I came across an article in a back issue of TIME Magazine from March of this year, telling of a German family that was granted asylum in the United States because they were persecuted in Germany for homeschooling their children (“Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses Yearning to Homeschool,” Tristana Moore, 3.8.10). The Romeikes family are Evangelical Christians and chose to homeschool because they were concerned about their children being bullied for their beliefs and being exposed to a “curriculum that (went) against their Christian values.”
Homeschooling is illegal in Germany. In 2007, the German Supreme Court ruled that parents could lose custody of their children if they homeschooled. Before the Romeikes were granted asylum in the U.S., the family was fined $10,000 and their children were forcibly taken to public school by the police, crying as they were forced into the van. The German teachers’ union is afraid that homeschool education could lead to “the development of a sect.”
The Alliance Defense Fund (www.alliancedefensefund.org) provided funding to the Home School Legal Defense Association (www.hslda.org) in their effort to assist the Romeikes. Although a U.S. immigration judge granted them asylum, the Obama Administration wants to send them back to Germany (www.vitalsignsblog.blogspot.com), saying that it is concerned about a backlog in immigration courts and doesn’t want to offend Germany.
Two million or about 4% of school-age children in the United States are homeschooled. It’s a much different story overseas: Sweden is cracking down on homeschoolers; Spain doesn’t allow it in any case, even if a child is home-bound by illness; it is banned in Brazil; the Netherlands only allows it under exceptional circumstances; Austria allows it, but administers annual achievement tests; and France has a monitoring system that Britain may also adopt.
There are many things that can be said about the homeschooling vs. public schooling debate, but many committed Christians are rightfully concerned about their children’s education. Christian schools are not the answer for everyone, due either to limited availability or expense. But this country was founded on the principles of religious freedom and we must make sure that this freedom survives. For more thoughts on this subject, please see the posting, “Train Up a Child” (8.16.09) in the archives of this blog.
