Court: Homeschooling Continues as a Danger for Children

Edit: aren't they talking rather about the Greens?

About a year ago the German government robbed the couple, Dirk and Petra Wunderlich of their four children as the Darmstadt family will not educate their children by the state, but instead  wanted to give their own lessons. At the time, wrote Katholisches : "Last Thursday, August 29, 2013, at eight clock in the morning,  20 police officers and staff of the Youth Office, stormed the home of the Wunderlich family in Darmstadt to snatch all four children from the care of their parents. We know nothing about the whereabouts of  children ages 7 to 14  as yet. This massive intervention against the natural rights of the family has been published with the assistance of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), which is known as the largest and most important international organization for defense  of the right to homeschooling. In the German media landscape there is no response to the police action that can be heard, while within two days already, several English-language news sites have reported of the case."

Even now it is again thanks to the HSLDA that a wider public has learned of a recently defeated court decision finding that the family court judge had acted wrongly in the late summer of 2013, where he  removed  the parents' custody. At the same time the court ruling called, however, that homeschooling continues to constitute a hazard and children should go to school.  Just how safe state-regulated schools are is demonstrated by  the rampages of Emsdetten, Winnenden and Ansbach in the last ten years. In addition, public schools are  known to be a major threat to the soul and mind of the student, whether it is about the so-called "sex education", religious instruction, or the endless propaganda in politics hour.

Dirk Wunderlich was understandably delighted with his wife to now have  custody of their own children back: "The court said that the removal of our children was not reasonable - only because the authorities had to apply very high fines and  prosecution. But this decision maintains the absurd idea that homeschooling is a danger to the child and an abuse of parental authority."  The Wunderlich family must prepare themselves now for fines in the mid-five figure range and prison sentences. "That should not be tolerated in a civilized country."

Petra Wunderlich expressed her thanks to the HSLDA: "We could not have done without the help of HSLDA. No family can fight against the powerful German state - it's too much, too expensive."  This, of course, and this was noticed only in passing, not only for matters such as homeschooling, but for everything else the respective ruling class does not like.  

Michael Donnelly of the HSLDA expressed his outrage at the behavior of the German state: "imprisonment and fines for homeschooling are outside of what free societies, which respect fundamental human rights, should tolerate. The laws of the German state and the country that allows the ban on home schooling must be changed. Such laws in a leading European democracy threaten not only the rights of tens of thousands of German families, but establish a dangerous example, which other countries may be tempted to copy."

Text: Benedict M. Buerger
image: Private

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

State Court Fines Christian Homeschoolers in Germany

Edit: considering the previous story, which featured a chaotic and spiritually poisonous setting for what appear to be Catholic school children, we thought this story was also apropos in light of Germany's government controlled education monopoly.

Couple does not want their nine children to be raised by strangers.

Fritzlar / Homberg (kath.net / idea ) A Christian couple from the North Hessian town of Homberg has been fighting for 20 years against compulsory education. Because Thomas (51) and Marit Foam (47) teach their children at home illegally, the district court sentenced Fritzlar to a fine of 700 Euros on the 22nd of May. The prosecution had required a sentence of six months, since he is a repeat offender. Already twice before the parents have been sentenced to fines. They justify their homeschooling with  their religious faith. They could not take the responsibility to  place their children in someone else's hands or into the "dubious surroundings" of a school. In addition, the father has criticized the early childhood sex education and the teaching of evolution in biology classes, the statements which contradict  the statements of the Bible.

The couple has nine children, three of which are of school age. The five oldest are 17-25 years old, the youngest is two years old. The older children were taught by their parents, who have then each attended  the last school year and made top grades with elementary or secondary school.

 Daughter Marit (25) considers the behavior of her parents "very good," she told the local press. She works as an administrative professional employees in Homberger City Hall and takes part in a training course as a business administrator. For good performance, she receives a scholarship.

The couple announced in the courtroom that they wanted to take action against the judge saying: "We will carry on as before."  They want to decide on educational goals and the educational climate.

Will state agencies regulate?

At the trial, an employee of the School Board had stated that her office was moved to make a civil complaint because of the  violation of the compulsory education. The youth welfare office has had parents certify in writing not to endanger the child's welfare. The family live in orderly conditions. Also, the home schooling is orientated to the school curriculum.   Judge Marion Riechers also read a letter from the youth office to the school office. This shows that both offices do not want to criminalize the parents. According to the Ministry of Culture in Wiesbaden in Hessen, three families teach their children at home for religious reasons.

Link to kath.net...

Father Stravinskas Dismisses Homeschooling

Editor: We've always thought that Father Stravinskas was too liberal. If you'll look at the poll taken at Our Sunday Visitor, you'll see that the support for homeschooling seems enormous, over seventy one percent of those responding at this point. Here's a report:

[Deliberations of the Senechal] In an apparent override of Natural law, common sense, and the Magisterium of the Church, Our Sunday Visitor has published an interview with the formerly respectable and orthodox Priest, Fr. Peter Stravinskas. After this article however, I will never again apply the glorious label of orthodoxy to this cleric.

In this interview, which includes unsupportable claims, unidentified references to "The Church Fathers", and flat-out falsehoods, Fr. Stravinskas attempts to portray parents who choose to homeschool their children as "psychologically unhealthy", "anti-clerical", and, to top it all off "a church within a church".

I very much wonder where Father has gotten this information, has he actually taken the time to get to know any of these "elitist" homeschooling families, or is he just towing the line of the (FAILED) Catholic educational system? Having spent large amounts of time among both homeschooled students, and products of Catholic education, I must insist on the exact opposite of Father's surmise. In the company of homeschooled students, I have almost invariably found a honest quest for truth, the capacity for articulate discussion, and indeed, keen insights.

Read further, here.

Swedish Father Jailed for Homeschooling

As with a lot of things, a government monopoly is not a good thing.  In this case, the Swedish government doesn't like competition for its educational system and practicing the art of free enterprise is a dastardly crime.

PURCELLVILLE, Va., Dec. 6, 2010 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christer Johansson, the father of 9 year-old Domenic Johansson, and husband of Annie Johansson, was recently jailed by Swedish authorities after taking his son home for a short but "unapproved" overnight visit.

"The Swedish government has created an intolerable situation for this family, and have overreacted to Mr. Johansson taking Domenic home for the overnight visit." said Michael Donnelly, HSLDA staff attorney.   

One and a half years ago Swedish police boarded a plane where the Johanssons were leaving the country for Annie's home country of India. The police had no warrant and did not charge the Johansson's with a crime.  

 Check it here.

H/t: Pewsitter

Editor of Remnant defends Homeschooling at Argument of the Month

Our debaters for this month’s Debate will be Michael Matt and Dr. Kevin Ferdinandt

Mr. Matt’s central claim is that the Homeschool movement is “fighting back” in terms of serving both as an important alternate option to Catholic School education and as a safe-guard for depositing Catholic tradition and identity. Dr. Ferdinandt, though sympathetic toward homeschooling, provides a voice of opposition to Mr. Matt’s claim; Dr. Ferdinandt highlights the benefits of Catholic School education, and points out key liabilities of the homeschooling movement.

Link here...