From: E. Blaschke (eblaschke@sprint.ca)
Date: Mon Feb 05 2001 - 20:56:51 PST
----- Original Message ----- From: Gabriella Taylor I won't even allow my child to *go to school* if I don't approve of their treatment and philosophy (and, yes, I homeschooled my child in 3rd grade for a whole year until I found the *right* school). Gabriella, I am just curious which type of school you found that was the "right" one in the end for your child - perhaps one designated as a "Christian" school?. You seem to judge rather harshly and disapprove of many institutions, even your regular local schools. Was this, is this a "German thing" that I'm just not familiar with... a "social thing" in which I'm not endrenched? (I do tend to go my own way...) Why *would* a youngster *have* to join *anything*?!?! What a flippant remark!. It is not at all a "German thing" that youngsters want to join a peer-group. From just "friends" to organized groups, such as "clubs", sports-teams, church-groups, choirs, scouts, youth-wings of political parties, to bike-clubs and gangs of every kind. Even your child will want to join somewhere when he/she becomes a little older. And that happens everywhere, particularly in the US, where you most likely live. It is unfortunate, but not unexpected, that he succeeded in his aims: No one who was a member seems appalled. And no one "sees" what went on without the Hitler Blinders of the times, say, through the eyes of Socrates or Gandhi instead of through "German eyes". My dear Gabriella, I don't think your "research" was conducted with the necessary detachment. You start with the notion that the Hitler Youth was an evil organization. People that write here may have been part of the organization, some were not - but you selectively choose to believe those with horror-stories, whereas the others wear "German Blinders" even now. I don't know how Socrates or Ghandi would have viewed the situation, I would hope they would have disapproved of the political indoctrination - as they would most likely have disapproved of MacCarthyism in the US which amounted to persecution of many ordinary citizens as "communists". Only in this case the Blinders weren't German ones , but American ones. I apologize if I sound too harsh in this analysis - but I know that apart from political indoctrination many of the aims of the Hitler Youth were directed towards helping other people - just like the scouts. Personally I lost many relatives in concentration camps, so you cannot classify me as a Nazi with German Blinders - but even I would never call the Hitler youth an "evil" organization. Such a name should be reserved for voluntary organizations like the SS and the SA. Anyway, lets agree to disagree on this subject. I wish you the best of luck and do hope you will instil in your child a sense of right and wrong and a sense of your morality - yet tempered with tolerance for viewpoints or religious beliefs of other people. regards, Ernest.