Walter White's Biggest Failure Was Being A Bad Teacher

Walter White is undeniable the greatest television antihero of our generation, if not ever.

The "Breaking Bad" chemistry teacher was a complex character whom we constantly jumped between sympathizing with and bitterly hating. Walt lied to his family repeatedly, he made meth, he murdered people, he missed his daughter's birth for a drug delivery; all in all he did a lot of very terrible things. However, one professor believes the biggest failure and crime of Walter White was something entirely different: his teaching.

Samuel Chambers, a political scientist and John Hopkins University professor, recently published an essay about how gravely Walt failed Jesse as a mentor in the series. In the essay, titled "Walter White is a Bad Teacher: Pedagogy, Partage, and Politics in Season 4 of Breaking Bad," Chambers explores the question "Who is the better teacher, Walt or Gus?" and comes to the conclusion that Gus Fring gave more positive guidance to Jesse.

Chambers also connects his analysis to the pedagogical theories of French philosopher Jacques Rancière. We knew Walt was never cut out to be a teacher, but even the meth business couldn't change how terrible he was at it, in every way.

The full essay can only be accessed with a university student login, but more can be found read on it on the John Hopkins website.