1. The Supreme Court ruled that Wisconsin's compulsory school attendance law violated the religious freedoms of Amish parents as protected by the First Amendment.
2. The Court found that an additional 1-2 years of high school would conflict with Amish religious beliefs and way of life without producing significant benefits for the children.
3. The Amish demonstrated that their alternative vocational training adequately provided for the health, self-sufficiency, and citizenship of their children without materially harming society.
1. The Supreme Court ruled that Wisconsin's compulsory school attendance law violated the religious freedoms of Amish parents as protected by the First Amendment.
2. The Court found that an additional 1-2 years of high school would conflict with Amish religious beliefs and way of life without producing significant benefits for the children.
3. The Amish demonstrated that their alternative vocational training adequately provided for the health, self-sufficiency, and citizenship of their children without materially harming society.
1. The Supreme Court ruled that Wisconsin's compulsory school attendance law violated the religious freedoms of Amish parents as protected by the First Amendment.
2. The Court found that an additional 1-2 years of high school would conflict with Amish religious beliefs and way of life without producing significant benefits for the children.
3. The Amish demonstrated that their alternative vocational training adequately provided for the health, self-sufficiency, and citizenship of their children without materially harming society.
1. The Supreme Court ruled that Wisconsin's compulsory school attendance law violated the religious freedoms of Amish parents as protected by the First Amendment.
2. The Court found that an additional 1-2 years of high school would conflict with Amish religious beliefs and way of life without producing significant benefits for the children.
3. The Amish demonstrated that their alternative vocational training adequately provided for the health, self-sufficiency, and citizenship of their children without materially harming society.
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CONSTI TOPIC
Wisconsin v. Yoder . DISPOSITION
EMERGNCY DIGEST: Yes. The court held the following:
Jonas Yoder and Wallace Miller are members of the Old Order Amish religion. Adin Yutzy is a member of 1. The State's interest in universal education is not totally free from a balancing process when it im- the Conservative Amish Mennonite Church. All were persecuted in accordance with Wisconsin law since they refused to pinges on other fundamental rights, such as those specifically protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First send their children to school after the 8th grade. This is contrary to a Wisconsin law that requires the school of children Amendment and the traditional interest of parents with respect to the religious upbringing of their children. until age 16. According to the respondents, sending their children to high school is contrary to their religious beliefs. 2. Respondents have amply supported their claim that enforcement of the compulsory formal education Thus, the question was posed as to whether or not the Wisconsin law that requires children to go school until requirement after the eighth grade would gravely endanger if not destroy the free exercise of their religious beliefs. they are 16 years of age is violative of the First Amendment to freedom of religion. 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 be- In the majority opinion by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, the Court found that the values and programs of liefs, the interrelationship of belief with their mode of life, the vital role that belief and daily conduct play in the secondary school were "in sharp conflict with the fundamental mode of life mandated by the Amish religion," and that an continuing survival of Old Order Amish communities, and the hazards presented by the State's enforcement of a additional one or two years of high school would not produce the benefits of public education cited by Wisconsin to justify statute generally valid as to others. the law. 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 Burger Court 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 fell on the state to prove the detriment FACTS of granting an exception to the Amish.
Respondents Jonas Yoder and Wallace Miller are members of the Old Order Amish religion, and were 4. The State's claim that it is empowered, as parens patriae, to extend the benefit of secondary education convicted if violating Wisconsin’s compulsory school attendance law which requires a child’s school attendance to children regardless of the wishes of their parents cannot be sustained against a free exercise claim of the nature until age 16. They were persecuted for declining to send their children to public or private school after they had revealed by the court, for the Amish have introduced convincing evidence that accommodating their religious ob- graduated from eighth grade. jections 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 Evidence was showed that the Amish provide continuing informal vocational education to their children citizenship, or in any other way materially detract from the welfare of society. designed to prepare them for life in the rural Amish community. The respondents also claim that high school attend- ance was contrary to both Amish belief and the Amish way of life.
By complying with the law, the respondents claimed that their salvation, religion, and way of life would Relevant Laws (Philippine Law, not US law) be endangered. ARTICLE XIV Section 2. The State shall: Attending high school would introduce a "worldly" influence in conflict with their beliefs. The high school tends to emphasise intellectual and scientific accomplishments, self-distinction, competitiveness, worldly (2) Establish and maintain a system of free public education in the elementary and high school levels. Without success, and social life with other students. Amish society emphasises informal "learning through doing;" a life of limiting the natural right of parents to rear their children, elementary education is compulsory for all children of "goodness," rather than a life of intellect; wisdom, rather than technical knowledge; community welfare, rather school age; than competition; and separation from, rather than integration with, contemporary worldly society.
ISSUES and RATIONALE
Whether or not Wisconsin's requirement that all parents send their children to school at least until age 16 violates the First Amendment by criminalizing the conduct of parents who refused to send their children to school for religious reasons?
