Letter Number Two

[onionsoupmix]

Dear Mom,

I remember looking at the faded photographs too. I remember seeing the bearded rabbi and his pious wife and being amazed that they were related to me. I remember thinking that they looked peaceful and holy and that I should memorize every wrinkle on their smiling faces.

I also remember you were so happy when you found out we were

Comments

[mrn613]

In the U.S. we as jews would be outraged if the public schools required us to send our children with no option of homeschooling and no option of sending to a private school. In this case the parents were jailed for keeping their children home (homeschooling). In addition they are not allowed to start their own school for their own children without a court order, which the court hasn't granted. In fact this situation reflects the G&T situation in NYC, where children who are predominantly white and Asian sit in G&T classrooms in the same buildings where blacks and hispanics sit in non-G&T classrooms with the same curriculum but vastly different resources. For some reason this is considered acceptible in NYC but not Immanuel.

[onionsoupmix]

Nope. State and local districts have immense power over all education decisions. School district can certainly prevent you from homeschooling if they don't think you will teach enough secular studies, for example. And school districts can (and most often do) force children to attend one particular school depending on where the parents live. Districts have considerable power over private schools too, they can set a minimum required curriculum and require employers not to discriminate based on race for example, they can prevent a school from opening in the first place through zoning rules and so on.

This school here is entirely funded by the government. So yes, the government can set the rules. That's how it works. And of course, the parents could have moved and started a new school elsewhere.

[mrn613]

Have you not heard of the unschooling movement? there are thousands of children who receive no schooling in secular studies and are not forced to attend school. and you are also incorrect that districts can set a minimum curriculum or force employers or schools not to disriminated based on race. surely you know that some schools in crown heights provide zero secular studies after eigth grade, but they continue to receive free or reduced price lunch for students. And following discrimination laws only applies if they accept public (federal state or local) funding. If I have a school that accepts no funding (including free or reduced price lunch and special needs funding) then I can discriminate based on race all I want.

[onionsoupmix]

Unschooling does not mean refraining from teaching secular studies. Unschooling is just a more child-centered form of homeschooling and the level at which the state regulates homeschooling varies heavily by state. See a lovely chart here: http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp

The schools in crown heights are most likely violating NY law, I had a post on this topic a few weeks ago.

Laws against discrimination based on race, etc, are not directed solely towards government funded organizations. For example, a private business cannot choose to hire employees only of a certain race or gender. Title VII, for example, applies to all employers who have 15 or more employees. There is a "ministerial" exemption for religious schools, but as far as I know, that pertains to religious positions only.

[mrn613]

I've tried to get as much info as I can about the court case, and there do seem to be huge problems with the court exceeding its authority.

The court absolutely had the authority to take action against the school if it found ethnic discrimination. However, what gave it the authority to make an orders binding on the parents? In Brown v. Board of Education, the courts integrated the schools but didn't imprison racist parents. Individuals in their private lives aren't subject to anti-discrimination laws - even in North America, they only apply to private businesses that offer services to the public. Furthermore, a finding of contempt is a very serious matter, and there seems to have been a real flaw in the process here, since the parents weren't parties to the original court action.

I still disagree with the Slonimer position, both on the school and the decision to allow themselves to be arrested, but that doesn't mean that the Israeli High Court had the right to ignore proper legal process.

JRKmommy

[mrn613]

I don't think Israeli law works on US law, so it is slightly different. I think in some ways Israeli law is more similar to UK law.

R