Scholé News – April 2023

Within 3 weeks, the number of supporters of the open letter from the Plattform Freie Bildungswege has risen from one hundred thousand to 128,661!

The reactions of the education authorities to which it was sent were, as expected, reserved, but no longer dismissive in principle. Unfortunately, the ministry is not fighting openly; it prefers to tighten the legal provisions behind our backs. Some parents are still intimidated by this and send their children back to school for fear of penalties. Most families, however, stick to their decision despite all the threats. They have seen how their children have blossomed since they have been free to decide what to occupy themselves with. For them there is no going back.

Over the past three years, the number of rebellious parents has multiplied. Above all, unschoolers, homeschoolers and various learning or play groups no longer want to be divided and played off against each other: at last they have realised that we are only strong together! The many different education initiatives that have sprung up throughout Austria are now networking. They exchange information, support one another, join forces to sue for the right to self-determined education at the Constitutional Court, and actively seek dialogue with the authorities.

Their strongest moral boost comes from the unstoppable decay of the conventional school system, which, despite all attempts at reform, is on its last legs. Schools have long been losing not only parents and pupils, but also teachers and head teachers. Tried and tested recipes for enforcing obedience with carrot and stick work less and less, whether inside or outside the classroom. The outdated one-size-fits-all school simply can no longer meet the rapidly changing demands of modern life.

Even with a positive school report in their pocket, many school leavers today do not know who they are, what they can do, what they are passionate about or what contribution they want to make to society. Entrepreneurs and employers groan because so many apprentices no longer meet even the minimum requirements. The level of education of grammar school pupils has fallen so far that at the Technical University every student first has to attend a compulsory lecture on lower secondary maths…

Isn’t it high time for those responsible to take the outstretched hand of the dropouts who are doing pioneering work without thanks? Seen from a higher perspective, Austria could even play a pioneering role in the reshaping of the educational landscape that is due worldwide. Since 1867 there has been a constitutionally anchored right to home education in this country. (Only between 1938 and 1945 did compulsory school attendance, which still applies in the Federal Republic of Germany today, also apply in the “Ostmark”.) This would allow the authorities to promote a wide variety of alternative approaches without changing the law. Real renewal has always come from the margins, from pioneers and outsiders who were long ostracised and cast out: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” as the New Testament says.

Together with the lawyer and consultant Roland Orthner, I was recently invited to an interview with Max Pucher. He is an entrepreneur and founder of the Union Souveränität, a trade union for all professional groups, and of the Sovereign Media channel. Our host, himself the father of 2 grown-up children and 2 children of primary school age, signed the open letter and wanted to know how things should proceed now. He shares our view that the free choice of educational paths would open up completely new opportunities for society as a whole. What could the first concrete step towards it look like?

Our answer was clear: the external examinations required so far must be replaced by models such as the maturity reflection (Reifegradreflektion), in which parents, children and learning companions together form a picture of a child’s interests, talents, strengths and achievements. Instead of standing fearfully in front of examination boards, children should proudly and enthusiastically show what they have worked out for themselves. Committed parents who put so much time, energy and heart into this must no longer be criminalised! It would be even better if interested teachers were also allowed to try out this form of qualification in their classes. After all, a viable bridge between self-determined education and school should be built as soon as possible, so that truly ALL children benefit from the achievements of the pioneers.

The time is ripe! Now, in the age of artificial intelligence at the latest, we must no longer force-feed children knowledge that can be called up on smartphones at any time within seconds! If we want humanity to learn to use AI creatively as a tool instead of being controlled by AI, we must finally focus on developing those abilities that make human beings human: artistic, athletic, practical, social, emotional and spiritual abilities.

At the Shchetinin school I was able to observe back in 2013 what happens then: in peaceful, mindful togetherness – singing, dancing, building, gardening, painting, sewing, beekeeping and so on – young people develop not only the familiar outer senses but also the inner senses, which today are only valued and cultivated by a few indigenous peoples. These are higher-order faculties of perception, linked to an unerring sense of truthfulness and truth. People who have been allowed to develop all the senses within them do not lie and can no longer be “led up the garden path”:

They have discovered the light WITHIN themselves, feel who they are and understand the laws of creation. Everything else – that is, the intellectual knowledge that was needed to invent AI – is simply given to them as well. They learn it in no time when they need it to fulfil their individual life tasks.

We cannot even imagine what will suddenly become possible when young people who were allowed to grow up like this take the fate of the world into their own hands. Today’s seekers of truth were a tiny minority; some of them had to swim against the tide for many decades, overcome inner and outer blockages, take countless setbacks and laboriously unlearn knowledge that had been forced upon them. Nevertheless, they have successfully set the course – on the subtle level, the new has already won.

The way is clear for a self-determined generation that will bring paradise to earth.

A huge THANK YOU to all pioneers and bridge builders! Alexandra

Download the open letter (German)

2nd edition of “Lernen ist wie Atmen” (Learning is like breathing)

The 2nd edition of our book meets a completely changed readership.

In 2017, the idea that learning outside school was possible at all was considered the eccentric notion of a few outsiders. Since then, all parents, whether they wanted to or not, have had to deal with forms of learning outside school.

The number of children withdrawn from school has exploded since then, and alternative learning projects are springing up like mushrooms.

Buy the book (2nd ed., German)

Download eBook (1st ed., German)

Scholé website