{{short description|German author and philosopher}} {{Infobox person | name = Bertrand Stern | image = Bertrand Stern in Luxembourg.jpg | caption = Stern in 2017 | father = Arno Stern | mother = Michéle Stern | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1948|11|11|df=y}} | birth_place = Montbéliard, France | occupation = {{flatlist| * Philosopher * Author }} | children = 1; Gabriel (born 6 March 2019) | website = [http://www.bertrandstern.de Personal website] {{in lang|de}} }} '''Bertrand Stern''' (born 11 November 1948) is a German author and philosopher living in Siegburg. He describes himself as a ''freischaffender Philosoph'' (freelance philosopher).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bertrandstern.de/|title=Startseite|website=Bertrand Stern|language=de-DE|access-date=2020-03-13}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://kinderwaerts.de/sternstunde-mit-bertrand-stern/|title=Sternstunde mit Bertrand Stern|date=2018-06-01|website=Kinderwärts|language=de-DE|access-date=2020-03-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.frei-sich-bilden.de/bertrand-stern/|title=Bertrand Stern {{!}}|language=de-DE|access-date=2020-03-14}}</ref>

He focuses on issues critical to civilization with regard to human dignity, in particular the outbreak from the school ideology and aspects of free education, as well as questions about medicine and health, money and work, and transport and mobility.

== Life == Stern was born the son of the pedagogue Arno Stern<ref name=":1" /> and Claire Stern in Montbéliard, France on 11 November 1948. He has two siblings and a son named Gabriel,<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://t7e23e792.emailsys1a.net/mailing/192/1893901/2137476/1963/005fd14a8c/index.html|title=Alles neu macht der... März! - Zum Frühlingsbeginn 2019 · Rundbrief #17|date=2019-03-20|website=t7e23e792.emailsys1a.net|access-date=2020-03-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://t7e23e792.emailsys1a.net/mailing/192/2169453/2137476/1955/1c3afb8e73/index.html|title=Es will das Licht der Welt erblicken, was soll am Leben sich erquicken... · Rundbrief #18|date=2019-08-06|website=t7e23e792.emailsys1a.net|access-date=2020-03-14}}</ref> who was born on 6 March 2019 at 2.15 AM.<ref name=":3" /> He grew up in different places in Europe and therefore speaks German, French, English and Spanish.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bertrandstern.de/vita/|title=Vita|website=Bertrand Stern|language=de-DE|access-date=2020-03-13}}</ref> He attended a total of 13 schools and disliked his school time.<ref name=":1" />

From 2011 to 2012, he was a lecturer at the University of Kassel.<ref name=":0" /> Stern is also an author for the website ''Rubikon''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bertrand Stern {{!}} Rubikon|url=https://www.rubikon.news/autoren/bertrand-stern|access-date=2020-10-29|website=www.rubikon.news|language=de}}</ref>

He initiated the feature film ''CaRabA #LebenohneSchule'', which was released on 9 May 2019 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bertrandstern.de/caraba/|title=CaRabA|website=Bertrand Stern|language=de-DE|access-date=2020-03-13}}</ref> and introduces unschooled, free-educated people. The producer is Joshua Conens.

== Views ==

=== School === Stern thinks that the current school system is counterproductive and will collapse very soon.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pKMV3XxEd90|title = BILDUNGSGANG - Bertrand Stern - Vortrag "Frei sich bilden"| website=YouTube }}</ref>

=== Schulpflicht === Stern is against the Schulpflicht (a German law forcing young people to go to a school). He sees it as a fundamental human right to be able to educate oneself freely, which is violated by compulsory schooling and criticizes the schooling ideology in his books and publications,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Stern|first=Bertrand|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/879500374|title=Schluß mit Schule! das Menschenrecht, sich frei zu bilden|publisher=tologo Verlag|year=2006|isbn=978-3-940596-39-0|oclc=879500374}}</ref> which he describes as "inhuman" ("inhuman"), "verfassungswidrig" ("unconstitutional") and "obsolet" ("obsolete") and has "[...] überhaupt keinen Platz mehr in unserer Wirklichkeit" "[...] no longer any place in our reality".<ref name=":2">Interaktiver Kongress (interactive congress) "EMPOWER THE CHILD" with Regina Sari: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JoW7I_IL7p8</ref> He thinks that the Schulpflicht will be abolished very soon.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Die Stiftung {{!}} Stiftung Bertrand Stern|url=http://bertrandstern-stiftung.de/die-stiftung/|access-date=2020-08-30|language=de|archive-date=2020-03-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321005907/http://bertrandstern-stiftung.de/die-stiftung/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In an episode of the format "Positionen" ("Positions") at ''KenFM'' from 2019 in which Stern was asked by Ken Jebsen how the school system would be in three years' time, he replied that there will be no more compulsory schooling.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Jebsen|first=Ken|date=2019-08-18|title=Positionen 18: "Akadämlich" – Freies Denken unerwünscht!|url=https://kenfm.de/positionen-18/|access-date=2020-10-17|website=KenFM.de|language=de|archive-date=2021-08-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811085254/https://kenfm.de/positionen-18/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Work === In an interview with the German YouTube channel ''Schools of Trust'', Stern said that creating new work costs more than what it generates which is why he thinks that humanity will work less in the future.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkrfx8jAfcM&t|title = Bertrand Stern, Bruder von Andre Stern - Kritik an Schulsystem und Schulpflicht ///School of Trust| website=YouTube }}</ref>

== Literature ==

* ''Bildungsfreiheit statt Bildungspflicht.'' In: ''Jahrbuch Kinder-Recht und Jugendpolitik.'' Wiss. Verlag Wilde, Fürth 1992, {{ISBN|3-926810-23-8}}. * ''Schule? Nein danke! Für ein Recht auf freie Bildung!'' In: Kristian Kunert (publisher): ''Schule im Kreuzfeuer. Auftrag – Aufgaben – Probleme. Ringvorlesung zu Grundfragen der Schulpädagogik an der Universität Tübingen.'' Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 1993, {{ISBN|3-87116-918-8}}. * (as publisher): ''Kinderrechte zwischen Resignation und Vision.'' 2., erw. und überarb. Auflage. Verlag Klemm & Oelschläger, Ulm 1995, {{ISBN|3-9802739-6-2}}. * ''Weile statt Eile! Unterwegs zu einer Kultur der Muße?'' Klemm+Oelschläger, Ulm 1996, {{ISBN|3-9802739-8-9}}. * ''Schluß mit Schule! das Menschenrecht, sich frei zu bilden.'' tologo, Leipzig 2006, {{ISBN|3-9810444-5-2}}. * ''Sehr verehrte Frau Bundesministerin für das deutsche Schulwesen...: Nachdenkliches über die Bildungsrepublik.'' tologo, Leipzig 2008, {{ISBN|978-3-940596-03-1}}. * ''Schule – Ein tragischer Unfall?'' In: Ulrich Klemm (publisher): ''Bildung ohne Zwang. Texte zur Geschichte der anarchistischen Pädagogik.'' Edition AV, Lich 2010, {{ISBN|978-3-86841-037-2}}. * (with Ulrich Klemm): ''Vom Glück des Nichtstuns: Muße statt Pädagogik.'' tologo, Leipzig 2011, {{ISBN|978-3-940596-14-7}}. * (with Franziska Klinkigt): ''Versuche zur Verteidigung der Freiheit. Diskussionen zur „Bildungsrepublik“.'' Klemm + Oelschläger, Ulm/Münster 2013, {{ISBN|978-3-86281-060-4}}. * ''Frei sich bilden – Entschulende Perspektiven.'' tologo, Leipzig 2015, {{ISBN|978-3-937797-34-2}}. * ''Saat der Freiheit. Impulse für aufblühende Bildungslandschaften.'' Klein Jasedow 2016, {{ISBN|978-3-927369-96-2}}. * ''Zum Ausbruch aus der Beschulungsideologie: Gute Gründe, auch juristisch den Schulverweigerern unser prospektives Vertrauen zu schenken.'' In: Matthias Kern (publisher): ''Selbstbestimmte und selbstorganisierte Bildung versus Schulpflicht.'' tologo, Leipzig 2016, {{ISBN|978-3-937797-59-5}}. * Gabriel – Vom Entdecken eines glücklich befreiten Lebens. Klemm & Oelschläger, Ulm, 2018, {{ISBN|978-3-86281-131-1}}.

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links ==

*[http://www.bertrandstern.de/ Personal website] {{in lang|de}} *{{IMDb name|nm9301276|Bertrand Stern}} *[https://vimeo.com/user126113207 Bertrand Stern] on Vimeo *[http://www.frei-sich-bilden.de/bertrand-stern/ Bertrand Stern] on www.frei-sich-bilden.de (in German) *[http://bertrandstern-stiftung.de Bertrand-Stern-Stiftung] – official website (in German)

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Bertrand}} Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century German philosophers Category:21st-century German philosophers Category:People from Siegburg Category:20th-century German male writers Category:21st-century German male writers