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The benefits never end.
This time it is the parents who are considered by the state.
If you have to look after and teach your children at home during a lockdown, you can request several weeks of paid leave.
It shouldn't be called vacation.
But it is clear that they do not do their job and are still well paid.
If everything goes its known path, these generosities will not stop there.
The SPD and trade unions have already presented their demands.
They mean more free time and more money.
And it would be amazing if these “wishes” weren't fulfilled very soon.
I myself have three sons who are attending elementary school or daycare.
My wife and I have more to do on the job than less during the pandemic.
So we would be the perfect target group for the new benefits of those in power.
But I don't want any money or vacation from the state.
Schools will be closed until at least January 31st
The schools will remain closed nationwide until at least January 31.
But education is a country issue.
Saxony and Thuringia prefer the winter holidays, Baden-Württemberg may want to partially open schools again from January 18 if the number of infections drops.
Source: WELT / Perdita Heise
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I am not a good educator and an even worse teacher.
But I'll try to take on both of these jobs somehow - without government subsidies.
I know, of course, that a metal worker or the warehouse worker have no way of doing their job without childcare.
But I can. And I will - for four reasons.
First: I do not want to belong to the next group of the needy, which is generously supported by politics.
Restaurateurs, retailers, hoteliers, cultural workers as well as Lufthansa and TUI bosses.
They all receive billions in aid from the state.
Some for good reason, some for a few sensible motives.
What is certain is that the grand coalition has been selling this watering can principle as an ingenious crisis management system for months.
Of course it is not.
It is the sheer ingenuity and helplessness that the taxpayer has to pay for in the end.
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The second reason for not taking state leave: I don't want to create an excuse for education policy, schools and teachers not to have to teach our children.
According to the motto: Well, since parents can spend all the time in the world for their children at home - we don't have to rush it with digital lessons.
If millions of parents accept the poisoned gift from the state, we will nip the tender plant of digitization in schools in the bud.
Even the teachers, who gradually realize that they have to end their analog lethargy for the good of the children, would then crawl back very quickly.
This is followed by the third reason for my renouncement.
Most parents in this country will probably agree with me when I say: take the money, it will probably be billions of euros again, and increase the budget for education and upbringing.
Infrastructural changes will certainly come too late for this pandemic.
After all, we are dealing with German bureaucracy.
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But a sustainable, financially better equipment would at least open up the chance that Germany will emerge from this crisis with a new educational infrastructure.
That our country is experiencing positive disruption in the education sector.
If no decisive course is set these days, there is a risk of digital stagnation in schools in the years to come.
And my fourth reason?
If millions of parents now accept this lucrative offer from the state, the rulers will get an alibi not to increase the pressure any further.
The pressure on health authorities, the pressure on the education ministries, the pressure to finally get through this crisis more pragmatically.
If half the country is supported and well cared for, then it can continue to rule in peace and act less.
It may be that we cannot teach and look after our children perfectly while we are still working.
That they miss a few weeks or months of class.
This is bad.
It is worse, however, when I hold out my hand and support the state in spending even more money that is not there.
This money has to be paid back in the coming decades - by our children.