Recently I came across a blog which focuses on the German media, Davids Medienkritik. I have heard that there have been some problems for homeschoolers in Germany, but didn't know any details. So I asked if they had any recent news about parents trying to homeschool in Germany. They gave me this link, but the news article is in German. I had my brother read the article and he reported:
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The judge, in another article, off of the "MIRROR ONLINE reported in detail" link, basically says, "In my opinion, your kids will have a very hard time later in life." And later, "When your kids are with you at home, they have an ideal world. Unfortunately, that is not the society that we live in." So he's willing to take the kids away from the parents so they'll have a chance to develop on their own in the "real world". "They also need a chance to meet with people who think differently."
LOL! It would be funnier if they weren't serious. Apparently, the judge was concerned that sex education wasn't being taught. The parents said, "We have rabbits." Essentially, that the kids could see for themselves as the rabbits were having babies, and the care the rabbits had for each other and the babies. The mom said, "Pregnancy is always at our house, either me or one of the animals." It wasn't enough for the judge. "The children must have more explanation of every day situations." Every day situations?
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The children in this family understand the basics of sex. What the judge really seems want is that the children have certain values about sex.
Scatty at Green fields and open horizons reports that she talked with the father. The father seems upbeat and almost happy to spend a week in jail to prove a point.
In many ways it seems Germany is about 20 to 30 years behind the United States in how it treats homeschoolers. I am grateful that so many people made the effort to establish the right for parents to teach their children at home.
Scatty makes an interesting point: "In Germany an 8 year old is regarded by the law as being capable of choosing which parent to live with in the case of divorce but is not consulted as to how he or she wants to be educated."
It will be interesting to see how it turns out. I hope the higher judges in Germany rule in support of the right for parents to homeschool.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, Germany
4 comments:
Ah...you've hit on one of my little pets...German Education. I actually made it a category in my sidebar, but haven't done much with it recently. Years behind in terms of homeschooling and years "ahead" in regards to their slide into moral relativism. You hit the nail on the head with the sex ed thing...one of the school programs developed in Hessen actually advocates the children lie down and explore eachother's bodies with feathers. They are continually encouraged to touch EVERY part, and note which parts are most sensitive. The developer of the program has a great quote...trying to find it (wish I had DSL!)
from my entry...http://homeschoolblogger.com/gottsegnet/84483/
(again, my translation...this one is a bit awkward as some of these compound words do not exist in English)
The co-author of the Hessian Sexual Education Guidelines stated several years ago, "We need the sexual stimulation of the students in order to bring about the socialist restructuring of socety and the do away with the obedience to authority, including the love of a child to its parent.
So that is the point, and that is why homeschooling cannot be tolerated in Germany.
It is also why the age of consent is 12, with the parents having no legal authority to interfere between relationships, even if we are talking about a 40 year old man and your 12 yo son.
And 10% of 10yos are already engaging in sex...that was back in 91...I'm sure it is higher now. The teen mags are pornographic...and I'm not saying that as a prudish person. They seriously are more comparable to Playboy than to Seventeen.
That is so scary. It is scary that they are doing this and it is scary that they are willing to admit their true motives.
I hope the homeschoolers in Germany get lots of public attention and support.
According to HSLDA, the international pressure headed up by American homeschoolers has swayed the courts in some matters. I don't have much hope for higher courts overruling these matters...the German constitution is a bit different from ours. At least its interpretation. Here, if something is not expressly forbidden, it is allowed and, at least in theory, the government only has those powers given it by the constitution. Germany's, on the other hand, assumes that you have no rights other than those expressly given to you. Homeschooling is against the law, so you have no rights and your children can be removed.
I know that Unterricht zu Hause (German counterpart to HSLDA) is thinking some cases may be appealed to the International Court of Human Rights (Brussels?). Not sure what to think about that...I support the homeschoolers there, and they do have that legal avenue open...but the principle of it bothers me. No country should give its sovereignty over to an international court.
I guess I just see it as the future of what is going to happen to us, and then our religious freedoms may disappear completely.
I can understand the dislike for an international court to go over an indepent country, but the crust is that there is a phrase from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that says "compulsory elementary education". The Germans translate it to compulsory attendence, no other country translate it that way.
UN Rapportis where the paper that has been submitted in English. If you wish to read it.
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