A case before the EU 'Supreme Court' was decided this morning, which had a relationship back to the German state I live in (Hessen). HR (my local public TV network) gave the basic intro to the case.
What you have is a family in the region of Ober-Ramstadt (about a 35 minute drive south of Frankfurt) who had made a religious decision several years ago....to teach their kids only at home (no public or private education system).
At some point, the regional authorities in Hessen reacted and gave the ultimate order....remove the four kids from home, and put them under state authority (attending public schools). The family sued that their rights were violated.
It went through the various levels of German law, and finally to the EU system. The EU court ruled....the authorities are correct, and that the kids will attend public school (either with the parent's permission, or via the order of the authorities).
I should note, this started out in 2013, and it's taken nearly five years to reach this legal stage.
How and why? There is a national legal setting which says you (as a kid) need to attend public school system, or a licensed private situation, until 16. Teaching at home? No, that won't work with the law that is in effect.
Why (most Americans would have a different view of this)? I've read a good bit over the German view of this and there are basically three driving forces:
1. If you did say a right to educate at home exists....then any and all...would be given this right. If you lived in a house with a father and mother who were no better than marginal education (say 7th or 8th grade)....how could you expect those parents to provide any type of decent education? What if both parents were immigrants...spoke no German, and had no comprehension of basic science?
2. There is some fear (based on past episodes) that if you allowed this to go on, and poor education resulted.....then somewhere around age 20 to 30....'Junior' would show up at the unemployment office and lay out the problem that he wasn't that educated (none of his fault, just his parents) and he has nothing to show for work potential.....so they'd have to turn on Hartz IV (welfare) and likely pay 'Junior' for the rest of his life to sit at home.
3. Finally, the government will readily point out that they register and approve various private educational units to exist (some under the Catholic Church)....some under private pay-as-you situations. Parents might find it a burden to accept this, or to pay for it.....but there are likely private schools which would meet your 'political' or 'religious' agenda. These have teachers who have certifications, and the programs are monitored to ensure they meet the basic goals.
At some point around twenty years ago, I was watching some German news documentary piece and they got onto illiterate Germans. These are people who had various issues and just simply can't read. By their estimates, at least half-a-million Germans (out of 82-million) were in this category. Even with the government's rules.....the system isn't perfect. But if you allowed at-home schooling, I'm not sure you would really gain anything.
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