How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The first day, going around with Ox, he found things confusing. It didn't seem he would ever learn which chute let down which meal or grain, and he wondered why they weren't labeled. [….]
Ox made it easy for him. He showed Tom clues to remember things by. When Tom got things wrong, Ox didn't raise his voice. He was slow and patient. (9.1-2)
Ox is the first of many male characters who teaches Tom about the working world (and yes, it's another sign of the times that it's all male characters who have that role). Ox may seem an unlikely teacher—he's the lumbering-giant type, not the glasses-and-tweed-jacket type—but Tom would probably never have succeeded at the mill if it weren't for Ox. The work he learns how to do at the mill is his first step toward success.
Quote #5
That same evening after he got home he began patching the roof. He had never done any work of that sort and at first he made mistakes and split the old shingles. But then he recalled Birdy's telling him, "Just go easy and slow, Tom. You'll get along faster in the long run doing it that way." (27.10)
A great deal of Tom's education comes from Birdy, especially when it comes to construction and the natural world. This is just one of many instances demonstrating a skill he's learned from Birdy's wise words and practice. Wise words and practice: sounds a lot like education to us.
Quote #6
It was bound in heavy black cloth and had gilt lettering that said Encyclopedia of Practical Carpentry, Mark Foster, Editor. […] Almost every page had a diagram or drawing. Tom saw that he could learn a lot, even though he found reading a slow and difficult business.
Mr. Hook said he hoped it might be helpful. It was an old book. His father had had a copy of it that had somehow disappeared. He had found this one in a secondhand bookstore in Syracuse. (29.27-28)
Mr. Hook shares the idea that the most valuable kind of knowledge is passed through generations. This passage also demonstrates different ways of approaching knowledge: Tom didn't gain skills in traditional book knowledge after he left school, but he knows that learning from a book could be helpful to him when it comes to reaching his goal.