July 7, 2008

• German home schoolers flee to Canada

  German home schoolers flee to Canada

  There’s a new development in the plight of a German family under persecution for home schooling.

   

  Mike Donnelly of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) has followed the case, which has now gone to an extreme. He explains the latest development.
   
  “The Plett family, who had been living in Austria after being chased
  out of Germany by the youth welfare authorities who had taken custody
  of their children, have now left Austria and have fled to Canada where
  they hope to be able to freely home school their children without
  further interference from German authorities,” he says.
   
  According to Donnelly, the Pletts’ dilemma is becoming an “increasingly
  common occurrence” in Germany. He says most of those who flee Germany
  for the same reason stay in Europe because they are able to travel
  freely between countries — but they will go to extremes to protect
  their rights, he notes.
   
  “In fact, not too long ago one family actually decided to flee Germany
  to Iran to home school their children, if you can believe a family
  fleeing Germany to Iran for freedom,” the attorney shares.
   
  While the Plett family appeals to the European Court of Human Rights,
  the HSLDA is asking the U.S. government to try to convince the German
  government that home schooling is an asset.

  German authorities have cracked down on homeschooling families (mostly Christian), who have no intention of letting the German schools indoctrinate their children with anti-Christian values.

  In January 2005, a mother and father were each sentenced to six days imprisonment in Westphalia after they refused to pay the fines for having forbidden their children to attend a Christmas school play of Grimm’s fairytale “King Thrushbeard”, which they considered blasphemous.

  • 1:41 pm
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