Importance Of Education In To Kill A Mockingbird

Children go to school to gain knowledge, but life can give children the most important education. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem, and Scout are two growing children navigating life in the 1930’s in racist Alabama. They see racism throughout their town and have to navigate how they want to live their lives or follow their town. In their own school, they see racist people, and they often question what they hear, see, and learn. Scout and Jem both learn most of their knowledge from, their father Atticus, their maid Calpurnia, and their neighbors. The people that are present in their lives shape Jem and Scout into the people they are becoming. Education from school helps Jem and Scout advance, but the information they learn from life allows them to mature. Scout learns a major lesson about empathy towards others when she invites Walter Cunningham, a boy she goes to school with, over to her house. Scout does not realize that she is disrespectful to him when she makes mean comments. Scout learns a lesson when Calpurnia yells, “Don’t matter who they are, anybody who sets foot in this house’s yo’ comp’ny.” after Scout embarrassed Walter by saying he has bad manners (Lee 33). Scout learned that she should always respect others. She was embarrassed by what she said because she realized it was wrong. Scout is surrounded by people in her town who are judgemental, and she

The education from school that Jem and Scout learn is not nearly as valuable as the knowledge they obtain from life. From going through life Jem and Scout learn a valuable lesson that helped they mature. Jem and Scout both learned that life is not fair during Tom Robison’s trial, that not all individuals are treated equally, and to have empathy toward others. Jem and Scout both learned these lessons from growing up witnessing these lessons at a young age. The real education that Jem and Scout learned was from their family, and their town, and they taught them the most valuable