Expert Witness on Education - Wisconsin vs. Yoder; pg1

My first experience as expert witness was in Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972), often called “the Amish school case.” I testified along with John A. Hostetler, a man of rare character and intelligence to whose memory I dedicate this discussion. Hostetler, a professor at Temple University, was the leading authority on the Amish. He died in 2001.

(A far more thorough treatment of The Yoder Case than is feasible here is found in Shawn Francis Peters’ 2003 book of that title.)

Had John Hostetler not written so well in his book on Amish Society (now in fourth edition from Johns Hopkins University Press) or testified so effectively in Yoder, this nation’s cruel infringement of Amish religious liberty might never have been curtailed. Hostetler’s insight was partly attributable to his Old Order Amish upbringing, and also, perhaps, to his gentle defection there from.

Though scholars find intriguing legal wrinkles in Yoder, for me the central conundrum is simple: How, for such petty reasons, could a nation conceived in liberty prompt the Amish, distinguished by their self-sufficiency, productivity, and depth of religious commitment, to flee to Brazil and Central America in search of religious freedom, as they were starting to do at the time of the Yoder case?

In the Yoder case, three Amish parents were prosecuted for failing to send their youngsters to a regular high school until the school-leaving age (sixteen) stipulated by law—for two years in most cases. In the light of the general performance and behavior of U. S. high school students and graduates, undermining Amish parenthood and religious liberty to give every child two years in that institution looked ridiculous to me then, and looks more so now.

Attributes of character seem more important than years in school at this level of formal education, especially in rural and semi-rural settings where the Amish live. In my small study in Kansas, employers whom I contacted all said they would prefer a run-of-the-mill Amish worker without a high school diploma to a run-of-the-mill non-Amish worker with one. I have known other former Amishmen, not just John Hostetler, who became successful professors despite limited early schooling. If there is evidence that the futures of Amish children are marred by missing high school, even if they later leave the Amish fold, I have not found it, and there is good evidence and argument to the contrary. Forcing Amish children into regular high schools could disrupt their lives and Amish communities as well.

Once attacked, defendants in the Yoder case tried to mollify authorities by establishing an “Amish vocational high school,” whose instruction consisted of assignments Monday through Friday by mothers (for girls) and fathers (for boys), plus an academic smatter on Saturdays. (Beyond giving bureaucrats numbers to enter into columns and store in file cabinets, this concession added nothing, I am sure, to the effectiveness of the Amish preparation for adulthood.) The Amish thing called “vocational high

1 2 3 4 next (Yoder) page>

(or select from the links on left or top of page)

Published with the assistance of IEW Systems