Society has always wanted to believe moral education can change the world and by educating our children "correctly", one day we all might get along. Although these are reasonable and nice sounding thoughts, they will probably never come true. This is the message portrayed to me in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird ,a well known book about a small opinionated town called Maycomb and a sister and brother named Scout and Jem. The two kids grow, with the community, experiencing and learning about racism and how to find who they are. Throughout the book I discovered with with these two characters, that the lessons and beliefs people learn as children, stick with them as they grow older, and are then passed down to future generations. Peoples opinions and views are hard to change when they have been ingrained in them by the people they love and trust.You can be educated by the teachers in schools not be racist and to be kind to others, but once you see or hear your family negatively speak to someone, you grow to accept their views as your own.
             From the very first chapters of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird , Harper Lee made a point of showing how social morals are taught at home. I realized this the first time Scout started to educate her teacher about the different families in Maycomb and how their last names went with the family's reputation. A conversation between Miss Caroline,Walter Cunningham and Scout helps describe her point.
             "'Here's a quarter. Go downtown and eat today. You can pay me back tomorrow. [Miss.Caroline]'
             'Nome thank you ma'am'[Walter Cunningham]
             'Here Walter, come get it.'[Miss Caroline]
             'Miss Caroline, he's a Cunningham. '[Scout]
             '...I beg your pardon Jean Louise?' [Miss Caroline]
             'That's O.K. ma'am. You'll get to know the country folks after a while. The Cunninghams never took anything they can't pay back --...