EDAL 560 999, LEAD 756 105: Adv Studies:, K-12 Law

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Dashboard Fall Semester 2017 FA2017-EDAL-560-999 LEAD-756-105
Week Two: September 4-10, 2017 Discussion: Chapter 1: The Legal System (pp. 2-26)...
Reformation, Compulsory education, and Adventist e...

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Discussion: Chapter 1: The Legal System (pp. 2-26) &

Chapter 2: Historical and Legal perspective of Public
Schools (pp. 27-75).
Reformation, Compulsory education, and Adventist education
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Reformation, Compulsory education, and Adventist education

by Peterson, Dawn - Thursday, September 7, 2017, 11:52 AM

Having just studied the history of education law as it relates to homeschooling and the beginnings of
Adventist education, I found chapter two of our textbook (Alexander & Alexander, 2012) rather
interesting. Let me share with you what I found and how that relates to our readings.

The author states that it was in the seventeenth century that the concept of public universal education
was born (Alexander & Alexander, 2012, p. 28) and implies that it was the new thought that education
of youth was essential to the well-being of the state, and that a stable social environment could best be
facilitated if all persons were literate (p. 28).

According to Perrin (1896) the concept of universal schools started back in the reformation. Reformers
like Luther and Calvin supported the establishment of schools for the people (Perrin, 1896, p. 5). This
became important for the furthering of the gospel. How could simple folks understand the bible for
himself if he couldnt read? Luther believed that the establishment of schools by every city and village
for the sake of the mental and moral training of the youth, but he urged such a course as a duty the
municipality owed to itself(p. 6). This school of thought may well be the beginning of the parens patriae,
or legal doctrine that states or cities have a responsibility or legal authority to educate and care for all
the children for the benefit of the state or city (Alexander & Alexander, 2012, p. 29; Kolenc, 2017, p. 62;
Perrin, 1896, p. 6) so that they may prosper with well-educated men and women.

It is important to note that the schooling during the reformation was centered around the Bible,
doctrine of the church, and languages (Perrin, 1896, p. 10). In 1599 Duke Christopher of Wrtemberg of
Germany enacted the first ever universal compulsory education law where schoolmasters were required
to keep attendance and those missing were fined if not given a satisfactory excuse (p. 11). During the
reformation, two hundred and fifty grammar schools were established but they did not provide primary
education that the people needed. These schools were higher schools for the middle class, beyond
what was taught in primary learning. The poor did not benefit from these schools and did not learn to
read and write (Perrin, 1896, p. 15). This was the beginning of compulsory education, but the next step to
move education further would be found in New England.

The Puritans of New England were educated and prosperous professional men. They held degrees from
Oxford and Cambridge. Even their wives and children were educated. These were men of intelligence
and high morals as they were followers of the reformer, Calvin. The first teacher, Reverend Francis
Higginson, was appointed to Salem in July 1629 and four years later John Cotton was chosen as teacher
in Boston. (Perrin, 1896, pp. 17-18).

But these schools were almost without exception under private sponsorship and supervision, frequently
under the control the dominant Protestant sects (McMullen, 2002, pp. 1-2). The framers of the
constitution believed like Martin Luther, that public education would help sustain democracy by
bringing everyone together to share values and learn a common history (p. 2).

Up until this time education was voluntary. Once again realizing that parents were neglecting their duty
to educate, an order was sent out for statesmen to have a vigilant eye over their neighbors (Perrin,
1896, p. 19) to see that they were using good English and teaching their children and apprentices to
read.

The officers were empowered to impose fines on those who failed to give proper instruction,
or to report to the officer when required. This Law of 1642 is remarkable in that, for the first
time in the English-speaking world, a legislative body representing the State ordered that all
children should be taught to read. This was a distinctively Calvinistic contribution to our
new-world life, and a contribution of large future importance. (Cubberley, 1919, p. 58)

Martin, a Massachusetts public school historian, tells us that this and the Law of 1647 became the
foundation of the legislation of public schools with many of the principles that we recognize (and read
about in our textbook) today in state constitutions such as:

1. The universal education of youth is essential to the wellbeing of the State.

2. The obligation to furnish this education rests primarily upon the parent.

3. The State has a right to enforce this obligation.

 4. The State may fix a standard which shall determine the kind of education, and the
minimum amount.

5. Public money, raised by a general tax, may be used to provide such education as the State
requires. This tax may be general, though the school attendance is not.

6. Education higher than the rudiments may be supplied by the State. Opportunity must be
provided, at public expense, for youths who wish to be fitted for the university.

Mr. Martin then adds the following significant comment:

It is important to note here that the idea underlying all this legislation was neither
paternalistic nor socialistic. The child is to be educated, not to advance his personal interests,
but because the State will suffer if he is not educated. The State does not provide schools to
relieve the parent, nor because it can educate better than the parent can, but because it can
thereby better enforce the obligation which it imposes. (as cited by Cubberley, 1919, pp. 60-
61)

With some slight modifications these laws continued in force till 1780. In the constitution adopted in
that year, the legislature was given authority to require the people of the state to make provisions for
the education of the youth, and to compel their attendance upon the schools thus provided. The
authority thus granted was exercised by the legislature in 1789 (Perrin, 1896, p. 22). By the end of the
eighteenth century, there was no questioning the right of the state to establish schools. It was
acknowledged that the state had the right to compel the attendance of its youth upon them(p. 32).

It wasnt until after the industrial age that we see another push made for public education laws.
With big industry needing a work force and many immigrants coming to fill those positions America saw
another reason for universal education. But concerns began about the lack of education for children
began to surface and compulsory education began to take root. Massachusetts being the first to craft a
compulsory education law in 1852 and all but two states followed suit by 1915 (Eisenberg, 1988, p. 7).
By enacting this law we see that the responsibility for public education was firmly lodged at the state
level (Alexander & Alexander, 2012, p. 34).

Another benefit from public compulsory education was to indoctrinate and teach greater loyalty, and to
Americanize these immigrants that spoke differently and had come from differing cultures (Adams,
2013, p. 41; Kolenc, 2017, p. 60). But what did this have to do with home educating and Adventist
education?

All this political tension about education came at a very interesting time for Adventists. The
Adventists had taken their children out of school because the Lord was coming so soon. After the great
disappointment of 1844 many parents began to put their children back into school only to find that they
were ridiculed and teased sometimes even violently. Not only was the teasing a concern, but the
children were exposed to a different belief system than that taught at home (Burton, 1987, pp. 12-15).
Because of this, in 1853 Adventists began to operate homeschools which were actually more school in a
home rather than what we traditionally think of as homeschool before the church was officially a
denomination.

With the hard fought win of compulsory education in Massachusetts in 1852, Adventists saw the
writing on the wall and believed that compulsory education would spread to the other states as well. It
became necessary to provide appropriate education for the children of the church. The earliest
beginning date for an Adventist school is 1855 in Battle Creek, MI. Although White would not receive
her first vision on education until 1872 when she wrote the paper Proper Education and the first
officially SDA sponsored school opened on June 3 (Burton, 1987, pp. 391-392).

Im sorry for the length of this post, but I found it extremely interesting to see the connections
between public school law (compulsory education), homeschooling and the beginning of Adventist
education. This history is important because compulsory education is one of the fundamental issues
brought up in many homeschooling suits. Who has the right to educate? The state or the parent?
Questions of how this relates to our First Amendments rights to religious freedom, Fourteenth
Amendment of due process. These are some of the issues that affect legal issues of homeschooling in
America.

References

Adams, J. (2013). The public school and the immigrant child. In D. J. Finders & S. J. Thornton (Eds.), The
curruculum studies reader (pp. 432). New York, NY: Routledge.

Alexander, K., & Alexander, M. D. (2012). American public school law [Kindle edition] (8th ed.)(pp. 1136).
Retrieved from www.amazon.com

Burton, W. A. (1987). A history of the mission of Seventh-day Adventist education 1844-1900. (Doctor of
Philosophy), Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.

Cubberley, E. P. (Ed.) (1919). Public education in the United States: A study and interpretation of American
educational history; an introductory textbook dealing with the larger problems of present-day education in
the light of their historical development [Digitized by Google]: Houghten Mifflin.

Eisenberg, M. J. (1988). Compulsary attendance legislation in America 1870-1915. (Doctor of Philosophy),

University of Pennsylvania, PA.

Kolenc, A. B. (2017). Legal issues in homeschooling. In M. Gaither (Ed.), The Wiley Handbook of Home
Education. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons.

McMullen, J. G. (2002). Behind closed doors: Should states regulate homeschooling? South Carolina Law
Review, 54, 75.

Perrin, J. W. (1896). The history of compulsory education in New England. (Doctor of Philosphy), University of
Chicago. Retrieved from https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?

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Re: Reformation, Compulsory education, and Adventist education
by Easley, Andrew - Thursday, September 7, 2017, 8:37 PM

Dawn,

I find this topic very interesting. I love the way that you have woven together the Reformation,
Compulsory education, and Adventist education. The idea that compulsory education goes back to
1599 I find to be incredible. I love the thought that you were fined if you were in school and didn't
have a really good excuse. I have to wonder if something like that would work for students in school
who just decide that they don't want to be there, especially if the fine was really steep. I think
parents would be doing everything within their power to make sure that their children were in
school. I like the way that you talked about what they did during the reformation, because it really
shows the intention for compulsory education originally dealt with the reading of the Bible and
passing on what one believes. This brings me to my main thought, and this deals with why
Adventists started their own educational system. I am not saying that it isn't related to states within
the United States beginning to require compulsory education for all its children, but I wonder if that
is really the reason. I think you look at the primary reason for reformers like Luther and Calvin really
getting behind education had nothing to do with education being required it had to do with the
spread of the gospel. So, fast forward to when the Adventists began to consider their own
educational system. Was it really because it was becoming mandatory or was it because they felt the
need to spread the gospel within the body of believers, and outside the body of believers. I
remember sitting in Nashville, TN during the 2nd NAD teacher convention, and listening to George
Knight speak the opening address. He talked about why the Adventist Church began schools. He
talked about passing on that apocalyptic vision of Revelation 13. He mentioned that as a body of
believers we were becoming lax in passing on what had gone before. In other words, parents were
not passing on the message that was entrusted to the church. The church saw education as a way to
pass on what we believe to the younger generation because parents weren't doing their job, at least
that was my take from that sermon. I think that states beginning to make education compulsory
helped, but it wasn't the main reason. I think you go back to the reformation, and see why the
reformers really liked the idea of mandatory education. It was about passing on what they believed.

Dawn, I loved your post, and you have given me something to think about, these are just my humble
thoughts.

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Re: Reformation, Compulsory education, and Adventist education

by Jeffery, James - Friday, September 8, 2017, 8:51 AM

Hi Dawn and Andrew,

Both of you hit the nail on the head about the value of education and passing on values and
beliefs. I would trust Dr George Knight on this one. Parents really have left moral and religious
training to schools. They have given up doing it at home. This scenario adds a tremendous level
of responsibility and accountability to those who lead in schools.

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 Re: Reformation, Compulsory education, and Adventist education
by Easley, Andrew - Sunday, September 10, 2017, 5:07 AM

Dr. Jeffery,

Thank you for your words, they mean a lot. It is very sad to think that parents have given up
their God given responsibilities when it comes to their children. I think this is one of the
biggest reasons that it is becoming harder and harder to teach children. There is so much
more that is expected of teachers and the burden is almost to much to bear. It is only by God's
grace and love that I am able to do anything at all within my classroom. The Bible says in
Psalm 121:1, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." That and
that alone is the only realize I am able to step everyday into my classroom.

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Re: Reformation, Compulsory education, and Adventist education

by Peterson, Dawn - Sunday, September 10, 2017, 4:26 PM

Dr. Jeffery,

I agree with both you and Andrew that the awesome responsibility put upon leaders in
education whether the teachers or administrators is very daunting, but I am relieved that the
Lord has promised to be our example!

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Re: Reformation, Compulsory education, and Adventist education

by Peterson, Dawn - Sunday, September 10, 2017, 4:24 PM

Andrew,

Thank you for your response! I appreciated your comments, but I think I need to clarify. I totally
agree with you about the reasons for compulsory (reformation era) and later SDA education
began! I was simply focusing on the legal perspective in this post rather than the overall
landscape of the issues. Let me share what I left out of the post.

The reformers wanted to educate the people so that they could read the Bible for themselves
and yes, it was a way to pass on their beliefs and values. Even when this country was started,
those were the goals. Education began in America as moral education taught by the ministers
many times.

Adventist education was most definitely started because the early Adventists realized a need for
the education of those sharing the gospel (ministers). They felt that if they were better trained
they would be more successful in their ministry (Burton, 1987, p. 27; Knight, 2015, p. 4). But at this
point the main emphasis of the leadership seemed to be the publishing work and thus all their
energies and time went into the publications which they had found beneficial in spreading the
gospel because of the belief in the very soon coming of the Lord.

At this time, James White was not supportive of creating church schools for the children as he
was probably feeling overwhelmed with his personal travel and writing schedule. Burton states,

Long hours were required to edit and mail the periodicals each month; therefore, it
was quite natural that James White was not enthusiastic when fellow believers talked
of establishing parochial schools, or church schools as Adventist referred to them,
especially for the children of Adventist believers. Urged on by friends, White must
have wondered where he would find time to think about, much less time to plan, and
establish a school.

It must be remembered that White was accustomed to writing and printing

periodicals. Therefore, the idea of printing a periodical for young people and children
probably seemed less risky and more inviting than attempting to start a school.
(Burton, 1987, pp. 17-18)

Burton further points out that the in 1852 [the year of mandatory education] when other
Adventists were feeling the need for church schools, the Whites oldest child [Henry] was only
five years old (Burton, 1987, p. 18). While there were many reasons for the beginning of our
church schools, I agree with you that the main reason was the passing on of our beliefs, but the
parents were also now for the first time required to provide education for their children and
therefore must make difficult choices. Not unlike parents today.

An interesting article written in 1888 comments that had the church known what putting off the
development of church schools would cost them in believers, they would probably have made
different decisions, but we often find hindsight to be 20/20. Here is what Morse (1888) stated in
his look back at 50 years of Adventist history:

Had we taken the broad and comprehensive view of the situation that we now see
should have been taken, the necessity of properly educating our children for
valuable service in carrying forward the message, would have been more apparent
than it was. Had our people generally, from the first years of their rise, made it their
inflexible rule to have their children educated in the faith, in connection with their
education in the branches usually pursued in our public schools, academies, and
colleges, thousands might have been saved to the cause who have gone off into the
world, and now have little or no interest in the present truth or its success. Hundreds
of efficient laborers would have been developed, who would now be a power in
carrying forward the message; and it is reasonable to conclude that it would have
been, at the present time, far in advance of what it now is. In our zeal to hasten the
 work, and our failure to comprehend its scope, we have, to a very considerable extent,
omitted the very means that would insure its widest and most enduring prosperity.
(Morse, 1888, p. 599)

I have really enjoyed reading some of these really old periodicals in my research and am
astounded to find, that not much has changed over the last 150 years! We are still struggling
with the influences on our children and studies like ValuGenesis have shown the importance of
Christian education in the retention of our young people. Just think, they knew that in 1888!

Andrew, thank you for your comments and insights. I will try to be more specific in the future!
You are going to make me a better writer! By the way, you have a great memory of the Nashville
NAD convention. I was there but I cant remember any details like you have! Im a little jealous!

References

Burton, W. A. (1987). A history of the mission of Seventh-day Adventist education 1844-1900. (Doctor
of Philosophy), Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.

Knight, G. R. (2015). The aims of Adventist education: A historical perspective. Faculty Publications,
(74). Retrieved from digitalcommons.andrews.edu/church-history-pubs/74

Morse, W. (1888). Items of advent experience during the past fifty years. Advent Review and
Sabbath Herald, 65(44), 689-704.

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Re: Reformation, Compulsory education, and Adventist education

by Easley, Andrew - Sunday, September 10, 2017, 8:32 PM

Dawn,

Thank you so much for that brief look at history. I wish our early leaders had seen early the
need to educate our children. I have to think that if they had been willing to put more stock in
educating their children early then they did, that it might have made our generation more
willing to invest in educating our children. Please don't get me wrong, I am not saying that we
do not put stock in educating our children, but it isn't all members of the church. The
members that are willing to seem to be fewer and fewer as time goes on. At times, it is nice to
think about what could have been. Once again thank you Dawn for the insights that you
shared with us.

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Re: Reformation, Compulsory education, and Adventist education

 by Youngs, Tammy - Sunday, September 10, 2017, 3:03 PM

Working in public schools, attendance is actually such an large issue that it is our declared
district goal for our district school improvement. As a faculty, we have often discussed how
nice it would be to hold parents responsible in some way. There would be much to do in
regards of legislature to make this happen, but it would be such a blessing. I know that
there would be those who educate in alternate forms such as homeschool (I homeschooled
my children as well), I would not want this to be considered unacceptable. But for those
parents that place their students in public institutions, they then need to be sure that their
children are attending.

I can see the connection between the level of education and the health of the state. How
can you have a high level of education if your students are not attending? How can the laws
help with this endeavor?

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Re: Reformation, Compulsory education, and Adventist education

by Peterson, Dawn - Sunday, September 10, 2017, 4:33 PM

Tammy,

Thanks for your comments! Last summer I took a class in Improving Learning Organizations
and we talked a lot about the achievement gap. My heart broke for those students that find
attendance difficult when they have to stay home to babysit the younger sibling if he/she is sick
and the single parent must go to work if they want to hold their job! Those are the difficult one,
but the ones whose parents just couldnt care about an education for their children break my
heart to and I wish we could string them up (figuratively of course) for their lack of interest in the
future of their children! I am stunned at how many kids miss school in the public schools.

I think attendance is better in the private schools because parents pay for the education and
they want to get their dollars worth! Im glad that your district is working on trying to get a
handle on their attendance numbers!

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