HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION
Posted on 01/11/2005 7:37:31 PM PST by Born in a Rage
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January 7, 2005
"Homeschooling Illegal" Declares German School Official Seven homeschool families in Northwest Germany are being forced to enroll their children in public school. The Paderborn County school board has levied fines against these families and ordered the children to attend school by Monday, January 10, or the police will forcibly take them to school. Any resistance by the parents will result in the removal of these thirteen elementary age children from their homes and into state custody! Despite the lack of state recognition in Germany for homeschooling, these families pulled their children out of public school earlier this year to begin teaching them at home. Their primary reason, as Christians, was to protect their children from the humanistic and godless values being taught to their children in the public school. While the school district responded by stating that homeschooling is illegal, the parents' maintained that their fundamental rights as parents would be violated if they were forced to return the children to public school. All of the families obtained excellent packaged curriculums from German correspondence schools, and demonstrated to school officials that their children were receiving a proper education. Heinz Kohler, the county education director, dismissed the families' beliefs, stating, "you and your children are not living in isolation on some island but rather in an environment posing intra- and extracurricular situations where you'll have to accept that your world view will be curtailed." Mr. Kohler further explained that homeschooling could not be allowed as "children should not be encapsulated or kept apart from the outside world. In these cases, the parents' rights to personally educate their children would prevent the children from growing up to be responsible individuals within society…" German homeschoolers have seen much persecution in recent months, and this action by Paderborn County affirms that the problem has not been solved. The United States has been blessed for many years with the freedom to homeschool. Germany does not have this freedom. If American homeschoolers do not try to help "the least of these," then who will aid them? Requested Action "The seven homeschool families in Paderborn County should not be forced to return their children to public school. A parent's right to direct the education of his children is a fundamental right that should be protected. We request that you urge Heinz Kohler and the county school board to drop the pending fines against the families." We encourage you to rephrase this message in your own words and include a few paragraphs in your letter describing the benefits of homeschooling to your family. It would be best not to include the word "homeschool" in the subject of your e-mail, as that will make it too easy for the embassy to filter it out. The whole family should participate in this project of writing letters to the German Embassy. This is a great educational opportunity for your children to learn the importance of the freedoms we have in the United States and how easily these freedoms can be taken away. Your decision to contact the embassy may determine the success or failure of the German homeschool movement. Wolfgang Ischinger The embassy can be e-mailed from its website: http://www.globescope.biz/germany/reg/index.cfm You may also contact the local German officials involved in the case: Landrat Paderborn: Mr. Manfred Mueller [landrat@kreis-paderborn.de] (county official) President Nordrhein-Westfalen: Mr. Peer Steinbrueck – Local media 2. Pray for endurance and protection for these courageous families. Your e-mails and calls work! A few years ago, the Harder family in Germany was facing two years imprisonment for homeschooling. Your calls and emails caused the German authorities to dismiss the Harder case within three weeks! Protests from overseas can change the views of the German government. Thank you for standing together for freedom with your fellow homeschooling families around the world.
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This is a truly disgusting story, showing how the leftists truly believe we all belong to the state, before and exclusive of our rights to belong to ourselves or our families.
no = nothing (oops)
Vee have Vays! Who says that the Nazi's were defeated in 1945?!
Kind of reminds us all of "Pre WW II" Germany?
Don't it?
Herr Hitler certainly agreed.
How dare they try to avoid our re-education camps!</sarcasm>
The conspiratorial new world order is fast approaching.
May God watch over these families. I would be heartbroken and more than in a rage.
Or vee vill send you to ze kamps! Christen Raus!
Germans always have had HARD Heads and they take awhile to learn ANYTHING!
You can suppress the Nazi Party, but you can't stomp out the Nazi mindset so long as Satan roams the world seeking the ruin of men's souls.
How about,
"We request that you arrest and try Herr Gruppenfuher Heinz Kohler and the county school board under German anti-Nazi laws."
*bump* for action...
Yes, it's pretty scary stuff. Funny thing is, our homeschooling family is learning German. What would they think of us if went to visit Germany?
The German people have chosen, by virtue of the kind of scum they habitually elect to public office, the kind of secular socialism that the Democrats over here want for America. I hate to say it, but the Germans are getting exactly what they deserve.
I am writing to you with regards to the homeschool families in your county who face official persecution for exercising their fundamental right to educational freedom and choice. It occurs to me that parents have been successfully educating their own children for as long as there have been humans on the planet, or else our species wouldn't still be here! Furthermore, children are not state property to be taken according to some bureaucrat's whims, and at some point SOMEONE had to make a discretionary decision. I wish to make you aware that there are many eyes outside the borders of your country that are focused on these goings-on, and how you deal with these families will determine my own spending habits regarding German products and services. Indeed, I was hoping to be able to visit Europe at some point in my lifetime, but maybe I might reconsider travelling through such a jurisdiction such as yours, which purports to own children above the rights of their parents! I will also advise anyone of my acquaintance who values the freedoms that are the birthright of children and parents to make their economic decisions accordingly. I hope you will soon see common sense. As God is my witness, we will be watching.
What do you all think?
I just asked my Congresswoman to contact the German Embassy. That might have more pull than just li'l ol' me, if she does it...and she's been pretty good on this stuff before, so she just might.
Good for you. *thumbs up*
Move them to the US, forget Germany
Makes sense the whole public school lie is of Prussian invention
Home schooling was always the best way to teach your own kids what they needed to learn
imo
I didn't realize that there were any Nazi's left in Germany, guess I was wrong. I will See what e-mail and letters will do...
Pingers
Bullsh!t! My 3 youngest children are being homeschooled. They have iceskating lessons once a week with other kids their age. They have dance lessons with other kids their age. They also have violin lessons with peers. They play little league baseball and have aikido lessons. They take hunter safety classes with friends and just went to Hawaii for 10 days where they made friends with kids that they're now emailing.
I'm almost tempted to send them back to school to cut down on their socializing and exposure to the outside world....
ps, the two boys are also being taught physics by a friend who holds 40 patents in RF and microwave technologies. I'd stack their educations up against those of ANY public or private school in America....
Thank God I live in the U.S.A. Sometimes one just doesn't realize how good it is actually is here.
INTREP - Education - Survive
I wonder if there are private Christian schools in
Germany? I am all for homschooling, but if these parents lose, they would private school be an option?
I see the whole thing different. The people are total whackos and look like Hippies. There is an older article at Spiegel Online where you can see a picture of them: http://www.spiegel.de/unispiegel/studium/0,1518,324298,00.html.
There is another article that describes how they got busted: http://www.spiegel.de/unispiegel/studium/0,1518,323695,00.html - hilarious. They live in a small village in southern Germany. They had set up guards because they knew the police would come to arrest the parents. When the guards saw the police cars coming the sounded the alarm by blewing into horns. How crazy is this? Then the church bells started ringing and the whole crowd gathered in front of the church and started singing.
This is a sect. In the year 2005 it's not good for children to educate them in a parallel universe at home away from all "sins". Life gets faster everyday and these people don't let their children keep the pace. I think they should send in the police and get the kids out of there. When they turn 18 they may return. If the parents make trouble send a riot squad.
quote:
This is a truly disgusting story, showing how the leftists truly believe we all belong to the state, before and exclusive of our rights to belong to ourselves or our families.
YES! the leftists in germany BELIEVE in the state.
Now the first link works: http://www.spiegel.de/unispiegel/studium/0,1518,324298,00.html
As long as you bring wonderful American dollars with you to spend they could care less where you taught your children. I have been living in Germany for almost 4 years, they hate us, but they love the way Americans spend money!
Their is no fundamental right to educational freedom in Germany. All schools are supervised by the state. You can send your kids to a private school but these are also supervised.
The right exists as a human birthright, whether the state chooses to recognize it or not. Sometimes, these arrogant prigs need a little (rhetorical) clobberin'
I'd love to present a line like that to the anti-homeschool crowd. With their myths about the sanity of homeschooled kids, they'd flip.
While I wholeheartedly agree that this action is deplorable - unfortunately, that is the law in Germany (and almost everywhere else in Europe!!). There are private schools available to which these people could send thier children (alot of them are run by the Church). What they are doing is in open defiance of the the laws and, unfortunately, they will have to bear the consequences if they do not comply.
It is socialist and wrong, but no amount of protest letters from us to the German Embassy will ever change this.
Your "hippies" are actually quite mainstream for Germany!!
In other words - these people are dressed in a manner which is not untypical of others in thier age group!
> There are private schools available to which these people could send thier children (alot of them are run by the Church).
These people want to teach their children the creation instead of the evolution and no sexual education. While sexual education might be debatable, there is no chance that any school in Germany - be it a church run or not - is allowed to teach the pupils the creation.
longjack
I am sorry, but here you are wrong - religion is a required course in german schools and creation is taught in that context (admittedly, this is NOT what you would consider being taught - it is included for accuracy).
Bear in mind - I fully agree that this is wrong of the German's and that the parents should have the right to teach thier children - unfortunately the socialist mindset rules the day over here and no amount of protests (from within or without) will change this.
Once the EU Constitution is rammed down the throats of the people, it will be worse.
Hello Longjack.
Yes, you are right. Of course the creation is taught in religious courses but not as an explanation how life appeared or as a "different theorie".
I think parents have the right to educate their children to a certain degree but don't own their children. Parents alone cannot give their child what the society can as a whole. A child has to hear different opinions than what it hears at home to built a real own opinion and personality. Otherwise I can't imagine how one shall be able to emancipate from home.
P.S. I don't know what this has to do with socialism. I'm not a socialist.
Thanks for posting the links.
I remember reading either this article or another similar article about homeschooling in Germany about a month ago.
From what I remember, school officials have been turning a blind eye to it, in most cases, but in one case, the children were not exposed to any type of curriculum, and the families were high profile about it; i.e., something was bound to happen. I thought that was in Baden-Wurttemberg, though
I'm sure you know, but other people may not, that German schools have been under pressure to transform because of poor PISA study reports compared to other countries.
Basically, they are going to change from half-day to full day schools, requiring a lot of investment in infrasrtructure, kitchens, for example.
German's are also looking into teacher accountability, much like our NCLB, which is a drastic change from what has been the norm. Teachers are lifelong burocrats in Germany, or have been so far.
My kids were in German schools for a while, and have also been homeschooled and in public schools. I'm able to relocate freely, however, and can move to a location best for them if I must.
There's something to be said for all of those institutions, but how effective they are depends on the leadership of the particular institution at the local level, meaning school administration and parents, AFAIC.
Also, as a reminder to others: "Spiegel-Online" is not a neutral source. The list dramatically left, and in this case, leave me with little confidence that they are accurately representing the issues and methods of the parents.
OTOH: I think German greens are a pretty defiant, yuppy, in your face bunch, and I wouldn't trust them within 3000 miles of my own kids' education.
Thus, I am watching the tposts on this thread with particular interest.
longjack
Hello An.American.Expatriate :>)
longjack
True, Spiegel Online is generally left. Their founder Augstein wanted his magazine to be neutral but left when in doubt. I think this is the case with most articles. Many articles are good researched. They also have right-tendding articles but the majority is left.
The articles about this sect are only facts and not left.
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