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Paper #3

This document discusses why To Kill a Mockingbird should remain in school curriculum. It argues that teaching about racism and inequality through the novel allows students to develop empathy, understand historical injustice, and recognize how systems can be designed to promote oppression. While the book contains offensive language and themes, exposing students to this history prevents ignorance and the repetition of past mistakes. The document also notes that the novel depicts how characters like Atticus Finch aimed to maintain racial order, not equality, highlighting the need for critical analysis of systems that enabled racism.

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Janelle Sanabria
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102 views

Paper #3

This document discusses why To Kill a Mockingbird should remain in school curriculum. It argues that teaching about racism and inequality through the novel allows students to develop empathy, understand historical injustice, and recognize how systems can be designed to promote oppression. While the book contains offensive language and themes, exposing students to this history prevents ignorance and the repetition of past mistakes. The document also notes that the novel depicts how characters like Atticus Finch aimed to maintain racial order, not equality, highlighting the need for critical analysis of systems that enabled racism.

Uploaded by

Janelle Sanabria
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Janelle Sanabria

Eng 102
Paper #3
May 4th 2021

Why do we still teach To Kill a Mockingbird


The story of To Kill a Mockingbird is a staple in almost every American English
curriculum. Written by Harper Lee in 1960, it is notorious for dealing with themes of rape,
segregation, racism, and general inequality. With such graphic themes and horrifying ideals
many people wonder why this book is taught to children and teenagers. With it being one of the
most notorious books for education on the era, to not teach To Kill a Mockingbird would be a
shame. Many young students are still learning what it means to be different from one another,
and how to go about dealing with it. Although parents and some teachers alike have stressed that
To Kill a Mockingbird is a racist book harboring themes not suitable for children, many believe
that to not have it in the curriculum is doing the opposite of what is trying to be prevented. When
looking at the novel from an educational standpoint, Should To Kill a Mockingbird remain in
school curriculum?

To Kill a Mockingbird teaches about the difficulty of understanding differences and


finding empathy. The entirety of To Kill a Mockingbird is seen through the lens of 6-year-old
Scout Finch, a young girl who is terrified of the unknown. She is coming into an age where
things begin to make sense, and innocence begins shedding. Throughout this process, it is shown
that scout displays empathy and often questions the racist nature of her town. One of her biggest
discoveries within the book involves her reflection on Boo Radly and their differences. Students
are able to put themselves in the shoes of Scout, Jem, Dill, or even Boo Radly to understand that
the world is confusing, and that’s ok. By asking questions, and knowing when to hold your
tongue, you can develop and grow as a human being. Scout continuously asks her father, Atticus
Finch, about the trial he is currently representing, since he is representing a black man. Atticus
often tells scout that you need to climb into someone’s skin and walk around to understand them.
This is a very important lesson to be taught to young students emerging into high school.
Highschool is notorious for being a stage where students are trying to find themselves, and often
bullying prevents them from feeling safe enough to do so. By providing students with a book that
preaches empathy and accepting differences they are given the opportunity to practice that.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a historical book about segregation, inequality, and corrupt


justice systems. Harper Lee herself had grown up during this era and watched firsthand how
Black people were treated in the 1940’s. According to an article written by Daniel S. Levy, he
states that Harper Lees father was a lawyer, used as the inspiration for Atticus, and she would
spend a great amount of time in court rooms watching her father argue cases. As Lee continued
to grow, Three notable cases were paralleled from her own youth. One such case was by her own
father. According to that same article, Levy writes: “Seven years before Harper’s birth (in
1926), the senior Lee defended two blacks accused of murder. At the time, “the idea that
someone like Lee would represent a black is by no means abnormal or unusual, though
not typical,” says Wayne Flynt, distinguished university professor emeritus at Auburn
University and a friend of Harper Lee. “People like her father had grown up in churches.
They were not threatened intellectually, economically or politically by blacks.” A.C.
Lee’s clients were executed, and he was so overcome that he never took another criminal
case.” (Levy) Another notable case was the trial of the Scottsboro Boys. According to
History.com, after a fight broke between blacks and whites, police arrested nine black
men ranging from age 13 to 19 on minor charges. However, they were later accused of
rape by two white woman, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price. These eight men and one boy
were charged with a crime they never committed. Harper Lee strongly believed that by
basing the Robinson case off the cases she had heard about from her lifetime, she could
garner hope for a change in the future. It is incredibly important for students to learn
about these parts of American history so that they can understand how to actively fight
for change.

To kill a Mockingbird also indirectly tells readers how the system is not made to be fair.
For example, according to an essay by Errin Haines, she writes about how in reality, Atticus
Finch was a man who accepted the assignment not because he was fighting for racial equality,
but because he wanted to keep racial order and justice in Maycomb. He was trying to protect a
black life because he knew what that would mean for Maycomb if he didn’t. He knew that
Maycomb’s racial hierarchy would uproot itself. Upon losing the case, both black and white
characters eventually continued in their unequal, racist lives, as if they had learned nothing. This
novel emphasizes the fact that despite the fight for justice, no matter the color of a mans skin, is
important, but the hatred for men and women of color was stronger. Haines continues, saying:
“Six decades later, what "Mockingbird" makes clear is that the system works the way it is
designed, that this is the way things have always been. In an entire book premised on the idea of
right and wrong, the earnest townspeople are able to see this in every other area except race. It is
Dill, Scout and Jem who repeatedly question Maycomb's racism, only to have it repeatedly
explained away by the adults they love, respect and trust, reinforcing and normalizing a culture
of oppression.” (Haines) It is important that we take what is written from To Kill a Mockingbird
and use it to understand why its wrong for systems to be rooted in racism. Not only this, but it is
important for students to understand that you do not have to agree with your parents racist or
oppressive ideologies if you feel that it is incorrect.

Although many people argue that To Kill a Mockingbird will enable students to carry out
racist acts or repeat the slurs written in the book, it has the opposite effect. Not teaching children
about race and racism can lead to said child becoming a racist themselves. Similarly to Scout,
children fear the unknown. By not teaching the disparities of black Americans in the early 1930’s
and beyond they will separate themselves based on what they are comfortable with. Some
students may be introduced to this book already having racist ideals, so it is important to prevent
or dismantle anti-blackness by showing children how anti-blackness is wrong. By hiding away
the language used within the book we are masking the disgusting history that was 1930’s
southern America. To Kill a Mockingbird is timeless and many of the central issues found within
it are still prevalent today. It provides an opportunity for students to compare events from this
decade to the book and prove how the problems exist today. This actively provides an avenue for
students to continue to fight against inequality, all while broadening their world view. In an
article by Errin Haines, she mentions how Black Americans are still waiting on white people to
do their part against racism, and that To Kill a Mockingbird is a cautionary tale bedded in truth
about what happens when white people put their own privileges first. Educating students about
these kinds of issues prevents them from creating them.

When looking at To Kill a Mockingbird through an educational lens, this novel is


important to the development of students’ ability to recognize inequality. Although it has strong
language such as the N word, the novel is not promoting nor hiding the abhorrent racist past of
the American south. Keeping this novel in schools will allow students to learn about expressing
their differences and practicing empathy. Giving students the chance to also learn about the
historical accuracy of the book provides an avenue for them to learn about anti-racism, as well as
understand the struggles of the student next to them. It is important to continue to learn, and not
hide, books that delve into the history of racism. As George Santayana once said, “Those who
cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Works Cited

Haines, Errin. "The truths 'To Kill a Mockingbird' tells about white people." Washington Post, 23
July 2020. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A630317657/OVIC?
u=scha51546&sid=OVIC&xid=c94ff662. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021.
Scottsboro Boys
"Scottsboro Boys". HISTORY, 2021, https://www.history.com/topics/great-
depression/scottsboro-boys. Accessed 29 April 2021.

The Civil Rights Movement and 'To Kill a Mockingbird'


"The Civil Rights Movement And 'To Kill A Mockingbird'". Time, 2021,
https://time.com/3928162/mockingbird-civil-rights-movement/. Accessed 29 April 2021.

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