Americans Warned: Home Schoolers Stripped of Rights


BERLIN -- Recently, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said that home schooling is not a parent's right. It is a statement some are saying should frighten American parents.

Nations like Germany and Sweden show that when governments take away home schooling rights, it's a slippery slope to no parental rights.

America the Refuge or Not

The Romeike family came to the United States from Germany five years ago hoping to find refuge. They wanted to home-school their children in freedom and a federal judge granted them asylum.

But now the Obama administration has been trying to deport them, arguing that home schooling is not a right. The case is currently before a federal appeals court.

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike began home schooling in Germany because they didn't want their children exposed to things like witchcraft and graphic sex education that are taught in German schools.

"There were stories where [school children] were encouraged to ask the devil for help instead of God and actually the devil would help (in the story)," Uwe said.

"When we found out what's in the textbooks, it's exactly the opposite from what the Bible tells us and teaches us, and we wanted to protect [our children]," his wife Hannelore added.

But home schooling is illegal in Germany, except in rare cases. And many home schooling parents are persecuted with fines, jail, or the loss of their children.

Homeschoolers Going Into Exile?

Most home-schoolers in America are left alone. But what if state politicians and the federal government started to move against it?

Two of the worst nations for home-schoolers are Germany and Sweden. If you want to see what things might be like if home schooling was banned in America, travel to Sweden, where the government controls education and the home schooling movement has been crushed.

In fact, the head of the Swedish Homeschooling Association, Jonas Himmelstrand, had to take his family into exile. They fled to Finland.

"We're in exile. We were forced out of our country and that makes a stronger impact than I can imagine," he told CBN News. "This was our country. This was where we had our friends and business relationships and a whole lot of things and now we're pushed away from it."

Attorney Michael Donnelly, the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, called the situation "incredible for a nation like Sweden that calls itself a free nation, a democracy, so to speak."

Ruby Harrold-Claesson, President of the Nordic Committee for Human Rights, went even further, branding Sweden a dictatorship where social workers tell parents what to do.

"Sweden claims to be a democracy but it's far from it. It's a dictatorship," he said. "You have the social workers dictating how people are to live. You're not supposed to be different. You're not supposed to be different from anyone else in Sweden. Everyone is supposed to be uniform. They want to have these cookie cutter children."

Claesson is also the lawyer representing Christer and Annie Johansson, who have lost custody of their son Domenic, because of home schooling. After Domenic was abducted by Swedish officials, Annie's health began to fail.

Christer said the stress of the ordeal is killing his wife.

"If we cannot solve this issue soon, Domenic won't have a mother anymore," he said.

Russia, A Home Schooling Haven

Nations like Germany and Sweden could learn a thing or two about parent's rights from, of all places, Russia, which is one of the freest nations in which to homeschool.

"We have complete freedom of home education in Russia, in terms of legality," Pavel Parfentiev, a family rights advocate in Russia, said.

"The Russian Federation is sort of a champion of human rights in this particular area, so of course I think it is a good example for both Germany and Sweden where home educators are persecuted," he said.

Among the persecuted, German home-schooler Juergen Dudek has been taken to court every year for the past 10 years by the German Jugendamt, or Youth Office.

"The Youth Office, I used to call it the 'Gestapo for the Young.' As soon as they step in, as soon as they get hold of you, you've really got problems," Dudek said.

German homeschooler Dirk Wunderlich and his wife have lost custody of their children, although they are still allowed to live with them. He also told CBN News he expects to be sent to jail, but said he will never stop homeschooling.

"But I'm not afraid of this. I'm only sad for my family. I will go (to jail) laughing. You can do what you want but my children will not go to school," he said.

America Safe for Homeschoolers?

In America, a red flag went up earlier this year when the Justice Department argued in the Romeike case that home schooling is not a fundamental human right.

A source close to the case said the White House cares more about relations with Germany than about a family seeking political asylum.

Asylum for the Romeikes might open a floodgate of refugees from Germany, further embarrassing the German government.

Uwe Roemike, who makes his living as a piano teacher, knows what to expect if they're deported.

"First they would fine us with increasingly higher fines and they would threaten to take away custody," he explained.

"There might be jail time, too, but the main threat is the aspect of custody because then, of course, the children are taken away from you completely and that's what no family wants," he said.

Uwe said the fact the White House would be willing to deny homeschooling freedom to his family, should make all American home-schoolers concerned.

*Dale Hurd also reported from Stockholm, Sweden and Morristown, Tenn.


http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/March/Americans-Warned-Homeschoolers-Stripped-of-Rights/

Thank a Liberal.

we dont have a 'right' to homeschooling

we have a right to be educated, there is a difference,,

http://www.right-to-education.org/node/226

If by education, you mean a right to receive government approved propaganda, which is all what schooling really is.......then yes we have that right. REAL education though......the type they'd rather you not know? Not at all......this type of thing illustrates that. THEY want to be the ones "educating" your kids.....and they alone.

I don't know about you, but that's pretty damn arrogant......maybe it means nothing to you that you can't raise your kids how you want (and no I'm not saying you should be able to raise them to be criminals before you even TRY to go there), but it does to me and a lot of others.

except that we CAN educate them at home if we so choose
education is meant to prepare them for the world which means we have a set STANDARD of development that is expected

we have the added PRIVILEGE of being able to skip that standard in a public school if we can provide it in our homes, where we may also educate them in whatever ADDITIONAL knowledge we wish,,,

we cant SUBSTITUTE our own 'education' for that which has been evaluated to actually be of a benefit for the children to compete in the world,,,

I think the figures speak for themselves...IMO If home schooling isn't a right, it should be.

http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/ray1997/04.asp

Having been a teacher in my life, I can honestly say the only thing a public school teaches, is how to be a good child of the state. The classes are almost designed to discourage critical thinking and encourage becoming one of the herd (socialization). Private schools are pretty good, but you have to be reasonably loaded to get your kid into a good one.

I might say that private schools could be better than home schooling, but that isn't necessarily true; the home schooled child may or may not come out as qualified as a privately schooled one, depending on the capabilities of the parents as teachers, but in a comparison against public schooling, there is no comparison...Even one raised & home-schooled by wolves is generally better off than in a public school.

Footnote: Data collected for standardized academic achievement tests for the 1994-95 academic year.


the information is almost twenty years old,,,,

school is definitely going to vary in quality based upon the income level in the community

December 22, 2012 - “What I am about to tell you is something you’ve probably never heard or read in history books,” she likes to tell audiences.

“I am a witne...ss to history.

“I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history.

If you remember the plot of the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp family escaped over the Alps rather than submit to the Nazis. Kitty wasn’t so lucky. Her family chose to stay in her native Austria. She was 10 years old, but bright and aware. And she was watching.

“We elected him by a landslide – 98 percent of the vote,” she recalls.

She wasn’t old enough to vote in 1938 – approaching her 11th birthday. But she remembers.

“Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.”

No so.

Hitler is welcomed to Austria

“In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unem- ployed. We had 25 percent inflation and 25 percent bank loan interest rates.

Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were go- ing from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn’t want to work; there simply weren’t any jobs.

“My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people – about 30 daily.’

“We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933.” she recalls. “We had been told that they didn’t have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living.

Austrian girls welcome Hitler

“Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group – Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone in Germany was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria. We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back.

“Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.

“We were overjoyed,” remembers Kitty, “and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and
everyone was fed.

Austrians saluting

“After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.

“Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn’t support his family. Many women in the teach- ing profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been re- quired to give up for marriage.

“Then we lost religious education for kids

Poster promoting "Hitler Youth"

“Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school.. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler’s picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn’t pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang ‘Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles,’ and had physical education.

“Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail.”
And then things got worse.

“The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free.

“We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.

“My mother was very unhappy,” remembers Kitty. “When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn’t do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun – no sports, and no political indoctrination.

“I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing.

A pro-Hitler rally

“Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time, unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler.

“It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn’t exposed to that kind of hu- manistic philosophy.

“In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn’t work, you didn’t get a ration card, and if you didn’t have a card, you starved to death.

“Women who stayed home to raise their families didn’t have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.

“Soon after this, the draft was implemented.

Young Austrians

“It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps,” remembers Kitty. “During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys.

“They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines.
“When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat.
“Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.

“When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately es- tablished child care centers.
“You could take your children ages four weeks old to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, seven days a week, under the total care of the government.

“The state raised a whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.

“Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna..
“After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything.

“When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full.

“If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the med- ical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.

“As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80 percent of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families.

“All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.

“We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables.
“ Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because peo- ple might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn’t meet all the demands.

“Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.

“We had consumer protection, too

Austrian kids loyal to Hitler

“We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, and then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.

“In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps. The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated.

“So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good man- ual work.

“I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van.

“I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months.

“They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.

“As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.

“Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long afterwards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.

“No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.

“Totalitarianism didn’t come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.”

“This is my eye-witness account.

“It’s true. Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.

“America is truly is the greatest country in the world. “Don’t let freedom slip away.

“After America, there is no place to go.”

Kitty Werthmann

no place after america?

wow,,sounds like she escaped one culture of propoganda to be inducted into another

where will you go?

Im sure I could find someplace just as perfectly imperfect.,,,

maybe, canada, the netherlands, and Im sure a dozen other places,,,

Dream on!


There is nothing after the Statists have destroyed America!
Nothing,Nada,Nitschewo,Nichts,Nüüt!

We have a Right to be Educated? Was it a Violation of My Rights when My Parents pulled me Out of School when I was 15 and sent me to live with Reletives in Mexico without knowing a word of Spanish? The Teachers at the Local School were just as able to Educate Me as Fly by flapping Their Arms.

As Good as it Sounds that Education is a Right, the Truth of the Matter, Education is Not a Right.

The Duty to Educate comes from Contract; I Compensate You for the Education of My Child, Myself, My Employee, Other. A Community Comes Together to Fund an Education System in the Form of Public Schools; The Schools have a Duty to Educate the Children of the Community Because they Receive Funds from the Community. I'd say that Many School Systems Should sued for Breach of Contract; That would Wake Up Many Failing Schools and the Corrupt Teacher's Unions if they were Held to Account.

If I were to Say that People Have the Right to Food, Shelter, Clothing, Other; Then You Would Have the Duty to Provide Said Food, Shelter, Clothing, Other by Taking from Your Family to Provide for Someone Else.

A child has the right to an education that will make him competent to function in the society in which he lives. This is a fundamental right. The parents (as his/her trustees) have a DUTY to the child to provide that education.

Since parents are the trustees, NO GOVERMENT has a lawful right to intervene unless it can show lawful cause as to why the parents are operating in breach of trust.

To say that parents don't necessarily have the right to home school their children, while true, is an asinine and deceptive statement...They DO have that right, unless they are PROVABLY derelict in their duty to educate the child.

Parents have Absolute Rights Over Their Children Short of Abuse, and to Raise Their Children as They See Fit Until the Child is Able to Tend to His Own Affairs.
Parents Are Not Trustees Over Their Children, They Are Lord & Masters Over Their Children; Their Word Is Law. My Children Will Confess That They Had Been Worked Like Slaves; to the Point that when they were Old Enough to get a Job, They'd get Two During Summer Vacation just to Relax, and were Highly Praised for how hard they worked.
Working his Way Through Higher Education, My Eldest Son finds that Many of his Classmates are Unable to Work Even the Simpalist of Jobs; He Actually Thanked Us for Working Him Hard as he was Growing Up.

If you think for one moment that public education that children are getting today, and have been for years..is meant as a benefit for them.....you are very very wrong. Go back and read that old German woman's testimony again.....and actually pay attention. The education system is designed to benefit the state, the kids mean nothing to them except what they can do for them. It's as simple as that.

Every kid that is in the public school system means more state and federal money.

I would like to see basic education provided by taxpayer funds. Any education past basic, let's say, 6th grade, be paid for by the parents and parents alone.

I believe, if the parents have a personal financial investment, they would demand the kids be educated.

As it is now, kids are graduating and are still illiterate.

It is always usually about the money. I can see that there would be pros and cons to it, though. Where school buses have to go the roads one would think the roads would be in better prepare. Usually around here though one has to be ready to go in a ditch to avoid the school buses because of narrow roads. A lot of schools have been shut down for consolidations so a lot of children have to go further to a school. Home schooling would alleviate a lot of that. One wouldn't have to worry about busing which use to be a big thing. From information from home-schoolers in my area they still have to be in compliance and it does take some red tape to get it started. And what about snow days? That doesn't work for the home schooled kids.

its balance, school does introduce and train kids to be able to COMPETE In the world,, even if we dont like how the world is running, we need the children to understand the 'game' they are in

so for those paranoid about what school is teaching children, they can also educate them at home, they can never be 'too wise', my parents for years before black history month, for example, taught me about the contributions of black people to society

but there is valuable information in the school system about how things actually are, and people need to know that as a basic foundation to their knowledge

the benefit of homeschooling i think is with those parents with the patience , time, and devotion to provide that structure at home,, but I dont think thats number is as high as anti public school people believe it is

just like every teacher isnt a good teacher, neither is every parent,,,,,

so,lets outlaw Homeschooling then,as Holder claims he could!
Since not every Parent is a good Parent?
Or,maybe,lets outlaw Public Schools,since they do immensely more damage than any Homeschooling would do!