Scout’s Journal #2

This summer had been one of the greatest summers ever! Jem, Dill and I had been acting out plays and having a good all time for many weeks. Acting out plays were always fun when Jem and I did them but Dill made it even more fun. It was great having a third person for the plays and Dill is an excellent actor. Well summer was fantastic and positively breezed by but I was even more excited for my first day of school. Jem had told me all about it and it sounded fantastic. Atticus had been teaching me for years now but now I could finally unlock my potential and learn with people my age. I loved to read and school seemed to be the perfect place for me. I couldn’t wait for school to start.

 My dreams were unfortunately dashed when I entered the classroom for the first time. My teacher wasn’t from around these parts and didn’t know the ways of the town. At lunch time, the teacher insisted that Walter Cunningham borrow money from her when she saw he didn’t have a lunch. She didn’t understand that the Cunninghams were poor and didn’t borrow money from nobody. When I explained this to her she was very angry and I didn’t know why. I was just trying to help. To make things worse, she was also angry that I knew how to read. Atticus had been reading to me for a long time now and of course I had picked up a few things.

My teacher insisted that she be the one to teach us and that Atticus was not a teacher and didn’t know how to teach. Not only did she not want me to display all my skills in class, she also forbade from learning from Atticus. Atticus reading to me was one of my favourite pass times and I was furious that he could no longer teach me. Jem says that my teacher is trying to teach in a new way and that this teaching system is spreading throughout the school. Well I certainly don’t like her teaching and my resolution is to ask Atticus’s advice.