Schulpflicht
[7] The German courts have generally interpreted the law as dictating that all school-aged kids in Germany must attend school until their 18th birthday, and that any unreasonable absence from lessons under the age of 18 is a crime.
The Federal Constitutional Court ruled that schools are better suited than other ways of education for this purpose, as they claim that „Kontakte mit der Gesellschaft und den in ihr vertretenen unterschiedlichen Auffassungen nicht nur gelegentlich stattfinden, sondern Teil einer mit dem regelmäßigen Schulbesuch verbundenen Alltagserfahrung sind“ ("contacts with society and the different views represented in it do not only take place occasionally, but are part of an everyday experience associated with regular school attendance").
[11] The Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) argues for the Schulpflicht that „Die Allgemeinheit hat ein berechtigtes Interesse daran, der Entstehung von religiös oder weltanschaulich motivierten, Parallelgesellschaften' entgegenzuwirken und Minderheiten zu integrieren [...]“ ("The general public has a legitimate interest in counteracting the emergence of religiously or ideologically motivated 'parallel societies' and in integrating minorities...") and claims that „Unsere Gesellschaften sind [...] nur möglich, weil es Schulen gibt, die allen Kindern die notwendigen Voraussetzungen für die Kommunikation vermitteln, das heißt sowohl Kulturtechniken als auch die Orientierung an kulturellen Normen und Werten“ ("Our societies are... only possible because there are schools that provide all children with the necessary prerequisites for communication, that is, both cultural techniques and an orientation towards cultural norms and values").
[12] In addition, they claim that homeschooling is „[...] von radikalen bibelgläubigen christlichen Eltern gefordert [...]“ ("...demanded by radical bible-believing Christian parents...").
Jahrhunderts.General Compulsory Schooling is considered an indispensable requirement for guaranteeing the free democratic basic order and at the same time an essential condition for securing the economic and social welfare of the society.
In addition to promoting social skills, school also has the function of paying attention to the child's well-being during class time.
With Compulsory Schooling, the Bavarian Constitution aims to integrate all children and young people equally and comprehensively into society.
[23] University President Dieter Lenzen [de] criticizes that Germany, unlike seven other European countries and the US, adheres to a rigid school attendance requirement instead of leaving it to the parents to decide how and through whom children are educated.
[26][27] German philosopher and author Bertrand Stern sees it as a fundamental human right to be able to educate oneself freely (independent from an institution), which is violated by compulsory schooling and criticizes the German system of mandatory schooling in his books and publications,[28] which he describes as „inhuman“ ("inhuman"), „verfassungswidrig“ ("unconstitutional") and „obsolet“ ("obsolete") and having „[...] überhaupt keinen Platz mehr in unserer Wirklichkeit“ "...no longer any place in our reality".
[30] German neurobiologist and author Gerald Hüther criticizes the Schulpflicht as degrading children as self-determined subjects to incapacitated objects of schooling.
[32] He is also of the opinion that schools in Germany are deliberately designed to push pupils towards being passive consumers and detached from the political system when they grow up, „[...] damit wir genügend Kunden für den Müll haben, den wir hier ihnen andrehen wollen [...]“ ("...so that we have enough customers for the rubbish that we want to sell them here...").
[34] He believes that schools have lost their role as the primary provider of knowledge to the next generation and their learning objectives should therefore shift the focus to promoting a child's development in areas such as personality, teamwork and creativity.
[34] Some educational researchers see the Schulpflicht as counterproductive and sometimes leading to lower performance on the part of students and less interest in some topics.
The sociologist Ulrich Oevermann, for example, is in favor of abolishing the Schulpflicht viewing it as unhelpful for creating better educated young people.
[48] Baden-Württemberg ist the only state in Germany that has temporarily suspended the school attendance factor of the Schulpflicht for undefined time,[40] meaning that students can take advantage of distance education if their parents request it.
[53] In their 2016 party program, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) suggested abolishing the Schulpflicht and giving parents the right to choose whether their children attend a school or are being educated at home.
[56] The argument put forward is that „[...] Bildung auch außerhalb von Institutionen erworben werden kann.“ ("...education can also be acquired outside of institutions.
[56] Visits should finally ensure that „[...] die Lernenden sich tatsächlich und mit hinreichendem Erfolg bilden.“ ("...the learners actually educate themselves and with sufficient success.
")[56] The chairman of the youth association of the FDP Junge Liberale, Matti Karstedt, advocates replacing compulsory schooling in Brandenburg with compulsory education, „[...] damit Familien die größtmögliche Freiheit in Bildungsfragen ihrer Kinder erhalten.“ ("...so that families have the greatest possible freedom in the educational issues of their children.
