Homeschool Persecution in Germany

From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Mon, 2006-09-25 16:18


A quote from an email of the [American] Home School Legal Defense Association, 22 September 2006

The German government is persecuting homeschoolers like never before. Armin Eckermann, president of Schulunterricht zu Hause (School Instruction at Home – SIH), the homeschool legal defense association of Germany, states that there are over 40 homeschool families in court in Germany!

The families are being heavily fined; the parents are being jailed; the children are being threatened with being seized and placed in the custody of the state; and families are being forced to flee to Austria and other surrounding countries. […] [Some families] have sought review by the Human Rights European Court that covers all of Europe. There are now eight cases pending before the European Court, [...]. The problem with the European Court, is that all cases are discretionary: there is no right of appeal. If the Court decides not to rule on them, the case will not be heard. Another problem is the Court has no particular deadline of when they have to decide to take the case or not, so some of these cases have been sitting for three to four years, with no resolution in sight.

This is unlike the final

Submitted by BitShifter on Thu, 2006-11-16 14:08.

This is unlike the final solution. Wiping out everyone just because. No specifics, no reason but because. This doesn't bode well for anyone. This doesn't help anyone in anything.

What measuring stick?

Submitted by jmkjag on Thu, 2006-09-28 14:52.

Stmoran:
Is it fair to measure homeschooling by its "disasters"? Should we use the same measuring stick for state schools? Should I judge state schools by its worst teachers? by its worst students? by its worst administrators? by its worst textbooks? Let's throw out the high and low end abnormalities and look at the average performance of each methodology.

Should we do that, homeschooling trumps state schools. The proof that parents are better equipped than teachers ... is in the evidence, not just in the ideology.

Parents are better equipped

Submitted by coldsack on Mon, 2006-09-25 21:10.

Parents are better equipped than teachers to educate their children because they typically have some actual interest in the children being successful in life. This is simple biology.

The typical teacher, in modern democratic states, is a bureaucrat. The purpose of state run schools is not to educate, it is to indoctrinate the children in the ideology of the state - in the case of modern Europe, that includes pervasive political correctness, hatred of Christianity, and all of the rest of the baggage of the socialist death cult in which we happen to live. Parents who send their children to state schools should be prosecuted for child abuse.

Stmoran said:"Too often

Submitted by Bishop Hill on Mon, 2006-09-25 20:08.

Stmoran said:

"Too often [homeschooling] is used by drop out parents to enforce their drop out
mentality on their children - to detrimental effects to the child and
society."

Some figures would make your case more convincing. This article suggests that the problems you describe are not typical.

What does a typical home-schooling family look
like? It is likely to be white (only 6 percent of home-schooling
families are minorities) and observantly Christian, with married
parents and three or more kids. The parents are likely to be better
educated than the adult population at large, and the family will be
comfortably middle-class—though either Mom (in nine out of ten
home-schooling families) or Dad forgoes a second family income to stay
at home. Mom and Dad will probably vote Republican.

Doesn't sound like dropouts to me.

Home Schooling

Submitted by stmoran on Mon, 2006-09-25 19:10.

Sorry, I have to disagree with you on this one.

What makes you think that most parents are better equipped than teachers to educate their children? I know of cases where home schooling has been a disaster for all involved. Too often it is used by drop out parents to enforce their drop out mentality on their children - to detrimental effects to the child and society. My solution is for parents that are concerned for a childs education to supplement the school program with additional work - I strongly believe that parents must pick up the slack in the educational system by teaching their children science, math, religion, history, civics and ethics not to mention housekeeping, personnel finance, outdoor survival skills and most important of all - how to enjoy life!

The second point I want to make is that parents must get involved and participate in the school system. I am the first to admit there are major problems with the administration and curriculum - but that is no reason to drop out. Make your objections known, get involved, suggest solutions, volunteer, discuss with your newspapers, blogs and politicians. The state has an obligation to provide 1st class education for all its citizens. Home schooling helps them to abdicate their responsibilities.

In our spare time, perhaps

Submitted by jmkjag on Thu, 2006-09-28 14:20.

With all due respect, stmoran...you say :
I strongly believe that parents must pick up the slack in the educational system by teaching their children science, math, religion, history, civics and ethics not to mention housekeeping, personnel finance, outdoor survival skills and most important of all - how to enjoy life!

When should we do this? In the 3 hours we have leftover at night, when the kids' strongest hours of the day are gone (not to mention the parents'). How about if we just change the way we look at homeschooling. Consider it: parents picking up the slack in the ed. system...just using the best hours of the day...and leaving our evenings for the most important of all (as YOU say) enjoying life. Perhaps you said more in that last phrase than you imagine. Enjoying life is NOT the most important priority of our lives. That is a lie from privileged living.

Let us not sacrifice our children for the sake of the state's educational reputation. If it is not working, face the truth and modify. But if we hold on to our blinders and stay loyal to a wrong path, we will fall into destruction. Remember the Nazi's???

Where do you get your facts?

Submitted by aka1 on Thu, 2006-09-28 06:09.

If parents need to "pick up the slack" concerning their child's education, then where is the educating really taking place?

The truth is... Most homeschooling parents are NOT drop-outs of any kind. Most are college educated. Statistics show that homeschooled children far exceed their peers academically and socially -- INDEPENDENT of parents education level, and economic level (see www.nehri.org and www.hslda.org).

If government schools were doing their job, wouldn't parents be satisfied? However did citizens learn to be hard working and loyal to their country before government schools? And whenever did a government agency, that has trouble maintaining itself, know what was best for every individual and able to care for those needs?

Hi STMoran....It's not a

Submitted by oiznop on Tue, 2006-09-26 13:09.

Hi STMoran....It's not a question of qualifications, but a question of choice...Here in America we have such freedoms....Even though some parents choose to home school their kids or send them to a private school, they are still burdened with the excessive taxation that is required by the local communities for education....Let me now reverse the question and ask you, what qualifys the state to be in charge of educating kids, aside from them being the state???....

Once again, the roots of

Submitted by oiznop on Mon, 2006-09-25 16:25.

Once again, the roots of leftist ideology taking a firm grip on Europe....You go to our school funded by the state, or else!!!....Sounds like a rehash of the 1930s, doesn't it???....I am so glad I live in the USA!!!...