Religious Schools v. Children's Rights

Despair over the reported inadequacies of public education leads many people to consider religious schools as an alternative. James G. Dwyer demonstrates, however, that religious schooling is almost completely unregulated and that common pedagogical...

James G. Dwyer is Professor of Law at the College of William and Mary. He is the author of Vouchers within Reason: A Child-Centered Approach to Education Reform, also from Cornell, and The Relationship Rights of Children.

This is a serious book, which should be read by anyone making education decisions.... As serious to the well-being of children as desegregation, Dwyer's ideas deserve to be read. Recommended for academic libraries.

John Flesher:

This book certainly will inspire lively and intense discussions.

Francis Schrag:

James G. Dwyer has forced me to see the connection between religion and schooling from a novel and powerful point of view.

Nathan Wilson:

Given the current popularity of the parental choice to raise one's child as one sees fit, as well as the intensified efforts of school voucher proponents to use public money for private education, Dwyer's thesis is not likely to receive a warm embrace. For that reason, this book should be read.

Laurence D. Houlgate:

James G. Dwyer's Religious Schools v. Children's Rights is a contribution to the appropriate balance between the liberty rights of children and the rights of parents to control and direct the behavior of their children.... Rights to the protection of one's interests, Dwyer contends, are rights that children should possess, including 'a right to protection from any state interference that is not, on the whole, to their benefit'.... Dwyer's job is to convince courts and legislative bodies that they ought to extend the Limited Rights Principle to children. It is at this point that Dwyer does his best work.

Sanford Levinson, University of Texas Law School:

James Dwyer offers a fearless—and, I think, convincing—critique of parental rights in regard to the education of children. It is sure to generate controversy and, more importantly, to provide deep illumination about the way we conceptualize (and treat) children in our society. He also raises troublesome questions about the limits of pluralism, and of religious liberty, in a liberal political order. This is truly an auspicious debut by a most interesting writer.

Given the present debate over... schemes that would funnel state funds to religious schools, the book is 'must' reading for persons on both sides of that debate.