You Be The Judge
Test your knowledge of the Five Freedoms and see how you match up to the courts...and fellow citizens.
Free Exercise vs. Compulsory Education
Several members of the Old Order Amish religion and the Conservative Amish Mennonite Church were convicted of violating Wisconsin's compulsory school-attendance law (which requires children to attend until age 16) by refusing to send their children to school beyond the eighth grade. (The Amish provide continuing informal vocational education to their children to prepare them for life in the rural Amish community.) The families believed that high school attendance was contrary to the Amish religion and way of life, and that they would endanger their own salvation and that of their children by complying with the law.
Do state attendance laws override the religious wishes of parents?
Vote Now!
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Vote AA. NORequiring Amish and Mennonite children to attend school past the 8th grade would substantially burden their religious freedom. The religious groups in question provide a support structure for members of their community that does not require education past the 8th grade.
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Vote BB. YESAs adherents of a fringe religion, Amish and Mennonite families are not entitled to First Amendment protection. The state’s need to ensure that all young people receive an education is the most compelling interest in the case and must be satisfied.
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Vote CC. YESFirst Amendment rights are not absolute, and must always be balanced between the rights of the individual and the needs of the state. In this case, the need for compulsory education outweighs a family’s need to withdraw their children from school.
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Cesar Chavez
Champion of the Voiceless
Cesar Chavez, an American farm worker of Mexican descent, was a labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, founded the National Farm Workers' Association (which later became the United Farm Workers). By amplifying the voices of immigrant laborers, Chavez helped end numerous exploitative practices. He is considered one of the country's foremost civil rights leaders.
