To Kill a Mockingbird

Being a global citizen is something that has become more important than ever has we connect with technology to people all around the world. An American in the 21th century may need to work with someone from the Middle East. We need to put aside our differences so we can more effectively work together. Young Zhao put it this way, " The ability to interact effectively with people who speak different languages, believe in different religions, and hold different values has become essential for all workers."(pg.112) This quote points out that with all the new connections the world is making we will have to deal with a greater diversity of views than we are used to. Because the need for global citizens is going up it is become more important that we teach our children how to be global citizens. This means that we should try to find new curriculum that encourages the morals and ethics of being a global citizen. Books and other parts of curriculum should be should be handpicked to support this way of thinking. "To kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is one of those rare books that should be read by everyone. "To Kill a Mockingbird" should be read by everyone because it shows a lot of good strong morals that are important for everyone. The books major theme of walking in another person's shoes or empathy is essential for anyone to know, but it is especially important for global citizens to learn. The quote above points out how we will need to learn to work with others with different beliefs. This though is often difficult because these people are so different from us. A lot of times people have a hard time understanding others and therefore have a hard time working with them. But if we all put ourselves in their shoes it may be easier to work with them. The novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" teaches this, which is one of the many reasons why it would be a good selection for curriculum for a twenty-first century thinker.

Even though "To Kill a Mockingbird" has many good values to many it has more immoral actions then moral as stated by Nicholas Palter, "The portrayal of conflict between children and their elders: profanity and questionable language; ungrammatical speech by characters; depictions of violence; references to sex; negative statements about authority; the lack of portrayal of family unit as the basis of American life; and references to the super-natural and witch-craft" (Patler). As you can see there is a good basis as to why we should not read this novel. For example one of the charactistics of a global citizen is etiquette. However good "To Kill a Mockingbird" is it doesn't show a lot of good etiquette. Scout and other characters often talk in slang and used poor grammar, which of course isn't setting the best example of English. To use bad language is often perceived as lack of education or disrespect which is not something sought out in 21st century learners. On top of that there are many examples of Scout not being respectful of adults. She back-talks her teacher, disregards her father's rules and often times she behaves out of control. She doesn't show respect towards her teacher, her aunt and many other adults that deserve respect. This is obviously something that we should not teach our children. Global Citizens are not classified as disrespectful and lazy in their grammar something that this book as a lot of. Even though this novel does show a lot of slang and disrespectful children you have to consider that this is just a novel not a guide to being a "global citizen". There are going to be parts of it which aren't good examples for kids to learn from. There is a good chance that she used the slang she did to show the setting of the book, the rural south in the Great Depression, which is a time where there wasn't a lot of education and so it would be reasonable to assume that many people at that time talked like that. Regardless of why people think that this book shouldn't be read, there are far more reason to read the book than to ban it.

Although "To Kill a Mockingbird" core theme is empathy there are many other more minor themes that tie into that. One of the more minor but important theme of "To Kill a Mockingbird" is the importance of not being a hypocrite. Being a hypocrite is simply: not practice what you preach. However much a person talks about what is the morally right thing to do often times they won't do it. A "global citizen" may say that they are respectful of other cultures, beliefs, etc. they may not be. An example in this in "To Kill a Mockingbird is when Mrs. Gates, Scout's third grade teacher, talks about how horrible it was for Hitler to unfairly prosecute the Jews but when Scout suggests that's what they did to Tom was similar, she says it's different because Jews are white. This statement clearly shows that Mrs. Gates was a hypocrite. Her example is a clear explanation on how horrible hypocrites can be and why not to behave that way, which is a good reason to include it in a twenty-first century curriculum. "To Kill a Mockingbird" also has major themes setting the right example for younger children. Although Atticus knows that he will probably not win the court case, he tries the best he can. He tries even though he was called a "Niger-love", and continues to perseverance. This perseverance is something that truly often times hard to do. A lot of times when you're faced with a difficult situation it