Wisconsin v. Yoder

Amish parents (defendants) withdrew their children from school after eighth grade in violation of Wisconsin's compulsory attendance law, believing further formal schooling and exposure to non-Amish peer influences conflicted with their religious way of life; the children instead received practical, vocational education suited to Amish agrarian life. Convicted under the statute, the parents won reversal from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the state appealed.

Whether a state law mandating school attendance by children 16 and under is constitutional as applied to Amish children whose parents take them out of school after eighth grade.