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Undercover High

Credits

Cast

Network

Reviewer

Paul Asay

TV Series Review

Many a parent would love to know what goes on at their teens’ school. I mean, really know: What their kids talk about with their friends, how they get along with others, what they struggle with, what secrets they keep.

But do these parents really want to know?

Undercover High wants to tell you the truth about high school. And you better strap yourself in for the answers.

Welcome to the Jungle

Welcome to Highland Park High School in Topeka, Kansas, a typical public school in a typical American city. Kids there do what kids have always done in high school: They go to class. Hang out with their friends. Goof off in the hallways.

But they’re also dealing with Snapchat and Tumblr, cyberbullying and sexting. Some are nursing adolescent ulcers in their desperate efforts keep their GPA intact and to reach their dream (or their parents’ dream?) of getting into that Ivy League school. Others just hope just to make it out of school alive.

So far, so good, right? But high school, we learn, is a world that seems to change not just generationally, but yearly. And those who’ve left that world some time ago may understand it only dimly—seeing it as through an opaque glass.

But what if you left that world and could still go back? What if someone could experience high school again through an adult’s eyes and report back to the rest of us?

That’s essentially the premise of A&E’s Undercover High, wherein seven twentysomethings masquerade as Highland Park high schoolers, newly transferred from parts unknown. One’s a youth pastor in real life. Another’s a kindergarten teacher. Still another “student” is a single mom, raising the kid that she had in high school. They range in age from 21 to 26 years old, and they still look youngish enough to pass through the halls without drawing too much attention. (Well, other than the film crews that seem to track their every move.)

But even though they’ve all been out of high school for only a few years, the world they return to often feels startlingly unfamiliar to them.

“When I was in high school, we made friends in person first and then we added you online,” says 25-year-old Erin, mystified that kids initiate friendships in cyberspace now. “When did getting pregnant [in high school] become cool?” 26-year-old Gloria wonders.

Anthropology High

On one level, Undercover High is a televised anthropological field trip to a pervasive but, in some ways, little understood culture: As familiar as we think we may be with that adolescent world, the only folks who really understand it are those who walk its halls every day. And even the adults there understand that what they see in the halls and what’s actually happening under the surface can be markedly different.

“I think I know what’s going on, but I may not always,” Principal Beryl New confesses.

But A&E seems to want Undercover High to be more than a superficial examination: The series shines a spotlight on some of the critical issues faced by today’s teens and suggests strategies for how to deal with those issues. It’s targeted both at the teens themselves and the adults in their lives. And each episode includes a pitch for a counseling text line.

It also reportedly tried to apply an ethical framework to the program. No hidden cameras were used, according to an FAQ published on www.topekapublicschools.net. And anyone shown on camera had to agree to participate. “Production held several meetings prior to filming with school officials, parents, students and faculty members to explain the project, goals for the series and the production process—including that participants … would be immersing themselves into the school community,” the FAQ says.
The one potential ethical wrinkle in all this? No one knew that these participants weren’t, in fact, high schoolers. Like many reality shows, its very premise is a built-in lie. These “students” needed to be accepted as peers for the show to feel real, it’s suggested.

Still, how real can you be when you know that if you sign a waiver, every reaction could be filmed and telecast? How real is it when all that raw footage can be spliced and edited together to create a telegenic narrative? The “reality” of reality television in general has always been rather … questionable. Undercover High, whatever its intention, is no exception.

Moreover, the reality we see here can be raw and difficult at times. While the language aired is admittedly far better than the unedited stuff I remember from public high school, we’re still exposed to plenty of crass profanity (the worst of which is bleeped).We also hear some frank conversations about sex and violence. One of the undercover students is openly gay. And the show sometimes addresses political issues that resonate on high school campuses. (A recent episode, for instance, addressed the uncertainty that children of undocumented immigrants feel.)

If there’s a real lesson to be found in Undercover High for parents, it’s this: Make sure that your lines of dialogue with your teens are good, healthy and as open as possible. Talk with them, and do whatever you can to make sure they feel like they can talk with you.

I suppose it’s nice that A&E wants to teach its viewers about the realities of 21st-century secondary education. But the best way to help your high schooler is talk to them about high school. They’re the real experts.

Episode Reviews

Undercover High: Feb. 7, 2018 “Bullied”

Erin, a 25-year-old undercover student who once bullied and was bullied herself when she was in high school, joins an anti-bullying club. There, she befriends 16-year-old Adam, its founder. Adam talks frequently in online videos about his experiences being bullied, but he’s apparently unable to open up to folks in person. “When I was in high school, we definitely talked about things in person rather than expressing our feelings online,” Erin says, and she tries to push Adam into opening up. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Lina makes friends in the school’s Hispanic club and mulls over the impact that immigration issues are having on her fellow students. “I feel like everyone is scared right now,” she tells the camera.

We eventually hear that Adam is still being bullied—that some kids smacked him on the forehead while he was trying to sleep in the library. Another bullied student talks about how her own experience made her feel. “For a very long time I believed that I was worthless,” she says. “That I was nothing … that I shouldn’t have lived and that I was God’s mistake.” We see several nationwide statistics on bullying, and hear references to self-harm and suicide. We also hear of reported bullying in the halls, with some unseen students saying they’re going to beat someone’s “a–” or grab someone by the throat.

Daniel, who in real life is a youth pastor, participates in a high school Christian group (where we see members pray beforehand). He’s trying to befriend a guy name Tony, a student who recently was arrested on drug charges—and not for the first time. Tony leaves the group; but Daniel meets up with him later, and the two discuss the charges. Tony talks about how he tries to emulate his father (a great basketball player who dropped out of school and, it’s suggested, has sometimes been a bad influence in Tony’s life). Lina attends a “truck meet,” where truck owners essentially try to burn all the rubber off their tires. When the police show up, though, everyone bolts: Lina suggests later it’s partly because of concern about deportation.

Erin confesses that she had breast reduction surgery. We see kids boisterously playing around in class, and one undercover student says they’re obviously “not utilizing their time well.” Another person falls asleep during a field trip. We hear one bleeped f-word and another censored use of the word “a–hole.” “A–” goes through uncensored, though, about a half-dozen times, as do a few uses of the word “b–ch.”

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Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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