(Un)Constitutional educational indoctrination

This year marks the centennial of Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925), a landmark decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a compulsory public school education law and established the rights of parents to direct their children’s education.

The important question in Pierce’s wake is when compulsory education is unconstitutional state “indoctrination”. This talk asks whether, one hundred years later, it is possible that we still do not have an answer. Pierce drew the line at a state compelling public-school attendance.

The Court granted states a license to control the subjects all students would be required to study, for how long, and at what level. In other words, the Court allowed states to create and control a statewide curriculum. Only, it prohibited states from mandating a particular form of education, even while allowing states to regulate its content.

The talk explores the extent to which it can be said that essentially every state law pertaining to the education of children is indoctrinating in some sense.

Moderator: Hege Helland