colony teacher in Horizons at Epcot, who appears with her students and a seal, and the teachers in Spaceship Earth (the mathematics/Greek teacher and later, in the Renaissance sequence), are some Audio-Animatronics® teachers.

Did we miss any?