In Germany, homeschoolers are under persecution. Recently, it was decided by the European Court of Human Rights that a homeschooling family in Germany must return their children to school. The decision takes the rights to control a child’s education from the parent and gives it to the government. As far as the government is concerned, homeschooling takes away the child’s right to a state education. Parents have been put in jail. Crying children have been dragged to school by the authorities. Families have even fled the country to escape prosecution and forced public education. It is obvious that most of the children in this situation do not want a state education.
If you have kept up with Valorie Delp’s articles on homeschooling laws by state, then you know that our country gives us the right to homeschool our children. In fact, our federal government stays out of the argument completely and lets the states oversee homeschooling. Where some homeschoolers would like the Federal Government to Intervene is with the passing of the (HONDA) Homeschool Non Discrimination Act. Valorie gives us more information on HONDA here.
Whether the HONDA bill passes or not, I do not necessarily foresee Americans having problems with the right to homeschool. The numbers of homeschoolers have grown to a point where there would surely be an uprising if our rights were impeded. However, the rights of parents are often usurped in public education. Schools give children condoms and often sex-end information because they feel it is in the “best interest of the child”. Schools teach children about alternative lifestyles at too young an age because it is in the “best interest of the child.” “The best interests of the child” is often in direct opposition to what parents consider to be in of the best interest of the child. This is the case in Germany, and the reason many homeschoolers in the United States have removed their children from public education.