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The Importance of a Moral

Education
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper
Lee
The Theme of Education
 Education is one of the key themes of ‘To Kill
a Mockingbird’.
 Harper Lee comments both on formal
education systems and informal life lessons,
and the importance of each of these.
Formal Education
 Miss Caroline represents formal education in the
novel (see Chapter 2).
 Before going to school Scout is excited; however, her
first day is generally a negative experience.
 Miss Caroline is young and inexperienced, and is
also unfamiliar with Maycomb. She tries to impose
rigidly the techniques she has learned in college.
 Scout can already read and write; because this is not
what Miss Caroline had planned for, she is
unimpressed and regards this as a flaw in Scout.
Formal vs. Informal
Formal Education: Miss Caroline and the teaches
at the Maycomb school

Vs.

Informal Education: Atticus, Maudie, Jem and


the other people of Maycomb
Atticus and the People of
Maycomb

How Learning is
Transmitted

Scout Jem
Formal Education
“She discovered I was literate and looked at me with faint distaste.”
(ch2)

Miss Caroline’s form of education is structured and does not take into
account the needs of individuals.

“The Dewey Decimal System consisted, in part, of Miss Caroline


waving cards at us which were printed ‘the’, ‘cat’, ‘rat’ and ‘man’.”

Miss Caroline’s form of education teaches academic subjects but is


not concerned with the moral and spiritual development of the
children.
Informal Education
 Miss Caroline is in sharp contrast with Atticus.
 Atticus allows the children lots of freedom to
explore the neighbourhood and to play with
whoever they want – for example, he allows
the children to bring the lower-class Walter
Cunningham to dinner.
Informal Education
 The children learn important lessons from
those around them.
 Maudie teaches them respect and love for
living things; she also teaches them about their
father.
 Mrs Dubose teaches the children (especially
Jem) about courage.
 Atticus teaches the children about courage,
fairness, patience and understanding.
Informal Education

“It was the first time I ever walked away from a fight.” (Ch
9)

“Scout, I think I’m beginning to understand something. I


think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s
stayed shut up in the house all this time. It’s because he
wants to stay inside.” (Ch 23)

“You never really understand a person until you consider


things from his point of view… until you climb into his
skin and walk around in it.” (Ch 3)
Informal Education
 In the very last chapter, we see that Scout has a new-found
understanding of people and the concepts dealt with in the book.

She says of Boo Radley, “Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a


mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” (Ch 30)

At the very end of the novel Atticus articulates another key concept:

“ ‘Atticus, he was real nice…’”


His hands were under my chin, pulling up the cover, tucking it
around me.
“ ‘Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.’” (Ch 31)
Summary
 The children receive two types of education: formal
(in school) and informal (at home, through
experiences and events in the book).
 Harper Lee demonstrates the inadequacies of formal
education: the children do not receive a moral
education, and the structure is overly rigid and
depersonalised.
 The advantages of informal education are
demonstrated by the fact that the children grow and
change for the better over the course of the novel.

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