Earlier I wrote about Melissa Busekros, the 15-year-old German girl who was taken from her family to a psychiatric ward and thence to foster care because of her desire to be tutored at home in some subjects. This morning I learned that the five children of a second family have been ordered into state custody by a German court.
The parents reportedly can regain custody of their children only by placing them in public school.
In the order, which was based solely on the parents' decision against sending their children to public school, the family also was told to pay court costs estimated at $4,000.
The judge had concluded that the children were well-educated, but accused the parents of failing to provide their children with an education in a public school. The court noted that one of the daughters expressed the same opinions as her father, showing they have not had the chance to develop "independent" personalities.
The website from which I obtained this news is not the most dispassionate and unbiased of sources, so I would be glad to hear that they have the stories all wrong. Despite the German consul general's statement that the government "has a legitimate interest in countering the rise of parallel societies that are based on religion or motivated by different world views and in integrating minorities into the population as a whole," I know public school is not the only option in Germany, because Janet's experience tells me that private, Christian schools are legal. Yet the arguments being brought against these homeschooling families could just as easily be used against private schools, especially sectarian ones.
So what is the truth here?
I remember a Reader's Digest article of long ago (I don't know when, but it's been many years since we subscribed) about Osama bin Laden, which was headlined, "Be afraid of this man; be very afraid." Like everyone else, I read the article and ignored it, figuring (oh so wrongly) that those whose job was to pay attention to such things were on the ball. I'm not suggesting a parallel between al Qaeda and the German government here, but this news makes me think of that prescient article. I fear something very bad is going on, and those who ought to be protecting liberty will only awaken when it is too late.
Will someone who really knows Germany please tell me I'm wrong?I don't really know Germany but I can tell you where I think you're wrong. Unfortunately, it's not good news. I had assumed that the Christian school in Germany served German kids, but it is not so. Most of the students live in Switzerland and though young German children may attend a private school, from a certain age (8, maybe?) they must go to public school. I don't understand the whole system, but that's my current understanding. Germans are not complacent about it, though. Some are starting to fight for their rights.
