Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Michael Farris:
American courts have never ruled that education is a constitutional right. If it were determined to be a right, our educational system would be run entirely by the judiciary. Federal judges would determine what kinds of education fulfilled that right and how much education spending was necessary. Adopting this theory would also open the door to what is now occurring in Germany.

In its recent ruling in Konrad v. Germany, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the German government’s decision to outlaw homeschooling. The court argued that every child has the “right” to an education and, additionally, that every child has the “right” to attend public school to receive instruction for the promotion of pluralism.

But the European court had a funny idea of what it meant to have a right. According to their definition, having a right means that you must take it, whether you want it or not. It’s antithetical to any reasonable theory of human rights to coerce children to receive instruction in pluralism. But according to the European court’s reasoning, forcing children to receive a public education is the only way to fulfill their “right” to an education. Moreover, regardless of appearances, this coercion in no way hinders parental rights; after all, as the court stated in Konrad, “[P]arents [are] free to educate their children after school and at weekends.”

This ruling was not issued by an American court, but as homeschoolers, we must still take it as a warning. I’m Mike Farris.