Dill left soon after that to go back to Meridian, and it was time for Scout to go to school for the first time. She had been waiting her whole life to go to school, but it turned out to be a great disappointment. Miss Caroline, Scout's very young first grade teacher from North Alabama, was surprised to find that Scout could read very well and even write in cursive. Rather than being proud of her or excited about such a bright pupil, Miss Caroline told Scout that she was not allowed to read with her father anymore because Atticus didn't know how to teach. Scout was crushed.
Then, just before lunch, Scout tried to helpfully explain to Miss Caroline that Walter Cunningham did not have a lunch with him because he was poor.
Scout knew that because Miss Caroline wasn't from Maycomb she wouldn't understand that Walter couldn't take the quarter she kept offering him because the Cunningham's didn't borrow what they couldn't pay back. Scout was educated on the Cunningham's particular situation because Atticus had once helped Walter's father with a legal matter pertaining to his land, and Mr. Cunningham had paid Atticus with farm goods rather than money. Miss Caroline, however, thought Scout was just being rude, so she swatted her hand with a ruler and made her stand in the corner. Scout was exiled there until the lunch bell rang.
