If I had children I would have taken the advice I posted seriously as
a.It came from the hearts of good writers who knew it was their last shot, and
b.The show was always about one brilliant child's battle toward adulthood while saddled by a classic "white trash" environment.
I sympathized with the character a lot and, like him, eventually learned that we are what we make as opposed to buying into snobbish opinions of our upbringing made by people who don't really matter.
It's a television show.