To Kill A Mockingbird Should Be Taught In Schools Essay

The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is taught in schools all across the United States and parents are trying to stop schools from including the book in its curriculum. The parents believe or assume that the book is too harsh and cruel for their student to be reading. To Kill a Mockingbird talks about topics like racism and rape, it also uses derogatory words. They assume that students my age, 14, can’t handle books like this. Students can take a lot away from this book though and it teaches them many great lessons about the world. To Kill a Mockingbird should be taught in schools because it shows the importance of your words and teaches you about the human race, all their flaws and their goodness as well.

One reason To Kill a Mockingbird

In the 1920s and 30s, many people were narrow minded and held a lot of prejudice within themselves. Harper Lee does an amazing job of illustrating the citizens with closed off perspectives, but she is also able to show the good within almost every character. Along with that, she shows us how some of the citizens have grown out of that mindset to a more widened one. She is able to write about Atticus’s open and tolerant mind trying to teach Scout, and Jem, to be more understanding. Atticus tells Scout that “‘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’” (Lee 33). This quote from Atticus tells us that you can’t understand a person unless you try to see things from their point of view. He is teaching Scout that she shouldn’t judge someone based on her first impression and what she sees. He is telling her that there will always be more to somebody, that you can’t realize unless you think about things from their perspective. This is important because it tells us that there is always a reason behind everyone’s madness and actions. A ted

The book addresses racism, it has mentions of rape, and it uses hurtful, derogatory words. They also imagine that their children will start doing offensive things because they will have learned that it is acceptable. However, it is good that the book is so brutally honest because it shows the truth about the history of the world and the United States. Teaching students the truth, teaches them not to make those mistakes in the future. The book will educate them to not do hurtful actions or say hateful words. It teaches the students the power that their actions and words have. Mayella Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of attacking her, “‘chunk[ing] [her] on the floor an’ chok[ing] [her]’n [taking] advantage of [her]’” (Lee 205). This scene shows us that Mayella accuses Tom Robinson of raping her. We later find out that she was forced to accuse Tom by her father. This shows the power of her words because she is white and he is black, which is an advantage because back then black people were looked down upon. It was her words against his, which was almost always going to favor her, and since rape is such a heavy accusation, he was most likely never going to win. Her words were powerful because she was white, so his life was in her hands, and she could have saved him but she chose to lie and ultimately he had to suffer from her words. This