Walter White: The Failures of a Teacher

Many plot summaries of Breaking Bad (2008-2013) describe Walter White as a “mild-mannered” ¹ and “unassuming” ^{2 3 4} high school teacher. But anyone who watches the series soon realizes that he is actually a brilliant scientist who once worked in groundbreaking research. He holds a high academic degree in chemistry from Caltech, with a specialization in crystallography. Though the show never explicitly details why or how he ended up as a high school teacher, it is painfully evident that his professional career was cut short and teaching was the only option left for him.

Walter White’s story is the exploration of the widespread misconception that teaching is not a “real” job. In fact, some portions of society fail to recognize that teaching is a career that requires the same level of effort and education as other professions. Many people underestimate the challenges and difficulties teachers face daily and see them as failed individuals who couldn’t succeed in other fields. The phrase “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach” is a derogatory cliché often used to dismiss the value of educators and it’s based on the idea that teaching is simply a last resort for professionals who were unable to “find adequate footing in their chosen vocation.” ^{5 6} Walter White, as a fictional character, seems to embody and reinforce this stereotype because he truly does view teaching as a humiliating fallback rather than a meaningful and reputable occupation. Since he couldn’t thrive as an outstanding chemist—one might think—he had no choice but to become a teacher.

Walter White’s Teaching Career

Since the very first episode, we are introduced to the reality of Walter’s undesired career in teaching. During classes, most of his students look apathetic or bored. He even faces open disdain and ridicule from a couple of them, who show him no respect. The show’s intention is to present us with an unfulfilled, frustrated, and submissive character, belittled by most people (his students, his wife, his brother-in-law, his boss). He is, nonetheless, very passionate about his subject and clearly enjoys explaining it. But he’s not able to reach his students. Perhaps, his advanced academic knowledge and specialized training as a lab researcher prevent him from presenting topics in a manner that is accessible or appealing to high schoolers, which further reinforces his frustration and sense of professional failure. In essence, Breaking Bad is the story of an overqualified teacher who never intended to become one.

Although Walter’s decision to cook meth is initially driven by his unexpected cancer diagnosis and the fear of leaving his family unsupported—his 15-year-old son has cerebral palsy and his wife Skyler, a stay-at-home mom, is pregnant with an unplanned baby—his frustration with his unrewarding teaching job is also a driving factor. The fact that he has to work a second job as a cashier at a car wash to make ends meet speaks volumes about how undercompensated the teaching profession is. But things change as soon as Walter begins to see the financial rewards of the drug trade. Before long, he realizes that cooking meth not only allows him to provide for his family, but also gives him a sense of control and self-worth that his teaching job never could.

Walter White’s Opposite Stories

Leader of the Band (1987), Renaissance Man (1994), Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995), Music of the Heart (1999), Spare Parts (2015) and Champions (2023) are movies that share a common plot: their main characters are highly qualified professionals who, due to misfortune or necessity, end up working as teachers. All of these protagonists see teaching as a temporary adversity that they can overcome. But, by the end, they find their true passion in the classrooms and develop strong relationships with their students. In essence, all these stories are inspirational tales of motivation and self-discovery through humility.

On TV, Big Shot (2021-2022) is another example of an inspirational teacher story about a professional who sees teaching in high school as a dishonorable punishment for his own dishonorable actions. The all-girls private Westbrook School is the only institution willing to offer Marvyn Korn a job after he is fired from his prestigious position as a university basketball coach. Over time, however, he realizes that his new job is more rewarding than he expected, so he decides to stay for good. Evidently, Breaking Bad is an entirely different kind of teacher story because this realization never happens for Walter.

With a dead-end job, Walter White certainly feels like a wasted talent. He feels that becoming a high school teacher is a disgraceful downgrade from his promising career as a scientist. As already noted, his story is more common than it seems. But unlike what usually happens in inspirational teacher stories seen in movies and TV, teaching doesn’t offer him any redemption. Evidently, Breaking Bad takes an unusual approach to the issue. Walter White’s case shows that teaching doesn’t always feel like a noble profession or something to be proud of. The show clearly challenges the conventional notions and expectations people have about teachers and the sources of these notions.

Walter White’s Background Story

In grad school, Walter and his friends Elliott and Gretchen co-founded Grey Matter, a small research company. According to Walter’s own recap of events, they were going to “take the world by storm” (S05E06). But Walter decided to part ways and took a buyout for $5,000. This decision was the result of his breakup with Gretchen, with whom he had a romantic relationship.

Unfortunately for Walter, Grey Matter later became a multi-billion-dollar company after its research projects led to a Nobel Prize. And to add insult to injury, Elliott and Gretchen got married and took over the company. All of this made Walter feel that he had been betrayed on both a professional and personal level.

With this in mind, Breaking Bad can easily be summarized as the story of an exceptionally skilled chemist who believes he was wronged and denied the recognition he deserves. It’s the story of a failed chemist who turned to teaching. And it’s also the story of a failed teacher who turned to crime. For Walter, making meth is a way of righting a wrong and putting his chemistry expertise to “good use,” despite the irony of it. In the world of an unintended and disheartened teacher, working with drug dealers and criminals proves to be more rewarding than dealing with apathetic and disrespectful students.

Walter White’s Didactics

Although Walter is fired at the beginning of Season 3, we get to see glimpses of his teaching and realize that he lacks modern pedagogical techniques. He conducts a teacher-centered class and relies exclusively on lecture. It seems that he’s not interested in using group learning strategies or allowing his students to actively engage in the lessons. This is what experts call the pedagogy of telling or the stand-and-deliver pedagogy, which means that “teachers tell students information and students deposit the information in the vaults of their brains.” ⁷ Walter’s teaching method fits this description. His perspective on education likely reflects an outdated, rigid approach where the teacher is the sole authority and students are passive recipients of knowledge. Walter most likely sees teaching as a mere transfer of information rather than an interactive process that fosters critical thinking and engagement.

But let’s make it clear that Breaking Bad is not a show about Walter’s teaching career; it is a show about his transformation into a criminal. As a matter of fact, the classroom scenes we see on Season 1 serve primarily as narrative devices. When he discusses the nature of chemistry as the study of change (S01E01), or when he explains chirality—mirror images that appear identical but behave differently (S01E02), or when he teaches about violent chemical reactions (S01E06), he’s actually offering allegories of his metamorphosis into Heisenberg. Furthermore, in Season 2, when he teaches about synthetic diamonds (S02E06) and how their creator was rewarded by General Electric with a measly $10 savings bond while the company made an incalculable fortune, he’s referring to his own bad experience with Grey Matter.

In on-screen portrayals of teachers, a deeper meaning is often conveyed beneath the surface of their lessons. This is a very common narrative technique in teacher films, but it’s also problematic because it reduces the didactics of the lesson into a simple excuse to move the narrative forward. The fact that all of Walter’s lessons are metaphors of his corruption, only gives the audience the impression that his actual teaching is not that important to the story.

Walter White’s Students

The deeper Walter descends into the criminal world, the easier it becomes for him to recognize deception. In Season 1, when debating whether to kill Krazy-8 (S01E03), he naively hopes he can reason with the criminal and convince him not to take revenge if he lets him go. Tied to a pole, Krazy-8 plays along and opens up to Walter, assuring him he just wants to go home. But when Walter is about to release him, he realizes that a broken piece of a plate is missing. Krazy-8 has hidden it and plans to use it as a weapon. This finally makes Walter accept that criminals will say and do anything to get their way. As expected, while being strangled to death, Krazy-8 lashes out and manages to stab Walter in the leg. This event teaches Walter the brutal lesson that lies and manipulation are second nature to thugs like Krazy-8. Walter certainly learns that the criminal world is ruthless and plays by its own rules.

Funnily enough, Walter’s students use similar tactics. In Season 2, Barry, an underachieving student, fails an exam and tries to persuade Walter to pass him (S02E07). He claims he really studied and even insinuates he might have ADHD. Walter, now far less gullible, responds with a blunt “Don’t bullshit a bullshitter”—a remark he likely wouldn’t have made in the past. Later, in Season 3, during the plane crash assembly at the school auditorium (S03E01), Barry seizes another opportunity to use the situation to his advantage. He hints that some colleges grant automatic A’s to students who experience traumatic losses, implying he deserves similar treatment. By this point, Walter, already a full-blown criminal, has learned to see through such deceit and fully understands how cunning and opportunistic his students can be. In his eyes, Barry and Krazy-8 likely represent two sides of the same coin, both using lies and emotional manipulation to get what they want.

Walter White’s Best Pupil

Undoubtedly, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman are one of the most iconic duos in contemporary TV history, to the point that their relationship has been glamorized by popular culture. But the truth is that their bond is very troubled and dysfunctional. Walter’s mistreatments didn’t start when he used Jesse’s connections to get into the drug business, but much earlier. As the show reveals, Jesse remembers Walter as a harsh and demanding teacher in high school, while Walter sees Jesse as nothing more than a failed student and a drug addict.

Walter teaches Jesse to cook meth with the highest standards and meticulous attention to detail, imposing a strict method to achieve the purest product. He has no patience for Jesse’s antics and immaturity, and when he doesn’t meet his expectations, he yells at him and throws all kinds of insults. Despite all of this, Jesse is able to develop a fair grasp of the chemical processes and is even able to replicate Walter’s formula. But, due to his pride and sense of superiority, Walter never truly praises or rewards Jesse’s achievements. He is unable to accept that a “junkie” could ever make a product as good as his.

Jesse’s evolution from a mediocre student to a wanted criminal under Walter’s tutelage raises questions about the impact of mentorship on students. Walter’s relentless scorn for Jesse only leads to the slowly downfall of their relationship. After all, “the more teachers insist on their superior intelligence, the more they will run the risk of the student asserting the superiority of their own will.” ⁸ In fact, Jesse is aware that his life went downhill since he partnered up with Walter, and he is the one who turns him over the police.

In many ways, Breaking Bad can be interpreted as a cautionary tale about the corruptive and exploitative nature of dysfunctional teacher-student relationships. Jesse Pinkman’s story definitely deserves a separate, in-depth analysis to explore the terrible ways in which a teacher can shape a student’s personality and future.

Walter White’s resentment and frustration as a teacher are results of his belief that he was meant for greater things. This conviction reduces his teaching profession to nothing more than a reminder of his personal failure. But is teaching really a completely unfulfilling profession? Does Walter’s story represent the experiences of most teachers, or does it simply expose the inability of some people to find meaning in their jobs?

Professional validation and success eluded Walter in the legitimate scientific community. The educational system did not offer him a space for redemption, either. On the contrary, teaching only crushed his spirit and strained his relationships with students. But in an ironic turn, his most memorable lessons took place outside the classroom, where he showed the fascinating chemical phenomena and their unexpected applications for nefarious purposes. In the end, Walter was able to take advantage of the illicit drug scene to achieve long-awaited recognition he wanted, which tragically came at the highest cost.

Breaking Bad’s representation of education is wicked, unscrupulous and deeply pessimistic, but it offers the audience the chance to reflect on how distorted the standard fictional representation of teachers as inspirational figures can be in our society. At the same time, it exposes some of the problems with the biased perceptions people have about teachers and the way they look down on teaching careers.

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