In Chapter 2 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout attends her very first day of school, something she has looked forward to all her life. Yet, she is very disappointed with her experience because it seems to her school is hindering her learning rather than helping her learn. For a while after her first day, Scout undertakes a "campaign to avoid school."By Chapter 3, Scout's first tacticto get out of...
In Chapter 2 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout attends her very first day of school, something she has looked forward to all her life. Yet, she is very disappointed with her experience because it seems to her school is hindering her learning rather than helping her learn. For a while after her first day, Scout undertakes a "campaign to avoid school."
By Chapter 3, Scout's first tactic to get out of school is to try and convince her father she could learn at home. Both Atticus and his brother Jack had been educated by their father on the family farm, Finch's Landing. Therefore, Scout reasons, "You never went to school and you do all right, so I'll just stay home too. You can teach me like Granddaddy taught you 'n' Uncle Jack" (Ch. 3).
Scout's second tactic is to argue that it would not be against the law for her to discontinue going to school. To make her case, she references Burris Ewell, who only goes to school on the first day. Since it is so difficult to get the Ewell children to attend school, Maycomb's legal authorities feel they have fulfilled their duty to the law by at least getting the names of the Ewell children on the roll-call sheet the first day. However, Atticus argues that "sometimes it's better to bend the law a little in special cases," whereas upright citizens like the Finch's must always be required to rigorously uphold the law.
Though both of these tactics failed to keep her out of school, Scout continues to try to find ways to get out of school, as detailed in Chapter 9.
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