Shameless follows a large working-class family whose youngest child, Liam, is black and in a private elementary school. In the December 3 episode of the Showtime offering, "The (Mis)Education of Liam Fergus Beircheart Gallagher," the school gives the kids a test with basic word association. Unfortunately, Liam fails the test, which his dad Frank (William H. Macy) thinks is due to the cultural bias inherent in the wealthy school being out-of-touch with working-class families like his. This leads to him trying to teach the school about regular people and Liam about using the guilt of the "liberal elite" against them.
For example, when given the question "Jennifer [BLANKED] the glue and finished the project," Liam crossed out the multiple choice options and wrote in "sniffed." He was also asked, "The front door is to the foyer as the back door is to..." to which Liam wrote, "Penis." School officials call Frank in to the school to discuss the answers with him, as you can see in the screenshot, and he asks them, "How the hell would he know what a foyer is? What are we, the Rockefellers?" The school says, "These questions are standardized across the private school curriculum--" "To favor the students who understand the references," Frank interrupts. "This is cultural bias. You'll put his face on your brochure, but you ignore his background."
Frank is concerned they're using Liam's photo, presumably because he's black, but they don't really care about his family's working-class roots. I have a lot of concerns, but they aren't quite the same as Frank's. Of course, the questions shouldn't exclude any kids, but a multiple-choice quiz is fairly straightforward and Liam should know to choose from the list. More worrying is the words he is adding, especially in the last question. I worry about what's happening at home if he is choosing to add the word "penis" in this case. The child is clearly being exposed to conversations (at least) that he should not be.
Later, Frank tries to explain to young Liam where the other parents are coming from.
Frank: "The victorious strategist seeks battle after the victory has been won, while he who is destined to defeat first fights and seeks victory afterwards." Hmm.
Liam: Are we at war?
Frank: Yes, we are, son. You're, um... Probably a little young for this, but I'm gonna plant a seed here. Those rich, white, liberal parents at your school were once radicals. Rebels. Renegades. At some point, they fell in step with societal expectations and became robots. So when they look at us, loudmouthed, antiestablishment, unafraid to confront the power structures, they feel alive. So... we gotta take advantage of that. Right?
Liam: Right.
Frank is completely right. So many liberals are wealthy and white (just look at who ran for the presidential nomination on that side versus the Republicans) and used to be radicals. They agitated on campuses for free speech and marched for freedom decades ago. Now, they are the very embodiment of the establishment, like the "robots" Frank calls them. It's pretty funny to see it called out on television.
One of the mothers approaches Frank and says, "The parents have assembled a committee to eliminate cultural bias in standardized testing. We're petitioning Congress to support the Every Student Succeeds Act, and we're instituting a round table to open each exam question to multiple interpretations based on ethnic and economic considerations."
Later, the school takes another look at Liam's test and marks the answers correct. Why? As Frank tells him, "Standing up for our principles worked. You see, this is the point I'm making with the liberal elite. In the war between the have-nots and the have-everythings, their guilt is our ammunition. Never forget that."
Using liberal guilt to lower school standards even more - now that's shameless ... but extremely effective.
