Compulsory Schooling Legislation is Unnecessary in Alberta
by Dr. Michael Wagner
In North America, the term “public education”
has historically been seen as synonymous with “free,
universal, compulsory education.” It is called “free”
because it is fully funded by the government and
therefore the user does not have to pay for it directly;
“universal” because it is open and accessible to all
children; and “compulsory” because all children are
required to attend by law. This basically describes the
ideal of public education that guided its establishment
in Alberta.
As far as home educators are concerned, the most
problematic aspect of that formula is the “compulsory”
part. The idea behind compulsory education, or
more accurately, compulsory schooling, is that legal
force is necessary to ensure all children receive an
education. Many parents, it is believed, would neglect
the education of their children in the absence of
government coercion.
...compulsory schooling laws ...
reduce parental rights by making
education primarily a state
responsibility rather than a parental
responsibility.
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For the most part, however, that is not true. Parents
care far more about their children than anyone else,
and are far more concerned for the future well-being of
their children than anyone else, including government
officials.
The key problem with compulsory schooling laws
is that they reduce parental rights by making education
primarily a state responsibility rather than a parental
responsibility. The state is given final authority over
the education of children.
Nevertheless, such laws became widespread
throughout the United States and Canada after the
middle of the nineteenth century, as public education
became established and government schools were
built. Not everyone agreed with those laws, but
opposition to them subsided over time.
Compulsory Schooling in Alberta
Was a compulsory schooling law necessary to
get Alberta’s children into schools? That is one of the
issues discussed by Cecil L. Race in his 1978 Master
of Education thesis from the University of Alberta
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entitled, “Compulsory Schooling in Alberta (1888-
1942).”
Race provides a detailed account of compulsory
schooling laws as they applied to Alberta, beginning
with the first law of 1888, when Alberta was still part
of the North-West Territories.
In early pioneer settlements it was difficult for
children to obtain formal education. Few schools
actually existed, and those that did exist were
frequently great distances from the families. Expecting
all children to attend in these circumstances was
unreasonable and the government recognized that.
However, with the development of better
transportation and the building of additional schools,
the government became increasingly serious about
compulsory schooling and strengthened the legislation.
The position of truant officer was established. Race
writes, “As an index of the importance attached to
attendance this individual was to be vested with
police powers. It was a dramatic way to personify
state control in education” (p. 76).
The Alberta Legislature passed The Truancy Act
in 1910 to increase the pressure for compulsory
schooling. Under this law, “The truant officer was a
powerful government agent put to work in Alberta
communities. He exercised considerable authority as
an intervenor in what had previously been regarded
as the private affairs of people” (p. 93).
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 (Compulsory attendance provisions were later
incorporated into other educational legislation and
currently comprise Section 7 of the Education Act.
However, the Education Act also allows for home
Race claims ... that “the need for
enforcement legislation may no
longer exist.”
education in Section 20, so in this sense the compulsory
schooling requirement is less threatening than in the
past.)
Forcibly Closing Private Schools
From early on, the Alberta government’s
commitment to compulsory public education
manifested itself in hostility towards private schools.
In 1914 there was a confrontation involving a number
of German Lutheran Church schools. The government
refused to grant an approval certificate to the schools.
Race notes, “Without the certificate the schools could
not lawfully operate and as a result the Church closed
the majority of them” (p. 115).
Race writes that “the provincial government
was transmitting a firm message not only about the
importance of a state school system but also about
its reluctance to encourage the development of
alternatives to state schools, that is, private schools”
(p. 116).
A Lutheran private school that had previously
closed was reopened in 1921. Like the others, it was
refused the required certificate by the government.
This time, however, the school continued to operate
anyway. Thus the government charged one of the
parents, Jacob Ulmer, whose children attended the
school. “In the initial action Ulmer was charged with
violating The Truancy Act in not sending his children
to the public school of his district” (p. 118).
The children were, in fact, attending school and
receiving an education, but it wasn’t a state-approved
education and therefore the children were considered
“truant” by the government. Ulmer lost in court and
subsequently sent his children to public school in
December 1922.
 What Race doesn’t mention in his thesis is that
although the judge ruled in favour of the government,
HOME Matters Fall 2019
Compulsory Schooling Legislation is Unnecessary in Alberta
he did not like what the government was doing to the
private Lutheran schools. In his judgement, Justice
Beck wrote that the government’s action in this case
was based on a “tyrannous provision from the school
law” and that the Department of Education had
adopted a “tyrannical policy of administration of the
law.” In other words, Justice Beck ruled according to
the letter of the law (as was his official duty), but he
took the opportunity to publicly express his dislike of
the legislation itself and of the heavy-handed way it
was being administered by government officials.
Increased School Attendance
The Truancy Act had been adopted in the hope
of increasing school attendance and, indeed, school
attendance rates improved after 1910. Race writes,
“Whereas in 1911 less than two-thirds of children
between the ages of seven and fourteen were at school
for any length of time, by 1941 almost ninety-five per
cent of children in this age range were at school” (p.
136).
Department of Education officials claimed that it
was the enforcement of the truancy law that led to
rising rates of attendance. Interestingly, however, due
HOME Matters Fall 2019
to his research, Cecil Race came to a very different
conclusion.
As Race sees it, the low school attendance rates
in early Alberta history did not result from a lack of
interest in education by parents. Instead, it was because
of the obstacles to school attendance presented by the
circumstances of pioneer life. The lack of attendance
was largely in rural areas, not urban areas. In recently
settled rural areas schools did not exist. Therefore it
was literally impossible for children to attend school.
When schools did get built, many families
continued to live great distances from them, and
it was not reasonable for students to travel so far
when transportation was very difficult. Even when
a school was not too distant, rural schools often had
a difficult time hiring teachers because the pay was
low, the conditions difficult, and job security almost
non-existent. Schools without teachers were obviously
not worth attending.
However, as schools were built, transportation
improved, and teacher pay raised, attendance in rural
areas increased considerably. It became possible for
students to attend and they did so. Their parents
clearly wanted them to get an education.
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 This leads Race to conclude that the large increase
in school attendance that occurred by 1941 was the
result “of a widespread desire for schooling, being
exhibited more fully because of the change in external
conditions. Rather than improvements being a function
of the pressure of enforcement, the author maintains
that they were due mainly to a generalized desire to
attend” (pp. 185-186).
Repealing the Compulsory Schooling Legislation
He provides a more extensive conclusion to his
thesis as follows: “It is important to note that it was
not the ‘push’ of enforcement, which determined, over
time, the greater utilization of schools in Alberta; it was
the ‘pull’ of factors such as the desire for schooling and
the presence of supportive conditions for the operation
of schools and the attendance of pupils. Positive rather
than negative forces were the significant variables.
In essence, the history of schooling in Alberta is not
so much a story of compulsory schooling as it is of
voluntary schooling” (p. 197).
Race goes even further than this. He claims that
the implication of his research is that “the need for
enforcement legislation may no longer exist.” Indeed,
he argues that a level of school attendance in Alberta
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“has been attained which justifies the repeal of
compulsory schooling legislation” (p. 197).
Conclusion
Repealing compulsory schooling legislation would
be beneficial for home educators because it would
remove the government’s claim to authority over
children’s education. No longer would parents need
to fear the heavy hand of government intervention.
Families could explore various options in education
without looking for official approval or checking
over their shoulders for government busy-bodies and
meddlers.
Repeal of the compulsory schooling legislation
won’t occur any time soon. But it’s a worthy goal and
something to hope for in the future.
Dr. Michael Wagner is an independent researcher and
writer with a PhD in political science from the University
of Alberta. His most recent book is
True Right: Genuine Conservative
Leaders of Western Canada. He and
his wife have eleven children and
have been home educating for over
20 years.
HOME Matters Fall 2019