Theme: Education

Ammar , Jamie, Soven, Rohan, Josh

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
School (1)
 The school follow an unusual system known as the “Dewey Decimal
System”. In chapter 2, Jem says to Scout “I'm just trying to tell you the
new way they're teaching' the first grade, stubborn. It's the Dewey
Decimal System.”
 The Dewey Decimal System is a flawed system with the main
fundamental weakness being that the children being taught is one set
way as opposed to testing them based on their current ability
 In Scout’s case this system is simply imperfect because we can see her
initial excitement for school, “I never looked forward more to anything
in my life” (17.2) By the end of the day, her disappointment is shown
after Miss Caroline “looked at her with faint distaste” (19.1) simply
because she is an excelling student
 It seems as though Miss Caroline being “no more than twenty-one”
(18.1)( presumably just come out of university) cannot cope with Scout
being so ahead of the others that she takes it out on her
 In the school, we also realize that the education being taught is flawed
and there are many narrow-minded teachers. This is shown when Scout
is criticized for learning to read before starting school. “I did not love
to read, one did not love to breathe”, which shows that Scout found
reading as a daily habit like eating or breathing, however she is
criticized by the teachers.
School (2)
 Another reason why she is against education in school is that she is being
punished for her knowledge as opposed to being rewarded for her talent,
“I’ll take over from here and try and undo the damage” (19.6) She wrongly
tries to upset Scout and makes her feel as though Atticus is teaching her
incorrectly
 The teaching in the school is in-turn flawed due to the fact that many of
the teachers are from Maycomb County, therefore they are narrow-
minded with the exception of Miss Caroline Fisher. This is down to the fact
that Miss Caroline approach to teaching the children who are from the
South is different, in the sense that because she is from the North she
believes that the children to be less educated, honourable and
sophisticated as she is, this is evident in the ways how she dresses to
school with her “high-heeled pumps” (18.1)
 Lee really emphasises Miss Caroline being from North Alabama. “She wore
a red-and-white striped dress” (18.1) She also outlines this when Miss
Caroline writes on the blackboard, “I am North Alabaman” (18.4)
 This is the reason she says: “We don’t write until the third grade”. This
helps to reinforce the fact that she is very narrow-minded and is a
microcosm for society
 “ As the year passed…” This shows that Scout is finding school boring and
repetitive simply as she is so ahead that she is not learning anything new,
“ Now you tell your father not to teach you any more.” (19.5)
School (3)
 An example of Miss Caroline’s way of teaching via the Dewey Decimal
System is when, she reads the class a story about cats and seems
blithely unaware that she's already completely lost her audience, a
bunch of farm kids who Scout says are "immune to imaginative
literature”
 Scout’s sophisticated description of her classmates shows that her
caliber is much greater than the others and that her education
predominantly comes from home via lessons taught from Atticus,
Calpurnia, Aunt Alexandria, Miss Maudie, Mrs. Dubose, etc.
 On the first day of school Scout learns one of the most important lessons
of understanding others perspective on things. Miss Caroline offers to
lend Walter Cunningham Jr. a quarter for lunch, telling him to pay her
back the next day. Scout tries to explain to Miss Caroline that Walter
doesn't have the money to pay her back. Scout doesn't consider the fact
that Miss Caroline doesn't know all of the social and cultural rules of
Maycomb. In Chapter 3, Scout realises this when she says to Atticus, “if
Walter and I had put ourselves in her shoes we’d have seen it was an
honest mistake on her part. We could not expect her to learn all
Maycomb’s ways in one day”
Atticus (1)
 Atticus teaches Scout a fundamental skill of life which is reading, Scout
explains “I never deliberately learnt to read”. This shows that it is
natural and indicates her love for reading. Since, her ability is natural,
she inherits good habits such as reading from Atticus.
 The main education is in the forms of lessons learnt from Atticus. These
are moral lessons preparing not only Scout but also Jem for adult life
e.g. “You never really understand another person until you climb into his
skin and walk around it” (Atticus said this to Scout and Jem referring to
Boo Radley”
 “I never went to school” (35.5) Atticus says this light heartedly to Scout.
This helps the reader to also understand why he was so keen about he
children’s schooling. Also shows us his high intellect
 “Are we poor?... We are indeed.” Atticus educates Scout with the
different types of poor in Maycomb. This helps Scout to respect others
differences in the town. For example, the Cunningham’s are poor in
terms of money but are honourable people, “they will never take what
they can’t give back” whereas, the Ewell’s are poor in terms of honour
as opposed to money
 Atticus teaches “It’s a sin to kill a Mockingbird” This teaches the
children that there are innocent people who are being destroyed by evil.
This reflects that fact that there are mockingbirds in the novel for
example, Tom Robinson being destroyed by Bob Ewell.
Atticus (2)
 Scout says to Miss Caroline that Atticus, “ain’t got time to teach us
anything” This shows that Scout is a clever, natural and able learner
 Scout approaches Atticus with issues with regards to her education and
he helps her to comprehend that it is essential that she gains a good
education, even though she might find the process long and annoying.
Atticus will continue to read with her and teach her at home. Patently,
Atticus sees many weaknesses in the education system, however keeps
Scout in school so that when grown up she can be apart of the educated
society. However, his teaching at home, both morally and otherwise, is
far more valuable to his children than anything they learn in the
classroom. Scout notices this most obviously when learning about the
Holocaust. Her teacher explains that such oppression of one group of
people could never happen in the United States and Scout is astonished.
She heard Miss Gates outside the court house during Tom Robinson's trial
saying that, referring to black people, she thought it was, "time
somebody taught them a lesson, they thought they was getting' way
above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry
us." Scout sees Miss Gates's statement about blacks in clear conflict with
her statement about the equality in America.
 Source : http://www.gradesaver.com/to-kill-a-mockingbird/study-
guide/themes
Calpurnia
 “Atticus said, Calpurnia had more education than most other coloured
folks” (27.3) This is something that Atticus regularly reminds his
children and this reinforces the idea of upper class VS lower class
blacks. It also shows that she should not be disregarded as she is of
higher social status than some whites e.g. The Ewell’s
 In Chapter 3, Walter Cunningham Jr. comes for dinner and he pours
syrup all over his food. Scout comments rudely and Calpurnia educates
her to act morally, “That boy's yo' comp'ny and if he wants to eat up the
table cloth you let him, you hear?” (27.5)
 Calpurnia is shown to be a privileged black person with an education as
evident by the good language she uses in the Finch household, “ Her
grammar was as good as anybody’s in Maycomb” (27.4) However, when
she is at the Free Purchase Church she talks in a very different way, she
explains, “Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks' talk at home it'd
be out of place, wouldn't it?” (chapter 12) The fact that she is
conversing in her friends' dialect indicates that she does not want to
feel superior to them and shows the difference in education in society
between the whites and the blacks
 Jem suggests that the church should invest in some hymn books however
Calpurnia says, “they can’t read” (chapter 12) This also shows the
difference in education between the whites and the blacks
Aunt Alexandra

 There are different ways in which Aunt Alexandra

teaches mainly Scout.
 At first her sole purpose is to make Scout a young,
disciplined lady. She is trying to make her elegant.
 We see this after Aunty Alexandra comes to the Finch
Family where she dresses Scout like a lady and educating
her to become a lady.
 We also see Aunt Alexandra behave like a mother to the
younger Scout and Dill. She behaves like a strict mother
who wants to educate her children as well as she can.
 “She’s (Aunt Alexandra) trying to make you lady. Can’t
you take up sewin’ or something?” – Jem to Scout
Miss Maudie
 When Scout calls a “nigger snowman” (chapter 8) a
“morphodite”, Miss Maudie corrects her by calling it a
“Hermaphrodite”. This shows that she has probably had
a good education as she knows a rare term for an
organism with a mixture of organs from a man and
women.
The Town (1)
 During the first few chapters, we see Jem cry
when he sees that the tree dies, this shows that
when he was educated about the “dying” tree, he
has learnt about the cycle of life and death which
links him to his mother’s death, which makes him
more emotional.
 The children later on the book are also educated
by Mrs. Dubose’s death due to her addiction of
morphine, an illness. Here they learn that they
should always respect the elder, because they
never know what problems they have and if they
are dying.
The Town (2)
 At the tea party Scout is educated on how the
town has a lot of hypocrites. This is shown when
Mrs. Merriweather at the tea party talks how they
feel “sorry” for the poverty in Africa when they
are saying rude things about people right next to
them: “ That darky’s (Tom Robinson’s) wife…”
The Town (3)
 When Tim Johnson is shot by Atticus due to his
illness which makes him mad, the children get
educated when Cal rings Atticus which shows Jem
and Scout that Atticus is responsible for the town
and its safety. Then when Atticus shoots the dog
in one shot, Jem and Scout learn that Atticus isn’t
just an old man who doesn’t have any energy, and
are surprised: “Don’t you know your daddy’s
–‘‘Hush Heck, let’s get back into town’” This then
however shows that Atticus does not want to
educate his children that he was the best shooter
in Maycomb, showing how violent he is.
The Trial(1)
 During the trial, Scout, Jem and Dill both learn a
lot and are hugely educated. Firstly during the
trial when we see Tom Robinson being treated
unfairly, we see how Dill begins to cry. This show
how the children are educated how there is racism
and cruelty throughout the town. This is shown
when Mr. Gilmer talks to Tom Robinson: “Scared
of arrest, scared you’d hafta face up to what you
did?”
The Trial (2)
 During the trial Jem and Scout have innocent
childlike knowledge which is developed into adult
like knowledge. This is shown when Jem begins to
question why Tom gets convicted and talks to
Atticus about adult topics like rape and the trial:
“It ain’t right Atticus” and then later on “ …
maybe rape shouldn’t be a capital offence
 Scout learns and applies Atticus’ golden rule.
When Atticus and Scout