Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year! 2020 has been hard for so many of us. May 2021 be better for all of us.
Some 2020 highlights
Highlight #1
Helped Amish American refugee escapees become documented.
Highlight #2
Filmed a documentary about our work, the sexual abuse crises in the Amish, and the need for ensuring Amish children receive an adequate education.
Highlight #3
Grew our body of credible Amish literature with more interviews, talks, and research.
Some 2021 Goals
Goal #1
Reach more people with our message and work.
Goal #2
Get the funding we need in order to continue our work.
“Education should train the child to use their brains, to make for themself a place in the world and maintain their rights even when it seems that society would shove them into the scrap-heap.” – Helen Keller
The quote from Helen Keller is my 2021 mantra.
Did you know that Mennonite professors (e.g., John Roth at Goshen College) and otherwise pro-education Mennonite men (e.g., Herman Bontrager, trustee of Eastern Mennonite University) tell me that Amish children don’t deserve an education past the Amish 8th grade?
That we Amish children aren’t suffering in any way from having an average of a 5th grade reading and 3rd or 4th grade arithmetic level?
Many good wishes for the coming year and may it be better for all of us!
Torah and all of us at the Amish Heritage Foundation
Did you know that Amish American children are legally prohibited from going to school past the 8th grade?
This is thanks to 1972 US Supreme Court case, Wisconsin v. Yoder. Check out my post about that.
To education and children’s rights,
Torah
Executive Director, Amish Heritage Foundation
