On compulsory education

[Marcus Marulus]

The Principle and Practice of Compulsion in Education



The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides the political and moral support for the use of compulsion in education. Article 26 states that: 'Elementary education shall be compulsory.' Furthermore in April 2000, 1,100 delegates from 164 countries, reaffirmed their commitment to Education For All at the World Education Forum in Dakar, by adopting the Dakar Framework for Action – including the ambitious goal of: ‘free and compulsory education of good quality for all by 2015.’



Therefore to the majority of public policy makers the principle and practice of compulsion is firmly established as a fundamental human right and widely recognised as an essential element of a world class education system. According to UNESCO, writing in 1951, 'the principle of universal compulsory education is no longer questioned', and some now view it as one of civilizations greatest achievements:

The practice of compulsory schooling is animated and sustained by an almost universal prevailing public consensus that the practice is in the child’s interest…Indeed in so far as it confers a right to education as well as an obligation to make use of it, the law making education compulsory could be said to be one of the achievements of civilization…After all disagreement is common about such issues a capital punishment, the right to carry firearms, divorce, abortion, etc., but not regarding compulsory education

Kevin Williams, In Defence of Compulsory Education,

Journal of Philosophy of Education, Vol 24, No.2, 1990.

Over half a century has now passed since the writing of Article 26 and the principle and practice of compulsion in education remains unchallenged. Writing in Key Concepts in the Philosophy of Education (1999) Christopher Winch and John Gingell are hopeful that this consensus may not last:

It is remarkable, but generally unremarked fact that, in Europe and America at least, children are compelled to go to school and when they get there they are compelled to do some things rather than others. … if we compel people to do something, then we need to provide good reason for that compulsion. The fact that in this case those compelled are children alters the matter somewhat – because we expect children to be subject to some compulsion – but does not affect the basic thrust of the question that concerns compulsory schooling….hopefully this important issue will now generate continued philosophical interest.

E.G. West on Compulsion

The Economics of Compulsion (pdf), E.G. West, Twelve Year Sentence, 1984

Publications

Absolutism and the 18th century origins of compulsory schooling in Prussia and Austria. Selected extracts presented by Ostap Melnick. James Melton, 1988. To Purchase Download Introduction

Toward a Place for Study in a World of Instruction. Robbie McClintock, Teachers College — Columbia University, December 2000

Related Articles

School is not compulsory, Education Otherwise

Albert Jay Nock on Education, Wendy McElroy, The Independent Institute

The European Enlightenment: Absolute Monarchy and Enlightened Absolutism, Richard Hooker

Every Parent, Every Child, Bishops of New York, 2002

Education and the State, Larry Willmore, United Nations, 2002

Public and Compulsory Schooling, Murray Rothbard, For a New Liberty.

Compulsory Government Education: Origins and Solutions, Rick Gee, January 2002

The Tidal Wave Builds, Dennis P.Doyle, 01/08/02

Quotes from Notable Persons who Saw Problems in Schooling

What Effect Does School Attendance Have on the Crime Rate?, Karl Bunday, Learn in Freedom, 2000

Compulsory Education Laws: The Dialogue Reopens, Sept/Oct 2000

Public Education: The Compulsion to Control, Twelve Tribes, The Commonwealth of Israel.

Obsessive Compulsion (high school attendance should not be compulsory). Jackson Toby, National Review, June 28, 1999

Ban Compulsory Education, Bonnie Newall, 1999

The Social Importance of the Modern School, Emma Goldman

Compulsory school attendance laws reconsidered, National Centre for Policy Analysis, Dec 1998

A Case Against Compulsion, Mary K Novello, Washington Policy Centre, March 1998

Choice and Compulsion: The End of an Era, Barry McGhan, 1998

What if supermarkets were run by schools? Mark Harrison, 1997.

Forcing Kids to Learn, National Centre for Policy Analysis, March 1996.

End Compulsory Schooling, Sheldon Richman and David B. Kopel, Indepednet Institue, 1996.

Dumbing us Down - The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, John Taylor Gatto, May 1993

Freeing the Education Market, Sheldon Richman, March 1993

Compulsion Versus Liberty in Education, I: The Calvinist Roots (pdf). David Botsford, Libertarian Alliance, 1993

Compulsion Versus Liberty in Education, II: The British Road From Freedom to Despotism (pdf). David Botsford, Libertarian Alliance, 1993

Compulsion Versus Liberty in Education, III: Against Planned Education. David Botsford, Libertarian Alliance, 1993

Compulsion Versus Liberty in Education, IV: The Montessori Movement and Its Enemies (pdf). David Botsford, Libertarian Alliance, 1993

Compulsion Versus Liberty in Education, V: The Psychology of Repression (pdf). David Botsford, Libertarian Alliance, 1993

Compulsion Versus Liberty in Education, VIII: The Third Wave (pdf). David Botsford, Libertarian Alliance, 1993

Compulsion Versus Liberty in Education, IX: The School of Barbiana. David Botsford, Libertarian Alliance, 1993

Compulsion Versus Liberty in Education, X: Home Education in Britain. David Botsford, Libertarian Alliance, 1993

Compulsion Versus Liberty in Education, XI: Stirner Versus Calvin. David Botsford, Libertarian Alliance, 1993

Ivan Illich and the Deschooling Movement (pdf). David Botsford, Libertarian Alliance, 1993

The Manufacture of Subjection: A Critique of Compulsory State Education, Stefan Blankertz, Libertarian Alliance, 1992

Could there be universal natural rights, Professor Flew, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol VI, No.3-4 (Summer/fall 1982)

Ayn Rand and Education, Michael Berliner, 1982

The Communist Public Education System by Chuck Morse

Philosophers relative to Deschooling Deschooling society, Ivan Illich

Why we Must Disestablish School, Ivan Illich, from Deschooling Society, 1973

Recommendation No. 32: Compulsory Education and its Prolongation, International Conference on Education, 1951

A Discussion of Freedom and Compulsion in Education, by Stephen Leacock (1934)

Some Thoughts on Compulsion in Education 1 & 2, John Locke, 1693

[source]