ABSTRACT
Compulsory listening has been made the issue in several situations in recent years. In Pennsylvania, members of the Old Order Amish Church have contended that their religious beliefs prevent them from sending their children to school after they have attained the age of fourteen and have completed the eighth grade of the public schools. Children, said the court, "may be educated in the public schools, in private or denominational schools, or by approved tutors; but educated they must be within the age limits and in the subjects prescribed by law". The state has the duty to encourage education, and to provide schools as a means of education. The state may compel parents to send their child to a public or private school where he would acquire the basic means with which to search for the truth in his own way.
