Topic: Compulsory education: from what age to what age — and whose duty is it
How does United States mark Compulsory education: from what age to what age — and whose duty is it?
Everyday topic
Nothing in the United States constitution addresses education, and the federal government sets no compulsory schooling ages — the whole matter is left to the states. The comparison table maintained by the National Center for Education Statistics lays the variation out: the age at which attendance becomes required is five in some states, six in others, seven in others still; the age at which it ends is sixteen, seventeen or eighteen depending on the state; and the age to which free education must be *offered* is a separate set of numbers again, running to twenty or twenty-one in many places. Within one federation, then, a seven-year-old is not yet obliged to be in school in one state and is two years late in another. The difference from the other six markets is not the length of the obligation but that there is no national answer to quote: any sentence beginning "compulsory education in America runs from age X to Y" has to name a state first. It is also why the American cell in any cross-country comparison of schooling years is a range rather than a number.
What is this topic?
Taiwan's Compulsory Education Act sets six to fifteen, nine years, and leaves compulsory enrolment itself to a separate statute. Brazil's Article 208, as amended in 2009, runs from four to seventeen — the widest span of the seven. India's Article 21A covers six to fourteen and sits in the Part on fundamental rights, so it can be taken to court. Indonesia's Article 31(2) puts the duty on both sides at once: the citizen must attend basic education and the government must pay for it, with a further clause reserving at least twenty per cent of the budget for education. Japan's Article 26 places the duty on parents. China's Article 46 makes education a right and a duty in the same sentence. The United States has no federal rule at all: each state sets its own start and end ages.
Sources and dates
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