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United States schools education legal basis compulsory school attendance laws
United States School Legislation: Compulsory Attendance Laws
Figure 1.--These Western Union messenger boys were photographed in Danville, Virginia (June 1911). The younger boy was only 10 years old and he worked as 'extra boy' in case aot of messages arrived. He doesn't wear the whole uniform, but only the icomic cap. The state of Virginia introduced the first law concerning compulsory school attendance (1908). We don't know if the boy worked only during the school vacation or the whole year. He may, however, have worked regularly. He mentiond to th photographer that he was going to be laid off as he was so young. Photographer: Lewis Wickes Hine. Source: Library of Congress: LC-DIG-nclc-03720.
Strongly associated with the fight for child labor laws is the struggle for compulsurty school attendance laws. Even before the foundation of the United States, the colonies, especially the northern colonies, had begun to found public schools. The Protestant foundtion of America was a factor here. While public education had an early start, cimpulsory education was a very different matter. The first such law we know of the Massachusetts Bay Colony mandating that parents provide religious instruction for their children. The inintial impulse for compulsory attebance laws was distrust of the parents. The various states went on to found an excellent public school system. Compulsory education was different. It was not until the late-19th century that compulsory education began to become standard. Again it was the northern states that led the way. At and this tim a different issue drive the enactment of compulsory attendance laws -- child labor. Child labor laws bcame a major goal of the progressive movemnt, both as a child welfare issue and also to reduce competition with adult workers. Child labor laws proved controvrsial in many states. And the courts struck them down. Compulsory school attendance laws proved less controversial and the courts did not take issue with them like child labor laws. As a result, compulsory attendance laws often precceded child labor laws. They were a way of getting at the problem. Obviously if a child was in school during the day, it limited employment posibilities. Some states like Oregon enacted very strict compulsory public school attendance laws that would have outlawed private schools. The Supreme Court struck this down with the Pierce v. Society of Sisters decision (1925). The Court held unconstitutional an Oregon compulsory attendance law that required children to only attend public schools. Long after the child labor issues had been settled, other issues about school attendance laws emrged. The Supreme Court found in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) that parents had the right to opt out of compulsory attendance for religious reasons.
The Progressive Movement in America was an in part an attempt to address social problems that developed in America after the Civil war as a result of industrialization. Progressives also addressed some more long term problems such as woman's sufferage. America had changed considerably since the Civil War. The frontier had been settled, America had emerged as the world's greatest agricultural and industrial power, there was an experiment with imperialism, great cities had developed, and huge numbers of immigrants accepted. America bustled with wealth, optimism, and industrial expansion. Many Americans had benefitted from the rise of America as an industrial power. Many Americans had not. Large numbers of Americans subsisted on an economic edge. Children and women toiled in sweatshops and mills for pitiful sums. Poor children were often unavle to attend school. Public health programs were week and products sols were sometimes unhealthy. Working conditions were often unsafe and there was no work place protections or disability insurance. The Progressive Movement was a major forced at the turn of thr 29th centutry. Strongly associated with the fight for child labor laws is the struggle for compulsurty school attendance laws. Both were important issues for the Progressive Movement. Child labor laws got more attention, but both bwere imprtant.
Public Education
Even before the foundation of the United States, the colonies, especially the northern colonies, had begun to found public schools. The Protestant foundtion of America was a factor here. Public education was an important attribute from the beginning of colonial America, although there were major differences between colonies and the north and south. The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony decreed the need for elementary and Latin schools (1647). They were not precisely the modern conceptvof public schools in that the goal was to teach Puritan values and Bible reading. The Continental Congress ordered a survey of the Northwest Territory (1785). This led tothe formation of townships, with a portion of each one or land grants reserved for a local school. The multitude of Protestant scects made religious establihment impossible and the Federal Constitution precluded the establishment of religion (1789). Education became the responsibility of the states which in the north were developing tuition-free public schools. Pennsylvania approved a new Contitution requiring free public education for children in families that could not afford to pay tuition fees (1790). The New York Public School Society organized low-cost schools that had a school master to teach the older children who would then teach the younger children (1805). Boston opened the first public high school in America (1820). Massachusetts passed a law which made all grades of public school tuition free (1827). Massachusetts established the first state’s Board of Education (1837). It was heased by Horace Mann, an education pioneer. Massachusetts was the first state to make school attendance compulsory (1851). The Southern states gave much less attention to public education until after the Civil War. The early land grants led to a system of public land grant universities (1862 to 1890). As a result of all these developments, by the time European immigrants began pouring into the country after the Civil War. America had a strong public education system to help theiir children rapidly become Americans. Vocational education is funded by Congress with the Smith-Hughes Act (1917).
History of Compulsory Education
While public education had an early start, compulsory education was a very different matter. The first such law we know of the Massachusetts Bay Colony mandating that parents provide religious instruction for their children. The inintial impulse for compulsory attebance laws was distrust of the parents. The various states went on to found an excellent public school system. Compulsory education was different. It was not until the late-19th century that compulsory education began to become standard. Again it was the northern states that led the way. At and this tim a different issue drive the enactment of compulsory attendance laws -- child labor. Child labor laws bcame a major goal of the progressive movemnt, both as a child welfare issue and also to reduce competition with adult workers. Child labor laws proved controvrsial in many states. And the courts struck them down. Compulsory school attendance laws proved less controversial and the courts did not take issue with them like child labor laws. As a result, compulsory attendance laws often precceded child labor laws. They were a way of getting at the problem. Obviously if a child was in school during the day, it limited employment posibilities.
American immigrants have varied greatly over time. An imprtant part of the American story is immigration. For the first decades of the Ametican Republic, immigrants were largely similar to the existing population, mostly Protestant and from Britain and Germany, with similar values. Many immigrants actually were better educated than the existing population. And as is often the case with immigrants, many were even more ambitious than the native-born popultaion. This began to change before the Civil War with the arrival of large numbers of Irish Catholics fleeing the Potato Famine. Not only were they Catholic, but they were largely uneducated and distrustful of authority after their experience with the English imposed Protestant establishment in Ireland. And many Irish were distrustful of American authorities, including the public schools. This would be the genesis of the Catholic parochial school system. It also was the genesis of anti-immigrant politics--like the Know Nothing Party. After the Civil War immigration, immigration expanded not only in number, but in geogrsphic snd religiousv/cultural diversity. And it was no longer confined to northern Europe. Immigrants began coming from Eastern Europe (Russia which included Poland and the Baltics at the time) and Southern Europe (especially Italy). This fueled anti-immogrant feeling. For the children, the immigrant experience began in the schools. America unlike Eastern and Souther Europe had a strong public education system. Immigrant parents varied in their attitude toward education. Some saw it as the avenue for the future for their children. This was especially the case for Jewish parents. No immigrant group prised education more than the Jews who after the Civil War mostly came from Eastern Europe. These were an oppressed minority that had little educational opportunity or access to professional careers. This changed dramatically when they reached America. Other immigrant groups varied. Many other immigrant parents also saw the imprtance of education. Others were less sold on education and saw more value in jobs and hard work and wanted theiur children to get jobs to support the family. Many fathers who worked in factories and mines saw book learming as a daliance. The same was often the case in the countryside. My German grandfather, for example, after my dad finished primary school (8th grade), wanted him to work on the farm. Dad moved in with relatives in a nearny city to attend high school. Their relationship was never the same.
Parents and Private Education
Some states like Oregon enacted very strict compulsory public school attendance laws that would have outlawed private schools. The Supreme Court struck this down with the Pierce v. Society of Sisters decision (1925). The Court held unconstitutional an Oregon compulsory attendance law that required children to only attend public schools. Long after the child labor issues had been settld, other issues about school attendance lawsa emrged. The Supreme Court found in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) that parents had the right to opt out of compulsory attendance for religious reasons. This continues yto be an issue in America today. The issue today is that the education establishment dominated by teacher's unions and techers reained by a left-wing university establishment often find themselves at odds with parental values. Many vtexhers today beliece that they have a mossion to disabuse students of religious and conservstive vslues. When I was a tiung teacher, the dominate view was that a teacher should not inject his or her political values in the classroom. And a a strudent I do mnot recall a techer doing that. Teachers today seem to have different values. Many seem to think thst they have a miossion tyo pursue a left wing view of history anhd other social scuences and to oromote the Democratic Party. Associated with this is a disdain for capotalism if not the uidea that it is imoral and distructive. And often along with this is the idea that America is not a nobel country, but a country which has actually harmed its own country, but oppressed people in other countries.
