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         It's been said that victors write the histories and that's as true in schooling as in war.  Those who wanted a government owned and operated system won. Their version of history insists that government schools made us democratic, literate, and that they unite us where, in fact, they divide us.  Few are aware of the battles that preceded their triumph.
 
         The first general school law, Pennsylvania's Common School Act of 1834, so angered the public that virtually every legislator who voted for it was defeated for reelection.  One exception was Thaddeus Stevens who, when the new legislature met, gave one of the most effective speeches in legislative history.  He convinced a majority of the new representatives to reverse their campaign promise and the repeal effort failed.  At least one community, in Berks County, held out until 1867.
 
         Horace Mann said in 1842 that he opposed compulsory attendance yet in 1852 he helped Massachusetts pass the nation's first such law, the only one before the Civil War.  As in Pennsylvania, there were strong objections.   Barnstable refused to comply with the law until the 1880s when the state militia forced children to attend school.
 
         In 1860 Beverly, Massachusetts citizens voted to abolish their new high school.  In 1872, when a Michigan taxpayer sued to prevent his local district from levying taxes to support high schools, the state's  Supreme Court ruled unanimously against him.
 
         As late as the 1890s a Pennsylvania governor vetoed a compulsory attendance law.  By 1898, only 16 states had compulsory laws, and enforcement was uneven.  Massachusetts continued to lead the way and, by 1906, had the nation's first universal compulsory public school system and the world's longest school year.  By 1918 all 48 states had some form of compulsory attendance law.
 
         In Oregon the voters approved a 1922 initiative mandating that basic education students attend only public schools, which would abolish private schools.  In 1925, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled that parents had a right to determine how and where their children are educated.
 
         But, for most parents, that right has been on paper and the Court's decision is meaningless.
 
         The struggle has never ended but, at last, there are signs of change.  Homeschooled students have increased from an estimated 10-15,000 in 1980 to perhaps 1,500,000 or more today.  Charter schools have grown from none in 1991 to 3,500 or more today, enrolling perhaps 1,000,000 students.  Public and private student scholarships are emerging, as has long been true in higher education.
 
         Sadly, the main road to "freedom," has been for students to drop out.  An estimated 30% do not finish regular high school.  That is, 15 million of today's 50 million public school students may not graduate.   Millions more may graduate but with minimal skills.
 
         Sadly, compulsion may be unnecessary, as well as harmful.  Economist E.G. West concluded that literacy in England and the United States was as high or higher prior to the 1850s than today.
 
         Martin Mayer has written, "People can be committed to a mental institution only after a judicial hearing, but people are committed to schools beyond the reach of habeas corpus."  James Herndon, a former public school teacher, adds, "If kids in America do not go to school, they can be put in jail ... you can't tell whether or not they really want to do what you are proposing that they do ... All you can tell is, they'd rather come to your class than go to jail."
 
         In 1995, a Colorado state Representative proposed repealing that state's mandatory attendance law for students between 6 and 16. That he even suggested it is meaningful.
 
         Stephen Aarons, in his book, Compelling Belief, argues that the separation of school and state is more important than the separation of church and state, an issue with which only this nation is obsessed.  He's right.  Students spend far more time in school than in church and government schools do what the government thinks is best which is not necessarily what is best for students.
 
         The real problem?  For all the rhetoric to the contrary, too many "leaders", beginning with Mann, lack faith in the ability of the general public to make correct decisions on their own.

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         "Education is the established church of the United States. It is one of the religions that Americans believe in.  It has its own orthodoxy, its pontiffs and its noble buildings." Sir Michael Sadler, New York Times, Sept. 1, 1956, cited, p. 172, James B. Simpson, compiler, Contemporary Quotations, NY: Thomas Y. Crowell  Co., 1964

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Copyright 2007 David W. Kirkpatrick
108 Highland Court,
Douglassville, Pennsylvania 19518-9240
Phone: (610) 689-0633