A Rigid Education System

• An education can be achieved at home
• The home education provides the knowledge that the children need for their lifestyle (ex: farming techniques, weather awareness, cooking, reading the paper etc.)
• A desire to learn will take you farther than being forced into school
• Higher educational universities are only necessary for those establishing themselves in the medical, law, government, etc. systems
• Basic skills you can learn from home (reading, writing, arithmetic) are enough for making a living and anything more may not be necessary for most lifestyles

Atticus's system of learning worked for his home setting, but for families whose parents are not educated or ones that do not have time to learn cannot use this home schooling system. Education was obviously praised and important in the Finch household; however, other families may not need the knowledge or could invest their time in other activities. For these cases, the only place the children would get an education is at school. This is where the necessity of knowing the three R's is learned. Dewey's system is great for those who are only educated at school, but for students like Scout, there is no advanced option to progress themselves. She is being stalled while others are being caught up to her level. The rigidity of the system is shown when Miss Stephanie tells Scout to stop reading and writing in cursive for she is ahead of the schedule. She does not know what to do with Scout other than to hold her back from her potential. This shows how the Dewey system is beneficial for some but not others. Not everyone can afford a home education so the Dewey system provides the most basic education for the majority. There can be many improvements made on the current education system and there needs to be if the US as a whole is ever going to compete with other countries in the sciences and technologies.

A Rigid Education System

Works Cited

Taylor Briggs

"John Dewey". Only A Teacher: Schoolhouse Pioneers.

PBS. 10 June 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/john.html>

Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. Grand Central

Publishing: New York. 1960

Novack, George. "John Dewey's Theories of Education".

International Socialist Review, Vol. 21, No. 1, Winter 1960. 10 June 2013. <http://www.marxists.org/archive/novack/works/1960/x03.htm>

Pros and Cons of Each

Flaws

• Progressive Education: students must be invested in what they are learning
• Crucial aspects: students must learn by doing and learn practical life skills
• Blend the attention to the child as an individual with rights and claims of his own with a recognition of the gulf between an outdated and class-distorted educational set-up inherited from the past and the urgent requirements of the new era (Novack)
• Democratic Approach:

1. Schools would be freely available to all from kindergarten to college

2. The children would themselves carry on the educational process, aided and guided by the teacher

3. They would be trained to behave cooperatively, sharing with and caring for one another

--these creative, well-adjusted equalitarians would make over American society in their own image (Novack)

John Dewey's Principles

Progressive Education Doctrines

1. The conduct of the pupils shall be governed by themselves, according to the social needs of the community.

2. Interest shall be the motive for all work.

3. Teachers will inspire a desire for knowledge, and will serve as guides in the investigations undertaken, rather than as task-masters.

4. Scientific study of each pupil’s development, physical, mental, social and spiritual, is absolutely essential to the intelligent direction of his development.

5. Greater attention is paid to the child’s physical needs, with greater use of the out-of-doors.

6. Cooperation between school and home will fill all needs of the child’s development such as music, dancing, play and other extra-curricular activities.

The Homeschooling System

Atticus's Opinion on Education

Atticus and Jack's educations are used to exemplify the flaws in the education that Scout and Jem are getting. Atticus becomes a lawyer and Jack becomes a doctor starting with a home schooled education. The basic knowledge that they received at home was enough to carry them to college. After that, their desire to learn and better themselves was enough for them to achieve their careers. Atticus teaches Scout at home and by the time she starts school, she already knows how to read and she can write in cursive from Calpurnia's teachings. She is told to not do either any more for she is learning them too early and therefore wrongly. This is problematic for Scout because she is stuck in a class that she is already ahead in. In her case, her education is being hindered for rather than sitting in a classroom that she is not learning in, she could be at home reading the paper or doing simple math cooking with Calpurnia. She becomes frustrated for she knows her father never had to go to school and he is one of the smartest people in Maycomb, yet she is forced to go to school.

Background photo by t.shigesa