Now this is another reason I'm not German.
What is Germany thinking??
The German homeschool association wrote up the complete story of how young Melissa was taken into state custody - for being homeschooled.
In summer 2004, Melissa was told that she would have to repeat the 7th grade at the Christian Ernst Gymnasium (a high school where one can obtain the Abitur, the highest German high school diploma) due to her bad grades in math and latin. The situation in the class played no small part in creating this state of affairs - the high noise levels and cancelled classes prevented her from receiving the educational assistance she needed during school hours.
AND she had good grades in everything else!! But that didn't matter to the judge... neither did fairness:
On the afternoon of the 1st of February, the judge of the Family Court, representatives of the Youth Welfare Office, along with fifteen police officers, marched up to the Busekros home, to haul Melissa off to the Child Psychiatry Unit of the Nuremberg clinic. The judicial decision authorising this also removed Melissa from her parents’ custody, according to her father, Hubert Busekros. This treatment was justified by the psychiatrist’s finding, two days previously, that she was supposedly developmentally delayed by one year and that she suffered from school phobia. The fact that the less than optimal testing environment and the unexpectedness of the tests could have impacted on Melissa’s performance were not taken into account in this decision.
And what exactly is the purpose of these compulsory-attendance laws? To make them better citizens and better workers - ultimately happier? And I suppose that taking a fifteen-year-old away from her responsible, caring parents is supposed to be "in her best interest". I think they're more concerned about the Government of Germany's best interests - brainwashing the children and keeping up appearances!
This can't be good for their Human Rights reputation....
.......but it had better not happen again. Or else.
What is Germany thinking??
The German homeschool association wrote up the complete story of how young Melissa was taken into state custody - for being homeschooled.
In summer 2004, Melissa was told that she would have to repeat the 7th grade at the Christian Ernst Gymnasium (a high school where one can obtain the Abitur, the highest German high school diploma) due to her bad grades in math and latin. The situation in the class played no small part in creating this state of affairs - the high noise levels and cancelled classes prevented her from receiving the educational assistance she needed during school hours.
AND she had good grades in everything else!! But that didn't matter to the judge... neither did fairness:
On the afternoon of the 1st of February, the judge of the Family Court, representatives of the Youth Welfare Office, along with fifteen police officers, marched up to the Busekros home, to haul Melissa off to the Child Psychiatry Unit of the Nuremberg clinic. The judicial decision authorising this also removed Melissa from her parents’ custody, according to her father, Hubert Busekros. This treatment was justified by the psychiatrist’s finding, two days previously, that she was supposedly developmentally delayed by one year and that she suffered from school phobia. The fact that the less than optimal testing environment and the unexpectedness of the tests could have impacted on Melissa’s performance were not taken into account in this decision.
And what exactly is the purpose of these compulsory-attendance laws? To make them better citizens and better workers - ultimately happier? And I suppose that taking a fifteen-year-old away from her responsible, caring parents is supposed to be "in her best interest". I think they're more concerned about the Government of Germany's best interests - brainwashing the children and keeping up appearances!
This can't be good for their Human Rights reputation....
.......but it had better not happen again. Or else.
Comments
"I was just thinking about e-mailing the German Embassy but as I was doing so I was thinking about the terrorist threat in Germany with Muslims. Maybe there is a good reason they are so hesitant to allow a parallel culture to develop. I realize the same argument could be used in North America but Germany is that much closer to the sources of terrorism. ... ... I have a hard time telling Germany they should be allowing religious freedom thus implying religious freedom for people who teach terrorism."
It's a two-way street. Just another thought on the matter though I don't know how far it should be taken...
Also makes me wonder if they'll be legislating "thought-crime" laws against teaching others to believe that it's okay to kill an infidel. What a slippery slope that would be.