Schools are important for not just to deliver an academic education to students, but education in whole. An education is only delivered when a student is taught academic content along with content that concerns daily life, and that will help a student to be a better citizen. It is important to understand moral choices and social issues because only then society can be more peaceful and sustainable. If no one understood moral choices and social issues, crime would have been rampant in the street, and terrible issues such as slavery and racism would be prominent. So, in order to avoid such calamities, schools must take the responsibility to educate students about moral choices and social issues.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout, the protagonist, learns about social issues in the hard way. She is unaware of the prejudice and discrimination coloured people have to face in her hometown, until her father, Atticus, who is a lawyer, is asked to defend a black man charged with the rape of a white woman called Mayella Ewell. In the court, as an onlooker, Scout learns how unfair the court is towards Black people. Even though Tom Robinson, the black man charged with the crime, is proven to be innocent by Atticus, the jury convicts Tom because he is black and they believe the 'white man's words' over his. When Scout leaves the court, she understands that racism is a serious social issue, and she shall not be racist when she becomes an adult.
Furthermore, during the court hearing, Scout learns an immoral choice not to make: it is wrong to lie in court. Atticus flushes the lies of the Mayella Ewell and her father's when he tricks them into exposing their irregularity of their version of the events. Mayella Ewell and her father were clearly lieing. Because they had lied, Tom Robinson was convicted for a crime he had not committed. We can see from this example that Scout had to understand moral choices and social issues by experience. However, if she did not have this experience then she would have grown up like the prejudiced townsfolk of the town she lived in, and would probably had committed the same immoral choices. She would have never understood how unfair and serious social issues like racism are, and would have been prejudiced towards coloured people.
We can see from the example from To Kill a Mockingbird how important it is for school to help students understand moral choices and social issues. We cannot rely on students to understand moral choices and social issues by experience because such experiences may never occur, or we cannot expect parents to edify their children. If schools do help students understand moral choices and social issues, society can progress as a whole because while having useful knowledge, the students (when they become adults) will be able to make the right decisions as they understand moral choices and social issues and pass on their knowledge on these matters to the next generation.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout, the protagonist, learns about social issues in the hard way. She is unaware of the prejudice and discrimination coloured people have to face in her hometown, until her father, Atticus, who is a lawyer, is asked to defend a black man charged with the rape of a white woman called Mayella Ewell. In the court, as an onlooker, Scout learns how unfair the court is towards Black people. Even though Tom Robinson, the black man charged with the crime, is proven to be innocent by Atticus, the jury convicts Tom because he is black and they believe the 'white man's words' over his. When Scout leaves the court, she understands that racism is a serious social issue, and she shall not be racist when she becomes an adult.
Furthermore, during the court hearing, Scout learns an immoral choice not to make: it is wrong to lie in court. Atticus flushes the lies of the Mayella Ewell and her father's when he tricks them into exposing their irregularity of their version of the events. Mayella Ewell and her father were clearly lieing. Because they had lied, Tom Robinson was convicted for a crime he had not committed. We can see from this example that Scout had to understand moral choices and social issues by experience. However, if she did not have this experience then she would have grown up like the prejudiced townsfolk of the town she lived in, and would probably had committed the same immoral choices. She would have never understood how unfair and serious social issues like racism are, and would have been prejudiced towards coloured people.
We can see from the example from To Kill a Mockingbird how important it is for school to help students understand moral choices and social issues. We cannot rely on students to understand moral choices and social issues by experience because such experiences may never occur, or we cannot expect parents to edify their children. If schools do help students understand moral choices and social issues, society can progress as a whole because while having useful knowledge, the students (when they become adults) will be able to make the right decisions as they understand moral choices and social issues and pass on their knowledge on these matters to the next generation.
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