In response to Martin Davis's article ("Ed reform, born again?" May 11), I want to know if he's read the think-piece, "Testing the Boundaries of Parental Authority Over Education," by Robert Reich. He quotes Justice White in Wisconsin v. Yoder: "children must achieve the minimal degree of autonomy necessary to provide them with options other than that into which they have been born; they must have an effective right of exit.... Because the child cannot him or herself ensure the acquisition of such capacities and the parents may be opposed to such acquisition, the state must ensure it for them." [emphasis mine]
I would argue that the state, especially here in California, is doing a fine job of ensuring that the child has an effective "right of exit" not just from the parents' beliefs, but of their values and, perhaps superior, wisdom. That alone is reason for parents to pull their children out of the "public" school system.
A parent can't help but wonder, "Where are the beliefs I've tried to instill in my child?" Well, the battle is being lost to the government school system's teaching "critical thinking" on the way to facilitating a child's "right of exit" from their parents' system of belief, especially if that belief is in Christianity.
Let the Baptists compete. If nothing else they will fulfill the first part of the Hippocratic Oath, "First, do no harm."
