Wayne387 Brilliant!

"Bagpipes are absolutely essential to the security of our nation"...said no one ever.

This paradigm came to define the Prussian mind as centralized schooling became nationally entrenched and was committed to producing (1) obedient soldiers for the army; (2) obedient workers for mines, factories, and farms; (3) well-subordinated civil servants, trained in their function; 4) well-subordinated clerks for industry; (5) citizens who thought alike on most issues; and (6) national uniformity in thought, word, and deed.

Though the situation facing the Romeike family is certainly tragic, it is merely an extension of the educational philosophy formulated during the aftermath of Prussia’s defeat at Jena (1806) when Johann Fichte delivered his influential “Address to the German Nation” demanding that Prussia (1) establish compulsory schools for the general population, (2) universally condition children as parents could no longer be trusted to discipline them properly, and (3) banish individualism to serve the collective interests of the State. Forced schooling would teach everyone that "work makes free," and working for the State, even sacrificing your life for its benefit, was the greatest freedom of all.

mread I visited Austin twice last summer and it was amazing!!! (I cannot wait to taste the brisket from Rudy's again). The people (the native Texans) are absolutely the best! The only problems I experienced was from the California transplants.

Doug3370 True...sad...but true. I am hoping that the wide streak of independence that is found in the DNA of every Texan will render the state immune to the scenario you described.

mread: My wife, daughter, and myself (and several close family friends) are moving to Austin this summer (the "Texodus")--a move that has been seven long years in the making. As the saying goes, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got there as soon as I could." My concern is that my fellow Californians who are moving there in droves, will bring the problems which made the Golden State so miserable in the first place.

D272: Excellent point! Teaching for the past twelve years at both public and private schools convinced me to home-school our daughter. The teacher "education" classes I was forced to endure to obtain my teaching credential were so mind-numbingly inane that I often feared for my sanity. I use absolutely nothing from those classes--for which my students are unknowingly grateful--and have nothing to show for the experience except a student loan debt.

As a former colleague of Mr. Delarme's, I can attest that your characterization is largely accurate.

The magic of tenure.