AP

The Romeikes, free at last

UNLIKE many of the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” that have sought refuge in America, the Romeike family comes from a comfortable place: Bissingen an der Teck, a town in south-western Germany. Yet on January 26th an American immigration judge granted the Romeikes—a piano teacher, his wife and five children—political asylum, accepting their case that difficulties with home schooling their children created a reasonable fear of persecution.

Under Germany's stringent rules, home schooling is allowed only in exceptional circumstances. Before emigrating, Mr and Mrs Romeike had been fined some €12,000 ($17,000); policemen had arrived at their house and forcibly taken their children to school. The Romeikes feared that the youngsters might soon be removed by the state.

In September 2006 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Germany was within its rights to follow this approach. Schools represented society, it judged, and it was in the children's interest to become part of that society. The parents' right to raise their offspring did not go as far as depriving their children of the social experience of school.

Despite its illegality, home schooling in Germany is becoming more popular. Thomas Spiegler, a sociologist at Friedensau Adventist University, a Protestant theological college, reckons that 600 to 1,000 children are being taught at home. He wants Germany to rethink its approach and look at the regulated home-schooling regimes elsewhere in Europe.

In Sweden, for example, parents must apply annually for permission to teach their children at home. Two years ago the authorities revoked that permission for Lisa Angerstig, an MBA-holding mother-of-four. They have threatened her with a fine of SKr10,000 (about $1,400). Now new legislation is pending that would make home schooling even harder. Dominic Johansson, a seven-year-old, has been in state foster care since June 2009—in order to stop his parents home schooling him, campaigners say (officials cite other issues too).

In Britain home schooling has become more popular, but worries about the risk of abuse have prompted calls for mandatory inspections and tougher rules, including the right for officials to enter a home and quiz a home-schooled child in the parents' absence.

The Romeikes' lawyer is Mike Donnelly, director of international relations for the Home School Legal Defence Association, a group based in Virginia. He cites research showing that home-schooled children tend to excel both academically and socially in later life. But that will not convince people who believe it is the state's duty to ensure that children mix with others, and learn what everyone else learns about thorny topics such as evolution and sex.