Homeschooling in Romania and the HSLDA

https://hslda.org/post/as-homeschooling-grows-in-romania-government-cracks-down

As mentioned in previous posts, I'm not a fan of HSLDA and its Dominionist approach to homeschooling and larger questions concerning the law. Confusing Christianity (its doctrines and ethics) with the Western (and more often the American) cultural tradition, their overall approach theology, ethics, and jurisprudence are (to me) seriously misguided.

While there are times a lawyer can be employed for the purpose of defense in the face of accusation or false indictment, the HSLDA approach is rooted in the activist ethos of the Christian Right and thus I fundamentally disagree with them. I homeschooled all my children and yet in all honesty if I had been in a terrible jam I would have probably called on the ACLU before I would HSLDA.

The situation in Romania is unfortunate and I would hope the growing numbers of Christians in the country will look to homeschooling as not just a viable option but the best one. But I had to laugh at Donnelly's evocation of Communism, implying that some kind of leftover Marxist mentality is inhibiting Bucharest from legally recognising home education. Clearly Donnelly like many other American Evangelicals doesn't understand what's happening in Europe, its history, or the contemporary issues in its societies. This is more than slightly disturbing given that he head's HSLDA's 'Global Outreach' division.

There are other nations like Brazil, Germany, France, and the Scandinavian countries that have been hostile to homeschooling and it has nothing to do with communism. Donnelly's assertion is ridiculous.

The issues have to do with fears regarding subcultures, the eradication of poverty, and a different mentality regarding the individual's relation to society. Generally speaking Europeans do not share America's libertarian ethos of hyper-individualism. The reasons for this are many. Just visiting Europe reveals one of them. The population density in many parts of Europe significantly exceeds that of the United States. People have to live with and alongside each other. The kind of self-focused 'spread your wings' libertarian attitude that exists in many parts of the United States has never caught on there and is viewed as selfish, decadent, anti-social, degenerate, and dangerous.

There are fears regarding Muslim subcultures. Others intensely dislike separatist groups like the Watchtower and view 'sects' as socially subversive to both culture and national identity. I'm not defending their hostility to these groups nor their desire to maintain cohesive and semi-monolithic societies but it's important to understand them and where they are coming from. Otherwise we might fall into lame appeals to 'communism' which are more rooted in American Right-wing demagoguery than anything to do with reality. Or (more cynically) we should understand these efforts as really little more than propaganda and marketing tactics aimed at the pocketbooks of the Christian Right that supports such organisations as the HSLDA.

Nations like Romania have struggled with poverty and so like Brazil there's a reticence to allow homeschooling. The state and the economic forces that tend to dominate liberal capitalist societies want a school system that generates productive workers. They don't want people on social welfare and as they offer little to that end in places like Romania and Brazil, they would like to eliminate shanty towns which exacerbate existing social problems and are breeding grounds for not just despair but crime, and extremism. Education is viewed as a means toward this end. Whether one shares these goals or outlook is not the point.

Additionally Romania is dealing with other issues. Like many nations in Eastern Europe it has a large Romani or Gypsy population that they're trying to integrate. Many of them won't bother sending their kids to school and if they can simply say they're 'homeschooling', it's a tactic they're sure to employ.

Also, if Donnelly bothered to learn something of Romania he would know that Transylvania is historically Hungarian and there's a still a significant Magyar population in that region. Given the Right-wing nationalism of the neighbouring Orban government and the historical and current tensions between Budapest and Bucharest over the Hungarian minority – then suddenly the reasons for Romania's insistence on public education and thus the promotion of Romanian identity might make some sense. As Transylvanian Hungarians are becoming radicalised there will certainly be a tendency (and has been) toward separatism – creating a nation within the nation, a subculture hostile to the central government. Homeschooling can facilitate this as we've seen in the United States. Though Transylvania has been part of Romania since the conclusion of WWI a century ago, the tensions remain. 

Romania also has its own fascist history which (as in many other places) is rearing its head, and homeschooling can be used by those who would promote an ultra-nationalist subversive political movement. Once again, Communism has nothing to do with Romania's resistance to home education, and such arguments seriously call the credibility of HSLDA into question.

There are other issues as well which are connected to the aforementioned social tensions. Romania is part of the EU and NATO. There are pressures put on the Bucharest government from the power-players in Brussels, Washington, and even places like Berlin. Romania is part of the EU's second tier and given the nation's problems with finances and corruption they're going to be keen to demonstrate social and fiscal responsibility as well as the potential for an economically vibrant society.

Romania also sends large numbers of workers abroad – many go to Italy for work. As such the country relies upon remittances. It would be the hope of the nation's leaders that a more educated and unified population will bring economic prosperity in the next generation and they won't suffer 'brain drain' or the loss of a working age population.

One might also recall the orphan scandal that emerged in the aftermath of the Cold War and the fall of the Ceaușescu regime. Romania subsequently lost many of its children to international adoption. It was a national scandal and shame. Poverty and memory play a role in how the twenty-first century state and EU member like Romania is going to approach such questions.

There are many angles to these questions and simplistic appeals might work when one is trying to raise money or get people to sign a petition. But it's not honest and therefore it's not ethical. Such misinformation and reductionism are not worthy tactics of a professing Christian organisation. I'm afraid Donnelly's integrity needs to be questioned. Glorying in his shame, as an unrepentant participant in America's first assault on Iraq in 1991, the Christian activist lawyer has already demonstrated questionable ethics and judgment.

Pray for the situation in Romania. But also pray that Romanian Christians don't fall prey to Western values regarding money and success. Pray they don't buy into Western propaganda regarding NATO and thus send their children off to fight in NATO's wars. Romania is historically cynical which is understandable given the nation's history. Such cynicism can be destructive and yet it can also (if channeled) afford a degree of sophistication and even wisdom regarding the vanity of the world and the way men in power (and their mouthpieces) will manipulate the truth. I hope Romanians will be faithful but part of that faithfulness will entail a degree of resistance to the false gold being offered by Brussels and Washington let alone the counterfeit security they promote. I would also hope that God will raise up in Romania Christian leaders who will unite Hungarian, Romanian, and Romani Christians, who will in Christ forge a new identity and one divorced from ancient hatreds and nationalism. This will create a new Christian identity within Romania and maybe it can spread to the rest of Central Europe and the Balkans. It will be an ethos that has no use for the machinations and Dominionism of groups like the US-based HSLDA and their mammonism, ethical compromise, and deceitful propaganda.