Parental Liberty in Education

"In 1925, the United States Supreme Court in the case of Pierce v. Society of Sisters overturned a direct state attack on private education in the form of a state law requiring public school education. The Supreme Court overturned the law on the basis of the parental liberty over education. The Supreme Court said:
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The act of 1922 unreasonably interferes with the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control....The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the state to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only.

The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.

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At least three basic premises are stated here.

First, the child is not the creature of the state. By implication, this means that children have an extra-statist existence. Presumably, in terms of Christian belief, the child is the creature of God.

Second, parents, acting under the authority of God as His stewards, have both liberty and a "high duty" or responsibility to educate their children properly.

Third, the state, whose power is derived from the Creator, has no authority to interfere in the parents' liberty and responsibility to educate their children. Instead, the state must allow parents to seek out alternative forms of education to include, but not be limited to, private schools and home schools."

-Written by John W. Whitehead

in Parental Liberty in Education

This was a Supreme Court decision less than a century ago! Oh, how far our country has strayed from the principles that we were founded upon.

Posted by Kelsey