This writer takes issue with the viewpoints on compulsory education expressed in the "Point-Counterpoint" section of the September 1975 issue of the NASSP Bulletin. He emphasizes the difference between the state's right to mandate a certain level of intellectual development for all its citizens, versus its current practice of mandating a minimum…

An historical overview of the precursors to compulsory school attendance is presented. Emphasis is placed upon the beginning stages of American schooling, the Common School Movement, and its impact upon the restriction of educational choice for the majority of those in society. (Author/EVH)

While the impact of schools in colonial America was soft before the mid-eighteenth century, devotion to education was strong and self-evident. By the early nineteenth century, schooling was well on its way to becoming universal for most children. As the nineteenth century wore on, the state became more and more involved in schooling. As taxation…