Mon 27 Aug 2007
Neubronner case: only 3 days left until E6000 fine or Jail?
Posted by Dagmar under Germany, Local News, The NEWS
"What shall we do on Thursday?"
We read and re-ead the official letter threatening us with 6000 € fine or jail. Our children do not want to go to school at all, and we do not want to force them. The order reads "Order to take care for the school attendance of your children Thomas and Moritz Neubronner". So what shall we do?
Well, we’ll try our very best. We will take care that our children will visit the school every day. They’ll be there in time. We will accompany them personally to make sure that we did everything to take care for their school attendance. But what, if they do not want to stay in school?
Unfortunately, the order given to us does not tell us what to do in this case. Are we supposed to force them to stay there? And how? We cannot stay all day long, we have to return to work, and even if we were able to, this case is difficult. Are we supposed to guard the exits? Are we supposed to sit beside our children holding them down on their chairs? Are we supposed to threaten them with awful things (6000 € fine to your pocket-money or room-detention)? And how, for heaven’s sake, are we supposed to make sure that they "attend/listen to the lessons" as they write in the order threatening us with 6000 € fine?
We don’t know. We’ll just do our very best to obey and bring them to school. Maybe, our children change their minds if they stand in front of the building. We feel, that we cannot do more than transporting them to school (it will be difficult enough to get them on the bicycles, since they really don’t want to go to school!). Actually, it is more than is normally expected from parents. Or does the authority expect us to tell our children that we were convinced it was to their own best to go to school and stay there? But this would mean we are supposed to lie to our own children. This is too much, nobody will in earnest expect us to lie, since we live in a democratic country, and freedom of believes and opininons is part of our constitution.
No. Before we are able to convince our children that they should attend school, authority will have to convince us. They will have to give us scientific studies showing how much better children learn in schools, how much better they socialize, how much healthier and happier they are, and even more: they will have to convince us that not only the majority of all kids, but OUR kids will be happy healthy, learning and thriving in school.
Or can you think of any other solution?
August 27th, 2007 at 18:36
I really enjoyed reading your very articulate post regarding your situation. It is one of the best responses to such a threat that I have seen.
Your commitment and courage are inspiring.
Kent
August 28th, 2007 at 13:31
Dagmar, I have taken the liberty of linking back to your post. I simply can’t believe that a democracy could act this way but know it is all too real for those home educating in Germany. It has to change! Are there key officials that we could email before Thursday to help your family in this situation?
August 28th, 2007 at 15:15
Thank you for asking, Kinderlehrer!
We thought about this and we think that it is too early to have as many people as possible write to the authorities. We still hope that authorities will come to accept another solution. As you might have read, we already HAD a better solution: During the last school year our children have been monitored by two teachers. There wasn’t any problem, they even got (good) school reports, and we as well as the teachers are ready to continue with this. Unfortunately this agreement ended with the end of the school-year, and now authorities don’t want us to continue because they are afraid that hundreds and thousands of fundamentalistic religious parents living in kinds of “parallel society” will then follow our path, forbid their daughters to visit school and so on.
Fact is, that those parents don’t send their children to school even now and we have a giant hooky problem in Germany, although HE is forbidden. All those countries permitting free learning don’t have more or less hooky because of this, I assume.
Since we appealed to the Federal Constitution Court and are expecting our second trial in front of the Higher Administrative Court, it should be possible to at least wait for the results of these legal procedures before fining and jailing us. If they indeed try to do this, we will publish the office addresses of those responsible here and invite you to write as many letters as possible. But let them still have their chance…
August 30th, 2007 at 13:54
Our governments cannot produce any scientific studies that prove that school is better for our children, makes them happier and more resilient, smarter and more eloquent. And as long as governments feel threatened by the results of some ’simple’/'unqualified’ families that appear to do an excellent job they will fight you and i.
Here in The Netherlands there was already one government official that displayed threatening language (in my view) by referring to the German way of dealing with children that (wish to) learn at home.
September 3rd, 2007 at 20:30
hello dear people
We - as a homeschooling family in the Netherlands - are praying for you!
What a world……Germany and the Netherlands hopefully SOON will understand that homeschooling is not a threat but an advantage!
If you need a place - whenever - out of Germany but not too far away, you are always welcome in Rotterdam in our house.
prayers from us,
Patricia