Expert Witness on Education - Wisconsin vs. Yoder; pg2

school” had been approved in 1955 in Pennsylvania by Governor George Leader, who seemed furious over persecution of the Plain People in his state. Soon other states accepted the same red-taping of what, except for minor details, the Amish had always done. But Wisconsin education officials either thought they knew better or were acting primarily, as evidence in the Yoder case suggested, to get even with the Amish for limiting the attendance figures that determined how much lucre the local public school district would collect from the state.

Incursions upon Amish religious freedom were getting vicious, I suggested in Saturday Review (November 19, 1966). In an Iowa situation that I investigated and reported in Commentary (January, 1968), public officials, in a context that reeked with getting even, pounced on youngsters in an Amish elementary school and hauled (kidnapped?) them to a public school in a nearby town, over the objections of their pacifist (and therefore helpless) parents. I described in School Review (November, 1969) how a Kansas Amishman named LeRoy Garber was convicted of violating the compulsory attendance statute for educating his daughter Sharon in a manner state officials did not like.

Sharon Garber had earned top grades in high school correspondence courses from a reputable source. The local librarian said Sharon “dragged books home by the boxful.” Intrigued by plants, Sharon found employment in a greenhouse, whose owner described her as “the best help we’ve had yet.” She published a little article on her experience, writing more impressively, I would say, than most high school graduates I have known, and even some Ed. D. candidates. The Wichita Eagle heaped scorn on the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision concerning Sharon.

Such law, the Eagle said (borrowing from Charles Dickens), “is a ass, a idiot.”

Facing similar trouble with his younger children, Garber sold his farm for a pittance and moved to Ohio, where malice toward unconventional religious schooling soon came to a head in State v Whisner, 351 N.E. 2d 750 (1976). I testified in that case as well.

Like other people, I tried to help the Amish. I published articles and chapters (like those mentioned earlier) to shame prosecuting officials and inform the public. More importantly, I staged what I’ll call “the Chicago conference,” a national invitational conference (financed by the Danforth Foundation) at the University of Chicago. I hoped the conference proceedings would eventuate in a book which, in turn, would influence public policy toward oppressed religious

<Prev. (Yoder) page 1 2 3 4 next (Yoder) page>

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

Published with the assistance of IEW Systems