Education, Conviction, and Enlightenment: The Role of Parent’s Moral Convictions in Shaping Their Child’s Education

Greetings! My name is Jonathan Turner, and I am finishing up my 2L year at Regent University School of Law. I am from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and came to Regent because of the quality of professors that teach here, the mission of the school, and the generous aid they provided me. I joined the Center for Global Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law because I wanted to assist non-profit organizations in their mission defend freedom of religion, conscience, and association. This semester my research project is focused on the relationship between parental convictions and education for their children. Specifically, I have performed research on behalf of Christian Legal Fellowship of London, Ontario, Canada. Christian Legal Fellowship is a national legal charitable Christian organization in Canada which seeks to educate its members on and engage with deeply relevant political, religious, and social issues from a Christian worldview.

Education is essential to success for children around the world. What authority does a parent have in deciding the type of education his or her child receives? What deference should be given to a parent’s religious, moral, and philosophical convictions?

This semester, Joshua Barbosa, Destinee Easley, and I have performed research on the way other jurisdictions (especially other common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) have handled the intricate relationship between parental religious, philosophical, and moral convictions, and the sway such convictions should give to the type of education offered to their child. Furthermore, we have looked to international conventions, such as the European Convention on Human Rights, and to how those conventions have been applied to domestic courts in other countries.

This post was written by a Center for Global Justice student staff member.  The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.