I want to hear more about this story than what is reported on the HSLDA website. We all know about the Romeike family, the homeschoolers who sought asylum in our country due to persecution in Germany. So is it just ho-hum news because it's happening in New Zealand? Should they have run to Texas instead? Because... my bad. If I spoke nothing but German and had to make my family's flight plans within three days (or whatever) based only on a little hearsay, it's possible I'd pick an "unsympathetic" country as well by accident.
Maybe it is just that the last name of Schöneich is realllly hard to spell. I don't know how to do the accent thing over the O on my keyboard, so do you know what I did? Copy and paste the text, bayybee.
Seriously. Where are the stories about this family? Where are the news cameras? For that matter, I must be missing all the real news. I'm soo tired of popping onto news sites and seeing most headlines read along the lines of, "How (Celebrity Name) Feels About Her Breasts" or "Wild Ferret Stuck on New Jersey Rooftop: VIDEO."
Homeschooling news is just an example because it happens to be important to me personally. Everyone has something they're interested in. But I'm pretty sure most people are not typing "ferret" searches on the internet, or wake up NEEDING to read some recent shooter's second cousin's ramblings about what a nice guy the dude was, and allll that. Maybe your thing is textiles from the 1840's or something. I dunno. Surely that is more interesting than the mental state of some guy who just killed a bunch of people, what the neighbours think, what the shooter ate for dinner and other glamourous details.
Isn't there something important going on in the world of 1840's textiles that should bump the shooter guy's life history off the front page? Or roofing materials. Let's have a story of the evolving science of roofing and the materials that are best suited for rooves in various climates. And do people in Holland really wear those wooden clogs, or is that just something that would attract the tourists? Is shoe-throwing a problem there? I have a lot of questions.
So, pweeeeze, pweeze no more ferret stories, stories about the Kanadian sisters and their "sexy look," and updates on Kirstie Alley's weight gain/ loss/ whatever. Me is soooo tired of it that me's brain starting turning mushylike. Eeerghh... melting... melting... :)
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Look Out, Dad!!
My father is the purple dot above the blue weather station. He's juuust outside Milton's evacuation zone. Well! My brother and I jus...
The one about the Swedish family who had their son taken from them by the goverment for homeschooling just breaks my heart every single time I read an update. It horrifies me that a family is being treated this way in a supposedly free country. The father is in jail right now and the mother is suffering quite horribly from the stress.
ReplyDeleteThe people in New Zealand should hop over to Australia - they can homeschool there.
All these things worry me, because I wonder if those attitudes will migrate to the U.S.
It's not about homeschooling in NZ. That is perfectly legal and not at all difficult from what I have researched and hear from my homeschooling friends--we live in NZ. It's about using homeschooling to claim refugee status. NZ processes over 1000 immigration cases a day, that is an enormous amount for a country with only 4 million people. It takes many of the world's refugees from places like Darfur where people are murdered and raped everyday. From reading the article it sounds as if the immigration official was simply skeptical about whether not being able to homeschool your children is a legitimate claim for refugee status. I struggle with that as well. Why not school your kids in a way that is legal in your country until you can sercure visas for an international move? Work permits are also not hard to get in NZ, if they are processed in the proper manner, but immigration here does frown on "over stayers." Now that the father has a work permit the family will be allowed to stay and if he keeps that permit for a certain length of time they will be able to apply for residency. While here they will have no trouble homeschooling their children as long as they register their intent, just like many of you have to do in your states in the US.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me sad to think of that family too, Deb. I can't imagine sending someone to JAIL because they dared believe their child didn't belong FIRST to the state and THEN to his family. These European nutball countries have everything backwards, sorry. And they think Americans are bossy...
ReplyDeleteBonnie, I know that compared to rape and murder it seems like a bit of a cakewalk just to send your child to public school. But.. what if your child is bullied every day, nothing is done and you have no choices? What if they are teaching things directly contrary to what you would want, and you have no power to opt out or stop it? It is a form of persecution in my opinion, even if it isn't as bad as Darfur. Though of course whether this family qualifies under NEW ZEALAND law is a matter I can't declare with any conviction. :)
Here in the US it is almost as though there are 50 countries, each with its own laws, when it comes to things like homeschooling. I do wonder about whether any LARGE number of people find themselves moving to another state when it comes time to homeschool, or when they run into trouble with the ps system.
I had no idea that homeschooling wasn't allowed worldwide. It seems a little harsh to force kids into conventional schooling if it's clearly unsuitable for them.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I'm also astonished at what passes for news. Who cares if someone's sister-in-law's cousin's best friends nephew has rice bran on his porridge, or his sister has new fake boobs?
I never knew how contorversial and closeted the world of homeschooling was until we entered it out of desperation. Now, not being a personal fan of HSLDA and their dramatics, I will say that they do protect the rights of homeschoolers, and do handle a lot of sticky situations. However, I do not like their 'the sky is falling' desperate writings. That's just me...
ReplyDeleteI think it's flat out crazy that in the U.S., each state has such broad variances in their homeschooling laws. NYS is one of the harder states to comply with, which doesn't bother me at all. I am more than capable of showing how my child is taught. However, when the stricter states threaten our rights as homeschoolers, do they really think we will stay and allow this?? Please. My kids are my priority. No little man in a suit is going to tell me how or what I can or can't teach my own children. If our state takes away our right to homeschool...or gets much fussier, we are heading to one of the states that is looser on expectations. Not for the sake of not reporting as much as we do now, but for the sake of it's MY kid, and I have every intention of raising them and in my opinion that includes educating them.
And Happy Elf Mom, how can your day even get off on nearly the right foot without knowing if Mel Gibson is losing custody of one of his 15 kids, or if the Kardashian's are moving to a new time slot, or if another celbrity sort is pregnant with a mutant litter of puppies??? Are you not afraid of being ignorant to the woes of the world??? lol :P
I would think that being in the position of losing your child because of exercising a human right (homeschooling) qualifies as persecution.
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