To Kill A Mockingbird Chapter 1-14 Summary

Chapter 16 starts with the narrator and Chris begins their trek into the mountains. The difficult route reminds the narrator of the philosophical terrain Phaedrus trekked in search of Quality. On this mental journey, Phaedrus becomes frustrated at his inability to define Quality so he turns to a non-metaphysical explanation that revolves around his teachings. Ultimately, Phaedrus realizes that the institutional setting of the university promotes grade-motivated “mules” that were taught to simply reiterate and memorize facts that are likely to hinder what he would call “Quality.” For this reason, Phaedrus decides to challenge the university’s institutional components by withholding the student’s grades for an entire quarter. The purpose of
By abiding with “the system,” thinkers begin to believe in conventional teaching tactics that only involve rewards such as grades. Modifying this system, Phaedrus discovers that students can achieve greater goals once they are free from the educational boundaries of an institutionalized university. This is when Quality is most seen. Eventually, students begin to discover the theoretical information that inspires them that does not require external pushes. Only self-discipline can create a motivation that is unprecedented. Exemplified by Phaedrus’ experiment, once the students accepted the fate of withholding the grades, they were able to produce contagious, Quality work from their own will. The point of this passage is that once rewards and immediate reimbursements are removed from an educational standpoint, students are left with nothing but their self-determination. For some, this creates a new level of Quality that is developed through independent work. Once the students advance form being educational mules that are fed and whipped to do good work, they will discover how to succeed on their own. Students will begin to experience intellectual freedom and individual drive for Quality work when they are free from institutional shackles they have worn all their lives. This relates to Aristotle’s philosophy of a human’s function. It is believed Aristotle would
The withholding grade experiment helped Phaedrus’ quest of Quality, but became discouraged by his inability to provide a positive goal for his students. Dissatisfied, Phaedrus claims that there is a more viable and constructive concept of Quality. This passage helps illustrate how Quality is the overarching concept that students and thinkers can perceive information in both the subjective and objective terms. The subjective students are the excelling A and B students who are self-disciplined learners that create Quality work. The objective students are the C and below students who find motivation in grading systems and stick to the institutionalized university system. This passage introduces an elementary definition of Quality and will allow the narrator to begin to understand his world by this division of subjective and objective