This would be especially problematic for the United States given that the Supreme Court has held the children do not have the right to an education, not if that education goes against the religious beliefs of their parents.

It's early morning and I haven't had my first coffee yet, but the Supreme Court is in case is partially named Yoder. I've written a couple stories about that case at the request of Torah Bontrager, a woman who was raised Amish and who was therefore denied an education after she turned 14, which is when Amish parents stop sending their children to Amish schools.

(She ran away from home as a young girl, after having been sexually assaulted by male relatives. She managed to go to school and later to university, and she devotes her life to advocating for Amish children and other children denied education.)

Denying education leaves kids uniquely disadvantaged in a broader society (should they wish to leave Amish society, which 40% of them eventually do) where formal education is critical.

Amish kids don't even start high school let alone graduate. Once they become adults, getting a high school education (let alone a university one) is so difficult that they're often reduced to living on the margins, working at low-paying, menial jobs.

And what of dreams? Can an Amish kid dream of becoming a scientist, a teacher, an engineer, doctor, or social worker?

No.

Their dreams are restricted by the Supreme Court, which ruled that their parents do not have to follow state education laws that apply to everyone else. The Supreme Court ruled that in effect, children do not have the independent human right to an education.

The court ruled that children are in effect the property of their parents — their own intrinsic rights being of secondary or tertiary importance.

And you know what? many people really do believe that's the way things should be. When I talk about this Amish education issue, many people I talk to have a very difficult time accepting that children have rights and that parents' rights must not supersede children's rights.

When it comes to trans issue, the public are often even more insistent that children do not and should not possess independent human rights.

That debate is raging in Canada right now with religious people insisting that trans children's humans rights should not matter.