Homeschooling in Germany? Nein! Verweigert! [OregonMuse]

I thank God that Mrs. Muse and I were able to homeschool our 3 children. It did bug the hell out of me, though, that I pretty much had to ask the state's permission to do so. But that was only a minor annoyance. Despite being scrutinized by ignorant government bureaucrats, at least I live in a country where I could actually keep my children from the tender ministrations of the state.

In Germany, not so much:

At 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 29, 2013, in what has been called a “brutal and vicious act,” a team of 20 social workers, police officers, and special agents stormed a homeschooling family’s residence near Darmstadt, Germany, forcibly removing all four of the family’s children (ages 7-14). The sole grounds for removal were that the parents, Dirk and Petra Wunderlich, continued to homeschool their children in defiance of a German ban on home education.

The children were taken to unknown locations. Officials ominously promised the parents that they would not be seeing their children “anytime soon.”

That last bit is rather frightening. So is this:

Dirk Wunderlich described the frightening turn of events.

“I looked through a window and saw many people, police, and special agents, all armed. They told me they wanted to come in to speak with me. I tried to ask questions, but within seconds, three police officers brought a battering ram and were about to break the door in, so I opened it,” he told HSLDA.

“The police shoved me into a chair and wouldn’t let me even make a phone call at first,” he said. “It was chaotic as they told me they had an order to take the children. At my slightest movement the agents would grab me, as if I were a terrorist. You would never expect anything like this to happen in our calm, peaceful village. it was like a scene out of a science fiction movie.

The husband is being a bit naive here, I think. After all, having a bunch of jackbooted government thugs suddenly breaking into your house in response to activities not approved by the state is not exactly unknown in German history.

This is not, by the way, that other high-profile case involving a German family harassed by their government merely for wanting to homeschool their children:

The family isn’t alone. Despite repeated roadblocks, the Romeike family’s battle to homeschool also continues. Last month, attorneys pledged to take the ongoing quest to the U.S. Supreme Court, as the parents and children are currently in America, where they are hoping to gain asylum

Again, I'm so thankful to live in America, even now.

posted by Open Blogger at 01:47 PM

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