Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Parents in Germany jailed for home schooling....

There are parents who neglect their children ... parents who are drug addicts and whose children become drug addicts ... parents who beat their children ... parents who abuse their children....

And then we have parents who care enough to educate their children at home only to be arrested by the German government and fined. Not content with fining them, they have now been ordered to serve three months in jail.

For what? Caring too much?

Count your blessings that you live in the United States of America where home schooling is allowed ... except in California where they recently ruled only parents with teaching certificates could educate their children at home. We must guard and stand up for our freedoms because they can be yanked away from us.

World News Daily is reporting on this breaking case today. Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) located in Purcellville, Virginia, has been following this situation for a year. Staff attorney Mike Donnelly said:
"Words escape me, it's unconscionable, incredible, shocking. They'll appeal of course."
He added the prosecutors seemed to say, "You guys are rebelling against the state. We're going to punish you."

A flashback to Germany's dark past? World Net Daily reports:
The attitude is typical of some officials in Germany, where homeschooling has been stamped on since the Nazi era, critics say.

Practical Homeschool Magazine has noted one of the first acts by Hitler when he moved into power was to create the governmental Ministry of Education and give it control of all schools and school-related issues.

In 1937, the dictator said, "The youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing."
History can repeat itself.

Germany has a history of going after home schooling families, and some families have fled Germany. One 15-year-old girl was taken by police to a psychiatric hospital because she was home schooled, and the courts approved it.

If we do not stand up for them ... who is to say we would not be next?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is a sad situation, but unfortunately it seems more and more one which is not likely to change. They have chosen to have a standoff with homeschoolers rather than seek some sort of compromise, and are going after families who are homeschooling according to doctor's instructions because severe disabilities/health issues make traditional school a threat to their condition.

Wendy said...

Great article. I agree completely with you. Homeschooling is totally an unselfish, completely loving act and far far and away from any form of child abuse. The German government feels threatened by homeschooling, I don't think they really see it as abuse of children, but they call it that so prosecuting parents is easier to accomplish. The German government wants to mold these children's minds into thinking a certain way and that can't be achieved through homeschooling. They see these children as their property in a way. It's all very concerning after watching what's going on in CA and understanding what that is really about. Watch out folks! We need to really pay attention to what's going on even in our own nation.