Government Schools, Parental Rights, and the Perversion of Catholic Morality

Acton Institute's Markets and Morality (2018, Forthcoming)

U of St. Thomas (Minnesota) Legal Studies Research Paper No. 18-03

19 Pages Posted: 1 Feb 2018 Last revised: 2 Feb 2018

See all articles by Teresa Stanton Collett

Teresa Stanton Collett

University of St. Thomas - School of Law (Minnesota)

Date Written: 2018

Abstract

Almost 100 years ago the US Supreme Court opined that children are “not mere creatures of the state”, noting that parents should be the final arbiter of what is best for each child in the vast majority of cases. Yet this principle falls strangely short in protecting the rights of parents when addressing concerns surrounding certain forms of sexuality education in public school. This article argues that the sex education by necessity is freighted with moral meaning and to many parents that meaning has religious significance. I attempt to persuade the reader that because of the religious dimensions of our understanding of human sexuality a robust conception of religious liberty requires public schools to allow parental control over the sex education of children and that doing so poses little or no threat to legitimate state interests in education, health and public safety.

Keywords: law and education, private schools, parental rights, human sexuality, moral education

Suggested Citation

Collett, Teresa Stanton, Government Schools, Parental Rights, and the Perversion of Catholic Morality (2018). Acton Institute's Markets and Morality (2018, Forthcoming), U of St. Thomas (Minnesota) Legal Studies Research Paper No. 18-03, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3112784

Teresa Stanton Collett (Contact Author)

University of St. Thomas - School of Law (Minnesota) ( email )

MSL 400
1000 La Salle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403-2005
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
286
Abstract Views
1,436
Rank
226,994
PlumX Metrics