The Ugly Spectacle

Despite talk about some form of tax relief or other assistance to church-related and private schools, various state bureaucracies continue to harass non-public schools as if they were Enemies of the People. Nor is it merely state departments of public instruction which do the tormenting.

In Wisconsin, the Department of Health and Social Services has been asserting its authority over independent schools. On what pretext? Why, that they are “day-care centers” and therefore subject to regulation by Wisconsin “health” officials. Private academies— which no more resemble day-care centers than do Groton or Andover, Eton or Harrow—have been forced to defend themselves in state and federal courts against the ambitions of Wisconsin’s social-service zealots.

RK

About the Author

Russell Kirk

Despite talk about some form of tax relief or other assistance to church-related and private schools, various state bureaucracies continue to harass non-public schools as if they were Enemies of the People. Nor is it merely state departments of public instruction which do the tormenting.

In Wisconsin, the Department of Health and Social Services has been asserting its authority over independent schools. On what pretext? Why, that they are “day-care centers” and therefore subject to regulation by Wisconsin “health” officials. Private academies— which no more resemble day-care centers than do Groton or Andover, Eton or Harrow—have been forced to defend themselves in state and federal courts against the ambitions of Wisconsin’s social-service zealots.