In both "The Lesson" and "To Sir With Love", students are taken on a trip outside the school in which lessons are taught. Compare the outings.

The students ask many questions, which allow them to acquire the knowledge they deserve. On occasion, the question touch upon people of different races, and Mr. Braithwaite gives mature answers, and speaks to them as adults. Braithwaite's theory is to treat his students older than they are so they will behave more like grown up. Mr. Braithwaite put his trust on the students by not constraining their behaviour. He treated them like adults. With this trust, he gains respect from the students.  The students took the matter seriously, and even though Weston stated that, the outing is merely an opportunity for them to go outside from the classroom.

For “The Lesson” the writer describes the outing as bringing the children to the most sophisticated area in the town. All the students come from a “slums” area, in which most of the blacks live. Miss Moore wants to teach the neighborhood children about the world around them. Therefore, Miss Moore takes the children on a field trip. She starts by talking about how much things cost, what the children’s parents earn, and the unequal division of wealth in the United States. They reach the Fifth Avenue to a rich toy store and they do not dare to come in until Mercedes pushes the door hard.

Miss Moore attempts to tell them that education is the only way for them to get out that poor neighborhood and improve their living standard, but this truth is ignored. In this short story, Bambara tells of a little girl who does not think education is of such importance for her and her friends. She does not appreciate the lesson that Miss Moore is trying to teach the children and so is blind to the fact of how she can improve her social situation. She has grown accustomed to living in poverty and does not see the connection between education and advancement in social status. Because the children do not know any better, so they assumed that the condition they are living now is fairly enough for them. Everybody enjoys the outing except for Sylvia but deep down her heart, she knows what Miss Moore wants to show them. Her naivety prevents her to listen to Miss Moore.

Both of the stories are related in a sense that it involves education and teacher’s roles. For “To Sir With Love”, the children knows and sees the importance of education in their lives and the teacher really treat them like adults, which is favoured by the students. In “The Lesson” , the children are in total ignorant about this even though Miss Moore tries to convey her message well. The trip is successful for the novel “To Sir With Love” since it shows the students’ determination to obtain new knowledge. As for “The Lesson” even though some of the characters like Sugar, did change in her perspective about education, Sylvia on the other hand refuses to admit that education is the only way that can change their lives.