Tolerated in America, Persecuted Abroad

Tolerated in America, Persecuted Abroad | Daniel Allott | Catholic World Report

The Romeike asylum case exposes the problems that European homeschooling families face.

Of all the foreign citizens seeking political asylum in the United States—individuals trying to escape war, genocide, or torture come readily to mind—those fighting for the right to educate their children at home might seem like a low priority for an already over-burdened Department of Homeland Security

But in February federal immigration Judge Lawrence Burman granted Uwe and Hannelore Romeike and their five children asylum. Not only did it make the Romeikes probably the first family to be granted asylum in America on the basis of a determination to homeschool, but it also highlighted the severe conditions under which many homeschooling families live in Europe.

The Romeikes are from Germany, where homeschooling is illegal in most circumstances. But the family believes that it is their fundamental right to educate their children in accordance with their Christian values, and that those values were not being taught in German schools.

When the Romeikes began homeschooling their three school-aged children, German police officers showed up at their home to escort the children to school. After accruing more than $10,000 in fines and being threatened by the state with having their children taken away from them, the Romeikes sought help from an American homeschooling organization that helped them come to the United States.

In January, after waiting a year and a half, the Romeikes were granted asylum. In a tersely-worded decision, Judge Burman denounced the German policy against homeschooling, calling it “utterly repellent to everything we believe as Americans.”

The Romeike case is only one of the most recent and high-profile cases of persecution of homeschoolers. As home education continues to establish itself as a popular and in some cases preferable alternative to traditional public and private education, it also faces hostility from governments determined to wrest from parents their right and duty to educate their children.

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Comments

[Paul H]

Excellent article. Very well written.

[Ed Peters]

Ditto.