To Kill A Mockingbird Central Idea Analysis

I thought that this idea was interesting because I believe the central idea of To Kill a Mockingbird is the importance of education for a structured society. Scout discovers on her first day of school that Miss Caroline, her first grade teacher, does not understand the ways of Maycomb, and the children find that they are teaching her more than she teaches them. Although the curriculum is being changed, which suggests moving forward, the school system is really moving backward because the younger children are no more educated than the older ones, and no moral value is taught or learned. Scout says herself that she found she ". . .could not help receiving the impression that I was being cheated out of something. . ." as she talks about her week
of school. The result is learning nothing of significance and ultimately dumbing down the society, which only results in more prejudice and sexism. Most of the children that Scout meets are either uneducated or carry the same prejudices of their parents because they are never taught otherwise. However, the reader can clearly see that the reason Scout and Jem are different from their classmates is because Atticus makes sure that he educates them on the evils that they will face in society; everything of moral value comes from Atticus, not the school district. Whenever Scout asks him a question, he always answers truthfully, unlike the corrupt and hypocritical education system. When Scout tells Miss Caroline she can read and write, the teacher, considering herself superior to Atticus, reprimands her and tells her she can no longer learn to read at home.
Miss Caroline, however, can’t even teach a successful lesson in her classroom. By putting himself in his children’s skin and “walking around in it”, Atticus teaches Scout and Jem how to treat others with dignity and reminds them often that all people are created equal, no matter their skin color or social status. Scout and Jem learn how to turn the other cheek when confronted with ridicule and that “being a gentleman” is not about how strong, young or muscular one is, but rather about one’s virtue and treatment of others. Due to Atticus’ moral teaching, by the end of the book, Scout says she has learned “practically everything” and is able to conclude that “there’s only one kind of folks, folks.” Scout and Jem are able to see the world around them with a Christian point of view, not because of their education system, but because of the lessons that Atticus has taught them. Harper Lee uses the the sharp contrast between Atticus’ moral teaching and the corruption of the school system to show that without a solid moral education, the innocence of children is destroyed and nothing is left but social
decay.