At the National Conference on Parent Involvement in 1976 in San Anselmo, California we all received a bookmark in our kits with the following inscription:
The First School Laws in America (Massachusetts, 1642) embodied all the basic principles which underlie the American School System today. These are:
- Universal education of youth is essential to the well-being of the State.
- The obligation to furnish this education rests primarily upon the parents.
- The State has a right to enforce this obligation.
- The State may fix a standard which shall determine the kind of education, and the minimum amount.
- Public money, raised by a general tax, may be used to provide such education as the State requires. The tax may be general although the school attendance is not.
- Education higher than the rudiments may be supplied by the State. Opportunity must be provided at public expense for youths to be fitted for the university.