Who Owns the Child?

A century ago, John Swett the architect of California’s public school system openly denied that parents had any rights in government education, insisting that teachers were not accountable to them and that children in public schools were “the children of the State.” Later attempts were even made to prevent parents from sending their children to Christian or private schools without state approval, all based on the socialist premise that the state owns the child. Swett went so far as to say that even adult children “belong… to the State,” a notion foundational to socialism and communism, where people exist for the state rather than the state serving people under God. But Scripture teaches that children and all men belong to God alone; parents are stewards, not owners, and the state has no rightful claim of possession. Yet today, the same statist impulse resurfaces with educators proposing around-the-clock state custody to “remove children from their environment.” The cure for social problems is not a greater tyranny: when the state claims God’s prerogatives, the result is slavery. Our only safeguard is to place ourselves and our children under God’s authority, law, and blessing rather than the bondage of socialism.