Recently, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said that
home schooling is not a parent’s right. It is a statement some are saying
should frighten American parents.
Nations like Germany and Sweden show that when governments
take away home schooling rights, it’s a slippery slope to no parental rights.
America the Refuge or Not
The Romeike family came to
the United States from Germany five years ago hoping to find refuge. They
wanted to home-school their children in freedom and a federal judge granted
them asylum.
But now the Obama administration has been trying to deport
them, arguing that home schooling is not a right. The case is currently before
a federal appeals court.
Uwe and Hannelore Romeike began home schooling in Germany
because they didn’t want their children exposed to things like witchcraft and
graphic sex education that are taught in German schools.
“There were stories where [school children] were encouraged
to ask the devil for help instead of God and actually the devil would help (in
the story),” Uwe said.
“When we found out what’s in the textbooks, it’s exactly the
opposite from what the Bible tells us and teaches us, and we wanted to protect
[our children],” his wife Hannelore added.
But home schooling is illegal in Germany, except in rare
cases. And many home schooling parents are persecuted with fines, jail, or the
loss of their children.
Homeschoolers Going Into Exile?
Most home-schoolers in America are left alone. But what if
state politicians and the federal government started to move against it?
Two of the worst nations for home-schoolers are Germany and
Sweden. If you want to see what things might be like if home schooling was
banned in America, travel to Sweden, where the government controls education
and the home schooling movement has been crushed.
In fact, the head of the Swedish Homeschooling Association,
Jonas Himmelstrand, had to take his family into exile. They fled to Finland.
“We’re in exile. We were forced out of our country and that
makes a stronger impact than I can imagine,” he told CBN News. “This was our
country. This was where we had our friends and business relationships and a
whole lot of things and now we’re pushed away from it.”
Attorney Michael Donnelly, the Homeschool Legal Defense
Association, called the situation “incredible for a nation like Sweden that
calls itself a free nation, a democracy, so to speak.”
Ruby Harrold-Claesson, President of the Nordic Committee for
Human Rights, went even further, branding Sweden a dictatorship where social
workers tell parents what to do.
“Sweden claims to be a democracy but it’s far from it. It’s
a dictatorship,” he said. “You have the social workers dictating how people are
to live. You’re not supposed to be different. You’re not supposed to be
different from anyone else in Sweden. Everyone is supposed to be uniform. They
want to have these cookie cutter children.”
Claesson is also the lawyer representing Christer and Annie
Johansson, who have lost custody of their son Domenic, because of home
schooling. After Domenic was abducted by
Swedish officials, Annie’s health began to fail.
Christer said the stress of the ordeal is killing his wife.
“If we cannot solve this issue soon, Domenic won’t have a
mother anymore,” he said.
Russia, A Home Schooling Haven
Nations like Germany and Sweden could learn a thing or two
about parent’s rights from, of all places, Russia, which is one of the freest
nations in which to homeschool.
“We have complete freedom of home education in Russia, in
terms of legality,” Pavel Parfentiev, a family rights advocate in Russia, said.
“The Russian Federation is sort of a champion of human
rights in this particular area, so of course I think it is a good example for
both Germany and Sweden where home educators are persecuted,” he said.
Among the persecuted, German home-schooler Juergen Dudek has
been taken to court every year for the past 10 years by the German Jugendamt,
or Youth Office.
“The Youth Office, I used to call it the ‘Gestapo for the
Young.’ As soon as they step in, as soon as they get hold of you, you’ve really
got problems,” Dudek said.
German homeschooler Dirk Wunderlich and his wife have lost
custody of their children, although they are still allowed to live with them.
He also told CBN News he expects to be sent to jail, but said he will never
stop homeschooling.
“But I’m not afraid of this. I’m only sad for my family. I
will go (to jail) laughing. You can do what you want but my children will not
go to school,” he said.
America Safe for Homeschoolers?
In America, a red flag went up earlier this year when the
Justice Department argued in the Romeike case that home schooling is not a
fundamental human right.
A source close to the case said the White House cares more
about relations with Germany than about a family seeking political asylum.
Asylum for the Romeikes might open a floodgate of refugees
from Germany, further embarrassing the German government.
Uwe Roemike, who makes his living as a piano teacher, knows
what to expect if they’re deported.
“First they would fine us with increasingly higher fines and
they would threaten to take away custody,” he explained.
“There might be jail time, too, but the main threat is the
aspect of custody because then, of course, the children are taken away from you
completely and that’s what no family wants,” he said.
Uwe said the fact the White House would be willing to deny
homeschooling freedom to his family, should make all American home-schoolers
concerned.
(Source)
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