He is a self-proclaimed underachiever who begins each show in school detention writing lines on the blackboard. He is easily distracted by almost anything, even, strangely enough, algebraic equations. He is considerably undermotivated and takes great joy in disrupting the routine at Springfield Elementary, yet his pranks are often elaborately complex, while his actions and speech frequently show considerable mental agility, street-smarts and understanding, so he cannot be called "stupid" per se. Bart also shows amazing intelligence outside of his pranks.