To Kill A Mockingbird Education Essay

School is often regarded as the foundation for one’s learning. However, there have often been fundamental issues in educational structures throughout history. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee conveys the belief that school systems restrict students from reaching their full potential through condescending diction that discourages students from striving for education and first person narration that shows the students’ strong dislike of school. Lee uses condescending diction to highlight the education system’s hindrance towards the student’s desire to learn. After Scout displays her literacy in front of the whole class, Miss Caroline looks at Scout with “faint distaste”, and says that she will try to “undo the damage”. The condescending diction in these quotes illustrates how Miss Caroline belittles and discourages Scout’s strive for education. Specifically, the word “damage”

As a result of the events at school that first day, Scout says that she doesn’t “feel very well” and that she doesn’t want to “go to school anymore”. Expressing negativity towards school, Scout complains to Jem that, “If I didn’t have to stay, I’d leave. Jem, that damn lady says Atticus’s been teaching me to read and for him to stop it”. The narration clearly exhibits Scout’s aversion towards the school system, even just after one day. This dislike plays a large factor in the students’ ability to learn. Furthermore, Harper Lee is able to directly specify her own negative attitude towards the school through Scout’s first person voice. Scout was the perfect character to utilize because she was a young, naïve girl who hadn’t yet been influenced by society’s way of thinking and could express her opinions freely. Through the first person narration, Lee can directly demonstrate her impressions on the school