Update 1: (11/18/07) A postcard action has been requested in response to the Neubronners case.
Background: (11/17/07) The case of the “Paderborner Baptists” has quite a bit of history which is relevant to this case and the perception of homeschooling in Germany. It made international attention back in 2004 and was the first case I ever mentioned on my first blog. The following is excerpted from an article I wrote for Home School Enrichment Magazine in March/April of 2007 (pp. 37-38):
- The case of the Paderborn Baptists, however, erupted into a legal battleground between the state and the Russian Baptist community. After one family refused to allow their six-year-old daughter to attend a field trip to a play they felt compromised their religious beliefs, the family received fines and a subsequent prison sentence for failure to pay the fines. The Landrat (district president) Sven-Georg Adenauer (ironically, the grandson of Germany’s first chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, who was himself homeschooled), stated in association with the case, “They must adapt to Germany; that is part of compulsory school attendance. And if they do not want to do that, they should go back to their homeland. There is no room here for fundamentalists.” The Federation of Evangelical-Free Churches distanced themselves from the case, noting that the families were not members of their church. Beginning in October 2004, seven families chose to instruct their children at home, using curriculum from the German Distance School and the Philadelphia School, an unrecognized Christian organization that offers curriculum, homeschool support, and advocacy.The families were warned, fines were laid, and prison sentences were imposed, one of which was delayed because the mother was still nursing her 16 month old child. Finally, the parents requested to form their own private school, but the request was refused, being viewed as a “front for homeschooling.” In a letter to the Paderborner Landrat Manfred Mueller, Helmut Stuecher, director of the Philadelphia School, attempted to clarify the stance of the families involved and the persecution they felt, as well as the potential consequences of dealing harshly with them. In an excerpt of a paragraph from the letter published in Spiegel and elsewhere, Baptists had, “with their umpteen thousand children, the potential to transform Germany into a totalitarian regime.” The letter was misinterpreted as a threat, prompting the Landrat to threaten Stuecher with “High Treason and Incitement Against Authorities.” …In response to my e-mail correspondence, Joerg Grosseluemern, a parent speaker for the board of directors of the Philadelphia School, clarified the situation.
Mr. Stuecher meant that if all the Baptists were to not send their children to school (many thousands) and the authorities were to proceed with the same aggressiveness against them all, they would have to set up a totalitarian government. The resulting action of the authorities would make it obvious to everyone that we were in a totalitarian state. That was misunderstood. Obviously, the accusation was without support and thus the matter was dropped.
Some of these families ended up sending their children to a private school while others resisted. There were more fines and some fled to Austria. These families are actually immigrants from Kazakhstan.
(11/16/07) I just received a disturbing bit of news regarding the homeschool situation in Germany. summarized from AFP, Agence France-Presse (in German):
The Federal High Court in Karlsruhe (Germany’s highest court) has just removed custody of two children from a homeschooling family from Paderborn and sharply criticized the youth welfare office of the city of Paderborn.
The city was “obviously unsuited” to the task of enforcing the compulsory school attendance laws and rather than protecting against “child welfare endangerment,” the city made possible the family’s flight to Austria where the two children are being educated by their uncertified mother. They have also made possible that the other children may be educated similarly.
While the Paderborn case was specifically religious in nature, the ruling affects all who homeschool for any reason and does not bode well for the Neubronner case which is currently developing in Bremen. It makes possible the removal of custody from any family in Germany choosing to homeschool.
Although the family in question currently resides in Austria and is homeschooling according to Austrian law, their legal residence remains in Germany. The decision of the German court applies no matter where in the European Union the parents reside.
This story appears to be only five hours old, and I will write more later, after I have time to read more than one report on the matter.
[tags]homeschooling, Bildungsfreiheit[/tags]
That’s just sad.
I just left the folling message on the German Embassy’s (located in Washington D.C.) website.
“I will not purchase any product made in Germany, and I will encourage others to follow my example, until homeschooling is made legal in Germany.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter.”
I encourage you to contact them, as well. Let’s annoy some Germans, folks.
Oh dear.
One of my clients lives in Germany. I will need to ask her.
Blessings,
Lee
PS. I have a blog/website all about how to homeschool high school. Take a look and tell your friends if you are interested. http://www.TheHomeScholar.com
I agree, Life on the Planet. It is disturbing. Especially the aggressiveness with which the state will pursue homeschoolers. That isn’t covered in this entry, but this story has a long history.
There actually is a formal boycott going on of Germany goods that started in response to another case. I do not know how far it got. I can look it up if you are interested and add it to the post when I update it. I have some more information, but it takes time to translate!
Dana, thanks for reporting on this. I was a little confused about the whereabouts of the children. The court “removed custody of the two children,” but the family is in Austria – yes? I’m guessing that the whole family is still in Austria, but legally they no longer have custody? I looked at a few other sources on the story and wasn’t sure.
Yes, the family is in Austria. Nothing is likely to happen unless they return to Germany. However, because of EU law, this decision is still binding, even in Austria. I presume that means they could essentially be extradited although I do not know how likely that is.
As I read it, they have specifically lost the right to determine the children’s place of residence.
Scary stuff!
I completely disagree with the German Government on this one.
One question I have is this: What do you think about, in the U.S., making immigrants learn English and American History, and how does this compare to what they are doing in Germany?
Don’t mis-understand me! I agree totally with the rights of parent’s to be the authority over their children’s education, and I do not agree with the German Government position. I just want to look at this honestly from all angles. Germany (unfortunately “liberal” and “secular humanist” is trying to prevent “outsiders” from coming to Germany and bringing change. Do they have a legitimate, yet misguided interest here?
Just a question.
ThirstyJon
freedomthirst.com
P.S. I wish there was a way to easily subscribe to follow up comments because I really am interested in others thoughts on this one!
I’ll email your regarding subscription options, but I have a question for you:
What is the problem behind someone in this country speaking a language other than English?
Rather than really go into that here, I’ll give you an entry which explains my stance more clearly than I could in a comment.
America is an idea
The problem in Germany is that the state is defining what culture should be and attempting to force everyone into that. That is not the task of government which should be defending life, liberty and property, not ensuring all have a similar worldview.
So long as a group does not endanger the life, liberty and property of others, the state should not be monitoring them and forcing their dissolution in this manner.
Thanks Dana!
I read the other article. Very inspiring.
This is something I haven’t come to my own conclusions yet on. Does the “government” have a role in immigration?
Another way of saying it: Do the people have any say via the government about who comes here to the U.S.A. and what is expected of them when they come here? I have no problem with other languages being spoken, but do we have a right to set expectations of immigrants, even via force of law? (i.e. To be a Citizen you must learn English, American Civics, etc.)
I am not sure. The ideal would be for the Americans that are here to reach out to immigrants.
Israel, for example, is actually very “tolerant” of Arab Israelis. They are allowed to be full citizens. However, Israel does not want to let the huge pile of refugees into the nation because it will change the Jewish Character of the nation.
What in the world am I supposed to do with that? Is Israel wrong? A Jewish-Minority population Israel could end up being NOT Israel.
This all seems like a pickle that I haven’t worked out yet. I love hearing thoughts on this stuff.
Any more thoughts?
ThirstyJon
freedomthirst.com
P.S. I did manage to subscribe to the comment feed for this post.
I think the government has a reasonable job in limiting immigration, basically to keep it at manageable numbers.
This is the question that changed my views on the subject:
If America did not have a welfare state, would immigration be detrimental?
The problem is not with immigration. That has actually always been a strength of America until very recently and English was never forced by law on immigrants. Immigrants tended to want to adapt because they were here for “the American dream” and it was to their own benefit to assimilate.
The social system allows them, encourages them even, to maintain their home culture and to remain isolated.
More Excellent Thoughts! If there were no welfare it would put things in a very different light wouldn’t it. I would imagine that if murderers were put to death, enemies of the United States were captured and deported, criminals were brought to justice, etc., all immigration problems related to crime would be solved as well.
You are doing a good job putting this in perspective.
Thank you.
ThirstyJon
Another thought:
When you force someone to adapt, they tend to resist. When the culture offers something the group needs or wants, they tend to assimilate.
When I was in Texas, the school district had hired staff to try to convince Hispanic parents that they should place their children in bilingual programs. I’m not going to get into the pros and cons of bilingual ed, but the fact is that the Hispanic parents saw English as the ticket to their children’s future.
Refugees I worked with, on the other hand, saw no benefit. They did not want their children learning English or adapting to this culture. They wanted to remain separate and culturally distinct because America offered them nothing but protection from Hussein. That would be fine, but my tax dollars are feeding them and housing them.
This is my personal opinion, but I think that is why we have not had “issues” with our Muslim population while Europe seems to be fighting an underground war with them. The social system supports them while at the same time blocking them from ever really being German, etc.
I ws just reading this info at this site and realized you are in the news there too: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58873