Amish: Remain or Leave?

15

Figure 1. A map of the Elkhart-LaGrange settlement, reprinted from the 1988 Indiana Amish
Directory.

The careful observer may wonder whether there is a relationship
between severity of Ordnung and proximity to towns. Do those churches
in the greatest contact with urban areas have the greatest difficulty in
maintaining strict discipline? No. In fact, in the LaGrange cluster
three of the congregations have members living within one mile of the
center of town. In contrast, the more progressive Clinton districts have

only one church that is close to town.³¹

Table 9.RATES OF DEFECTION IN CONGREGATIONAL
CLUSTERS
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Percent Percent Community
RemainingDefecting
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63%37%Shipshewana
72%28%Clinton
87%13%Forks
78%22%Topeka
81%19%Honeyville
80%20%Barrens
93%17%Emma/Yoder
84%16%LaGrange
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Amish Schools

Another important factor in determining the life choice of an Amish
person is whether he or she goes to a public or to an Amish school. The
first Amish school in the Elkhart-LaGrange settlement opened in the

fall of 1948.³²By 1988 there were 35 schools spread throughout the
settlement. The majority of these schools were built after the small
country schools in LaGrange County were consolidated into the
Westview School Corporation in 1967. Prior to consolidation eight



31_{. On the map in Figure 1, the Clinton district is 58 and the LaGrange districts are 4, 5,}
and 11.

32_{. For a more detailed description of the decision to open the Plain View School see}
Thomas J. Meyers, "Education and Schooling," in The Amish and the State, ed. Donald
Kraybill (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), 87-106.