Home schooling is a practice that is both familiar and
mostly accepted in the United States. But how about in other
parts of the world?
In
Germany,
for instance the practice has been met with
opposition.
According to Christian and Lula
Tiews, German-American home schoolers in Missouri, home
schooling offers many advantages over conventional school. Aside
from the tailored curriculum home schooling offers, Christian
Tiews
added
that those who have been home schooled tend to
have higher SAT scores.
“Home schoolers are much sought
after by top-notch colleges, businesses and the military,”
Christian Tiews said.
Other distinctions between home
schooled children versus children who are not home schooled
include social interaction, according to Tiews.
“Home schoolers know how to interact
with different age groups,” Tiews said. “They are not as prone
to being swayed by peer influence as are children educated in a
formal classroom.”
So if the practice has so many
positive aspects, why is it being opposed by the German
government?
According to the Tiews, both German
law and the German public have expressed opposition to home
schooling because the practice falls under the title of a
“parallel society.” Parallelgesellschaften, or parallel
society, is any mindset that is contrary to today’s more liberal
and secular Germany. Many home schoolers are taught creationism,
said Christian Tiews, instead of teaching evolution, as is
mandatory in the German education system.
Tiews said the only way to change
public opinion of home schooling in Germany would be for the
European Union to endorse it.
This poses a problem, as Germany is
facing this battle alone, according to Christian Tiews.
Sabine Barnhart of Fort Worth,
Texas, was schooled in Germany and moved to the United States in
1980. In her article entitled, “Homeschooling is Verboten
in Deutschland,” Barnhart writes some 80 families are persecuted
for choosing to home school their children.
Barnhart said it is imperative to
change public and political opinions through education in order
to make home schooling a more acceptable practice in Germany.
“At this point, home schooling is
against the law and will be prosecuted by the state,” Barnhart
said.
Barnhart said a child who is taught
by his parents is influenced in the most positive of ways.
“[The children] will learn how to
care and help younger children and siblings within their home,”
Barnhart said. “They will learn from the older generation good
mannerisms and morals that same age children quite simply do not
yet possess. A public school teacher does not have the time to
engage in such close relationships with the pupils.”
Barnhart also said parents are the
“natural guardians over their children, and not the Federal
Government.”
Barnhart said both the United States
and European governments dictate to local schools a curriculum
that often times go against what parents believe should be
taught. This is what is believed must change.
Your comments on
home schooling here
©
2006 All content property of European Weekly unless where otherwise
accredited
