What does Scout think of current fashions in education?

Scout certainly had a big letdown after attending her
first day of school in To Kill a Mockingbird. Although Miss
Caroline is fresh out of college, she seems to have few social skills when dealing with
her students. Scout stood up for Walter Cunningham Jr. when Miss Caroline
unintentionally offends him. The students didn't understand the "imaginative literature"
of Mrs. Cat and the drugstore, and Miss Caroline didn't bother to explain it. Miss
Caroline made Scout feel as if she had committed a crime by learning to read before the
first grade. When punished later by a ruler-spanking of her hands, Scout found Miss
Caroline's action more amusing than academic.

Jem does not
help matters. He tells Scout to be patient about the new teaching method being initiated
by Miss Caroline. "'It's the Dewey Decimal System,'" Jem tell Scout, who "never
questioned Jem's pronouncements." However, Jem was also confused: Miss Caroline's new
teaching style was based on the educational reformer John Dewey (1859-1952)--not the
library system of organizing founded by Melvil Dewey.