Politics
Friday December 22, 2006
The Saga Continues: Previously Tolerant German State Declares War on Home-schooling
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By John Jalsevac
BADEN-WUERTTEMBURG, Germany, December 22, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Over the last several years disturbing stories have come out of Germany: stories about children being forcibly and suddenly removed from their homes by police in the middle of the day and dropped in state schools, about whole families fleeing from Germany to avoid arrest, about mothers being imprisoned, about intimidation tactics and threats of fines or imprisonment, and all for the “crime” of home-schooling.
In the most recent installment of Germany’s ongoing home-schooling saga, the Director of the Ministry of Education for the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg sent a letter to German homeschoolers that is in effect a declaration of war on home-schooling in the state.
U.S. home-schooling blogger Dana Hanley received a copy of the letter from a German organization that advocates home-schooling, Netz-Bildung Freiheit (Net-Education Freedom). Hanley translated the letter and published it on her blog. (http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HSBCompanyBlog/256239/)
In the letter K. Horstmann, the Ministerial Director, informs home-schooling families that “the Minister of Education does not share your attitudes toward so-called homeschooling.”
Horstmann concludes the letter with a threat, stating, “The education administration in future will also not recognize so-called homeschooling and act in proportionate measure considering the individual case and circumstances.”
Some homeschooling families in Baden-Wuerttemberg, however, are already intimately familiar with what the term “proportionate measure” may mean. Horstmann’s letter was written in response to concerns expressed by Netz-Bildung Freiheit about the case of the Romeike family, whose children were forcibly removed from their home in October of this year, and escorted to the local state-run school. Similar, and worse, stories abound throughout Germany.
This new development comes as a shock to homeschooling families in the state, which in the past had been relatively tolerant of homeschooling, at least compared to other parts of Germany. In 2002, the former Minister for Education had stated that it was unnecessary to crack down on homeschooling since homeschooled children “are generally not lacking in any other respects.” Dana Hanley also quotes the ministry’s press officer stating, around the same time, “We do not use such forcible methods in Baden-Wuerttemberg. It is not in the long-term interests of either the children or the police.”
Most homeschooling families in Germany homeschool their children because of significant concerns about material taught in the public-school system that contradicts the religious or pedagogical beliefs of the family. In his letter Horstmann acknowledged these concerns, saying, “students can be particularly burdened by the related contradictions between the norms of the parent-house and that of the public school through such forced escorts.”
Nevertheless, Horstmann, rather than acknowledging the right of the parents to be the primary educators of their children, continues to indicate that instead the family must step in line with the ideology of the state, saying, “the education authority is in conversation with the affected family in order to look for possibilities to bring the religious convictions of the family into line with the unalterable school attendance requirement.”
See the WorldNetDaily report on this most recent development:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53457
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
European Human Rights Court Rules State May Deny Parents Right to Home School Their Children
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06092708.html
POLICE CRACKDOWN ON HOME-SCHOOLING IN GERMANY
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/jul/00072604.html
German Police Physically Force Home Schooled Children to Public School
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06102503.html
German School Official Declares "Homeschooling Illegal"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jan/05011203.html
Germany Uses Nazi Era Law to Imprison Mom for Homeschooling; Family Flees to Austria
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06091407.html
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.