Re: Netherlandish schools (was Re: Untranslated notes)

> Van:  Jan van Steenbergen
> Onderwerp: Re: Netherlandish schools (was Re: Untranslated notes)
>
> > > You might consider homeschooling them, at least in languages.
> >
> > Not in the Netherlands. It's forbidden by law. Anyway, I want them to
> > go to school to learn that there are people who don't live the way we
> > do, because they won't learn *that* from our example.
>
> It's funny. Earlier this week I read an article in a newspaper about a
> woman who wanted to take her child away from school. I don't remember the
> reason; probably because the child was teased, or the school did not
> recognize its problems and/or capacities. Anyway, she was decided not
> to let it go to school anymore.
> What I remember from the article is this: it is not entirely forbidden by
> law (there are, at least, some holes in it), but instead of any kind of
> understanding from the side of our government, she was frequently
> "harrassed" by "leerplichtambtenaren".
Yes, that is correct. First of all, we have article 23 of the constitution,
the Freedom of Education, which allows every school (or person, for that
matter) to choose the way in which his or her children are being educated,
but the final exam diplma levels are standardized and set by the govenrment.
Government funded schools are also required to lead up to these exams.

Furthermore, there is the "leerplichtwet" (law on compulsory education)
which says that children should receive fulltime education until the age of
sixteen. Children can be schooled individually, but they are checked by the
government for two things: whether they receive fulltime education and
whether the form of education they receive cannot be regarded as child abuse
in the sense of not allowing the chidl to grow to its full potential.
However, home schooling is stongly discouraged and frowned upon by most
people.

Maarten