The Plight of Home Schoolers in Germany
July 4, 2008 in Europe, Germany, Travelogue
Greetings from Southern, Germany. You may have noticed that there haven’t been many pictures posted lately… or many travelogues describing where we’ve been or what we’ve seen. This is because we’re hiding… along with lots of other families who home school in Germany.
It has been difficult to get here. Trading e-mails for months while one brave family “felt us out.” Then an eager flood of families inviting us to visit them, talk to the media on their behalf, tell them what it is like to live with our children in complete freedom. They were keen to share their stories that families elsewhere might know, and care, and pray for the hearts of the German officials and for reform in the laws regarding parental rights and education. We were welcomed with open arms as extended family and have been overwhelmed by the love and generosity and faith of these families.
The first morning, camped in the back yard of a home schooling family, we woke to the sounds of children laughing and playing across the street at the local elementary school. The scene inside their house was quite different. We were met with joyful smiles and very quiet children. They sneaked around the house, talking in hushed tones, with the curtains drawn.
No one must see the children.
After breakfast we joined in bilingual family worship with our hostess on piano and our daughter on violin. Their oldest son moved around the house shutting windows in a business like manner.
No one must hear the children singing.
Our children shared in their silence and their hiding for just one day and were restless. For their children, this is their whole life. They are home schoolers and they live with the constant threat of being discovered and having their children removed from their home.
Home schooling is considered “child abuse.”
We spent a long weekend with these families. We were invited to attend their annual meeting and speak to a reporter who is sympathetic to their cause. They were so excited to have us there because we were “free” to really speak of our experience fully to the reporter, while they were not.
It was amazing to hear their stories:
- One family told us of how their children would hide in cupboards when the neighbours came to the door or the mailman delivered the mail. Sometimes hiding for two hours while some unsuspecting neighbour invited herself to tea.
- A South African mother came up and introduced herself, laughing, “I’m going to prison in three weeks for home schooling my children. The funny thing is that I’m a teacher in a private school! They’re sending a teacher to prison for teaching!”
- A mother from Tennessee, married to a German has been fined, but so far, nothing more… “The home schooling part is so great! We’re having a blast. The kids learn so fast and it is such a good fit for our family, we love it! We’re hopeful the laws will change soon.”
- The Busekros family invited us to stay at their home. They were in the media a few years ago for home schooling. Their fifteen year old daughter was removed from their home and put into foster care without her parents knowing where she was. The officials moved her around to keep her location secret. She escaped and returned home and, so far, has been allowed to remain there.
The stories go on and on. All of these families have paid heavy fines and have spent years in litigation to have the right to teach their own children. In every case, they have been denied the right.
The current educational law will be seventy years old on July 6th. It was one of the first acts of Adolf Hitler to create a state school system in order to control the minds of the youth. When democracy was established in Germany changing this law was overlooked.
Not only do families not have the right to home school their children, parents do not have the right to direct their child’s education within the school system. Teachers have the right to parent the children without the consent of the actual parents. Whatever the teacher decides to teach the parents cannot counter.
Lori, one mother we met in Mainz, an American, told us the story of her fourth grade son being forced for two weeks to watch hours of pornography, including homosexuality, in school without advance notice or permission. When they objected (strongly) they were told they could not take him out of the classes, and if they tried the police would be sent to their house and their son would be forcibly taken from their home to the police station where he would be forced to watch the movies as these were part of the educational process.
She had tears running down her face as she told us about her son crying in the night because he could not get the images out of his head. The parents have no rights. When they complain, the children are treated badly at school and held back as a result, even to the point of not being able to go to university.
It is shocking that Germany, a progressive, first world nation, is also the only democracy in the world to deny parents the right to direct the education and upbringing of their own children.
It has taken us several days to just process what it means for these families to live in constant fear of losing their children over teaching them math and spelling without the supervision and approval of the school system… even if the parent is a teacher!
Our hostess came unglued when she turned left where she should not have on the way home from church and the traffic camera took her picture, “It means I’ll lose my driver’s license, and the police will come and I’m not supposed to be here! I am supposed to be living in another country! They will see the children!” Her husband did his best to console her, but a simple traffic violation could cost them thousands of euro and maybe their children.
I can’t imagine that. Can you?
We spent a lot of time listening and asking these families what it is that we (Americans in general) could do for them. They said they appreciate the letters that have been written on their behalf to the German authorities, but they aren’t sure how much it affected the outcomes. The Germany authorities don’t seem to care much about what the rest of the world thinks in this regard.
The one thing they were unanimous in requesting was prayer. There are churches all over the world praying for these families and for the hearts of the German officials to be softened. They would like us to pray. They would like you to pray too.
We hopped on a train and moved on Monday morning. Our hostess sneaked her children down to the station to see us off. “I told them to sneak through the garage and to lay down on the floor of the van, to sneak like bad guys, but we’re not bad guys!” Both sets of children were teary. Fun was had by all and a friendship formed that I hope will last a lifetime.
This morning we’re on an American military base enjoying the freedom we have to let our kids play in the street on their bikes and yell as much as they like. I can’t help but think of our new friends, a few hours to the south, quietly shepherding their children through their illegal math and English lessons, praying that one day their kids can play in the street on a Friday morning too.
The names of the families have been changed, or omitted, except for those who have been exposed and are already in the press for home schooling.
Thanks Peter, I welcome your comments, of course. I agree that it does sound extreme. In fact, before I visited Germany I would have rolled my own eyes at some of the stories, discounting them as overblown. This piece was written at the express request of the families, and was previewed by them for accuracy in my reporting. I’m simply telling true stories here. Of course no article tells every aspect of every story, does it? I am limited in my understanding by the time I had to spend with them and the perspectives they chose to share, of course. I’ve not ever asserted that Germany does not have many varied and quality school choices. There is, however, discrimination happening and these stories, while you may not choose to believe them, are true, as they were told to me.
I agree wholeheartedly that home schooling should be allowed and for our family, the reason we home school is exactly as you say, to provide MORE for our children than they would be able to get from a school environment. We aren’t educating our children from a religious standpoint. And I’m not in favour of kids being brainwashed either from a church, or a state perspective. I agree that there are segments of the population that teach ridiculous things (on both ends of the spectrum) but the answer to that issue is not to ban home schooling.
We’ve had many discussions about what we’d do if we lived in one of the countries that persecutes home school families and we’ve decided that #1: we wouldn’t. And #2: we’d send our kids to school before we’d take the risks that some of these families have taken. The point is, that parents shouldn’t be put in a position where they have to make that choice. I agree that fundamentalist ideology is the root of much suffering. Like you I have traveled extensively and like you, I am a liberal minded person. I don’t think that we can start legislating who gets to think what, or believe what, however.
I find it interesting how much controversy this post continues to generate, and I welcome it. These discussions are important. We need to be talking about how to improve education for all families and increase freedom for all families. The primary wish of the families profiled here was to have their stories told, and heard… I’m glad that’s happening. 🙂 Please continue to read, Peter… I hope that you’ll find that we agree on many more things than we disagree on.
Hello Jennifer, Thank you for replying to my comments. I have continued reading and I also believe that we agree on many points. We will definitely home-school our children and travel with them. Hopefully we will join other families with similar approaches to education, so our children will not just learn from me and my wife. Also I know that state schools are a kind of brain washing, not unlike the people on the other end of the spectrum do when they home school their children. As far as I can judge this is stronger in the US than in northwestern Europe.
Also in the Netherlands home schooling is illegal, unless you get permission in case of traveling or a few other reasons. This is hard to get though. We simply moved to Austria, where it is legal. I am happy to read that you would rather send your children to school than have them hiding in cupboards. Moving to another country is another option. We only have to be registered here, we don’t really have to be here! Once a year our children will have to pass an exam.
I understand that your post is based on a limited time spend with the families in Germany and on limited information that they choose to share with you. I am really open minded and I have seen and heard crazy things. But the story you write about Lori’s son I cannot believe. I do believe that she told you this, but there must be something more about it. Sure, I think that her son has seen images of people having sex. And 4th grade sounds a bit young for me. I can even understand that her son had the images in his head at night, this is how people reflect on the day. But two weeks of watching porn in school, and no other people speaking out about it? In a another entry you write that Lori’s son had to watch content that Lori wouldn’t approve off. That sounds very different and reasonable.
Look at it from a teachers perspective, or a schools perspective. If a teacher would have to discuss with all the 50 parents of the 25 students in his class what they approve of and what not, it would be impossible to be a teacher. Imagine the chaos of children walking in and out of classes, because subjects are being discussed that their parents don’t want them to see. It is totally understandable that parents have no say in what their children are taught in school. I have been a maths and physics teacher (in Waldorf School and regular school) and know what it means to deal with parents.
I hope I made myself clear. I am not trying to defend the education system of Germany, nor the German law. I am not even in favor of them. I just want to make sure that people that read your original post will not straight away believe it. As my and other comments suggest, the subject is much more complicated and in case of the porn-in-public-school story probably not true. As far as your lifestyle and education of your children goes, I support it!
Peter
Peter, thanks so much for continuing to read and for clarifying your position! I appreciate the dialogue and the open-mindedness with which you are engaging with me on this subject. Best of luck with your children and your travels, it’s a great way to grow and learn!