Abstract
Public education is a function of state and local governments. Every state has laws which prescribe those things which must be contained in the curriculum, and in some instances directions for instruction. Although the public holds ultimate control of the schools and legal custom places this control in the hands of the legislator and trustee, in practice it is the individual teacher who is responsible for many decisions pertaining to curriculum and instruction. This situation often results in controversy. The application of statutes and guidelines regulating public school curriculum and instruc-tion may lead to infringement of fundamental individual freedoms. The purpose of the study was to describe Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 US 97 (1968), its initiation, argumentation and conclusion and to assess its impact in terms of who controls curriculum and instruction decision making in the public schools. The study examined and recorded the historical evidence relating to the case. This included the common legal reports, the trial transcripts and media accounts of the case throughout its succession from the trial court proceedings to the final judgment of the U.S. Supreme Court. All of the principals in the case, the trial judge and several of the state supreme court justices were interviewed. Private collections of papers belonging to the principals and the records of the Arkansas Education Association (AEA) pertaining to the case were reviewed. These apparent historical, legal and philosophical progenitors were examined in an attempt to determine the antecedent conditions and probable cause of the case. The setting was Little Rock, Arkansas of desegregation fame. The contestants were the 1928 Arkansas Anti-evolution Law and a biology teacher, Mrs. Susan Epperson. The textbooks provided by the state contained portions dealing with the Darwinian theory of evolution. To teach the theory made Mrs. Epperson a criminal, to neglect it caused her to shirk her duty as a teacher. ...
Keienburg, John William (1978). Epperson v. Arkansas : a question of control over curriculum and instruction decision making in the public schools. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -209123.