I am probably very Naive about this, but do Amish children go to public schools?
They attend schools operated by the Amish community. In Pennsylvania, however, Amish children only have to complete the 8th grade, but still have to undergo some sort of vocational training at home. (Cite.
Robin
The exception to this is Amish children with disabilities–it’s not unusual for them to attend public schools in order to get the kind of help with learning that perhaps they could not get elsewhere.
As previously stated, in Pennsymvania at least, Amish children attend special schools run by the Amish communities in which they live.
Way back in high school, my enrichment class did a couple of days at an Amish school as a sort of “exchange”.
Probably the oddest part was that most of the students were significantly younger then the visitors (as mentioned, they only have to attend school until 8th grade) but most of what they were learning seemed similar to the bare basics of a regular public school education, but geared toward the interests and needs of their community. At least at the school we visted they learned English language skills, reading, writting and spelling in both English and PA Dutch, math (through geometry and alegbra), basic accounting, composition and critical analysis, American history (with an apparent emphisis on pacifism and agriculture), and what they called current events (which invovled reading an English newspaper and disecting issues of interest to their community).
They were polite, very well spoken (considering that English is not their primary language), thoughtful, and curious about our school and our culture.
They are far from uneducated, but the education they do get is compressed, and very very focused on what they are expected to find useful in their adult lives within the Amish community (which is not all that different from what public vocational schools do).
Some do go to school past the 8th grade, and sometimes you will see them attend public school for various reasons (disabilities being one of those reasons). Some even take advantage of their “wild time” to take college classes.
Those who choose to leave the Amish faith as adults do sometimes find their adjustment difficult because they lack knowledge in some areas (computers, literature (especially fiction), art, European history, pop culture etc.) But most “English” in the area are understanding, and they learn quickly enough.
Ack, please excuse my terrible spelling… I got interupted by work that needing doing, and I ended up hitting “submit” thinking I had already proof-read when obviously I had not.
A plain one.
Sailboat
Pretty much everywhere the Amish have a community they run their own schools. This was a huge issue early in the 20th Century and went all the way to the US Supreme Court.
They are required to educate their children through grade 8 and meet certain academic requirements, but the Amish do not need to go through the public schools.
Wisconsin v. Yoder
A challenge to state mandated compulsory school attendance.