Meyer v. Nebraska (1923) Strikes Down "Thou Shall Not Teach German"

In this special episode of Language Goes to School, we investigate the blockbuster 1923 U.S. Supreme Court case Meyer v. Nebraska, in which parents won the right to “direct” the education of their children, even when their children are not home schooled, but attend the nation’s public and private schools. Recent surges in parents asserting their rights in schools have been evident in the years after the Covid pandemic, when, due to online learning, parents were suddenly afforded a window, in the form of their children’s laptops, into what their children were learning at school and how they were learning it. 

But that's not all this case was about. Importantly, it established the right for teachers to teach and students to learn in languages other than English. Specifically, it’s about the decision on the part of teacher Robert Meyer to deliberately break state law so he could teach Bible lessons in German to his 10-year-old student, Raymond Parpart. It’s this second important feature of this famous case that we discussed in this episode.

Incidentally, for those who balk when encountering a court case, rest assured we have kept the legal terms to a minimum, while offering handy synonyms and short explanations for some of the more legalistic terms or archaic words used in 1923, such as “inimical,” “salutary,” and “baneful.” Baneful? Really?! We’ll explain!

Here’s the link to the Smithsonian article about Robert Meyer: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/small-rural-schoolhouse-one-teacher-challenged-nativist-attacks-against-immigration-180976757/