Many years ago (the 1970's!) there was a sitcom, a big hit, featuring comedian/actor Gabe Kaplan. He played a high school teacher in Brooklyn, with the students cast as sterotypes of the day, a remedial group, one step away from Reform School. They were a comic bunch, a misfit or two among them, with John Travolta in what may be his earliest role of note. The show was "Welcome Back, Kotter."