Source: https://www.gopopro.com/landmark-court-cases-1/2017/2/9/united-states-v-lopez-9nzht
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 02:36:43+00:00

Document:
Should students be be required to attend public or private school if that goes against their parents’ religious beliefs?
Jonas Yoder and Wallace Miller, both members of the Old Order Amish religion, and Adin Yutzy, a member of the Conservative Amish Mennonite Church, were prosecuted under a Wisconsin law that required all children to attend public schools until age 16. The three parents refused to send their children to such schools after the eighth grade, arguing that high school attendance was contrary to their religious beliefs.
Did Wisconsin's requirement that all parents send their children to school at least until age 16 violate the First Amendment by criminalizing the conduct of parents who refused to send their children to school for religious reasons?
And what happens when two important American values come into conflict: freedom of religion, and the state’s need to educate children?
Three Amish students from three different families stopped attending the New Glarus High School in the New Glarus, Wisconsin, school district at the end of the eighth grade because of their parents' religious beliefs.
The three families were represented by Jonas Yoder (one of the fathers involved in the case) when the case went to trial. They were convicted in the Green County Court. Each defendant was fined the nominal sum of $5. Thereafter the Wisconsin Supreme Court found in Yoder's favor. Thereupon, Wisconsin appealed that ruling in the US Supreme Court.
38% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
The Amish did not believe in going to court to settle disputes but instead follow the biblical command to "turn the other cheek." Thus, the Amish are at a disadvantage when it comes to defending themselves in courts or before legislative committees. However, a Lutheran minister, Reverend William C. Lindholm, took an interest in Amish legal difficulties from a religious freedom perspective and founded The National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom (partly as a result of this case) and then provided them with legal counsel.
Yoder was not in any way connected to Luke Skywalker.
Under Amish church standards, higher education was deemed not only unnecessary for their simple way of life, but also endangering to their salvation. These men appealed for exemption from compulsory education on the basis of these religious convictions. They sincerely held to the belief that the values their children would learn at home would surpass the worldly knowledge taught in school.
I've got my money on Yoda!
Check out this interesting recent court case which cites Wisconsin v. Yoder as precedent.
Here's a list of landmark Supreme Court cases dealing with the The Free Exercise Clause.
In a unanimous decision, the Court held that individual's interests in the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment outweighed the State's interests in compelling school attendance beyond the eighth grade. In the majority opinion by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, the Court found that the values and programs of secondary school were "in sharp conflict with the fundamental mode of life mandated by the Amish religion," and that an additional one or two years of high school would not produce the benefits of public education cited by Wisconsin to justify the law.Justice William O. Douglas filed a partial dissent but joined with the majority regarding Yoder.
This case was decided in 1972 - there were women then - but none on the Supreme Court.
The first female Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor would not serve until 1981.
1. The State's interest in universal education is not totally free from a balancing process when it impinges on other fundamental rights, such as those specifically protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the traditional interest of parents with respect to the religious upbringing of their children. Pp. 406 U. S. 213-215.
3. Aided by a history of three centuries as an identifiable religious sect and a long history as a successful and self-sufficient segment of American society, the Amish have demonstrated the sincerity of their religious beliefs, the interrelationship of belief with their mode of life, the vital role that belief and daily conduct play in the continuing survival of Old Order Amish communities, and the hazards presented by the State's enforcement of a statute generally valid as to others. Beyond this, they have carried the difficult burden of demonstrating the adequacy of their alternative mode of continuing informal vocational education in terms of the overall interest that the State relies on in support of its program of compulsory high school education. In light of this showing, and weighing the minimal difference between what the State would require and what the Amish already accept, it was incumbent on the State to show with more particularity how its admittedly strong interest in compulsory education would be adversely affected by granting an exemption to the Amish. Pp. 406 U. S. 212-29, 406 U. S. 234-236.
4. The State's claim that it is empowered, as parens patriae, to extend the benefit of secondary education to children regardless of the wishes of their parents cannot be sustained against a free exercise claim of the nature revealed by this record, for the Amish have introduced convincing evidence that accommodating their religious objections by forgoing one or two additional years of compulsory education will not impair the physical or mental health of the child, or result in an inability to be self-supporting or to discharge the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, or in any other way materially detract from the welfare of society. Pp. 406 U. S. 229-234.
And then complete the Wisconsin v. Yoder Questions and Actions below.
If you were a Supreme Court Justice how would you have ruled on Wisconsin v. Yoder?
Explain the reasoning behind your ruling.
What were two competing interests in Wisconsin v. Yoder?
What was a precedent that helped shape the decision in this case?
If this case were decided today do you think it would be decided differently? If so, how?
What are any current cases or issues today that relate to this case?
What are some things that the free exercise clause does NOT let you do just because it is part of your religion?
What are some things that the free exercise clause does let you do if you can prove it is a legitimate part of your religion?
In your opinion, is Wisconsin v. Yoder a good ruling?
Now draw Wisconsin v. Yoder. Don’t take more than 20 seconds. It doesn’t have to be detailed. I certainly won’t take this oup or grade it. Once you’re done with your drawing look at it. That’s all.
Write a law for your state regarding children, religion, and schooling that would not violate the ruling of Wisconsin v. Yoder.
Make a short video about this case.
Make a podcast about this case.
A storyboard is a graphic organizer in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. Filmmakers use these as ways to organize the story they tell. Think of it as sort of like a comic strip to summarize the main points of a story. You can draw out a basic storyboard for Wisconsin v. Yoder or you could use this great free storyboard animation creator to make your own. I made this three panel storyboard for free in about 90 seconds using a website I had never used before. Pretty nifty, huh?!

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