In the US, parents has the right to homeschool their children. The outcomes of the homeschooling movement are decidedly mixed. While some homeschooledl children do receive an excellent, well-rounded academic experience, others – especially the children of fundamentalist Christians – are provided with substandard and distorted perspectives on history and science. Many fundamentalists are teaching their children that dinosaurs and humans cohabited the earth just 3 thousand years ago (the "young earth" believers) or that America is a nation chosen by God to spread "freedom" and Christianity throughout the world. Fundamentalist Christian families in Germany do not have the option to (mis)educate their children at home because of compulsory education laws (Schulpflicht), for them, the United States is seen as a sacred refuge. Now one such German family achieved a huge legal victory – in the heart of the Bible Belt:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A German couple who fled to Tennessee so they could
homeschool their children was granted political asylum Tuesday by a
U.S. immigration judge, according to the legal group that represented
them.The decision clears the way for Uwe Romeike (roh-MY-kee), his wife
and five children to stay in Morristown, Tenn., where they have been
living since 2008. Romeike says his family was persecuted for their
evangelical Christian beliefs and for homeschooling their children in
Germany, where school attendance is compulsory.
The decision has energized the Christian right movement in the US, which often views Europe as a godless cesspool of secularism. The World Net Daily – a Web site of the lunatic fringe of right-wing extremism – is jubilant:
It's recognition that the German state is persecuting homeschoolers. We
are pleased to have been able to support this courageous family and we
hope and pray that this decision will have a decisive effect on German
policy makers who should change their laws to recognize a parent's
right to educate their own children.As things stand now, Germany is unworthy of membership in the European
Community, or to speak on Human Rights in the international arena. The
shadows of the Third Reich and the ideology of Adolf Hitler – if not
worse – still drift over Germany.
According to Der Spiegel, there is little chance that the compulsory education laws in Germany will be overturned:
Hinter der Schulpflicht steckt "die Überlegung, dass das gemeinsame
Lernen in der Schule der Vermittlung sozialer Kompetenzen dient", sagt
Martina Elschenbroich, Schulrechtsexpertin der Kultusministerkonferenz.
So könne der Umgang mit Andersdenkenden als Grundlage einer
demokratischen Gesellschaft eingeübt werden. (Compulsory education is "based on the premise that learning with others in schools serves to build and strengthen social competencies," said Martina Eischbreich, expert in educational rights in the Ministry of Culture. Exposure to different points of views provides a basis for a democratic society.)
What is troubling is what happens to these homeschooled Christian children once they leave home. Some end up at right-wing "madrassas" such as Patrick Henry College in Virginia, where they kneel before posters of Jesus and Ronald Reagan, and are taught that George W. Bush invaded Iraq under orders from God. As far as I'm concerned, the US needs its own Schulpflicht.
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I’m with you on his, David. I loathe people who treat their children like property.
Sie schreiben “sozialer Kompetenzen,” Ich hoere “Gleichschaltung” (NS).
Your depiction of devout Christians sounds very much like the stereotypes of Jews used in the Third Reich. You guys really still don’t get it, do you?
Hey Scott,
You want “Gleichschaltung”? Go to the “Creation Museum” in Cincinnati. That is the outcome of “homeschooling” in America: Adam and Eve riding on dinosaurs!
Parents who homeschool their children often want to protect them from bad, not to say evil, influence of the modern world. But no matter how good they are at teaching their children, there is no substitute for may be the most important achievement every child has to make: To develop social competence, to learn how to deal with the community, make friends, integrate into the society etc…
Homeschooling has a tendency to make kids outsiders, religiously brain-washed freaks. David’s comparison with the madrassas is absolutely correct, although there might be some very few exceptions.
I’ve seen homeschooled children several times on tv, nice and friendly kids, half little prince, half Caspar Hauser, prepared only to live in a world of fantasy where everything and everyone is nice and fine, most of only mother and father. They have a life sentence of being protected from the real world…
…most of all mother and father / please edit my comment, David, I hate my typos!
Gleichschaltung! That’s rich. Yes, Christians are so persecuted. I see that every day.
What nonsense.
While I completely agree that the homeschooling movement in the US is misguided and infected with this ideology, the German system, with its increasingly hysterical focus on “integration” is hardly a better solution. Germany is not so much persecuting Christian homeschoolers as it is trying to prevent the institutionalization of its ‘other’ societies. Both public systems are fracturing–and Germany has no shortage of symptoms– as nineteenth/early twentieth century institutions refusing to adapt to macro changes in their respective societies.
ich verstehe eltern, wenn sie ihre kinder vor einem schulsystem bewahren wollen, das qualitativ immer schlechter und im kern immer gewalttätiger wird (naja, nicht das system, sondern die mitschüler). das erklärt für mich auch den steigenden zulauf in private und konfessionelle schule in deutschland.
nicht nachvollziehen kann ich den wunsch des hausunterrichts. abgesehen von der nach meiner meinung höchst wichtigen sozialen komponente würde ich es mir ab einer bestimmten klassenstufe nicht mehr zutrauen, meine kinder selbst zu unterrichten. ich kann mir auch nur sehr wenige eltern vorstellen, die dieses breite wissen haben, die schule vollständig zu ersetzen. in einer wissensgesellschaft, wie wir sie heute haben, braucht es schließlich ein bisschen mehr als lesen und rechnen.
insofern halte ich es für geradezu fahrlässig, das recht des hausunterrichtes einzufordern, ohne dass eine entsprechende befähigung nachgewiesen werden muss. irgendwann werden schließlich auch diese eltern ihre kinder ins leben hinaus schicken müssen, ob ihnen der gedanke gefällt oder nicht.
Man kann nur hoffen, dass das oberste Gericht diese bloede Entscheidung umkippt…