
10 Important Court Cases That Forever Changed Educati
onThe history of the United States has time and again proven that its people and its laws are living, changing things. There’s no clearer example of this than the history of educati
on law in the country, as major court cases over the years helped usher in new eras of integrati
on, religious freedom, and more. The cases listed below were landmarks for the way they handled c
ontentious issues and led the U.S. down new paths. Without the decisi
ons included here, it would be impossible for many people to get any kind of educati
on, let al
one an
online college degree. These are the court cases that changed the face of educati
on in the United States forever.
West Virginia State Board of Educati
on v. Barnette: This 1943 Supreme Court decisi
on dealt with the Pledge of Allegiance and the use of the American flag in schools. Specifically, the West Virginia legislature had required that schools would not
only teach U.S. history but that teachers and students would be required to recite the Pledge and salute the flag, and that failure to do so would be classified as "insubordinati
on" to be "dealt with accordingly." Groups including the PTA and the Boy Scouts protested, but it was a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses who objected to what they viewed as worship of a "graven image" over their belief in God. The Court ruled 6-3 that forcing children to salute the flag was unc
onstituti
onal. The victory was a major
one for prop
onents of First Amendment rights, as well as for those whose religious beliefs were challenged by such acts.