Suit to Control Pupils’ Reading
If the various appeals courts uphold U.S. District Judge Thomas Hull’s decision in the case of the Christian fundamentalists vs. the Hawkins County School District of eastern Tennessee, then it is quite possible that in the future we shall see a radical restructuring of the public school curriculum.
For the ultimate consequence of the decision is that any religious group can withdraw its children from any part of the school program devoted to reading anything that that group objects to. Since there are literally hundreds of religious sects in our country, running the gamut from major to minor, the schools could soon be reduced to offering one period of innocuous “basics” per day and five periods of study hall for children to contemplate their own sanctified books.
BURTON HENRY
Monterey Park
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