Harper Lee died on February 19, 2016. She was well-known for her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel was published in 1960 and was made into a film in 1962 which brought an Academy Award for Gregory Peck in the same year for his performance as Atticus Finch. We thought we need to pay tribute to Harper Lee when we witness so many mockingbirds dying each day. We need justice for all.
The English Department has taught the novel at Lise 1 level for many years. This year a prep class read the novel with their English teacher, Meredith Phinney. We would like to thank Meredith Phinney for her contribution.
I think that Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is one of those novels that one might consider timeless. In today’s world I think we often feel that times have changed. It has been my experience that when teaching this novel the fundamental basics of humanity have actually stayed the same.
It is our jobs as educators and parents to try and plant new ideas in our student's minds. To inspire them to believe that in this ever changing world it is our duty as responsible citizens to recognize the inherent problems that exist and try to work to change them.
Some may ask how a novel about the Middle America can do this and rightly so. The novel itself takes place in the early 1930’s… can we really expect our children in this technologically and globalized world to relate to such a text? The answer is un equivocally yes.
If we truly believe in the importance of developing and fostering character in our students, that learning goes beyond the memorization of facts and figures… that the concepts of empathy, resilience and our responsibility to help those in need are lessons that need to be taught, then there is no doubt that Lee’s story illustrates so many of these abstract concepts. It gives students the opportunity to take a glimpse back in history and then reflect on the important issues that plague our society today.
I have had the luck and good fortune to travel and teach in many different countries from North America to the Middle East to South East Asia and finally to Turkey. I am proud to include To Kill a Mockingbird in the curriculum at The American College of Izmir. In our world today, when things are not going as well as we would like or when we think that we might be fighting a losing battle I think it is relevant to look to the words of Atticus Finch;
"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."
Sometimes you do.
I asked my students what they thought about To Kill a Mockingbird and what lessons they believed they learned, liked or if it is still relevant.
Below are some of their repsonses:
1. It makes us think about racism, discrimination and civil right issues.
2. We experienced the story from a child’s perspective which shows that children are not born racist but are taught how to be racist.
3. Everyone deserves equal rights.
4. Not everybody is what they seem.
5. It teaches us to accept people the way they are.
6. Family is really important, and doesn’t always require blood relations.
7. Even though the time is different the same problems still exist today.
8. Nobody should be judged by their past, they should be given a chance.
As I read over their responses all I could think of was what kind of world would we live in if we all thought this way?
