Parental Rights in Education More Honoured in the Breach than the Observance

The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, Article 26, has it that 'Parents have a priori' right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.' This was laid down in 1948, and, in theory, it is accepted by the majority of countries in the world.

Professor Anthony O'Hear will show the philosophers Aristotle and J.S.Mill why this U. N. Article expresses a fundamental truth about human nature and why we should all endeavor to see its spirit implemented in practice. He will show how objections to this principle can be answered and consider a number of difficult cases in the area. He will then show, mainly by reference to the situation in Britain, how, even in a genuinely liberal jurisdiction, parental rights in education have come to be largely ignored so as to satisfy bureaucratic convenience and political dogma. His conclusion is to stress that the need for the effective recognition of parental rights is as significant in 2023 as it was in 1948 and that policymakers need, somewhat belatedly, to turn their attention to making these rights a reality.

Professor O'Hear will be joined by John O'Sullivan, President of the Danube Institute, and Dr David Jones, Research Director of the Danube Institute, to discuss the challenges of parental rights, which are a growing problem in many Western countries.