German Parents Face Jail Time Over Choice to Homeschool

A German family was recently reunited after their children were taken during a police raid as punishment to the parents for choosing to homeschool them. Elsewhere in Germany, a prosecutor has demanded a minimum of six-month jail terms for parents who want to homeschool children.

The police raid that sparked a national frenzy occurred on August 30, where around 20 armed German forces seized four children between the ages of 7-14 from the Wunderlich family. The raid was a direct result of the parents’ choice to homeschool their children, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association.

HSLDA confirmed that the family had now been reunited, however only because the parents were forced to agree to provide their children with a government-approved form of education.

This case, combined with another in Germany where the prosecutors are demanding jail time for the Schaum parents for homeschooling their children, has the HSLDA outraged.

The Schaum parents have homeschooled all nine of their children but recently have come under intense pressure to leave the homeschooling behind in favor of a government-approved program. The HSLDA plans to fight alongside the Schaums in order to maintain what both parties are referring to as basic human rights to decide how their children are educated.

Both of these cases raise a red flag for human rights advocates who argue that parents should without a doubt have the choice to educate their children as they see fit. As long as the parents are choosing to educate children in some productive way, why should the government have any right to step in?