Winners: Home-taught kids are bee-all

At home-school graduation, the parents are part of the ceremony

Learning at home: Homeschooling another option for parents, children

A German appeals court has ordered legal custody of Melissa Busekros, the teenager who was taken from her home by a police squad and detained in a psychiatric hospital for being homeschooled, be returned to her family because she no longer is in danger....

The HSLDA's translation of the German appeals court ruling said custody of the 16-year-old was returned to the family, because while it was "appropriate" for the judge to do what he did at the time, when he ordered her taken into custody, new information now reveals the lack of danger....

The appellate court's decision said "observations" of Melissa over the last few months "show there is no danger to her well-being and she may now stay with her family," according to Michael Donnelly, a lawyer working with the HSLDA.

The only thing that has changed is that according to German law they can't claim to speak for a 16-year-old while ignoring what she actually says. They can, however, do that to a 15-year-old. We have more than our share of idiot laws, written by idiots and enforced by idiots here in the US that it's almost refreshing to see we're not the only country plagued by them. One unfortunate aspect of politics and power is that while cream rises to the top, so does scum, and the scum tends to be more aggressive.

Ball State University had proposed opening the Indiana Virtual Charter School and the Indiana Connections Academy this fall with a total of about 2,200 students.

The budget proposed by the GOP-led Senate would have allowed the schools to open. Democrats who control the House, however, objected to having state money go to such programs, and the budget approved April 29 said virtual charter schools cannot receive funding from the state or from any distribution of property taxes.

Ironically while Democrats and Republicans generally take opposite sides on this particular issue, many homeschoolers themselves are not terribly thrilled with the idea of virtual schools, since it still involves the control of the state in a child's education.

Brownsburg parent Catherine Johnson wanted to enroll her sons in advanced calculus, choir and band classes at Brownsburg High School. Superintendent Kathleen Corbin refused, saying school policy required students to take at least six classes, with rare exceptions for disabled children.

The State Board of Education intervened and ordered Corbin to admit the part-time students, setting off a legal tussle.

The dispute centered on whether turning away part-time students violated equal access provisions in the Indiana Constitution and who had the authority -- the State Board of Education or the local school district -- to make those decisions.

The state education board said state law requires schools to let in every student who wants to attend, regardless of the circumstances. To deny anyone for any reason, could be deemed discriminatory, the state said.

The school district asserted that part-time enrollment would place an added teaching and security burden on the school. Besides, district officials said, it had the authority to make and enforce its own rules....

Appeals court Chief Judge John G. Baker wrote in the ruling issued this week that "home rule" statutes adopted in 1999 give Brownsburg "the authority to regulate and control the enrollment of students in its course offerings under its policy.''

In other words even though the state continues to force the parents to fund the schools through taxes, because the schools want to discriminate against homeschoolers, they can refuse the serve those same parents are forced to pay for.

I really hope this decision is appealed further. It would be a shame to allow such a travesty of justice to stand as a precedence for future abuse.

The ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) has filed suit against the University of California after the UC's admissions committee, BOARS (Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools) has ruled that Christian textbooks are not sufficient for core admissions requirement, in spite of meeting all academic requirement, because they teach a viewpoint contrary to what the BOARS believe is acceptable. Here is what the ACSI has written on it...

Some Historical Background

When California Christian school administrators began to contact ACSI regarding concerns about the new university demands, Ken Smitherman, president of ACSI, wrote to Susan Wilbur, UC director of undergraduate admissions, to inquire about the restrictions. Here is some of the information that she supplied in her February 9, 2004, response:

In the 1930s the UC faculty established the “a–f” subject area requirements, representing a sequence of 15 courses that students must take in order to be eligible for UC admissions. Since that time UC faculty and staff have reviewed course descriptions and outlines from public and private high schools in California to determine whether they meet the “a–f” (now “a–g”) guidelines (i.e., are they adequately rigorous and do they cover core academic concepts that the faculty have determined should be covered in a college preparatory curriculum).… The faculty/staff course reviews result in lists of a–g certified courses for most public and private schools in the state. Students use these certified course lists when they apply to the University.

The BOARS Committee Rejects the Textbooks

The UC Faculty Senate has a committee known as the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (or BOARS). Each of the universities in the University of California system has a representative on this board. BOARS establishes the policies and practices used in the admissions process, including course requirements for minimum eligibility for freshman admission to the University of California.

A UC position paper states that the general purposes of the a–g subject area requirements, which BOARS oversees, are to ensure that entering students ...

Can participate fully in the first-year program at the University in a broad variety of fields of study;
Have attained the necessary preparation for courses, majors, and programs offered at the University;
Have attained a body of knowledge that will provide breadth and perspective to new, more advanced studies;
and Have attained essential critical thinking and study skill.

The position paper goes on to state the following:

The faculty set guidelines for prerequisite secondary school course content that UC students need to be prepared to take and pass University major requirements. Not every secondary school course meets these criteria. In the sciences, for example, courses and texts that provide general overviews or perspectives without providing strong basic information can be determined to be unsuitable in meeting the prerequisite criteria that fulfills the “d” laboratory science requirement.

Initially, the Christian publishers’ science texts were rejected by BOARS. The following is a part of the University’s position paper regarding those texts:

The texts in question are primarily religious texts; science is secondary. The textbook authors and publishers are quite clear and direct about their approach and provide evidence of this approach in both the texts and general marketing materials such as their websites.… As a result of the orientation/approach of the texts in question, which expressly prioritize religion over science, a course relying on these texts as core instructional materials does not meet the faculty’s criteria for the UC subject “d” laboratory science requirement.

More recently, a course outline entitled “Christianity and Morality in American Literature” was also rejected, and it used the American Classics for Christians, Volume V from A Beka Book. A history course entitled “Christianity’s Influence on America,” using the Bob Jones University Press (BJU) text United States History for Christian Schools as well as a college history textbook, was also turned down because it truthfully explored our nation’s Christian roots. Other rejections have also occurred. It is interesting that these courses with strong content were rejected when other courses with such titles as California Problems, Cinema and the Real World 2, Theory of Knowledge, and Sound and Acoustics have been accepted by BOARS....

Meeting with UC Personnel to Discuss the Issue

Representative Sharon Runner, a California state legislator, arranged for a meeting at the California state capitol in May 2004, between UC personnel, Christian school personnel, and attorneys from both sides of the issue. Among those present to discuss the situation were two attorneys from the Christian Law Association; Burt Carney, ACSI’s director for legal/legislative issues; and Rohn Ritzema, ACSI’s regional director for Northern California and Hawaii.

The Christian school representatives learned several points at this meeting:

1. The rejection of the science books represents the first time that UC has rejected books because of their religious content and teachings. (Note: Since that meeting, courses with religious content in other subject areas have also been rejected by UC.)
2. When asked whether poor college performance by students from religious schools prompted the rejection of the textbooks, UC representatives responded negatively. They also acknowledged that UC did not have any objective evidence that students from religious schools are deficient in science when they arrive for their freshman year of college.
3. The UC representatives indicated that there was no problem with the material facts in the BJU physics textbook—that if the Scripture verses that begin each chapter were removed the textbook would likely be approved for the science lab course requirement.
4. As the discussion continued about the biology books, it became evident that they were rejected because they appeared to state the perspective that the Bible is revelation and along with faith is more authoritative than the observations of science, especially if there were a conflict over a “factual scientific issue.”
5. The UC representatives acknowledged that there were no UC policies or guidelines for BOARS to follow when it decided to reject the books. ACSI also discovered that no minutes were taken of the meetings in which these decisions were made, nor were the publishers or schools asked for more information regarding their submissions.

It became obvious to those present representing Christian schools that the textbook decisions were highly subjective and appeared to be made because of discrimination against Christianity.

The "a-g" requirements are...

(a) History / Social Science – Two years, including one year of world history, cultures, and historical geography and one year of U.S. history or one-half year of U.S. history and one-half year of civics or American government.

(b) English – Four years of college preparatory English that include frequent and regular writing, and reading of classic and modern literature.  

(c) Mathematics – Three years of college preparatory mathematics that include the topics covered in elementary and advanced algebra and two- and three-dimensional geometry.

(d) Laboratory Science – Two years of laboratory science providing fundamental knowledge in at least two of these three disciplines: biology, chemistry, and physics.

(e) Language Other Than English – Two years of the same language other than English.

(f) Visual & Performing Arts – One year, including dance, drama/theater, music, or visual art.

(g) College Preparatory Elective – One year (two semesters), chosen from additional "a-f" courses beyond those used to satisfy the requirements above, or courses that have been approved solely for use as "g" electives.

The actual lawsuit complaint (1.6m pdf) can be found at the ACSI site. (By the way, reading through these complaints are extremely educational not only for parents, but students as well. Even if you or your child have no interest in law as a career, knowing at least something about it provides help whenever you or they will be confronted with people abusing it.)

To sum the problem up: While Article 9, subsection 9(f) of the California Constitution, states the Regents of the University of California are given “all the powers necessary and convenient for the effective administration of its trust.” The same subsection also says, “no person shall be debarred admission to any department of the university on account of race, religion, ethnic heritage, or sex.” Therefore by the UC personnel's own admission that absent the Bible verses, the curriculum would be acceptable, they are in violation of the requirements of the California Constitution as well as the US Constitution.

Perhaps the "a-g" requirements should again be altered to become "a-i", adding "(i) A basic understanding of both California and US Constitution." ]]> http://looklistenlearn.org/weblog/2007/05/university_of_californias_lack.html http://looklistenlearn.org/weblog/2007/05/university_of_californias_lack.html Wed, 02 May 2007 06:25:09 -0600 From CBN...

When most home educators and school administrators speak of successful socialization, are they referring to the same thing?

Education researcher Dr. Michael Mitchell found that being popular, aggressively competitive, materialistically driven and self-confident are traits promoted in conventional schools.

His study shows that these campus ideals are discouraged by Christian home educators in favor of building their children's character and dismantling selfish ambitions. Integrity, responsibility, respect for others, trust in God, biblical soundness and an amiable disposition topped the ideal social qualities they desired their youth to embody.

Many Christians who homeschool believe that the greatest socialization their children can have is to be trained to emulate Jesus, who is a servant of man. Home educators examined by Mitchell strive to dismantle any selfish ambitions and self-aggrandizement seen in their children, as opposed to cultivating them....

Pride is also promoted in the public schools. It is often repackaged as self-esteem in programs such as "Here's Looking at You, 2000," in which education researcher Dr. Amy Binder reports that students are instructed to believe that they are "the most important person in the world."...

Many Christian parents are concerned that homeschooling would not allow their children to fulfill the great commission of sharing the gospel with non-believers. They often site Matthew 5:14-16 about being the light of the world....

A nationwide survey conducted by The Barna Group shows that 80 percent of Christian families send their children to public schools where their faith is attacked. Based on the study's findings, it appears that their kids are the ones being "evangelized" by the religion of secular humanism. More than half of their Christian teens believe Jesus actually sinned and only nine percent hold to moral absolutes, while 83 percent of children from committed Christian families attending public schools adopt a Marxist-Socialist worldview, reports the group.

I always wondered how "being light to the world" meant tossing the light into the darkness rather than carefully carrying that light into the darkness.

German authorities have told a lawyer for a teenager who was confined in a psychiatric hospital because she was homeschooled she can remain with her family for now, a new report has confirmed.

Joel Thornton, president of the International Human Rights Group told WND that the authorities' letter to the lawyer said they plan to "de-escalate" the case so that Melissa Busekros could remain in her home....

He said authorities had given similar assurances in the past, before Melissa was "taken away in a police van."

"While Melissa remains home for the moment, the continued threat of state action against the family from an activist judge hangs over their heads," the IHRG report said. "The International Human Rights Group will be with the Busekros family this coming week and will continue to monitor this situation as well as the plight of other families in Germany."

Keep praying.

I am writing this just after 1:00AM (EDT) on Monday, 23 April 2007. We have just learned that Melissa Busekros returned to her family just a few hours ago.

At 3:00 AM, in Erlangen, Germany, Melissa reached her home to the surprise of her entire family. Earlier in the morning Melissa left a note with the foster family where she was being held and began the journey to her family. She left of her own volition.

Why did she leave now, after nearly three months? Today Melissa has turned sixteen. In Germany this gives her broader rights than it does in America. It gives her more of a voice in her own custody. So, she decided to return home.

In fact, if the state police come for her again she is prepared to refuse to go on the advice of her attorney. As the business day begins in Germany, Melissa will be calling her attorney Dr. Hildebrandt to let him know that she has returned home. He will be prepared to come to Erlangen should he be needed.

Our director of European Operations, Richard Guenther, spoke with the family this morning and told them that it was imperative that they contact Dr. Hildebrandt immediately so that he can be available should state police visit the family.

I spoke with Gudrun, Melissa’s mother, just after midnight. I conveyed our congratulations on having their daughter home. Gudrun was relieved to have her entire family back together.

On a side note, a week or so ago, Melissa was evaluated by a professor of psychology who is the director of the institution that oversaw Melissa's care while she was being held in state custody. This evaluation was taken in the presence of a second psychologist and was done at the request of the Youth Welfare Office in Erlangen. Dr. Hildebrandt, who represented Melissa after the state-appointed attorney failed to represent her properly by siding with the Youth Welfare Office, had an extensive conversation with the psychologist in which the doctor declared that Melissa is a “stable person.” This new evaluation revealed that Melissa does not suffer from “school phobia.” She is healthy and has made it through this traumatic ordeal remarkably well, in the words of the expert.

Dr. Hildebrandt has already asked a higher German court to recognize the findings of this new evaluation and order Melissa returned to her family immediately.

So they put her with a foster family that can't even keep track of her? That sounds about typical for "state care".

From Karl Priest, state coordinator of Exodus Mandate-West Virginia, which promotes Christian education and home schooling....

WEST Virginians recently learned that the 2007 Regional Spelling Bee was won by a Christian school student and the state Geography Bee was won by a home-schooled student.

Christian school students perform higher than public school students on standardized achievement tests such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

The NAEP is known as the "Nation's Report Card," and has been given to representative samples of students for decades. The 2006 Nation's Report Card revealed some embarrassing statistics comparing Christian schools and public schools.

Some public school supporters have tried to tweak the results so public schools do not look so bad. That is what is likely to be seen in media reports.

What the testing actually showed was that students in Christian schools had (I quote) "a higher average score than their counterparts in public schools."

Also, home-schooled children easily top public school students in terms of achievement. Homes-schooled students score almost 10 percent higher than the average public high school student on the ACT.

Patrick Henry College, near the District of Columbia, has about 85 percent home-schooled students. It has twice defeated Oxford University in debating. Over 700 colleges and universities admit home-schooled students.

Previously, big wins in national academic competitions spurred some people to complain that children educated in home schools and Christian schools have an "unfair advantage."

They do have an advantage: They do not go to public schools.

West Virginia spends over $8,000 per student per year. That comes to over $200,000 for a class of 25 students.

Nationally over $10,000 is spent per student, and school spending has tripled over the last 30 years.

It costs a lot less to educate a student for a year in a home school or even a Christian school, and those schools are not dependent on tax-funded resources.

Free economics are always more efficient and unleash the God-given, creative potential of individuals. The more the government controls any enterprise, the less effective it becomes.

Private education can be accomplished with existing resources and save the taxpayer money.

It's time for a paradigm shift from our dependence on public schools. We cannot tinker with the system and make it work.

Public schools are in serious trouble. The system is broken at the foundations, and it is futile to try to reform it.

Winning a local skirmish takes considerable sacrifice of time and effort, and then the small policy change cannot be monitored unless a parent makes a living policing public schools.

The problem is not with a particular version of state-sponsored education, but with the very idea of it.

State education has been a major instrument in the hands of secular humanists in de-Christianizing American society. Parents should give up the delusion of public school reform and put their energies into creating more opportunities for giving children an education away from public schools.

The reasons for abandoning public schools were apparent by the mid-1990's. What we lacked was an organized movement to carry it out.

The Exodus Mandate plan (www.exodusmandate-wv.org/) is the only one with a chance of sustainable success. It will result in a resurgence of values that will dramatically benefit our culture. Graduates of non-public education could reverse this nation's moral decline.

Our goal is the development of a new system of education that is open to the public, but not controlled by unions or politicians. We want to raise respectable and contributing members of society who uphold the basic freedoms and moral standards upon which America was established.

Fifteen year old Cody Webb was chatting with his girlfriend on his cell phone at about 2am March 11th—the night daily-light savings time was scheduled to push clocks ahead an hour—at 2am.

Cody told later, "I was bored, so I wondered what the recording said when you called in Hempfield's school delay hot line. I called in and it said to push '72,' which I did, and it said there were no delays. Then it disconnected me." His cell phone number showed up on the school's call recorder.

But at 3:10am a "male juvenile" called the high school and said he would bomb the school Monday. The phone number was blocked.

Police matched the recorded time of the call, to the list of numbers making those calls. Between the two lists, the bomb threat was recorded to have been made at 3:10am using the school's clocks and Copy's number was recorded as calling at 3:10am on the other list using the phone company's clocks.

Cody told of his treatment, "Mrs. Charlton asked me if I had a cell phone. I said, 'Yeah,' and she said, 'What's the number?' I told her, and she started saying, 'We got him. We got him.' I was completely oblivious to what they were talking about," he said.

They tried to bully him into confessing, something some children will do whether guilty or not, when faced with larger, more dominant school officials, something actually illegal when the child is not accompanied by their parent.

"I wasn't going to admit to something I didn't do," he said. "Me and God know I didn't do it."

Eventually Cody's parents, Linda and Budd Webb, arrived and listened to the recording of the bomb threat. It was obviously not their son, not that that mattered, it seems.

"They kept saying that it was his voice. They didn't even know him," Cody's mother said.

After a state trooper arrived, High school Principal Kathy Charlton told Cody he was being arrested, and the trooper read him his rights.

Cody was charged with a felony count of threatening to use weapons of mass destruction and misdemeanor counts of making false alarms to public entities, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and making terrorist threats. (I want to point out here that it seems ironic that the mere word "bomb" is taken to officially denote a "weapon of mass destruction" while the numerous weapons capable of killing an entire city's worth of people, found in Iraq are still not considered "weapons of mass destruction", anyway, I digress)

Cody is an honors student, is involved in student council, tennis and the Japanese Club. Obviously a delinquent if there ever was one. He was then taken to the county's juvenile detention center where he stayed 12 days.

"Cody never even had a (school) detention," his mother said. "It was a nightmare."

But after Cody's parents were finally able to obtained his cell phone records, their attorney found the call times didn't match.

"I found out the district had not changed their clocks to reflect daylight-saving time," family attorney Tim Andrews said. "They were changed Monday morning."

The High School Principal finally admitted that some of the district's clocks were wrong because of the changeover to daylight-saving time, which was three weeks earlier this year, and Cody was released and all charges dropped.

Cody's mother is arranging home-schooling for him until he decides where to continue his education. He definitely doesn't want to return to Hempfield.

Several county high school football coaches do not support a new bill that would allow home schooled children to participate in extracurricular activities at public high schools.

On Wednesday, the Senate Education Committee held a public hearing on the bill, which is being sponsored by Sen. Hank Erwin. The bill faced stiff opposition in the meeting, but the main reason Erwin is supporting the bill is to start a discussion on the issue.

"All we want to do is to allow home schoolers the same opportunity as those who go to public schools already," Erwin said.

The bill, dubbed the "Tebow Bill," would allow students to try out for sports, band and cheerleading. The name comes from University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow who played for Nease High School in Florida even though he was home schooled by his parents.

Two letters to the editor show community support...

I was disappointed to read the negative approach in the articles by Brent Maze concerning the home-school bill. Legislative bills should be carefully reviewed and intelligently debated on all sides so that an informed decision can be made. The key word here is "informed". When an individual guesses or assumes what "might" or "could" happen if a bill passed, an uninformed opinion is often formed. Comments such as "I think it would cause a whole lot of problems schools don't want," caused me to wonder if the opinions of naysayers are based on facts or based on lack of information, or perhaps even based on a bias against home-schoolers to begin with.

Mr. Maze stated, "If you decide to be home-schooled, then you must live with the consequences of those actions." This sentence alone tends to criminalize home-schoolers. Local coaches readily admit that they already face various problems in the sports programs - this occurring without home-schoolers being involved in the programs. It is extreme to assume that home-schoolers would somehow disrupt our local sports programs. According to the Home-school Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), only three to five percent of home-schooled students take advantage of equal access opportunities in states where it is allowed. In Alabama, this would equate to about one student per school or 10 per district.

Readers should know that there are presently 23 other states that support some form of equal access for home-schoolers. The reality is that it works out very well and that home-schoolers have a very positive impact on public schools that provide equal access for home-schoolers. My sister, who lives in the state of Iowa, said that public schools in her area welcome home-schoolers in their extracurricular programs (sports and band) and view equal access to home-schoolers as an opportunity to add a few great students and parents to the team, rather than viewing equal access as a problem....

- Dr. Robin B. Parnell

...and...

You would think educated people would use intelligent and articulate thoughts in making decisions. I try not to get involved in most issues but the reasons given seem to be so ridiculous to me. With all due respect to a difference in opinions, I must take issue with the local high school coaches reasons for not wanting to allow home schooled kids to play sports in public schools.

The parents of the home school kids pay taxes that support the local schools and the coaches salaries, do they not? I don't see the school or coaches wanting to decline the money. What rules do the kids at school have to go by that can't be enforced for the home schooled kids?

It has always been a general consensus that athletes get by with anything at school because they are athletes, but I don't hear the coaches objecting to this, do you? I certainly don't believe this is true for most athletes or teachers, but I am not so stupid that I don't know it does go on.

Is it possible that they see home schooling as a challenge to or adverse to their job security? I expect most parents would prefer to home school as opposed to public schooling if they were able to home school but due to jobs and such are not able to.

- James Bailey

Remember, when it comes to homeschooling, local is almost always eventually national. It's important to pay attention to these local issues.

Three families have released a letter pleading with Christians worldwide for prayer because of their "difficulties" – fines equal to thousands of dollars, frozen bank accounts and even the threat of the sale of the family home – because they homeschool their children.

The letter comes from Alexander and Helene Schneider, Johann and Katharina Harder and Heiko and Anna Krautter and was released through the International Human Rights Group, which already has been working on the case of German homeschooler Melissa Busekros....

IHRG President Joel Thornton told WND the situations are becoming more dire and parents more fearful about losing custody of their children because of the advancing stages of the Busekros case.

"We are turning to all believing gospel Christians and Baptists in the CIS, Europe and America," the three sets of parents wrote. "We are three families of the church in Bischofswerda, and we homeschool our children. For that reason, we had to deal with numerous difficulties with the authorities."

The families cited fines of about $4,000 for the Harder and Krautter families and about $2,500 for the Schneider family – so far.

"Measures such as freezing our bank accounts, compulsory mortgages, insolvency of our self-employment are making our lives difficult," the letter said. "Even the custody of our children was to be taken from us, but GOD prevented it."

Now more fines are being imposed, and "even our homes are to be sold for that," the letter said.

"We ask that you pray for us and that you make your voice heard before the secular powers," said the letter.

Thornton said he and several others working on the government's attacks on homeschoolers traveled to Bischofswerda to meet with the families.

"The German government is taking these actions simply because these parents homeschool their children," he said. "With a very strong Christian faith and a conviction that they should be allowed to raise their children in a Christian educational environment, these families are taking a stand, particularly regarding their right to oversee the sex education of their children as well as protect them from occult influences....

"The youth welfare office has asked the parents to come in for a meeting on the week of 16 April. Often, this is how the youth welfare office begins taking charge of the children," Thornton said.

For those who don't want to try to type out the addresses listed at the bottom of the letter, they are as follows...

State Education Office
Sächesische Bildungsagentur
Regionalstelle Bautzen
Otto-Nagel-Straße 1
D-02625 Bautzen
Germany

Higher Administrative Court
Observerwaltungsgericht
Ortenberg 9
D-02625 Bautzen
Germany

WorldNetDaily had previously reported about not only Melissa Busekros but also the Brause family...

Five "well-educated" children have been ordered into state custody by a court that applied to a second family a ruling taking a 15-year-old homeschooler from her family and sending her to a psychiatric ward.

The action fulfills a dire forecast from a human rights group that the government's success in the first case would encourage officials to act against other families in Germany.

The newest ruling comes from a court in Saxony and affects five members of the Brause family, according to officials with the International Human Rights Group....

"Apparently, Germany has decided that it can determine when and where the children go to school; and where they live while doing so," noted Thornton. "The youth welfare, supported by the police force, can take the children out of the home at any time with or without notice."

CBN also reports about the Brause family...

The parents can only regain custody by placing their children in public school, and the children may be physically removed by the state at any time....

The court decision in Zittau came despite the fact that the judge admitted that the children were well-educated under the direction of the Philadelphia school, a German homeschooling umbrella organization to which their parents belonged. 

The court accused the parents of not providing their children with a public school education as they themselves had received.

The family applied to educate their children at home because the parents believe it is their duty before God.  The judge stated that the parents’ obedience to God put the interests of their children “second.”

Court documents show the judge also complained that the children answered her with the same opinions that their father had voiced; showing that they have not had the opportunity to develop independent personalities. This echoes the Busekros case in Bavaria, in which the Erlangen Youth Welfare Agency told a court that the daughter was influenced too much by her father, and was not developing a personality of her own. 

The judge accused the parents of abusing their children by keeping them from public life (in public school) and “forcing” the children to follow their own lifestyle.

The German government's stance as related by a "K Horstmann" who gives his title as "Ministerial Director" in a letter to Netz-Bildung Freiheit (Net-Education Freedom) who questioned the forced removal of Romeike children from their home apparently is...

It is known to the ministry of education that primary school students can be particularly burdened by the related  contradiction between the norms of the parent-house and that of the public school through such forced escorts.

In order to avoid this in future, the education authority is in conversation with the affected family in order to look for possibilities to bring the religious convictions of the family into line with the unalterable school attendance requirement. [emphasis added]

That is pretty much an echo of this statement...

The Youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled.

...which is, of course, a quote from a previous German leader by the name of Adolph Hitler.

Certainly we remember what happened when the world stood by and idly watched him force his ideas on others.

If you wish to express your outrage with the tourism people in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, the following is the contact information...

Tourismus Marketing GmbH Baden-Württemberg
Esslinger Straße 8
70182 Stuttgart
Germany

phone: +49 (0) 711/ 2 38 58-0
fax: +49 (0) 711/ 2 38 58-98
e-mail: info@tourismus-bw.de

The contact page for the German state of Baden-Württemberg is at http://www.baden-wuerttemberg.de/en/contact/88538.html.

Also there is now a web site specifically for information and support for Melissa Busekros at http://www.FreeMelissaB.com/

Crossposted at JackLewis.net

Frank G. Kauffman (Missouri State University)

The "Star Chamber" was a 1983 movie about an organization of powerful judges who decided to take the law into their own hands and dispense justice as they saw fit, within or outside of the boundaries of the existing law.

At Missouri State, the defendants were operating similarly, the lawsuit said. "The Defendants engaged in indoctrination, not education," the lawsuit said. The student was subjected to "leftist diatribes" by a professor, Frank G. Kauffman....

The school's "Star Chamber" for student Emily Brooker involved a two-and-a-half-hour interrogation by faculty members who demanded answers to personal questions such as, "Do you think gays and lesbians are sinners?" and "Do you think I am a sinner?" ...

Brooker was accused of a "Level 3" grievance involving an alleged violation of the School of Social Workers' Standards of Essential Functioning in Social Work Education. The "Level 3" is the highest level of grievance that an individual can face, and university officials told Brooker she violated three of the standards: diversity, interpersonal skills and professional behavior.

The trouble arose from Kauffman's assignment that his students do a project "promoting homosexual foster homes and adoption."

The project required that the entire class write and then individually sign a letter to Missouri state lawmakers supporting the homosexual community's platform plank of adoption "rights."

Brooker refused to sign it. The school also retaliated against her for raising objections and required her to sign a contract that violated her religious beliefs in order for her to graduate, the lawsuit said.

 WorldNetDaily, April 10, 2007...

An independent report on the School of Social Work at Missouri State University says officials there bullied students by creating "an atmosphere where the Code of Ethics is used in order to coerce students into certain belief systems," documenting allegations made by a Christian student who was penalized under the system....

Now the report shows the problems within the university's Social Work Program are worse than anyone expected, and if fact may endanger the future of the program.

Dr. Michael T. Nietzel Missouri State University System President

"I do believe Springfield and the region needs a solid Social Work program; we must decide if Missouri State can provide one. If so, it will be up to the faculty and leadership of the program to offer a plan for building us back to where we need to be," said University President Michael T. Nietzel in a report to his constituents....

He said while a long-term evaluation of the problems and their remedies continues, he is consideration a postponement of an accreditation review, a hold on any tenure decisions in the program, and a freeze on all hiring in the program.

From MSU President Michael T. Nietzel's Reports on Social Work Program...

I regret to report what will be obvious to you as you read the evaluation by the external reviewers: Their evaluation of our Social Work program is extraordinarily negative. In fact, it is as negative a review of an academic program as I have ever seen, and I have been involved in University accreditation activities for more than 20 years as a site visitor for the American Psychological Association, an accreditation consultant, a commissioner of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and a reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission.

As much as I am embarrassed by the report, I have decided it must be made public. The perceived problems in Social Work are too numerous and too serious to hide or diminish. I believe we owe it to ourselves and to our students to let the sun shine on what is very tempting to keep under the rug.

We have begun meetings with the leadership and the faculty of the Social Work program, as well as the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate. I do believe Springfield and the region needs a solid Social Work program; we must decide if Missouri State can provide one. If so, it will be up to the faculty and leadership of the program to offer a plan for building us back to where we need to be. They will be given that chance, but in a fairly short timeframe. I am pleased that Dr. Etta Madden has agreed to remain as the Acting Head of the department for another year.

In the meantime, we are evaluating the steps that should be taken at this time as we plan for what must be a longer term consideration of these issues. Under immediate consideration are 1) a postponement of our external accreditation review, 2) a hold on any tenure decisions for faculty in the program, and 3) a freeze on all hiring in the Social Work Program.

The actual, final report, is gobbledegook and virtually meaningless. It misses the real problems and poses symbolic solutions that will achieve nothing. The Work Site Visit Report is much more illuminating...

Many students and faculty stated a fear of voicing differing opinions from the instructor or colleague. This was particularly true regarding spiritual and religious matters however, students voiced fears about questioning faculty regarding assignments or expectations. In fact "bullying" was used by both students and faculty to characterize specific faculty. It appears that faculty have no history of intellectual discussion/debate. Rather, differing opinions are taken personally and often result in inappropriate discourse....

There is an atmosphere where the Code of Ethics is used in order to coerce students into certain belief systems regarding social work practice and the social work profession. This represents a distorted use of the Social Work Code of Ethics in that the Code of Ethics articulates that social workers should respect the values and beliefs of others....

Tenure and promotion criteria are too vague. There is no clear teaching, research and service markers for tenure or promotion. The vague criteria allows for subjectivity which seems to allow for personal feelings to influence the vote rather than objective criteria....

There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that admission standards in both the MSW and BSW Programs are applied differentially with possible bias against students who are faith based. It also appears that MSW applicants who clearly do not meet admission standards are admitted to satisfy enrollment expectations....

Faculty appeared to have little or no insight into the reasons for the reviewers’ presence. In fact, many faculty clearly felt that this was just one more exercise with outside consultants/reviewers. Faculty stated that "nothing ever resulted from the past consultant/reviewer visits and that they did not expect any consequences to occur as a result of our visit". Faculty do not appear to have an understanding of the seriousness of the issues that occur in the School nor do they have a feeling of commitment to improvement of the School.

Now some very important points...

• Social work by it's nature is based on quite a bit of sociology and psychology.
• Both sociology and psychology, by their very nature, are strongly based in philosophy and world view. Rogerian psychology is based in Humanism. Skinnerian psychology is based on pure materialism. Perls was very much a Libertarian in his world view. Adler attempted to apply Christian principles to his theories.
• It's been noted that Universities almost always have professors that have world views consistent with whoever is running the department, rather than a diversity, which would be more conducive to a well-rounded education.
• Thus we have a war of world views that has reached into almost all aspects of Academe and has erupted, almost violently, in the Social Work Program of MSU, and presumably other universities as well.

To further explain the seriousness of the situation...

The nation is experiencing a crisis (albeit hidden by the MSM) of rampant abuse by Social Workers who use their positions to enforce their personal world view. Let me note here that not all Social Workers do this, but enough do that it is a major problem. To remove a child from his or her parents is to cause abuse. If that child is suffering more abuse in the home, then it's the choice of the lesser of two evils, but the philosophy that pervades Social Service agencies seems to be one that assigns the unquestioned role of benevolent, all-knowing caregiver to the state, and thus through the state's proxies, the Social Workers. Yet as we see from the above chaos at MSU, Social Workers are trained in a setting conducive to corruption, selfishness and cruelty.

To create a word picture, the kind of intervention Social Workers careless use is very much like a surgeon cutting into a patient. If there is a reason to do so, then it is a good thing. But if there is not a valid reason—it is criminal. A doctor hacking away at someone he thinks might have a tumor without first testing for the existence of that tumor, would get the doctor's license revoke, if not prison. We have recourse against doctors that do that, but because of the apparent all-powerful mantra of "It's for the children" Social Workers are able to rip apart families and destroy lives with near impunity.

Organizations like the Home School Legal Defense Association has fought hard to change that. It's good to see that the corrupt university environment that has produced the Social Workers who abuse children is also being addressed, although, one would wish with less meaningless posturing on the part of university muckety-mucks.

Crossposted at JackLewis.net

Doris A. Garretson, 68, was arrested Tuesday night in Tulsa, Okla., after a neighbor recognized her grandson's photograph on a missing children's flier at the post office.

Jonathan Smalley, 6, formerly of Peoria, was found in the small apartment where he lived with Garretson....

In March 2005, Jonathan and Garretson disappeared from Peoria. Garretson, who at that time had custody of Jonathan, failed to appear in court for a custody hearing, Peoria police said in a news release issued Thursday. Her no-show prompted a judge to give custody of the boy to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services....

Tulsa police didn't charge Garretson with anything since the incident originated in Illinois. Adams said he didn't know why she moved to Tulsa....

At the time of her arrest, Garretson told officers she took her grandson because he was not receiving proper medical care in Illinois for his cerebral palsy, Adams said. "She was not able to confirm or prove he was receiving any medical treatment here," he added.

Jonathan also had not been going to school. Garretson said she had been home-schooling her grandson, Adams said. In Oklahoma, home-school providers must be certified. Garretson was not, Adams added....

"DCFS worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to locate this child and we are relieved to see this search come to a successful conclusion," said DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe. "Arrangements are being made to return this child promptly to Illinois where he will be placed with a foster family."

Let's start with this...

In Oklahoma, home-school providers must be certified.

No, they are not. Oklahoma has the most sensible homeschooling laws in the nation. The only requirement are that you teach a certain list of subjects. One does not need to be certified to homeschool.

Now that we know the reporter is lazy and doesn't bother to actually get the facts, look at the rest of the story. Why would they take the child away from his grandmother, who was obviously taking good care of him, so he could then be put with strangers? Oh, that's right, because the grandmother offended a judge by not showing up for a custody hearing. Why we can't can't let that happen, can we. Have to teach her a lesson by traumatizing her grandchild, placing him in a system notorious for neglecting and abusing children. Make the little bugger suffer so we  can send the message that we "care" about children.

We aren't told why there was a custody hearing in the first place. We aren't told where the child's parents are and why they are involved. We are only told that the grandmother, out of concern for her grandson hid from authorities, who we know will now punish the child for her actions. I can't say I blame her one bit.

BTW, I phoned the reporter and informed her of the error, but I doubt she'll bother to actually check things out.

The purpose of the drill was to test the reactions of police, faculty and administration....

The mock terror attack involved two irate men armed with handguns who invaded the high school through the front door. They pretended to shoot several students in the hallway and then barricaded themselves in the media center with 10 student hostages.

Two Burlington Township police detectives portrayed the gunmen. Investigators described them as members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the “New Crusaders” who don't believe in separation of church and state. The mock gunmen went to the school seeking justice because the daughter of one had been expelled for praying before class.

This just two and a half years after this incident...

Muskegon County emergency officials, along with school and hospital personnel, learned a lot from a mock terrorist exercise Tuesday, but the incident also became a lesson in sensitivity for one of the event organizers. 

In the exercise, a domestic terrorist group -- dubbed Wackos Against Schools and Education -- plants a bomb on a public school bus loaded with students. According to materials handed out to explain the fake scenario, the "Wackos" believe everyone should be home-schooled.

But the name and scenario used in the exercise "bombed out" with home-schoolers across the nation.

The Chronicle and local officials were deluged with phone calls and e-mails from across the nation, complaining about the choice of words.

Lifesite reports...

While county officials praised the drill saying that it was the first live test of its sort [Bob] Pawson [,National Coordinator of the Scriptures in School Project] explained that he thought the drill was a test of another sort.  “This denigrating drill is also a test of the reactions and responses of New Jersey 's Christians, along with all other fair-minded citizens of any faith, to such a blatant example of anti-Christian animosity.”

"A public apology is in order. The citizens of Burlington County could rightly demand the resignation or termination of school officials who dreamed up and approved this reprehensible scenario."

The school's response?...

Concerns have been shared regarding the emergency management exercise conducted at Burlington Township High School on March 22, 2007, in conjunction with the Burlington Township Police and Fire departments. The main goal of the exercise was to practice our lockdown and evacuation procedures, and test our abilities to respond to an emergency situation.

Any perceived insensitivities to our religious community as a result of the emergency exercise are regrettable. It was certainly not the intent to portray any group in a negative manner. We cherish, respect, and celebrate the diversity of cultures and faith that exist within our community. [emphasis added]

...in other words, if we were insulted at being called terrorists, we Christians are just imagining things. Not a real apology, and LifeSite is right, someone need to be fired.

LifeSite also supplies the following useful information...

Mayor Steven M. George
Burlington Township
851 Old York Road,
Burlington Township, NJ 08016
609-386-4444

Education superintendents, supervisors
http://www.burltwpsch.org/
Board of Education Member names also listed above but no email. Address would be same as mayor.

Mrs. Marie Phillips
Principal
Burlington Township High School
610 Fountain Avenue
Burlington,  NJ   08016
609-387-1713

I also found this info...

Christopher Manno
Superintendent, Springside
cmanno@burltwpsch.org
Phone: 609-387-3955 Extension: 4157

George Bogda
Resource Officer
High School
gbogda@burltwpsch.org
Phone: 609-387-1713 Extension: 1140

Revisionist history stripping all mention of America's Christian heritage, now repeated, mock "drills" obviously designed to demonize Christians in the eyes of impressionable students. How long until we Christians wake up to find all the windows in our homes and shops shattered through the night?

Crossposted at JackLewis.net