Public Education In To Kill A Mockingbird

Public Education in the 1930’s is Not Valuable to Young Students.

School does not teach students the right and important knowledge they need to survive and thrive in the real world. In fact, based on fairtest.org, over 80% of the adults tested in a middle school exam, with four questions, answered three or less questions correctly. On the contrary to most school knowledge, many young adults struggle with maintaining their lifestyles and fitting in with the real world. The novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird” , written by author Harper Lee, introduces and develops two young, main characters: Scout and Jem Finch. One can see how they grow up and mature as time passes in the novel. However, school is not the factor that is helping that is helping Scout

and Jem mature. Instead, school actually tries to hinder their ability to learn crucial life lessons and skills. The real factor that is helping them improve is their family and the position they have been placed throughout their lives because of different circumstances such as Atticus’s case to defend Tom Robinson and Bob Ewell’s revenge for his humiliation.

Scout and Jem have been shown how people’s opinions can affect and alter their lives with new feelings and conditions through experiencing it in real life outside of school. The novel describes an instance where others are bullying the Finch family because Atticus is defending a black man in the trial: Tom Robinson. The verbal assault Scout and Jem receive is harsh for young kids that are not directly involved in it, but Atticus makes sure to support Scout and Jem through the opposition: ““Scout,” said Atticus, “when summer comes you will have to keep your head about far worse things… it’s not fair for you and Jem...Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man” (Lee 105). This quote shows the advice that Atticus gives to Scout to help her. Atticus explains how she should not let other people’s words hurt her and how he needs to help Tom in order to not feel guilty about the whole situation. Scout now knows how to deal with situations where she is facing oppression in the future which is something school does not teach her how to accomplish. This

proves how Atticus’s teachings and real life situations help Scout to improve as a person. An additional position that Jem and Scout find themselves in is the unfairness of the result of the trial. The case caused Jem to become distraught and start sobbing as shown in this quote: “It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. “It ain’t right,” he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus waiting” (Lee 213). This quote shows the effect the trial had on Jem, so much so that he cried and realized the injustice of the situation. School would not be able to show Jem the feelings and truths he learned from the case. School would instead deceive Jem into thinking that the discrimination in Maycomb is okay. One can clearly see how the trial educated Jem more than school ever could. Through these examples, it can be seen how Atticus’s court case and Atticus himself affected Scout and Jem by teaching them the unfairness in the world. It also helps them resist the school’s advances towards them to warp their minds.