“To Kill a Mockingbird”

Every month, students and staff of EducationUSA Advising Center Abuja select, read, and meet to discuss a particular book. The book for the month of March was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The Pulitzer Prize winning book is one of the books recommended for college-bound students in the United States. A coming-of-age novel, it borders around the reasoning behind human behavior, innocence, justice systems, and racial issues.

The monthly book discussions usually feature the U.S. Embassy’s Cultural Affairs Officer, Bob Kerr, who brings useful insights and perspectives to the student-led discussions. EducationUSA Abuja initiated these book readings and discussions to improve the vocabulary and reading culture of the students.

Comments and observations from the students on discrimination issues in the book include man’s natural instinct to classify people in groups either by economic status, intelligence, or social orientation. This is something that cannot be eliminated as long as humans exist. Also, participants explored the prevalence of racial discrimination and the different ways people try to cope with it.

This is the second book reading and discussion since the inauguration of the EducationUSA Book Club in February this year when readers discussed Zora Neale Hurtson’s Their eyes Were Watching God