Elizabeth Hoover

THe Simpsons' Characters (150 items)
list by Don Pinstripelli

Miss Hoover has been worn down by her years in the public school system, and is therefore unable to retain an enthusiastic attitude toward her job, although she does show premises of it on some occasions. As much as Hoover is concerned for the future of the children (as opposed to Edna, who doesn't seem to care the slightest), she seems overwhelmed with stress, seeking whatever remedies she can to alleviate it. She is often seen smoking even while teaching, once even under a "No Smoking" sign in the assembly hall. She also occasionally drinks on the job. Once she was granted tenure, she willingly turned over her teaching responsibilities to Ralph Wiggum.
Her desperate attempts to regain her stability include rushing out of class to recite "Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean" with her eyes closed, and even, on two occasions, getting into her car and driving off (although one of those instances also had to do with a teacher's strike that Edna proposed).

She is in particular weary of dealing with Lisa's unbridled enthusiasm (though initially she seemed proud of Lisa) and Ralph's mishaps and inanities. While participating in a strike against Principal Skinner over the lack of funding, she denied a request from Lisa for teaching her something (even though Lisa was clearly suffering from learning/student withdrawal). A typical response to one of his difficulties is, "The children are right to laugh at you, Ralph."

She was replaced by a substitute teacher, Mr. Bergstrom when she thought she had Lyme disease. It turned out that her condition was psychosomatic, which the children thought meant that she was both "faking it" and "crazy."

She also seemed to be dangerously unaware of how a teacher is supposed to act and is gullible at times relating to teaching. This trait was especially evident when Homer Simpson, who was a newly-made teacher at the Springfield Adult Education center, was speeding and driving red lights while behaving as though being a teacher made him entitled to do such a thing: Hoover, who briefly witnessed, and heard, Homer's behavior, felt that she must be entitled to do the same, and began to do the same reckless behavior. She also appears to be somewhat resistant to injury, as she was hurled head-first out of the teachers lounge during a mass brawl after Mike called Edna's 4th grade students suck, but simply got back up, straightened her shirt and went back inside to resume fighting. Despite her negative attitude towards teaching, she has demonstrated considerable skill in maths, being able to calculate 926 dollars simply by leafing through them.