Hullo,
Followed up on the Home Schooling situation in Germany. Interesting. It appears that there was a law passed in 1938 that required schooling. (For the translated text, follow this link:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.verfassungen.de/de/de33-45/schulpflicht38.htm&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2BReichsschulpflichtgesetz)%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGGLD,GGLD:2003-44,GGLD:en ) 1938, if you remember, was the year of Krystalnacht. It was also the year that the Nazis ordered the expulsion of all Jews from non-jewish parochial schools. The logic behind the law was simple -- education creates society. Specific groups were exempted -- children physically or mentally incapable of attendence but it appears that there was a concerted effort going on to control thinking. At any rate, the law was never removed and is still in force in Germany. There have been a number of arrests in Germany as a result of the law recently because Christian parents who object to the content of what is being taught have been removing their children and schooling them at home, in many cases using curriculum NOT approved by the German state. One particular case was taken before the EU law courts who then upheld the German case. The German case, to whit, was that education created a homogenized, cohesive culture and that homeschooling -- particularly religious homeschooling -- created micro cultures that are not compatible with existing German culture. The more telling reason for the rejection of the parents' suit was, I suspect, the discussion of the child's interaction with other children. According to the text of the case (you can find the case online), the state was concerned that the child was not being allowed to interact with other children, thereby losing out on the necessarily socialization. The parents were quite blunt. They did not WANT their child socializing with its peers. That then was, I suspect, the key. The German state and the EU saw the event as an attempt at social isolationism. This does not, however, make the situation any the less disturbing. People are being arrested and imprisioned, their children are being removed from their care, all as a result of a law passed under a dangerous government. The major concern for folks in the US is that one of the EU principals who voted to support the German position is now here in the US holding a government advisory position on public education....