chermerinsky believes that without popular pressure and new judicial appointments that reverse the present course, the right to education will be further contricte3d, and even lost....the supreme court has.....[undermined] the right to education. Full Story »
Posted by Patricia L'Herrou
Here is a commentator that has done his homework. He has covered the bases very well & uncovered two fundamental problems; the bias on the high court & the slip back into segregation (we never got out). However, the thing that no one gets is that parents also have a constitutional right to decide whether their kids will attend school or not, as long as there is no credible claim of educational or other neglect. Furthermore, compulsory schooling guarantees that there will be major disparities & discrimination due to any number of problems inherent in legally mandating attendance & the bureaucracy that automatically goes with it.
As the US Supreme Court now stands, we will be lucky if Brown Vs. Bd of Educ. isn't overturned. They aren't about to make any decision that would require real change or that could possibly take a few bucks out of the pockets of corporations (or increase taxes). Education is clearly an essential element in the "pursuit of happiness" & discrimination is well established as a threat to quality of education and life. But education, by definition MUST be voluntary and a consequence of personal initiative (or at least on the part of parents). No authentic change will happen as long as kids are conscripts & school is more of a prison than a place to experience autonomy & the "pursuit of happiness".