Ah, Germany. Where home-schooling has been illegal since the days of Hitler. Now a judge in Germany has sentenced home-schooling parents to three months jail for continuing to home-school their children.
I'm a home-schooling parent. We're coming up to our one year anniversary of home-schooling again this time around (my oldest was previously hs'ed to age 7 before he went to school). So, I'm with the parents on this one.
Home-schooling may be "illegal" in Germany, but there are some laws that were made to be broken. Laws that are immoral, for instance. The state has absolutely no right to require children to go to school, for the sole reason that the family has precedence over the state in the education of children.
For this reason, I support the breaking of the law in Germany by these home-schooling parents.
Related Link: Judge: Homeschooling like driving drunk ~ WorldNetDaily
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I'm a home-schooling parent. We're coming up to our one year anniversary of home-schooling again this time around (my oldest was previously hs'ed to age 7 before he went to school). So, I'm with the parents on this one.
Home-schooling may be "illegal" in Germany, but there are some laws that were made to be broken. Laws that are immoral, for instance. The state has absolutely no right to require children to go to school, for the sole reason that the family has precedence over the state in the education of children.
For this reason, I support the breaking of the law in Germany by these home-schooling parents.
Related Link: Judge: Homeschooling like driving drunk ~ WorldNetDaily
For more, see
...for the sole reason that the family has precedence over the state in the education of children.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could offer some reasons to back this up?
This is the law in Germany, maybe the Germans will change it, if it suits them,.
Home schooling is simply about perpetuating myths, protecting children from exposure to learning, enquiry, knowledge.
Fugley, the family is a natural, human institution that pre-dates any state and can continue to exist outside of the state, that in giving allegiance to the state gives the state power. Without the family, the state would be nothing. So, the state cannot take from the family what soley belongs to the family, ie responsibility for children. Of course the state is constantly trying to do this, to act beyond it's power, but it has no natural rights to do so.
ReplyDeleteSteven Pinker reckons every institution that aims to for social cohesion attemps to erode the power of the family
ReplyDelete"He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me"
and all that. I have pretty mixed feelings about home schooling, I'm sure that the majority of parents that are conscientious and dedicated to doing what's best for their children (and more power to them). But it seems at least some parents use it as a way on instilling a world view that has very little to do with reality (cf this website created mainly by USAian homeschoolers. It hardly seems fair to children, who I understand are people too, to have any chance of a proper education given to them...
David, the problem is that there is no neutral position. But there is a true position, and parents are more likely to want to teach that to their children than anyone else.
ReplyDeleteI think you might be being a bit unfair to the Germans here.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that the logic runs a bit like this.
1) We know that there is a fair level of abuse of homeschooled children by their families.
2) In order to catch and fix this it is necessary to have inspectors, tests and records
3) These systems of inspectors etc cost money and effort to run.
4) That money could be better spent on the state system where it would be of benefit to all pupils rather than just the homeschooling.
5) Therefore ban homeschooling except under exceptional circumstances.
I don't actually agree, I would have a system which allows homeschoolers and the parents carry the full cost of the inspections and records.
Sb
Fugley, you have never let your lack of knowledge prevent you from having an opinion. I home school four boys. I have a masters n education, have worked in schools and in alternative education. Take this as a fact, home schooling is not about protecting children from exposure to learning. School is about mediocrity, home schooling is about success. Home schoolers out perform school kids consistantly. I work in both communities, you should feel sorry for the poor little fellows who get sent to be educated by the teacher's I work with. It's not the teacher's fault mind you. I know you are trying to provoke (surely) but compared across education, employment outcomes, social cohesion and community interation home schooling wins hands down. Why do you think school is so effective Fugley?
ReplyDeleteHome schooling is simply about perpetuating myths, protecting children from exposure to learning, enquiry, knowledge.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's the biggest myth - right there.
I nearly burst a blood vessel at Fugley's inverse defence of the New Zealand statist education system, implying that it is the font of "learning, enquiry, knowledge."
ReplyDeleteNo doubt Fugley is himself a product of that noble institution, so he would be in a prime spot to explain why so many products of the grand system are functionally illiterate, why so many recent graduates from our Educational Training institutions are now teaching children while they themselves cannot spell even monosyllabic words, and why employers are being required to support reading classes for their illiterate staff so that they can recognise and understand really difficult words such as "Exit", "Stop", "Danger", and "Canteen."
And while he is at it, maybe his superior education would allow him to explain why our noble Leader recently felt the need to announce two more years of compulsory statist education, because youth were emerging from twelve years of education in "learning, enquiry, and knowledge" but they had no skills and were unemployable.
And while he is at it, maybe he could use his superior education to explain the logic of Clark's solution: twelve years of compulsory education could not teach kids to read or write--but two additional years of compulsory education of kids who are disengaged, bored, frustrated, and bitter will make all the difference.
Given the record of the statist education system--that font of learning, enquiry and knowledge--I would think that any home schooler would have to stand on their heads and address their kids in an entirely foreign language such as swahili or klingon to match the underachievement of the state system. You would not have to do too much to ensure that your kids were shining lights, given the record of the statist alternative.
Sure, homeschoolers tend to have a world-view that is not the statist world view. But who cares. In the land of the blind, even the one eyed is a king.
Yes, JT &CC, home schoolers tend to be fairly passionate about something or other. I have found they are of course non-conformist, which means you get some interesting or radical views. However, they are all engaged in their childrens well being and not passive bystanders in the fate of their children. I have never (and don't believe it exists) met a home schooling family that uses it as an excuse not to educate their kids. If that was your plan then you send them to the baby sitters at school so you can have the house to yourself. Home schoolers generally are anxious about their childrens learning. Teachers in school however just don't care at an emotional level if Johnny can't read, they may be diligent but they are not really invested in each childs life. Mum and Dad however, do care, and are told by everyone that the teachers are the right people and that they are the wrong people and 'when are you going to send them to school?'. So parents risk everything on the determination and belief that they are right and they get little to no backup or input. And yet, Mums, with no experience outperform teachers. What does that tell you? Folk with religious beliefs, folk who want to keep their kids from the negative exposure of school (Fugley probably thinks it prepares them for the real world), non-schoolers, and those who simply want more time with their kids are doing a great job. Teachers however, are slipping. It is polarizing, because, for example, when someone asks why I home school I can either put down the intitution they send their kids to or avoid that particular conversation and just say 'It was the best choice for us'. Its like asking someone why they follow a particular religion, the question forces them to state how wrong you are. Even the most radical (in my mind the non-schoolers) are doing o.k.
ReplyDeleteFor those wishing to understand the whole situation in Germany further, you may like to pop over to Educating Germany.
ReplyDeleteThanks, kinderlehrer!
ReplyDeleteI'll put a link up on our main page.