Wisconsin v. Yoder, case decided in 1972 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which held that Amish children could be exempted from compulsory school-attendance beyond the 8th grade; the Amish (see under Mennonites) community's interest in maintaining a simple way of life, which it saw threatened by higher education, outweighed the state's interest in schooling through the 10th grade. The Supreme Court had not previously exempted religious groups from such laws, and it stressed that the 300-year Amish tradition was crucial to its decision.
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