Dear Schulamt
Recently, I have been amazed at the treatment of home schoolers in your country. Having lived in Southern Germany for 9 years myself, I was shocked at the political response to a practice which is recognized around the world. We home schooled our children in cooperation with the local school board and the immigration department while we lived there.
The main reason for my surprise is how far Germany has slipped into the dark ages on this issue. The US, NZ (where I live now), UK governments and many other nations have not only adapted home schooling as part of the national mix in education, they also train and facilitate people to be better teachers in the home. You send them fines!
In New Zealand, the government also provides tax breaks so that home schoolers can get access to good curriculum. The goal here is an integrated approach between what the state offers and what can be done at home. They also extend the program through correspondence course for when New Zealanders travel.
In many cases, home schooling yields equal or better results than state education in terms of character and social preparedness and vocational readiness. In the US, our top universities (Stanford, Harvard etc.) have home schoolers outperforming non home schooled students in entry exams by 2 to 1. If you do the research, you will find this is not the niche of a few radicals in Germany, but an international scope of people who care deeply for their children’s education and are prepared to spend more time creating better results. Most western nations get this, why not Germany?
I understand the concern of the local and national governments to insure that no injustice is done to naive children. Home assessments and training opportunities deal with this issue in the US and many other nations. In fact, it’s a lot easier to help home schoolers than to punish them or banish them from your land.
In the 70’s, many nations went through the same issues Germany is facing now. Court cases and public debate etc. Eventually, the courts recognized what everyone already knew, namely, that the authority over who educates our children belongs to the family and not the state. The state must insure justice and protection. It should also provide education for those who have no other alternatives. Home schooled children are not being abused by fanatical parents. A national and international assessment would show you the facts on this issue. Having a knee jerk reaction with fines and punishments is an archaic approach and I am surprised at how far Germany has come is so many ways except for this one.
I understand the concern government has over this issue. But if the people want an alternative form of education, it is your responsibility to find what the issues are and the solutions to those issues. Look at the other nations for example. If you do not do the hard work now, the news will get out internationally that you are acting more like a police state than a concerned political body. Your role is to facilitate education, not punish it.
If I can help in any way, I would gladly offer it.
Sincerely
Patrick Dodson
New Zealand
Results of a recent poll in Germany – 36% (the majority) voted for the allowance of home schooling. Once again, the government is out of sync with what people want. Sheesh!
very interesting subject.
Australia is all over the place with this issue.
Each state has different laws but only a few years ago it was illegal for people to homeschool in QLD. (they were legally allowed to remove the children if you did h/s!!)
Now due to many petitions and homeschoolers uniting and fighting this issue we are now free to h/s. (thou many are a little nervous about registering, which is what the government likes us to do.)
Good job for writting… it is important.
— h Jul 17, 08:30 PM #
Wow. I didn’t realize how much Germany was cracking down on homeschooling. I remember you working with the local school board in Altensteig, Patrick. Sometimes it seemed strained, but they still allowed you to do it. I wonder why they had a change of heart?
— Chris Aug 11, 09:25 AM #
Hey Chris
They tolerated us because we were foreigners. But now that it’s spreading, the local governments are getting a little nervous. When people start to lose control, the real fangs come out. They are kinda like the US was 20 years ago. In the end, I think they will come around.
— Patrick Aug 11, 08:13 PM #
From my friend Klaus, who home schools i Germany:
Urgent! Calls Needed to the German Embassy Next Week
(Updated with Contact Info for the German Embassy)
Dear HSLDA Members and Friends:
The German government is persecuting homeschoolers like never before.
Armin Eckermann, president of Schulunterricht zu Hause (School
Instruction at Home—SIH), the homeschool legal defense association of
Germany, states that there are over 40 homeschool families in court in
Germany!
The families are being heavily fined; the parents are being jailed;
the children are being threatened with being seized and placed in the
custody of the state; and families are being forced to flee to Austria
and other surrounding countries.
Here are a few current and frightening situations:
1) The Rudolph family: They are diligently homeschooling their six
children in Hamburg. The father, Andre, was jailed for a week for
refusing to send his children to public school. Like many of the
homeschool families in Germany, they are evangelicals. What is even
more surprising about Andre Rudolph being put in jail for
homeschooling is that he has a degree in teaching! He and his wife
have been fined 840 euros ($1,090) for homeschooling.
After Andre’s jail time the authorities tried a new weapon and began
to forcibly take the children to public school each day. Their plan
was take custody of these six children and make them wards of the
state.
One day, however, the authorities came to take the children to school,
but no one answered the door. The Rudolphs fled to another country in
order to homeschool their children according to God’s ways.
2) The Plett family: If you recall, last year we asked you to pray
and contact the embassy about the seven Baptist homeschool families of
Paderborn. One of the families, the Pletts, have continued to
homeschool their 12 children. Last week, a female plainclothes police
officer rang at the Platt’s house. When the mother opened the door,
other police officers who were hiding in the bushes forced their way
in. The mother was able to inform her husband by cell phone before the
police took her to jail. The husband then fled to Austria with the
children. She was given a 10-day prison sentence and is facing heavy
fines and more jail time.
Of the seven Paderborn homeschool families from last year, two have
fled to Austria and five have enrolled in a Christian school in
Heidelburg. They all still have pending cases against them.
3) Three homeschool families from Saxony have been taken to court and
convicted. One was fined 3,000 euros, one 6,000 euros, and another
10,000 euros.
4) The Bauer family: This family in Hesse are American missionaries
for the last 15 years. They were prosecuted about five years ago and
have exhausted their appeals and have sought review by the Human
Rights European Court that covers all of Europe.
There are now eight cases pending before the European Court, most of
which the SIH organization has brought, along with Ronald Richert, a
renown Constitutional law attorney who has handled some of the SIH
members’ cases. The problem with the European Court, is that it all
cases are discretionary: there is no right of appeal. If the Court
decides not to rule on them, the case will not be heard. Another
problem is the Court has no particular deadline of when they have to
decide to take the case or not, so some of these cases have been
sitting for three to four years, with no resolution in sight.
5) The Herrmann family: This family from Baden-Wurttemberg was facing
prosecution for homeschooling their twins who have many medical
problems. They have been forced into hiding and are seeking asylum in
the United States and other countries.
The Maisch family, also from Baden-Wurtemberg, has been convicted of
homeschooling. For the past three weeks they have faced increasing
fines.
Schulunterricht zu Hause (SIH), the legal association that HSLDA
helped establish, is being worn out with defending all these families
in court. They have approximately 150 members in their association
that are all homeschool families, many of whom are underground, and
almost 40 in court.
Appeals have been exhausted time and time again, and money is running
out. The German homeschool families are pleading for your help.
Will you take a moment and contact the German Embassy?
ACTION REQUESTED
1. Please contact the German Embassy and give them this message:
“German governments need to make homeschooling legal. Over 40 families
are being prosecuted in Germany merely for teaching their children at
home. These families have been given huge fines, some parents have
been jailed, some have been forced to flee to other countries, and
they are all being threatened to take their children into state
custody. This is deplorable and unacceptable for any free nation to
persecute Christian families who are providing an excellent education
for their children. We ask you to stop prosecuting these families like
the Maisches, the Pletts, the Bauers, the Rudolphs, and the many
others. Homeschooling needs to be legalized in Germany.”
This message can be put in your own words, along with a story or
information about the success of your own homeschool.
The German Embassy can be contacted at:
Wolfgang Ischinger
Ambassador
German Embassy
4645 Reservoir Road NW
Washington, DC, 20007-1998
(202) 298-4000
The embassy can be e-mailed from its website:
http://www.globescope.biz/germany/reg/index.cfm
2. If you want to support homeschoolers in other countries—and causes
such as Schulunterricht zu Hause in Germany—you can make a donation
to the Home School Foundation’s international fund. For more
information visit http://www.homeschoolfoundation.org/ .
3. Please pray fervently for these poor families facing incredible
pressure and fear.
We cannot give up. Our brothers and sisters in Germany need us and
have their back against the wall.
BACKGROUND
Homeschooling in Germany has been illegal in Germany for a long time.
In fact, according to some newspaper accounts it has been illegal
since Hitler banned it in 1938. Five years ago we helped establish
Schulunterricht zu Hause as a way for Germans to receive some legal
defense. However, even though the determined lawyers defending the
families have worked for free and many attempts have been made to
battle to make it legal, homeschooling is still outlawed.
We have had tremendous success in many countries in the past to
influence their parliaments to legalize homeschooling and even release
people from jail. When Americans and homeschoolers in other countries
have contacted the German Embassy, officials there have communicated
the thousands of calls back to their national government and it makes
a difference, even in policy considerations.
We have been successful in help legalizing homeschooling in South
Africa and Romania and in stopping bad legislation that would destroy
homeschool freedoms in Ireland, Australia, Czech Republic, and other
countries.
Thank you and God bless you for your willingness to make a difference.
Sincerely,
Christopher J. Klicka
HSLDA Senior Counsel
— Patrick Sep 26, 11:52 AM #
I have been following the news on the fate of homeschoolers in Germany because I have been entertaining the thought of applying for tuition at a German graduate school in about 5 years time. It just so happens that we are a homeschooling family, and we wouldn’t want to interrupt our son’s education (he would be 9 years old and in the 4th grade by that time) by enrolling him in a completely different system (we use an American curriculum). I see that I have a lot of things to consider in the interim.
— Trina Feb 16, 03:06 AM #
hey, I have very little experience doing any homeschool except a couple years when I was a kid in YWAM. Wondering if there are any petitions going around we could sign or some such?
— nate May 11, 06:49 PM #