The Battle for Family Freedom
In the early part of 2007, German authorities sent 15 police officers to take custody of a 15-year-old girl. She had committed the crime of being home schooled, and was quickly remitted to a psychiatric hospital and then into foster care. Apparently Melissa Busekros was diagnosed as “school phobic.” This eery Orwellian scene is the next step in the saga of the growth of the modern state. Now the German authorities are threatening to remove the other five children from the home, none of which were homeschooled.
Such cases are important, especially as courts in the United States are increasingly looking to European court decisions for precedent. This is a continuation of a long struggle for parental rights against an intrusive civil government. What follows is a short survey of this historical struggle:
A Historical Survey
1819 – The first compulsory attendance law in the history of the world came to Germany.
1848 – Karl Marx places the elimination of home education as a high priority in his Communist Manifesto.
1855 – The first compulsory attendance law in America is issued in Massachusetts.
1891 – Governor Pattison of Pennsylvania vetoed two compulsory attendance bills
1893 – The Democratic Party’s national platform states, “We are opposed to state interference with parental rights of conscience in the education of children.”
1933 – Adolf Hitler bans homeschooling in Germany.
1981 – The modern homeschooling movement begins in America.
1987 – In the case Mozert v. Hawkins County Public Schools, the US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the public schools, because “Once a child has been submitted to the public schools, parents lose all ability to control the course of instruction.”
2007 – Governor Ritter signs a bill requiring even more compulsory attendance in Colorado. SB 07-016 lowered the compulsory attendance to 6, allowing a thin exception for home educators in the language, but still requiring that home educators submit a notice of intent to home school.
Such a progression is truly remarkable in light of previous history. For thousands of years, families were free to raise their own children. There was no compulsory attendance law in 1700s France, or in the Netherlands in the 1500s, or in 1300s England, or in 800s Constantinople, or even in Rome in the 300s. The battle for freedom for the family is the battle for the family’s survival. Indeed our forefathers understood the importance of freedom in the founding of this nation. The issue then was the freedom of the church from government control. If the government had control over the church, it would destroy the church. And as long as the government continues its encroachment into the sphere of the family, as it has done for the last 100 years, it has and will continue to perpetuate the destruction of the family.
This battle for parental rights is the battle for family, faith, and freedom in the 21st century. It is the definitive battle for our civilization. If we lose a battle like this one, we will reap the whirlwind.
In still another move to remove parental decision making in the health care of the family, the Colorado House quickly passed HB 1347 through a second and third reading (by a vote of 48-17) during the week of March 19, 2007. The bill tracks families that will not comply with the federal government’s one-size-fits-all immunization schedule, and allows information to be gathered without consent on all ages, not just children, from; practitioners, clinics, schools, parents, individuals, managed care or health insurance plans, hospitals, the dept. of health care policy and financing and persons and entities that have contracted with the state. Treon Goossen of Concerned Parents of Colorado, issued the following concerns with the bill: “One direct concern for homeschoolers is that many families immunize some or none. Those who choose no shots would be on the non-compliers list. If a comparison were run between that list and the homeschool Notice of Intents filed [with the school districts], it would show how many of the non-compliers were homeschoolers.”
A German family lost their daughter to the state because they thought they could provide a better education for her at home. The government came and took their daughter away. This story strikes a chord in the heart of parents who still love their own children and value the integrity and freedoms for the family. For those who have already given their children up to the state in their minds, they would hardly be motivated to stand up for the Busekros family in Germany. We may not be there yet, but unless a handful of brave men and women are willing to take a stand now, we will soon see these freedoms disappear.
YOU CAN WRITE TO THE GERMAN EMBASSY:
Dr. Klaus Scharioth
Ambassador, German Embassy
4645 Reservoir Road NW
Washington, DC, 20007-1998
(202) 298-4000
WRITE TO THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE IN BAVARIA:
Beate Merk
Prielmayerstr. 7
80335 Munchen
Tel. 49 89 5597 1799
e-mail is: beate.merk@stmj.bayern.de