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Does the State Own the Child? Obama and Germany Say “Yes”

September 10, 2013 06:11

It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that Obama and his Attorney General would like to do everything possible to outlaw private schooling altogether, or at least homeschooling. But by what right do they make up law when it suits them, just because they happen to be in control right now? America was supposed to be a nation of laws, not of men.

by Michael J. Hurd, Ph.D.

Michael Ledeen of PJMedia.com reports the following on 9/3/13:

The Romeike family, Christian evangelicals, wanted to homeschool their children, but the German authorities wouldn’t permit it. So the Romeikes came to America (Tennessee, to be precise), where there’s lots of homeschooling, and where a federal judge granted them asylum.

The Germans didn’t like that, and the Obama/Holder U.S. Justice Department ordered the extradition of the family back to Germany, where, in another recent case, German police dragged off four children from their homeschooling parents.

The Justice Department ordered the extradition of the Romeikes on the basis that “banning homeschooling teaches tolerance of diverse views.”

How many things are wrong with this incident?

The Obama administration is sending two messages here.

First message: “The individual child belongs to the state, first and foremost.” That’s the issue the German government has with the Romeike family. They dare to lay claim to their own child’s education.

Given Germany’s history, it’s not terribly surprising. But since when has the United States government held this view? Even now, thousands of American parents homeschool their children. The U.S. government still permits it, but we must wonder for how long, given that our government is sending back to their home countries parents who wish to do so.

Jefferson_tyranny_quote Second message: “The child’s mind belongs to the state.” Normally, the police are reserved for the protection of property. If an adult abducted a child from his school, or his home, the police and state would properly be involved to apprehend and prosecute the abductor. But in nations like Germany, a parent who keeps his child at home in order to provide that child education is actually considered a criminal.

The merits or disadvantages of homeschooling are not the point here. The point here is that it’s the parent’s right and responsibility to raise and educate a child. If we’re honest about it, even a half-asleep parent can probably do a better job than the typical mediocre (or worse) government-mandated public school today. Homeschooling, regardless of how adequate it may be, is clearly doing a better job than the typical public school, given achievement test scores up to 40 percent higher than those of public school students, according to some research studies.

Keep in mind that “homeschooling” is a broader concept than the term implies. It doesn’t just refer to amateur parents educating their own children. It also applies to professional tutors hired, on a private basis, by parents to educate their own children. According to the implied assumptions of the Obama/Holder decision, this is not a decision to be made by parents. Those are the exact same assumptions held by a totalitarian government. Childrens’ minds are the most important thing to control, from the point of view of any dictatorship—right wing, left wing, religious or secular.

The Obama Justice Department goes even further. It makes the bizarre argument that banning homeschooling fosters diversity. First of all, why is the federal Justice Department making legal rulings or comments on the banning of homeschooling? I’m not aware of a federal constitutional amendment or national law (at least yet) requiring parents to submit exclusively to the federal government in the education of their children.

It was actually a federal judge who granted this family asylum in Tennessee. Note that the Obama Administration did not even feign immigration technicalities as a reason for sending them home. They did so, explicitly, on the principle that parents must submit first and foremost to the state.

It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that Obama and his Attorney General would like to do everything possible to outlaw private schooling altogether, or at least homeschooling. But by what right do they make up law when it suits them, just because they happen to be in control right now? America was supposed to be a nation of laws, not of men.

One need not be a supporter of evangelical Christianity, either, to endorse a parent’s right to teach his or her child that viewpoint. The point is: It’s not the government’s job to decide what kind of education is suitable for a child. If the family seeking asylum had been a fundamentalist Muslim family wishing to school their children in Sharia law, would the Obama Administration have made the same decision?

It’s preposterous to even suggest that banning any form of education promotes “diversity.” If diversity is an end in itself—right there, a rather ridiculous assertion—then the Obama Administration should be promoting the diversification of education in America, not constricting it.

Such are the fallacies and deceits of what passes for contemporary “liberalism.”

Dr. Hurd has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Psychology, Saybrook Institute, San Francisco, CA, November 1991. Degree awarded With Distinction. Master’s of Social Work (M.S.W.), Clinical, The University of Maryland at Baltimore, May 1988. Bachelor’s of Arts (B.A.), Psychology, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, May 1985. Distinguished Psychology Student Award, Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude. Dr. Hurd blogs at DrHurd.com