A Dartmouth University professor has written a fascinating paper about the functionality of Amish one-room schools. His paper is entitled “Do Amish One-Room Schools Make the Grade?" (Amish schools, truly, are rarely one-room...they usually are several, but I won't quibble with this)
His premise is a very interesting one:  that the Amish are essentially "locked in" to an educational system that no longer works.  Ever since the landmark Supreme Court case, Yoder vs. Wisconsin codified into law the Amish wishes to educate their children just to the eighth grade, the Amish have generally run their own schools in their own way.  That was back in 1972 and Dartmouth professor William Fischel persuasively argues that society has changed a lot since then.  The Amish themselves have changed, back in 1972 they were in the waning days of being an almost exclusively agrarian culture.  That is no longer the case. Some Amish do still attend public schools but even they stop at the eighth grade.  The professor makes some credible points and valid premises but here's the problem I have with his ultimate conclusions:  they are HIS conclusions.  I think the Amish should solve their educational issues in their own way and not be foisted on them by outsiders.  The Amish - despite their eighth-grade education - are not stupid.  If and when Yoder vs. Wisconsin becomes outdated they will, in their own way, evolve to fit the times.  They always do.  What do you think?  Click here to read more about William Fischel's paper.
Heather D.
Mr. Fischel should be more concerned with the broken public school system than with the Amish method of schooling their children. I don't agree that the Amish method isn't functional - it is functional for their needs. They have creative methods of getting around having phones and websites. It sounds to me like someone had too much free time on his hands and opted to take on the Amish because they are an easy target.
Dale P.
I agree with Heather. As a teacher (retired) in the public schools, there is much there that needs to be fixed in the public schools and it starts with discipline, which I doubt is much of a problem in the Amish schools. Also, a large percentage of my students could not even put a sentence together, much less punctuate it. I find the weekly columns more literate than many of those students' work. Amish children I meet in stores can all make change and converse intelligently and politely. They are doing a lot of things right.
Paula
I definitely disagree with Fischel's 'findings'. Nearly every Mennonite I know (also only go to grade 8) owns there own business. Those that don't run their multi-thousand dollar farms. Farming isn't for stupid people. It takes a lot more intelligence than a lot of 'regular' jobs out there. Any one who's seen a farms book keeping records, let alone the thousands spend every spring on seeds would appreciate what it takes to run a farm.
And to be perfectly honest, I don't know that there is too much in my regular life that I learned in high school. And certainly nothing that I couldn't have learned on my own with a grade 8 education!
Wendy
I think the good professor should keep his nose out of where it doesn't belong, and let parents decide what is best for their own children. Like the previous posters said, if he wants to worry about something, he can worry about the failing parts of the public school system, answerable to taxpayers.
Jerry
Agree with Heather & Windy. The public schools (once you get out of the rural areas) don't have much to brag about.
Linda Clark
When something is not broken, we do not fix it! The Amish have been tending to their educational issues without asking for "plain' help all of these years. What makes it OUR issue now? The other comments about the public school system being such a mess I agree with. What in the world do we want to do, make idiots out of ALL America? including the Amish?
Marilyn from NY
I have a friend that is Old Order Mennonite who told me one time that the children in the one room school house that her daughter goes to have to take tests provided by the state. I think they take these tests annually. The children in the school her daughter goes to rate as high if not higher than the students in the public school-although Old Order Mennonite School only goes to the eight grade. She believes OOM school is better because they have education and not a lot of other activities and subjects that the public school does. Also once they graduate school at the eight grade parents have to keep a record of what "education" the children get at home-farming, house hold work, wood work, etc. until the children are 17 or 18 (I forgot what she said). The state can ask to see these records at anytime. So even though children graduate at the eighth grade that doesn't mean they are sitting around doing nothing.
Marilyn
Ruby
The fundamental flaw in the professor's understanding and argument is the idea that the entirety of education is to be found in the classroom. I would argue first that secure personhood, morality and character (like work ethic) are the fundamentals of educating a person into adulthood that cannot be done without, and the Amish accomplish that.
The Amish education does not begin nor does it end in the schoolroom. The skills an Amish child learns in school - reading, writing and basic arithmetic - are the very basics that gives him/her the simplest tools he needs, which he builds upon himself. In the documentary, "Trouble in Amish Paradise", two Amishmen did not understand some words they read, so they simply looked it up in the dictionary. The Amish perhaps are more resourceful and less reliant on educational spoon-feeding.
I would argue that leaving school at fourteen gives the Amish teen opportunities other teens do not have. I saw a documentary where Amish teens after leaving school worked in a furniture shop. They gained skills that will help them throughout life - real, working, practicable skills.
The Amish certainly learn about geography, agriculture, biology, technology (especially alternative technology), business, economy - things that extend beyond the classroom but are an integral part of their life. It is false to say that just because they do not learn these things as part of their school curriculum, that they do not learn these things at all.
The professor condescendingly calls Amish labor "unskilled". They may not have a degree, but it really boils down to the individual. It seems like many Amish are skilled and well-paid, even sought after, in their jobs, for example, in the construction and furniture industry. Creativity and even interest in things like nature and bird-watching makes for a very enriched and meaningful life. Most Amish children experience things that other children do not have, and the collection of their formative experiences form their education.
The way the Amish are educated is similar to the tried and tested methods of the past. schoolhouse. Many of the essential builders and leaders of the United States in past times were educated in similar ways as well.
Kevin
Well said, Ruby, very articulate thoughts, thanks for sharing!