Source: Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit

In Freedom Learning Is Better

70 Years of compulsory school attendance are enough  -  this relic has outlived its usefulness.
 

When the national socialistic leadership under Adolf Hitler and Reichsminister Dr. Rust signed the Reichsschulgesetz (Reich/Imperial School Legislation) in Berchtesgaden on July 6, 1938, they could not have imagined that the essential components of this law would remain in force even 70 years later. With the downfall of the so-called ‘Thousand Year Reich’ most of the laws and ordinances from that timeframe disappeared.  But the unique German compulsory school attendance law in effect across all Europe which empowered the state to lead children to school with the help of the police and even by force if necessary; that law remained unchanged. The school policymakers of most of the German federal states incorporated this paragraph almost word-for-word into their legislation.

The 6th of July 1938 represents an historic break, up to that day non-school and alternative educational methods were possible and were practiced, even if to modest levels.  Although compulsory school attendance was introduced in Prussia in 1717, one could still find the words in the Reichsverfassung, the Imperial Constitution, of March 28, 1849 that:  "schooling in the home is not subject to any constraints."  The existing compulsory education had always been interpreted up to 1938 in the sense of an ‘obligation for instruction’ and allowed for exceptions. The majority of democratically constituted states in the world therefore do not require any compulsory school attendance, but practice an ‘obligation for instruction’ leaving room for a multitude of alternatives as to how children learn today,

The inherently violent Compulsory School Attendance laws have lead to such incomprehensible outgrowths that in 2007 the 15 year old daughter of an exemplary family from the city of Erlangen was forcibly compelled to enter a psychiatric clinic under a very large police presence and Youth Services action. Her crime:  she was receiving individual instruction and nurturing in the home, instead of continuing to visit the public school, where the learning environment provided increasing difficulties.

The Dudek family, an academic family from Archfeld in Hesse, will soon have to pay for their preference for a free educational form by serving terms of imprisonment.  Their eldest son learned so well at home that he was able to pass his Realschulabschluss (secondary school final examinations) at the top of the class with a grade of 1.1, but the spirit of the Reichsschulpflichtgesetzes  (Reich/Imperial School Legislation) demands its tribute in the form of a prison sentence of 3 months each for the father and the mother.

Other free-learning families are emigrating from Germany and leaving their familiar environments, but are looking forward to their newly-won freedom in our neighboring European states.

The fact that an atmosphere of compulsion and pressure cannot provide a lasting, successful learning experience is not under dispute by subject matter experts in the field.  The fact that German educational politicians insist on physical presence in a school building under all circumstances, although learning in other locations and under other circumstances is frequently at least equally as good, if not more successful, is neither comprehensible nor up-to-date.

It is time to implement the unambiguous declarations of UN-Special Commissioner Vernor Munoz de Villalobos who stated during his visit to Germany that "education cannot be reduced to simple attendance at a school  . . . Alternatives such as distance learning and  "homeschooling" are possible options which may come into consideration under certain circumstances . . ."

After these 70 years the Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit (Network on Educational Freedom) calls for the complete elimination of Germany Compulsory School Attendance, and calls for establishment of a legislative basis to make possible diverse school-based and non-school educational paths, which may compete with one another and thereby enrich both sides. We view freedom and diversity instead of state monopolies as the best way out of the German educational malaise.  Chancellor Merkel’s motto "Dare to be more Free" should finally also apply to the area of education.

The "Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit"  (Network on Educational Freedom) is an affiliation of organizations, parent initiatives, and individuals across Germany who are concerned about the right of free access to education, for a free choice and free structuring of the individual personal educational path, with the assistance of public as well as private initiative resources.

Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit e.V. Nürnberg – Board of Trustees and executive Board