German Education Tyrants at it again

WorldNetDaily is reporting here today that the tyrannical German education authorities have kidnapped (yes, that is the word for it) five more children for the heinous crime of being home educated:

Five "well-educated" children have been ordered into state custody by a court that applied to a second family a ruling taking a 15-year-old homeschooler from her family and sending her to a psychiatric ward.

Let this be a lesson to us all: the State (at all levels) doesn't care about you or your welfare. It only exists to exercise and increase it's power over you. At a basic level, this is necessary (such as arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating a murderer, for instance), but when a government is allowed to expand beyond the basic level of preserving public order, this is what you get. The State will always try to increase it's power, influence, authority, and taxation, all at the expense of your rights.

As an American I have to say that we didn't send our parents and grandparents to crush the Nazis only to have them show up again in the guise of education bureaucrats. We owe it to those who died in that generation to make sure their sacrifice was not in vain.

If you would like to contact the German authorities and express your displeasure over this outrageous and tyrannical behavior, here is the information:

The IHRG said Americans also could contact:

Youth Welfare Office
Director: Edeltraud Höllerer
Rathaus
Rathausplatz 1
91052 Erlangen
Tel. +49 9131 86-2844
Fax +49 9131 86-2438
Mail:
edeltraud.hoellerer@stadt.erlangen.de
Or stadtjugendamt@stadt.erlangen.de
Responsible Official
Monika Muzenhardt
Mail:
monika.muzenhardt@stadt.erlangen.de

Local Court Erlangen
Family court
Richterin Frank-Daupin
Mozartstraße 23
91052 Erlangen
Tel. +49 9131-782 01
Fax +49 9131/782-361

AlGore Smackdown!

Since you probably won't hear this in the deadstream media, I'll help you out by posting this link, consisting almost exclusively of quotes from Rep. Joe Barton of Texas. Rep. Barton was responding to the testimony of former Vice President and current excessive carbon emitter AlGore before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and just lays him out.

Here's the link to the WorldNetDaily article: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54808


Notice also the quote by Czech President Vaclav Klaus:

"It becomes evident that while discussing climate we are not witnessing a clash of views about the environment, but a clash of views about human freedom," the Czech leader has said.

"As someone who lived under communism for most of my life I feel obliged to say that the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity at the beginning of the 21st century is not communism or its various softer variants," said Klaus, responding to questions posed by the two lawmakers. "Communism was replaced by the threat of ambitious environmentalism."

(Here is more from President Klaus, which makes me even more impressed with him. Here is the full text of his letter to the committee.)

AlGore has become the high priest of this cult of Gaia, and he has the deadstream media shilling for him at every turn. But President Klaus is absolutely correct: this is a religion, and nothing less. Hey, I thought we had a separation of Church and State! That would make all these treaties null and void because it would be an establishment of a religion by the State. Can't have that now, can we?

Al - the answer to your issue is Capitalism, but you can't admit it or the entire house of cards that is your personal philosophy and worldview would fall apart. I already buy the fluorescent bulbs you want everyone to buy. Why? Because energy costs keep going up and it's worth it to keep my bills down! My next vehicle will be one of those new low emission diesels. Why? BECAUSE THEY GET 50MPG! There is an economic incentive for me to do these things, because costs are so high. If gasoline were still 79 cents a gallon, I probably wouldn't consider it, but at $2.50 plus per gallon I will.

Of course your argument will be that we need to impose taxes to get the prices up so everyone will do what I am doing but you must also realize that government can't manipulate market forces. That is what has let us to the economic catastrophe that is waiting to happen. Remember Ronaldus Magnus: "Government isn't the solution to the problem - government *is* the problem."

NJ Court Describes Unmonitored Homeschooling as "Shocking"

Full Disclosure: I am a homeschool parent.

A tip of the hat to my friend Aaron at The Shekel for commenting on this case on his blog. I had forwarded the original article to him because he comments on the law there (among other things). He gave a very nice analysis from a lawyers perspective, and he encouraged me to comment here from the homeschool parents perspective. Here is the original article, from Constitutionally Correct.

My first thought is that the fact that the judge is "shocked" that there is no monitoring by the school district is a great example of how low our Republic has fallen. It used to be that there was no meddling at any level with the right of parents to educate their children in whatever way they wished, including not educating them at all. It's none of the court's or the State's business how a child is being educated. Yes, I know - in a perfect world. The compulsory school attendance laws and State-funded public education have become entrenched in our country over the last hundred or so years. That doesn't make it right, and there is much to indicate that it is very wrong.

[And, for the record, I believe it is foolish for any parent to not give their children the best education possible, to prepare them to take care of themselves in the world. It isn't 1800 any more, and you can't get by without knowing how to read and write and calculate. Those days are long gone.]

Secondly, the court takes on the air that schools are a necessary way of detecting abuse of children, because they are "supervised". There is a broad implication here that home educators are somehow abusing their children, which wouldn't happen if they were in the public school system. Obviously the court has not read a newspaper in the last couple of years and seen the increasing number of teachers who are sexually abusing their students. They have also missed all the hue and cry about "bullying" and the establishing of "Bully-free zones" in some local schools, because of the children who are being beaten up by their peers in these wonderful public schools we run. Not to mention the increasing indoctrination of children in those same public schools of the supposed normality of aberrant sexual practices, and the demonization of those who disagree.

So I would ask the Court what exactly it is which makes public schools and public educators any more safe than home schools and home-educating parents? Indeed, I would go so far as to say that there is less abuse per capita among home educators than there is in public education. But the few bad apples in home education don't invalidate the entire idea and practice of home education, and the results certainly speak for themselves. But the systemic failure of the public education system - the illiteracy rates, the failing infrastructure, and the lack of real education in areas of history, science, literature, and civics - also speak for themselves. The more I learn about the last 50 years of public education, the more I realize that I was ripped off, and kids today are even more ripped off!

Third, I have to suspect the fathers motives in bringing this up. Since this is a divorce proceeding, I think he is using every trick in the book to get custody of the children, or at least to impose his will on his ex-wife through the big stick of the State. This woman has borne and cared for this man's seven children, very likely to the detriment of her own career. Now he gets to criticize her because she can't (in his opinion) educate all seven "adequately". The Shekel correctly points out that "adequately" has no definition, and both he and the father in question propose the public school standards should be used. To which I say: Why would you do that to children you supposedly love? (Sorry, Aaron. That isn't reasonable at all!) Additionally, I know several families with that many kids being home educated by their moms very well, thank you very much. In fact, if you gave me a few minutes I could come up with some families with *more* than seven children who are being home educated by their moms very well. It is possible to do and do well, and without any evidence that these children are being ill-served by their mom, I must conclude that this is just pure spite on the fathers part. Plus, if you weren't getting a divorce from her, you would be able to support your family by being there and providing for them, instead of quitting on them.

[Yes, I know there are lots of reasons for divorce, but it's so easy to quit any more that we just go to that option first and that's the end of it.]

I know there is a lot more that could be said on this subject, and others much more eloquent than I have weighed in on it. For a treasure trove of truthful information on home education, go to the HSLDA website. That would be the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. Or to the Vision Forum.

German courts and officials say homeschooling is a result of "School Phobia"

WorldNetDaily, in a series of articles, has been tracking the case of a 15-year old German girl who was forceably removed from her parents. The heinous, grievous crime that had been committed against her: home education. Here is todays WND article about it.

Notice the quote from the German Ministry of Education:

"The Minister of Education does not share your attitudes toward so-called homeschooling…, You complain about the forced school escort of primary school children by the responsible local police officers… In order to avoid this in future, 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." (emphasis added by WND)

So there you have it folks. In Germany, nothing has changed since the days of the Third Reich. The State is the ultimate controller of your life - you have nothing to say about it. Do you have religious convictions that are in conflict with the State? Tough rocks - you must conform.

Here's another quote from another famous German:

The Youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing."

As you might surmise, that famous German is Adolph Hitler himself, in a 1937 speech. Do you seen any difference in attitude between then and now? There is no difference, except they now couch it in the language of "Diversity" rather than the language of National Socialism. Woe unto those who hold different opinions or have different convictions - the self-appointed guardians of tolerance and understanding will squash you for not toeing the approved behavioral line.

Dear Reader, we are not far from this here in the supposed "Land of the Free and Home of the Brave". There are those in both major political parties that would love to be able to do this to you. Be vigilant of your rights (recognized and guaranteed by the Constitution), or you will lose them.