Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Home Schooling and Child Custody:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_03_08-2009_03_14.shtml#1236961987
[1]The News & Observer (North Carolina) reports:
Wake District Court Judge Ned Mangum said on Friday that he will
require Venessa Mills to enroll her children in a public school for
the upcoming school year. The ruling came as part of an ongoing
divorce case....
Thomas Mills, Venessa's husband, had raised concerns that the
children would be sheltered in a home school instead of in a
regular public school setting.
Mangum appeared to agree with Thomas Mills at last week's court
hearing even as the judge said that home-schooling has "had a great
benefit" for the children.
"I do think that in the interests of the children being well
rounded that public school will be a great option for them," Mangum
said during the court hearing. [Audio of that is available on the
News & Observer site. -EV] ...
The Mills' three children, ages 12, 11 and 10, have been
home-schooled by their mother since 2005. She said they have made
noticeable academic improvement since then, with two of the
children performing two grade levels above their ages.
[2]WRAL (Raleigh) also reports:
In an affidavit filed Friday in the divorce case, ... Thomas Mills
... said he was "concerned about the children's religious-based
science curriculum" and that he wants "the children to be exposed
to mainstream science, even if they eventually choose to believe
creationism over evolution." ...
In a verbal ruling, Mangum said the children should go to public
school.
"He was upfront and said that, 'It's not about religion.' But yet
when it came down to his ruling and reasons why, 'He said this
would be a good opportunity for the children to be tested in the
beliefs that I have taught them,'" Venessa Mills said....
Of course -- if the judge's oral statements are being accurately
reported by Venessa Mills -- the same logic would apply to children
who are taught at private schools that teach creationism: If one
divorced parent objects to such teaching, the judge could order that
the children be sent to noncreationist schools instead of creationist
schools, or give custody to that parent who promises to send the
children to such schools.
I should note that I would firmly oppose any judicial order
interfering with the father's ability to expose the children to
evolution when the children are visiting with him (assuming the mother
is given custody and the father is given visitation). And I personally
do think that it's more in a child's best interests to be taught
evolution than to be taught creationism. I just don't think that the
First Amendment allows judges to make decisions based on such matters,
for reasons I mention in my [3]Parent-Child Speech and Child Custody
Speech Restrictions article.
For an earlier case suggesting -- in my view, wrongly -- that
disfavoring the creationism-teaching parent is more legitimate in
child custody cases, see Waites v. Waites, 567 S.W.2d 326, 333 (Mo.
1978) (suggesting that under �best interests� test court may consider
whether parent �would refuse to permit the child to attend a school
class where evolution is taught�). For lots of cases in which judges
considered parents' religiosity, atheism, racism, Communism, pacifism,
support for Nazism, advocacy of the propriety of homosexuality,
condemnation of homosexuality, and more, see the [4]article I cited
above.
For more on child custody decisions and home schooling -- setting
aside the creationism issue, which as I note could arise even when the
child is taught in a religious school outside the home -- see [5]these
older posts.
Thanks to Patrick Martin and Robert Bell for the pointers.
References
1. http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1439689.html
2. http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4727161/
3. http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/family.pdf
4. http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/family.pdf
5. http://volokh.com/posts/chain_1224892991.shtml
_______________________________________________
Volokh mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
