We received the following comment from “Whatever” in response to a post from January on a German home-schooling family receiving asylum in the U.S.:

The reason why the Germans are so against home schooling is because they have a different philosophy. Germany is a free country, yet is has gun control. That is not a contradiction, as Germans can move about more freely, knowing their fellow citizens are most likely unarmed. It creates a far less hostile environment and the death toll, in percentage, is lower.

As for the mandatory public school system, its main goal is to ensure that each child is granted its right to access unprejudiced knowledge based on facts, proof, and reason. In other words that what is understood under the term “natural sciences”.

There is also religious freedom in Germany. You may raise your child in any religion you choose, as long as the child’s human rights are not offended. German schools are obligated to teach Religion and the child has the right to choose which course it wishes to participate in, may it be Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, or interested in general ethics or philosophies.

The reason that these parents left for the USA is because they wanted to teach their child solely a creationist world view, which is not based on empirical data. The place for this theory would have been the appointed Religion class, in which arguments could be held and views could be shared. But to withhold scientific evidence and conclusions from a child is considered a violation of human rights, at least to the Germans. Because of this, the Germans have decided that in order to ensure the children’s free access to knowledge, private schooling may only be an addition to publish schooling, but it may never replace it.

I hope this helps understand the German approach.

“Whatever” then apologized for typos, and added:

Sorry for so many postings, but what I forgot to mention was the very important right of children to attend religious schools. But these schools are of course also subject of a curriculum, but the religious schools of course integrate their views into their science teachings, which does cause some unrest. It is very mild though, no real disapproval is common among Germans.

I commented:

Thanks for your comment, Whatever. Coincidentally, I just had the European view of society explained to me by my daughter, who was engaged to a Belgian for a while, or rather an American who grew up in Belgium. He found Americans’ “individualism” very abrasive. And he defined individualism as any outright disagreement. He saw all people as connected, almost one organism, so that they should work things out by gently working toward a consensus. This is a very alien concept to Americans, who like to work things out by firmly stating their views and arguing about them.

There is a fine article in the current Touchstone Magazine (http://www.touchstonemag.com/) showing that we reach spiritual maturity by wrestling with spiritual matters as Jacob wrestled with the angel from God. Without wrestling with issues we do not grow. And applying that to political life, I think this is why Europeans are childlike — they refuse to wrestle with anything, and do not grow up. They have expected the United States to be their parent, protecting them from enemies. This is not possible any more, and they will have to grow up or be destroyed. This is the reason for the huge reaction against Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, putting him on trial for hate speech because he identified Europe’s enemy, radical Islam.

And I add:

My comment is a generalization about Europeans, of course, and does not apply to everybody. The Brits are not really Europeans, and have a great tradition of open disagreement. Watch the C-SPAN broadcast of the House of Commons sometime to see it. The French like to argue, and so do Italians. It is more the northern Europeans who are like this, and with the Muslim influx many citizens are not so happy about not being able to speak up, and having to accommodate everybody.

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) reports:

In a case with international ramifications, Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman granted the political asylum application of a German homeschooling family. The Romeikes are Christians from Bissinggen, Germany, who fled persecution in August 2008 to seek political asylum in the United States. The request was granted January 26 after a hearing was held in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 21.

“We can’t expect every country to follow our constitution,” said Judge Burman. “The world might be a better place if it did. However, the rights being violated here are basic human rights that no country has a right to violate.”

Burman added, “Homeschoolers are a particular social group that the German government is trying to suppress. This family has a well-founded fear of persecution…therefore, they are eligible for asylum…and the court will grant asylum.”

In his ruling, Burman said that the scariest thing about this case was the motivation of the government. He noted it appeared that rather than being concerned about the welfare of the children, the government was trying to stamp out parallel societies—something the judge called “odd” and just plain “silly.” In his order the judge expressed concern that while Germany is a democratic country and is an ally, he noted that this particular policy of persecuting homeschoolers is “repellent to everything we believe as Americans.”

Homeschooling did not always have such a settled status as a human right in the U.S., or such vocal champions in the courts as this judge.  It took a lot of work over many years by homeschooling activists and supporters to get it where it is today. And there are still some who would deny homeschoolers their rights; I won’t recount recent horror stories, but you can check around on the HSLDA website if you’re interested. But in Germany, the report says,

The persecution of homeschoolers in Germany has been intensifying over the past several years. They are regularly fined thousands of dollars, threatened with imprisonment, or have the custody of their children taken away simply because they choose to home educate.

There have been custody cases here in which homeschooled children were taken away, but at least it’s not national policy.  This is a wonderful use of asylum, and I applaud Judge Burman. I hope the decision helps Germany realize the error of its ways.

Hat tip: Mere Comments

Addendum:  Ann points out that we hope Germany will be as rigorous stamping out parallel Muslim societies as they are with Christian homeschoolers!