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Should To Kill A Mockingbird Be Taught In Schools Essay

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Why To Kill a Mockingbird should continue to be taught in the classroom.
According to research done by Scientific American; children as young as five years old tend to care deeply about what others think about them, and kids as young as seven years old start to connect by asking for help with looking ignorant in front of their peers. Books like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee are a great way to help show students that it is okay to ask questions and learn things before going out on their own and looking foolish. But those same books are being taken off the shelves at schools and are no longer allowed to be taught because some believe the book is too grim and brutal for students. That is why To Kill a Mockingbird should continue to be …show more content…

Thinking like this involves sensitive topics like racism and prejudice, which are hardly ever talked about in society or schools. But Harper Lee defied the culture during her time with her book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by having Atticus Finch say this in his closing speech at the courthouse;
"...the evil assumption—that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption that one associates with minds of their calibre. Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you." (Lee 232) McDonnald 2
The quote above is significant because it shows Atticus' character and his view on prejudice. Atticus is very different from most people in Maycomb because he does not believe one should discriminate. This statement makes students question how Atticus compares or contrasts with themselves or their communities. The statement also gets students thinking and engaging themselves, which causes them to consider the context and how those who read it after the book was published felt about it. Also, many people do not think to tell students about the horrors of racism until they are much older, which is one reason many parents do not want To Kill a Mockingbird taught in schools. But CastleLearning’s article "3 Reasons Why We Still Need to Teach To Kill a Mockingbird" creates a valid argument by

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