Mr. Goodall is Elwood’s teacher at Nickel Academy. Providing a stark contrast to Elwood’s previous teachers, Mr. Goodall is apathetic when it comes to teaching, not caring that none of his students pay attention in class. When Elwood asks if he can have harder classes, Mr. Goodall promises to look into the matter but never actually acts on this promise. In retrospect, Elwood wonders if Goodall told Spencer that he wanted harder classes, thinking that Spencer may have beat him especially hard during his first visit to the White House because he heard that Elwood was acting above his “station” by asking for challenging work.