Wisconsin vs. Yoder

In early 1966, Adin Yutzy, a member of the Old Order Amish religion, sold his farm in Iowa and moved his family to Green County, Wisconsin, “to get away from all the trouble.” The “trouble” Yutzy tried to escape occurred in Buchanan County, Iowa, in 1965 and involved Amish resistance to state compulsory education laws. The dispute in Iowa produced a dramatic photograph of Amish children dashing into a cornfield to avoid a forced bus trip to high school. Compromise solutions had been reached in other states, where Amish children attended Amish run vocational schools between eighth grade and age 16.
Only two years later, Yutzy and two other Amish fathers were arrested near New Glarus, Wisconsin, for failing to enroll their three children in high school. Frieda Yoder and Barbara Miller, both aged 15, and Vernon Yutzy, aged 14, all had completed the eighth grade in public schools. According to the parents, any further education in their schools would present their childr...