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com·pul·so·ry [k?m púls?ree] adj 1. necessary: required by
law or an authority attendance at the lecture is compulsory 2.
forced: caused by force, or using force to make somebody do
something
To begin with, since the conception of the public school
system, it has always been the intention to remove religion
from the public school. The public schools greatest advocates
were Socialist, Unitarianism or even Communist at the time. In
many cases, these groups would work together while trying to
promote their own agenda. Basically, a few influential people
were able to promote their idea's which included compulsory
attendance. Americans quickly rejected communism, but that did
not stop them from working behind the scenes. Accused
Communist teachers and professors were being uprooted from
their jobs in the public and private education systems in the
early 1900's.
Public school advocates viewed the private schools as the
enemy, because they provided an alternative, eliminating total
control or total dependency upon the public school system.
This same attitude seems to be held toward today's home school
families. Horace Mann, secretary of the nation’s first state
board of education, even went as far as writing a letter to
the private school community, charging them for lack of
patriotism.
In other words, he was trying to make parents feel guilty for
not supporting their country.
What began as an attempt to influence their cooperation
eventually led to the use of the judicial system, which in
1925 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the private schools.
Pierce versus the Society of Sisters in that the state could
not compel children to attend the public schools and children
could attend private schools.
Though compulsory attendance is nation wide, it is handled by
individual states rather than the federal government. This is
the reason the laws are similar, yet different from state to
state. Beginning in 1794, New York State leading the way,
eventually every state had a department of education that
would oversee the laws concerning the handling of finances,
personnel, compulsory attendance, and in most cases
curriculum. With each state responsible for themselves they
would then delegate authority over the education down to the
district level. This is the reason why home schools get
treated so differently from district to district.
Consider this, in the days of Horace Mann, home schools and
private schools were prevalent. Mann had no control and very
little influence over how the parents chose to educate their
children. The public school system was in its earliest stages.
Almost 150 years later, public schools are prevalent and the
goal is that parents will have practically no control, or
influence, over how they choose to educate their children.
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