How is public education treated in To Kill a Mockingbird and in the American South?

What is it about?

I look at how the novel To Kill a Mockingbird criticizes the institution of public education (much of that criticism is presented as very funny, biting satire) and how that criticism can be understood historically. Wealthy landowners in the American South have a long history of sending their own children to private tutors or academies. They also have a long history of resisting attempts to educate the general population through free, mandatory public education.

Featured Image