"In the Volk community, only he who works for the Volk community has a right to live." - Adolf Hitler, ca. 1935 [Note 1]

It seems that people throughout the history of mankind have valued personal, familial, and religious freedom. But freedom from what? It is freedom from others - essentially the State - controlling the individual or his family.

Moses had to say to the Pharaoh, "Let My people go." William Wallace gave this challenge: "We come here with no peaceful intent, but ready for battle, determined to avenge our wrongs and set our country free. Let your masters come and attack us: we are ready to meet them beard to beard." "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel," said Patrick Henry. And H. L. Mencken sadly reminded the world, "Most people want security in this world, not liberty." [Note 2]

How many reasons might one person give for wanting to control other people, to make all in a society "secure"?

1. It is for the "common good."
2. I am for educational freedom, but the State must make sure children are learning what the State thinks is important.
3. Home-based education is okay, but it must be State-regulated because a tiny minority of parents might not teach their children but just let them do nothing or smoke pot all day.
4. Using the best that science can tell us, we can set a minimum standard that everyone must know for our country to be competitive.
5. Some parents will teach their girls that they only need to be wives and mothers; we cannot allow this.
6. If parents get to be in charge of with whom their children associate or become friends, then the children will not learn to be decent, civil, and respectful.
7. Allowing parents to raise their children as they deem fit could lead to "parallel societies" in our nation and this could lead to conflict and disunity.
8. We, State-licensed teachers, know the best way to teach children.
9. We, State officials, know the best way to take care of the people.
10. We, professors at universities, have developed conceptual frameworks that explain the best way to design individuals' lives, family functioning, societal behaviors, and nation-States.
11. We, legislators and parliamentarians, were elected so it must be that people want us to control their lives, to make us all secure.

I was in Berlin, Germany a few days ago as a speaker for the Symposium on Educational Freedom in Germany and Europe. [Note 3] While in Berlin, I visited the Topography of Terror museum. Therein is where I saw the quote above from Adolf Hitler.

As you might recall, the wall between East Germany and West Germany in Berlin was torn down in 1989. That wall, for 28 years, was a stark daily reminder that far too many men and women want to dominate others' lives. The wall separated socialist East Germany from West Germany. On the east side, were located offices such as the Reich Ministry of Propaganda and Gestapo Headquarters.  The wall was constructed after World War II in 1961 to allow some people to dominate others. Life was so horrible that the ones wanting to control the others' lives had to force people to stay and live with them, the controllers, in East Germany.

I felt a little sick to my stomach while reading plaques and viewing photographs in that museum. In reality, it was my heart that was feeling sick. There were photos of Adolf Hitler, crowds of people in a zealous frenzy greeting and wanting to shake hands with Hitler, the corpses of Jews who were slaughtered by the Nazis and all those who willingly followed them, and bodies of American prisoners of war who were gunned down by their German captors just hours before they were to be freed by the victorious and advancing Allies.

Equally terrible as the worshipping of men and the murder of fellow humans was the thinking of those who wanted to control others' ideas and daily lives.

A man in a huge German crowd failed to raise his arm in salute to Hitler. A woman standing nearby reported him to the authorities. The non-conformist reported:

I then had to go and explain myself to District Administrator Rothmund. And he said to me, "What did you do?" I said, "I didn't do anything at all." Then he said, "That's just it! Times have changed. You have to raise your hand now." [Note 1]

After all the horrors of World War II, the evil thinking that led to the existence of the KGB, the SS, and the Reich Ministry of Propaganda and all their insidious and cruel behaviors, considering the fact that this history is so well-known, and keeping in mind that this reality of one group of people working so hard to control others' thoughts and behaviors was occurring only 70 years ago when my father and mother were about teenagers and just before my father fought in the war, how can anyone anywhere tolerate or accept rationales for State regulation of children's and youths' associations, thoughts, and overall education through schooling?

The very same people who today condemn the Nazis (i.e., National Socialists), Lenin's murder of millions, forced abortion, or Muslim Shariah "law" are now making arguments on why their vision of the good State life should dominate - by force of law - how parents raise children and what those children come to believe, think, and do by the time they are adults.

People who want to control other's lives are still on the prowl, everywhere you look. I met three men like that at a restaurant in Berlin last Monday. I heard some speak at the symposium on educational freedom. I talk with them at research conferences. And they are leaders in U.S. state legislatures and American universities. I see clear overlap between the sentiments of obvious tyrants and the thinking of this American professor:

As an extreme form of privatizing the purpose of education, home schooling denies democratic accountability and disenfranchises the community from its legitimate interest in education. - Christopher Lubienski, 2000 [Note 4]

First, classical liberals and Christians would do well to consider and promote fundamental propositions such as (a) freedom of thought and freedom of the exercise of religion (i.e., philosophy or worldview) should be protected through educational freedom, (b) freedom of speech should be advanced through educational freedom, (c) the State does not have a compelling or morally superior right to impose certain educational demands on children or youth or adults in a free nation, (d) it is more important to help children become adults who are clearly able to freely think different from the State - that wields incredible power, the power of the sword - than to worry that they might not think different from their parents, and (e) the natural family - a husband, a wife, and their children - should be encouraged and strengthened as it functions in an interdependent way with other families and private associations.  Children raised in strong natural families are in a more muscular position to think and fend for themselves in ever-widening circles of non-coerced human relationships than are those who are brought up by the State.

Second, people in these nations should not depend on a pure democracy for freedom because a democracy can be fickle regarding freedom, or be outright totalitarian. The people need to look to founding documents and principles in them that protect educational freedom.

Proponents of educational freedom should know and use treaties or conventions, to which their nations are party, that endorse parental authority in their children's lives.

Fourth, and finally, advocates of educational freedom should articulate and consistently promote to their children, friends, neighbors, church brethren, and policymakers fundamental presuppositions and a worldview that are consistent with parental freedom, authority, and responsibility over children's education and upbringing.

Freedom lovers must act quickly so that would-be human controllers do not have their way in the world. The fruit of the latter is dangerous and sickening. The way of God's truths and freedom are life-giving. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."[Note 5]

P.S. Please feel free to send us your questions about homeschooling and we will try to answer them in upcoming messages.

NHERI, PO Box 13939, Salem OR 97309, USA

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