Education theme of TKAM
Uploaded by 8drian on Jul 19, 2007
Education in To Kill a Mockingbird takes the form of formal and informal education just like in Australia and other countries. The two Finch children Jem (Jeremy Atticus Finch) and Scout (Jean Louise Finch) undergo education in the novel and appear to learn a limited amount. Scout’s first experience of formal education was disastrous. Although Scout was a talented student with exceptional reading ability, the teacher Miss Caroline Fisher did not recognize this as a special ability that should be encouraged and instead, belittled her as if she was a freak and said that Atticus “taught her all wrong, so they can’t ever read any more. (pg33)” In this novel, Harper Lee appears to be satirizing formal education because the Dewey Decimal System that Miss Caroline referred to as the basis for reading and writing is nonsense because this is actually a system for categorizing books. While formal education is somewhat of a disappointment, the concept is still alive and well. Jem and Scout in particular learn the most important lessons in life through informal education. In terms of education, there are many teachers in the novel such as Calpurnia, Mrs Dubose, Dolphus Raymond and most importantly Atticus who provides the most valuable lessons. Atticus teaches his children many important values but the most importantly of these are perhaps understanding, tolerance and empathy. When Scout comes back from her first day at school, she is understandably disillusioned and angry. Atticus mollifies her by suggesting that life isn’t always fair and that her elders need to be respected even when they are wrong at times.