INNN, West Philadelphia, born and raised...

I thoroughly enjoyed the Fresh Prince of Bel Air sitcom starring West Philly's own Will Smith in the 1990s. I recently decided to purchase many seasons of the show on DVD for my viewing pleasure. There were many episodes that I had long forgot about which brought fresh laughs!

As an adult, I now look at the episodes with a different lens--only if I feel like thinking while watching.

The "Father Knows Best" episode of season 5 was about Ashley Banks's (Tatyana Ali) decision to secretly withdraw from her prestigious private school, Bel Air Academy, to attend the neighborhood public school, Morris High School.

Her decision sparks outrage and something that Uncle Phil (James Avery) called a "capital crime."

What's interesting though, is to hear the dialogue play out throughout the entire episode. We get to hear the characters' varied opinions of public schools and of private schools. (So now you understand why I chose to blog about the episode? Yup!)

Ashley thanks Will for opening her eyes to a real, non-"fake" world, where, as she states, there are real people "who take public transportation and don't have butlers." (That would be me, although I do hope to lose some of my "realness" and get my Honda back up and running again...but I digress.)

Will risks life and limb to defend Ashely's decision to Uncle Phil.

Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) is concerned about what a public school image would look like to a Princeton's admissions officer.

Vivian (Daphne Reid) wants to at least have a conversation about Ashley attending public school.

And we know that Uncle Phil is dead-set against it, even after meeting Ashley's homeroom teacher at Morris High. Note: It is Will who notes that it was a public school teacher who visited their home and questions when a teacher from Bel Air Academy ever visited.

If you can, watch the episode and see how it ends.  According to at least one particular youtube source, the episode can be found on Amazon's website. I have the DVDs and am enjoying a visit back to the 90s.

(No mention of charter schools. I'm just saying.)