This week’s edition is hosted by the Education Wonks.

Another Monday, another school shooting.

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a 13-year-old brought an AK-47 to his Joplin, Missouri, school and fired it this morning — but no one was hurt.

Authorities say the student wore a mask and pointed the assault rifle at the principal, an assistant superintendent and two students, pleading — “Please don’t make me do this.”

The superintendent says the teenager fired a shot into the ceiling and broke a water pipe. But administrators talked him into leaving the building, and police were waiting outside with weapons drawn.

The incident forced about 700 students to leave the school to wait for frightened parents to pick them up.

The superintendent calls it a “very close call.”

Joplin is a city of about 41,000 in southwest Missouri.

UPDATE: Police also found a note in the boy’s backpack (along with diagrams and military manuals) which indicated he’d planted an explosive at the school. Bomb-sniffing dogs “hit” on a locker at the school. Details are still forthcoming.

UPDATE: Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, upon learning of the shooting, said it is worth considering proposals to permit teachers to carry guns in light of the recent spike in school shootings.

Dr. Homeschool explains how to restore your child’s self-confidence when making the switch from public to homeschool.

October is Gay and Lesbian History Month in Philidelphia’s public school system, according to the school calendar. Administrators say the program is part of the district’s steps to recognize different racial and ethnic minorities, and was added along with Hispanic Heritage Month in September, African History Month in February and Asian Pacific American History Month in May. No special programs are planned; however, schools with gay-straight alliances may schedule their own events.

The school district is not surprised that some parents — reportedly 120 — are irate.

”We have our policy that says the district is committed to foster knowledge and respect for all,” she said.

Cummings said a decision on whether to include Gay History Month on next year’s calendars would be made later.

”Our calendar this year is a celebration of diversity. Whether it will continue to be the theme in years to come, we’re not sure,” she said. (Source: Miami Herald.)

“A number of people are dead,” including the shooter, following an attack at a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania.

Police surrounded the one-room school late Monday morning, and the Lancaster County 911 Web site reported that dozens of emergency units were dispatched to a “medical emergency” at 10:45 a.m.

Two hours later, about three dozen people in traditional Amish clothing, hats and bonnets stood near the small school building speaking to one another, several young people and authorities. At least two ambulances had left the scene, and at least one person was taken on a stretcher to a medical helicopter.

Developing story at CNN.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, two schools were locked down after witnesses reported seeing a student carrying a weapon. Schools throughout the country have been on alert following fatal shootings last week in Wisconsin and Colorado, along with a disrupted murder plan also in a Wisconsin school. Even so, experts report that the number of non-fatal school shootings is down to 24 this year, from 85 last year.

UPDATE: The shooter in Pennsylvania was a commercial milk truck driver, himself a father of three and with no prior criminal history. Reports indicate that he left rambling suicide notes discovered by his wife. When she called him on his cell phone, the shooter said he would not be coming home — he was trying to settle “something that happened 20 years ago.” His method of revenge involved tying young school girls together by the feet. After letting boys and adult women in the classroom go, he shot three of his captives and wounded 7 more before killing himself. There are more details, but my stomach can’t handle such brutality anymore.

The European Court of Human Rights recently declared that German parents have no right to educate their children at home. This is the most recent blow in a campaign against German homeschooling parents, one which has resulted in heavy fines and jail time for parents who persist in education their children at home. (A .pdf copy of the decision can be found here.)

The German homeschooling community had been awaiting the results in this matter, considered a “test case” by many European parents who view compulsory education, particularly in the area of mandatory sex education, as a violation of their religious beliefs.

This would seem to be a clear-cut matter under Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states:

No person shall be denied the right to education. In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religions and philosophical convictions. (Emphasis mine)

The Court, however, declared that the interest of the state outweighs parental convictions and, more troubling, deems the State better able to determine what is in a child’s best interests than that child’s own parents. (Ironically, this decision comes on the heels of a industry study which found that German schools are experiencing “educational poverty” and fare poorly at educating students sufficiently to replace retiring workers.)

While the Court postured itself as defending the rights of the child and declared the State to know better than parents the best interests of their children, it also endorsed a “carefully reasoned” decision of the German courts indicating the State had an interest in subordinating value systems competing with the state’s secular values. The Court agreed with the finding of Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court which stressed “the general interest of society to avoid the emergence of parallel societies based on separate philosophical convictions and the importance of integrating minorities into society.” (Source)

Register your protest with the German Embassy:

Wolfgang Ischinger
Ambassador
German Embassy
4645 Reservoir Road NW
Washington, DC, 20007-1998
(202) 298-4000
or send an email.

UPDATE: More on the notion that parental rights arise only after the State exercises its rights with respect to a child at Principled Discovery.