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“4th Grade”
South Park episode
"Welcome to the fourth grade."
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 59
Written by	Trey Parker Matt Stone
Directed by	Trey Parker
Production no.	412
Original airdate	November 8, 2000
Season 4 episodes
South Park - Season 4 April 5, 2000 – December 20, 2000
Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000 The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000 Quintuplets 2000 Timmy 2000 Pip Cartman Joins NAMBLA Cherokee Hair Tampons Chef Goes Nanners Something You Can Do with Your Finger Do the Handicapped Go to Hell? Probably 4th Grade Trapper Keeper Helen Keller! The Musical Fat Camp The Wacky Molestation Adventure A Very Crappy Christmas
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List of South Park episodes

4th Grade is the title of episode 59 of the South Park television series. This fourth season episode originally aired November 8, 2000 and focuses on the main characters' first day of fourth grade. The three previous seasons of the program featured the main characters in the 3rd grade with Mr. Garrison as their teacher. This grade change plot device allowed for the introduction of a new teacher, Ms. Choksondik, and introduced a new opening sequence in which the show was said to be "Faster" and have "more explosions". It is also the final resolution to a three-part mini-arc involving Mr. Garrison coming out of the closet.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Trivia 3 Censorship 4 Kenny's Death 5 Cultural references 6 References 7 See also

This episode marked the children's move into the 4th Grade. Not knowing their new teacher, the gang of Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman plan to exert dominance over the teacher. Before the beginning of class, they come up with an idea: at 8:35 AM, they would stand up on the desks, pull their pants down, and say "Kiss my ass." After Ms. Choksondik explains that fourth grade will be different, the children are frightened. Cartman alone stands up and pulls down his pants, very annoyed no one else followed the plan.

Ms. Choksondik is depicted as a middle-aged woman with disgustingly large breasts that she neither notices nor is ashamed of. In a twist of irony, the children do not notice her obscene-sounding name; instead, they come up with their own insulting names. The children eventually realize that they took the ease of the 3rd grade for granted and do not want to go through a whole year in 4th grade. They seek help from two Star Trek fans and ask them to create a time-traveling device so they can return to the 3rd grade. The Star Trek fans then construct the device using Timmy's wheelchair.

Meanwhile, Ms. Choksondik reports that she is unable to teach the children in her class and attempts to speak to Mr. Garrison (who was fired after "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" after he was accused of trying to solicit sex from Cartman), but she is unable to get any information. The next day in class, the children begin their plan of traveling back to 3rd grade. However, the plan backfires and instead of creating a portal back in time, Timmy is driven through the classroom wall in his uncontrollable wheelchair. He is unable to stop the wheelchair as it would explode because of the materials used to convert it to a "time-travel" device. Eventually, a portal does open and Timmy is thrown into the past.

Ms. Choksondik goes on a journey to find Mr. Garrison in order to learn how he handled the class. Mr. Garrison trains Ms. Choksondik and then comes to the realization that he needs to admit and confront his homosexuality. The children accept the 4th grade and realise that the 3rd grade was never as good as they remembered it. Timmy comes back with "souvenirs" from the eras he had visited. Mr. Garrison openly admits his homosexuality to Principal Victoria, Chef, and Mr. Mackey, and asks for his job back. They reply with "We don't hire gay people," and laugh derisively. However, in the next episode, he is hired back to teach kindergarten.

• The two nerds switch their views on how many original Star Trek episodes there were. First the skinny nerd says there are 72, then when the children show up at his house, he claims 73.

• In the syndicated version Kenny gets bleeped when he says "Her titties are fucking huge!"

• In the syndicated version Ms. Choksondik's nipples get censored when she lifts her hand up.

• In the syndicated version, the part where Ms. Choksondik says "One of the children is mentally handicapped for Christ's sake!", "for Christ's sake" is cut out.

Kenny is killed in this episode when he is put onto a wheeled board, which rolls down the road directly toward Timmy's out-of-control wheelchair. While trying to cut the wires on Timmy's wheelchair, Kenny misses the wheelchair and goes straight past it. He hits a pothole, flips over onto his face, and is pulled back, dragging his face along the road, killing him. Stan comments (sarcastically): "Well who didn't see that coming."

Surprisingly, in a later scene directly after Cartman says: "HAHA, teacher," Kenny isn't seen. But then in the next scene when Cartman says: "Au revoir, teacher!", Kenny can be seen sitting next to Stan. Then when the two nerds start to fight, Kenny isn't seen again.

• When Ms. Choksondik says that the entire class will have detention, Cartman says, "Ha ha, charade you are," which is a quote from the Pink Floyd song "Pigs (Three Different Ones)." This is actually the second time Cartman uses this quote, the other time being in the episode Cat Orgy. He also uses it one more time after this.
• Timmy's chair not being able to go under 5 or it will explode is a parody of the movie Speed. In Speed, a bus is rigged with a bomb so that it cannot go under 50 mph or the bomb will detonate. Also the defuse that Kenny attempts with the wheeled board is a reference to the Speed scene in which Jack Traven attempts the same with a service cart towed by a preceding truck. The reference is furthered by the woman who rides on Timmy's lap for a short time, who is a parody of Sandra Bullock's character
• At the end of the scene where Mr. Garrison is teaching Ms. Choksondik how to deal with the children, his voice becomes raspy like that of Yoda, which is a reference to the scene in Star Wars where Yoda is teaching Luke the ways of the Force.
• Mr. Garrison's confrontation with his gay side is a parody of Luke's training scene in Star Wars where he confronts what he believes is Darth Vader in a cave.
• When Ms. Choksondik responds to Cartman's taunts of "Suck my balls" with "Present them," it is nearly identical to a conversation between a teacher and a student in the book Educating Esmè.

• Dragging death

Preceded by “Probably”

South Park episodes

Followed by “Trapper Keeper”