It is how these flawed characters influence and are influenced by the major themes underpinning their society. We learn how important education is to Atticus and his children in the first chapter when Jem announces to Dill that Scout has known how to read since she was a baby. Atticus reads to the children from newspapers and magazines as if they are adults who can understand issues at his level. By the time Scout attends her first day of school she is highly literate, far surpassing the other children in the classroom and frustrating her teacher whose task it is to teach her students according to a predetermined plan. It soon becomes clear why Atticus thinks education is so important.
Education is the key to unlocking the ignorance that causes such prejudice.
Jem begins to understand this lesson toward the end of the book when he wonders whether family status could be based more on education than on bloodlines. Jem also learns powerful lessons from his father regarding bravery and cowardice. Early in Mockingbird we learn that Atticus does not approve of guns. He believes that guns do not make men brave and that the children's fascination with guns is unfounded. To prove his point, he sends Jem to read for Mrs. Dubose who struggles to beat her morphine addiction before she dies.