Readers Anonymous

I think the compulsory attendance statutes are unconstitutional as written.

Massachusetts, where I live, has a statute that compels children 6-16 to attend school or receive an alternative, approved education.  Students can attend a private school or homeschool so long as it meets state approval. There is also a statute that compels parents to compel children to attend school.  There is no statute that compels schools to provide an education.

The First Amendment guarantees us Freedom of Speech but that presupposes Freedom of Thought.  How can we have freedom of speech if the state determines what we think about, what we must read?  How can we have free elections if the state controls the education of future voters?

The Second Amendment says- A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.  How does one learn to regulate a Militia?  I haven’t seen it on a curriculum in public schools.  What are Arms?  Personal rights are interpreted broadly.  Black’s Law Dictionary defines the word arms as “anything that a man wears for his defense, or takes in his hands as a weapon.”  Is a book a weapon?  Is knowledge?  Am I?

The Fourth Amendment affirms the right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search and seizures. Does this apply to children? Compelling attendance is an unreasonable seizure, even if the state could guarantee an education, which it does not.

The Ninth Amendment tells us that the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.  When the Bill of Rights was adopted on August 21, 1789, people were responsible for teaching their own children.  The first compulsory attendance statute was written in 1852.

The Thirteenth Amendment abolished involuntary servitude except as punishment.  What is compulsory attendance if it is not involuntary servitude?

When I was homeschooling my kids people referred to my method as “unschooling.”  I thought the term was inaccurate.  Since my kids hadn’t been schooled how could they be unschooled?  Now I need to start unschooling.  I have to unschool myself and I’ve been way overschooled.

I understand that most blogs are not highly polished, many are in draft form.  I’ve just had the hardest time trying to get myself to post drafts.  I want to write about freedom of conscience, freedom of thought, and compulsory attendance.  It’s just such an enormous, interconnected subject and waiting until I can put it together in a presentable paper means nothing gets done.

So, with apologies for my inadequacies, here goes.

In 1642, the Colony of Massachusetts Bay enacted the first compulsory education law.  Compulsory education is distinctly different from compulsory attendance.  The compulsory education law required all parents to provide education in a trade and reading the principles of religion and the laws of the country.  Parents, or their substitutes (children were often apprenticed to a Master who became responsible for their education), were required to provide the education, there was no legislation establishing schools.  The law was amended in 1648 to provide payment from the town treasury to local masters.

These laws appear to be the first incursion of the state into a parents’ right to direct the education and upbringing of their children.

Thanks for visiting my page. I’ll use it to explore the legal and educational foundations and the ensuing consequences of the compulsory attendance statutes. I hope to establish a basic premise.

It is none of the government’s business what anyone thinks or reads.

Our First Amendment Freedom of Speech depends upon an individual’s freedom to think as he pleases and to speak and he thinks. At least Justice Brandeis thought so.

We’ve had education by the church and education by the state but they both had the same aim; to train the way we think and what we learn so they can control our very thoughts.

My own experience in elementary school convinced me that most of the time we are at school is time wasted. That is a lesson in itself.

The state filed criminal charges against me because I did not compel one of my children to attend school. (I didn’t compel any of them to attend school but the criminal charges concerned only one.) The state failed to prove that they followed established procedure and I was found not guilty. Then I went to law school.

Now I’d like to use this space and your feedback to organize my argument against the compulsory attendance laws.