US judge grants German homeschooling family asylum
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See original article here: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0„5174919,00.html
This is an interesting article. You don’t normally think of the U.S. granting asylum for political reasons to people from western, industrialized countries. Since the “in-law” half of my family is in Germany, I find this particularly interesting. My wife and I also know some missionaries there who are fighting with some of these same issues, though of course, asylum in the U.S. would not be helpful to them.
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The only reason Germany allows homeschooling is for military (which technically is on “US” soil) and Foreign Government officials. Missionaries and other foreign citizens must send their kids to public or approved private schooling. Those not complying simply have their visas revoked and are deported.
My wife and I lived there for a year (pre-kids) and were asked to consider moving back (post-kids). The offer fell through, but the only way we would have moved the second time was if we could live in Switzerland and commute into work (only about 20 miles). I know some MKs that grew up in Germany and their kids turned out well through the German public schools. But for a short assignment (1-2 years), it didn’t seem to make much sense to upset everything we have in place.
Germany seems fixated on “proper” education, but the definition of “proper” is pretty limited. You would have thought the legacy of Hitler’s Kids in the ’30s and ’40s would have shown that giving undo influence of the government in the education of children is not always a good idea.
“They should not have the right to indoctrinate their children,”
I love that quote. Translation: I can’t indoctrinate my children…its the public school’s job to indoctrinate them.
My wife and I lived there for a year (pre-kids) and were asked to consider moving back (post-kids). The offer fell through, but the only way we would have moved the second time was if we could live in Switzerland and commute into work (only about 20 miles). I know some MKs that grew up in Germany and their kids turned out well through the German public schools. But for a short assignment (1-2 years), it didn’t seem to make much sense to upset everything we have in place.
Germany seems fixated on “proper” education, but the definition of “proper” is pretty limited. You would have thought the legacy of Hitler’s Kids in the ’30s and ’40s would have shown that giving undo influence of the government in the education of children is not always a good idea.
“They should not have the right to indoctrinate their children,”
I love that quote. Translation: I can’t indoctrinate my children…its the public school’s job to indoctrinate them.
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