Character Analysis
Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason) walks around the school like he owns it. He's got this slick attitude that's intentionally super off-putting. He's the kind of repulsive adult whom all five of the main characters deplore.
But he's a hilarious character at the same time—you just laugh at him, not with him. In particular, Vernon gets into it with Bender a lot. Since Bender's ostensibly this juvenile delinquent, Vernon singles him out for discipline and comment. When Bender back-talks him ("Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?"), Vernon sentences him to another detention saying, "When you mess with the bull, you get the horns." After Bender tells him, later, "Eat my shorts," Vernon ends up sentencing him to two months' worth of detentions.
Finally, Vernon drags Bender out of the classroom and locks him in the closet. He dares Bender to hit him, so he, Vernon, will have an excuse to beat him up. But Bender looks more put-off and perturbed than anything:
VERNON: That's the last time, Bender. That's the last time you ever make me look bad in front of those kids, do you hear me? I make $31,000 dollars a year and I have a home and I'm not about to throw it away on some punk like you. But someday, man, someday. When you're outta here and you've forgotten all about this place, and they've forgotten all about you and you're wrapped up in your own pathetic life... I'm gonna be there. That's right. And I'm gonna kick the living s*** out of you, man, I'm gonna knock your dick in the dirt!
BENDER: Are you threatening me?
VERNON: What're you gonna do about it? You think anybody's gonna believe you? You think anybody's gonna take your word over mine? […]
So, Vernon's a little psychotic. He's abandoning his own maturity and taking Bender's dumb jokes and back-talk way too personally. Why? Vernon reveals to the janitor, Carl, that he doesn't like or relate to the young people he's meant to be supervising. He thinks young people have gotten worse. Carl speaks truth to power, saying Vernon's the one who's changed, but Vernon's not buying it. He continues bemoaning the current generation:
VERNON: You think about this... when you get old, these kids; when I get old, they're gonna be runnin' the country.
CARL: Yeah?
VERNON: Now this is the thought that wakes me up in the middle of the night... That when I get older, these kids are gonna take care of me...
CARL: I wouldn't count on it!
In the end, Vernon doesn't learn anything about the kids, and he doesn't relate to them in any new way. He remains utterly set in his ways. It would be kind of sad, if Vernon didn't seem so arrogant and unlikable.