Jean Louise Finch Quality Of Education Essay

Jean Louise Finch criticizes the quality of education in schools. Firstly, she implies that prison education is better than the education given in regular schools “The other boys attended the industrial school and received the best secondary education to be had in the state, one of them eventually worked his way through engineering school at Auburn” (Lee 11). The words “best secondary education” implies that children in a prison-like setting receive a higher quality of education than the children who attend regular school. In addition, the school of “Auburn” is relatively hard to enter. Therefore, the entire sentence further implies that one would have a better chance to attend a prestigious college with a prison education. Next, when Scout attends school her first day, Miss Caroline scolds her for already knowing how to read and write: “‘Now you tell your father not to teach you any more… I’ll take over from here and try to undo the damage—’…Miss Caroline caught me writing… ‘We don’t write in the first grade, we print.
Miss Caroline uses the word “damage” to state that Scout’s father has taught Scout wrong, and only she can teach the right way to read and write. Also, Miss Caroline saying Scout “won’t learn to write until…the third grade” criticizes how teachers in school may be more harmful than helpful because they hold students back instead of encouraging them to reach their full potential. Lastly, Scout criticizes how no one enforces the school rules: “They [the Ewells] come first day every year and then leave. The truant lady gets ’em here ’cause she threatens ’em with the sheriff, but she’s give up tryin’ to hold ’em” (Lee 30). The truant lady that has “give up tryin’” shows how people take the rules very loosly and do not put much effort in reinforcing them. The Ewells who only come to school the first day do not receive any