[nathanbedford]

About 10 km west of my home here in Bavaria there is a foothill of the Alps called "Ratzingerhoehe" upon the summit of which is a restaurant with a particularly stunning view of the valley below, the lake beyond, and the Alps running to the horizon. I understand this is owned by a cousin of his Holiness who has visited the restaurant as a cardinal.

If you go about 30 km to the east and you will come to a town which has the gymnasium where his Holiness attended school. If you go about 40 km northeast of here he will come to his birthplace.

I recite all of this to identify his roots with this area. I think this is significant because it is the law here that parents may not homeschool their children in lieu of attending public school. They will actually put the parents in jail. The authorities have explicitly stated that they want the children to have a homogenized cultural experience. So I give his Holiness credit for having broken with the contemporary culture of the place of his birth.

As to the reference to unbridled capitalism, I can only say that that is a widely shared conception in this area. Moreover, I would observe that the tendency here is to look to the state to protect you from your neighbor rather than look to yourself or to your neighbor to protect you from the state.

Which brings me to my next observation which is that it is one thing for a parent to decide that it is not an economic interests for Mama to stay home to school the children and quite another for the state to forbid her from doing so. It seems to me that the Germans tend to look to the state as the font of good and to the individual has the potential for trouble.

[Kolokotronis]

“It seems to me that the Germans tend to look to the state as the font of good and to the individual has the potential for trouble.”

One would think that history would have taught them otherwise!

[kosta50]

I think this is significant because it is the law here that parents may not homeschool their children in lieu of attending public school. They will actually put the parents in jail. The authorities have explicitly stated that they want the children to have a homogenized cultural experience. So I give his Holiness credit for having broken with the contemporary culture of the place of his birth

I am sure His Holiness was talking about instilling Christian values and not homeschooling. And as far as the law is concerned there, I couldn't agree more. It gives people oversight over public education and prevents various religious nuts like Jim Jones and David Koresh and JWs and countless other cults from schooling innocent children in abomination without public oversight.