(11/19/07) Homeschooling is currently illegal in Germany and families who choose to pursue this method of education face court, fines, potential imprisonment and possible loss of custody of their children. Many flee to neighboring countries, but some have also chosen to stay in a fight to allow educational choice for Germany. The Neubronners is one such family. To assist them in their fight, a postcard action is being organized in the hopes of helping their case gain more publicity and foster positive discussion of homeschooling in Germany, as well as hopefully encourage officials in the case to reconsider their stance.
If you are interested, they are requesting post cards or Christmas cards to be sent to the German Education Senator, Frau Jürgens-Pieper. The tone should be friendly and personal. One suggestion:
- Dear Mrs. Jürgens-Pieper,
- Merry Christmas in the hopes that there will be educational freedom in Bremen by next Christmas!
- (Sincerely, your family’s name)
English is generally ok, especially for something so brief, but here is the German for those interested:
- Liebe Frau Jürgens-Pieper,
- Frohe Weihnachten, In der Hoffnung, dass es bis nächste Weihnachten in Bremen Bildungsfreiheit gibt.
- Mit schönen Grüssen von ………… …
The address is:
- Senatorin für Bildung und Wissenschaft
Rembertiring 8-12
28195 Bremen
Germany
I have an update on the Neubronner case for those interested, but I need to listen to the press conference first and check that what was sent to me was intended to be public. I will add the update to this post.
Update: (11/20/07) The recent decision by the German high court that homeschooling may be viewed as “child welfare endangerment” and was reason to remove custody from parents left the Neubronners understandably uneasy over the weekend. Fearful of a surprise action by the state, they sent the children to friends and waited out the weekend. Willing to face fines and even possible imprisonment, they decided that their line was the risk of losing their children and they decided to send the children to school Monday morning, despite their children’s fears. Then they could have access to their accounts, sell their house and move to Austria.
Then their lawyer contacted them. He had spoken with a judge responsible for custody issues. The previous week, a “Schutzschrift” had been filed which is an application blocking the State from changing the custody status of the children without a court hearing first. The ruling of the high court does not negate this block so the children are safe until there has been another court hearing.
The family decided to remove the children from school and continue the fight for educational freedom in Germany. Educating Germany has more on the background and general issues regarding homeschooling in Germany.
[tags]homeschooling, Bildungsfreiheit[/tags]
Will do!
Oh, and anyone who can give us a German translation. I am sure there is something on the internet to be found –but to make it simple?
Ok, I added the translation for you!
Lovely idea. I bet Christmas Cards take on a whole new meaning for her after this.
Hi, Dana! I’ve read about this family before. Didn’t the German officials put the parents in jail for homeschooling?
I’ve tagged you for a 7 random things game. Your posts are always so thoughtful so I thought I’d just hand you a bit of fun for a post. I do love reading here!
http://www.angelfire.com/sc/anderklan/blahblahblog/index.blog/1300661/ive-been-tagged/
God bless,
Sallie
Actually, I don’t think this family has gone to jail, but at this point all of their accounts are frozen. They have had to basically beg to be allowed to use their own money to buy groceries and are pretty dependent on friends and family at the moment since they cannot access any of their money.
They are preparing to be jailed for failure to pay the fines in association with homeschooling, but that has not happened yet.
I’ll take a look at your tag later tonight. It might be a nice break for the holiday.
Thanks, Dana…I always like to use the official language of the person/place I am writing
Just the language lover in me, I guess.
Not a problem…and I just realized my cutting and pasting was a bit sloppy and I doubled part of it. Argh…to edit yet again!
GREAT idea! I’ll be sending a Christmas card tomorrow! Thanks for the heads up!
Hi Dana! I sure hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Wasn’t the snow that we got here in Nebraska fantastic? I’m hoping we get just a little bit more than what we did for Christmas! I love the cold weather but only if there is snow to go with it. It’s just beautiful this time of the year.
I think what you are doing with the home schooling advocacy is fantastic. I think Germany should allow parents to home school their kids if they want to. It’s a personal choice. If they are worried about the kids meeting their high educational standards then they can opt to allow home school kids to take the academic tests that everybody else is required to take.
I lived in Germany for three years so I am familiar with their high standards. I think maybe they are just worried that there are some parents that are not qualified to home school their kids and/or they have seen kids suffer educationally due to the fact that some are not serious about their craft.
I know from experience because I’ve had friends that can home school their kids better than any educational system that is in place and then I’ve had other friends that I know of that home schooled their kids and were horrible at it.
In any case.. I think it should be a choice and the post cards are a wonderful idea!
Thanks, Angela! Germany’s stated reasons for being opposed to homeschooling is the fear of “parallel societies.” This is the argument they have used in their lower courts, their high court and the court in Strassbourg. Homeschoolers thus far have not been able to formulate an argument against this fear that they are somehow going to form a separate, parallel society.
In this specific cases, the family is well-educated and is homeschooling with state curriculum under the supervision of a certified teacher. The children are developing well and have taken the normal tests for their ages.
How do people go so far to stop other people from living their simple and harmless life?
i am proud of my little country is open enough to let people choose their life style and choices of education.
For me it is a sign that our society is mature enough to allow differences.
and when i see German officials taking such brutal and harsh actions against their peaceful citizens, i am amazed that such a thing has not stimulate “human right ” issues and support.
thank you for keeping us posted and i just wrote my postcard with the endangered migrating birds —–
homeschoolers in Germany sure are endangered….
Litsong/Taiwan
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