What is education like in The Giver?

's
highly-organized community is founded on the principles of Sameness, where conformity is
encouraged and each citizen plays a specific role in society. Education is Jonas's community is
depicted as highly regulated and limited. Although Lowry does not go into specific details
describing theand requirements of the community's school, there are a select number of scenes
that give the reader insight into what education is like in Jonas's community.

The audience knows that children in Jonas's community begin school at a young age and
continue going to school after they are given their Assignments at the age of twelve. Jonas's
sister Lily is six years old and attends school. She mentions that her age group was visited by
another group outside of the community, which reveals that socialization and interactive play
are promoted in the community's school. Jonas also recalls Asher being punished using a
"discipline wand" for mispronouncing a word, which indicates that corporal punishment
is used in schools and correct language is emphasized.

Jonas also does a
significant amount of homework and mentions that the Committee of Elders pays close attention to
the Elevens at school in order to help determine their future Assignments. Students are also
required to complete a certain amount of volunteer hours. Given the society's stance on
Sameness, literature and certain subjects are censored. The only people with access to novels
and history books are the Giver and the Receiver of Memory.