This book is about the legal rights that parents have in the education of their children from kindergarten through high school. These rights are of two kinds: the rights that parents have on their own, as parents, and the rights they have as agents for their children. Currently, all the constitutional rights that apply to adults in the community also apply to young people in the public schools. The purpose of this book is to enable parents of public school students to constructively take the law into their own hands. Its aim is to provide them with the knowledge necessary to assert their rights and to bring violations to the attention of teachers, administrators and other parents so that they can help their children receive the kind of education to which they are legally entitled. Specifically, individual chapters deal with: a students' right to be treated fairly by a school disciplinary system; the First Amendment protection of freedom of speech and press; freedom of religion and the separation of church and state as it affects the public schools; personal appearance; the constitutional right of equal educational opportunity and the violation of this right because of racial or sexual discrimination; the common law and state control of education; federal statutory rights; parents' rights; and legal literacy for parents. It discusses ways parents can learn more about the law and ways that legal literacy can be improved throughout the country. It examines a wide range of constitutional, statutory, and common law rights that parents can assert on behalf of their children and their childrens' education. (Author/AM)