California's illegal homeschooling (revisited)

Another article on the California homeschooling court ruling-- this one by John Stossel...

His intro:

A California appellate court, ruling that parents have no constitutional right to homeschool their children, pinned its decision on this ominous quotation from a 47-year-old case, "A primary purpose of the educational system is to train schoolchildren in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare."

I had blogged on this earlier-- both the ruling itself and its adherence to existing state laws (a point I haven't heard elsewhere). It struck me the other day that the timing of the CA laws is crucial and interesting: the 1950s.

What was happening in the 1950s?

It was just after a successful war, the start of the Cold War, the height of anti-communism, and perhaps an apex for patriotism. Some of the more notable and public fruit: "Under God" goes into the Pledge and "In God We Trust" goes onto the money.

Another anecdote: when I saw the Ten Commandments about a decade ago, I was surprised about the opening of the film. A man walks out from behind a large curtain (think Johnny Carson without the energy and humor) to a mic on the front of a stage. He then gives a five-minute monologue on the horrors of slavery under the Soviet regime, equating it with the Israelite plight under Pharaoh.

In that context, the means and ends of California's homeschooling laws-- their push for strong citizens, their suspicion of those who would not conform, and their belief in government as means to an end-- point (not too surprisingly) to a set of goals that were completely consistent with that era.