 “I have heard so much gossip about who got a slap and so forth ... We should be quiet about how we handle things in the school ... We should not speak to people outside the school....” — Rudolf Steiner [1] ADVICE FOR PARENTS including A PARENT’S GUIDE TO WALDORF DANGERS by Roger Rawlings Afterword by Cathy Balme Waldorf schools (sometimes called Steiner schools) generally claim to be nonsectarian. But in fact, all genuine Waldorf schools are religious institutions operated in accordance with the tenets of Anthroposophy, a gnostic semi-Christian religion founded by the mystic Rudolf Steiner. If you are considering a Waldorf school for your child, read a couple of books by Steiner. See if your view of the world coincides with his. Perhaps the best choice is FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER. [2] In it, you will find Steiner’s instructions to the teachers at the first Waldorf school — you will learn, in Steiner’s own words, what Steiner intended Waldorf teachers to do to their students. If after reading Steiner you still have an interest in Waldorf schools, visit the particular school you are considering and ask searching questions. Do the children recite a morning prayer or “verse”? Ask for the precise words. What sorts of books are in (or banned from) the library? Go into the library and look around. Are science courses taught straight, or with an antiscientific bent? Ask what role mythology plays in the curriculum. Ask who Rudolf Steiner was. Ask for his views on evolution. Ask about clairvoyance (Steiner claimed to be clairvoyant — and he taught that people can grow “organs of clairvoyance”). Ask about the purpose of eurythmy (Steiner said this form of dance connects people directly to the spirit realm). Pass around copies of Steiner quotations that raise questions for you, then ask those questions.  Try to learn how deeply committed the school is to Steiner’s doctrines. Not all Waldorfs are alike. Some may distance themselves from Steiner’s racism, for instance. The problem, however, is that Steiner’s entire system is built on his clairvoyant, mystical “insights” (which include his racist “insights”). A Waldorf school cannot wholly rid itself of mysticism unless it wholly renounces Steiner — in which case it ceases to be a real Waldorf school. Halfway measures may be possible — affirming some of Steiner’s mystical teachings while rejecting others — but mysticism would necessarily remain entrenched in the curriculum, while some of the “truths” that gave that mysticism its justification would be absent. The resulting educational approach, tacking among an expurgated set of Steiner’s teachings, would inevitably lose much of its coherence and rationale. Jewish parents may want to take special precautions. Think carefully about Steiner’s racism, the emphasis he placed on Jesus, and the anti-Semitic comments he made, such as that there is no reason for Judaism to exist, Jews are materialistic, Jews are prone to certain diseases, the god of the Jews is only one god among many gods. [3] You also may want to investigate the debate over possible ties between some Anthroposophists and Nazis. [4] All parents of all backgrounds who consider Waldorf schools for their children should press persistently for honest answers about the schools’ policies and underlying theology. If you mistrust any answers you receive, send your kids elsewhere. Their lives are in your hands.  [R. R., 2010.]
To read a series of messages written to assist a parent in distress over Waldorf schools, see "Help!" Concerning visits to a Waldorf school: Be prepared. See "Visits". You will have to take over children for their education and instruction — children who will have received already (as you must remember) the education, or mis-education given them by their parents. Indeed our intentions will only be fully accomplished when we, as humanity, will have reached the stage where parents, too, will understand that special tasks are set for mankind to-day, even for the first years of the child's education. But when we receive the children into the school we shall still be able to make up for many things which have been done wrongly, or left undone, in the first years of the child's life. For this we must fill ourselves with the consciousness through which alone we can truly teach and educate. — Rudolf Steiner, addressing Waldorf teachers [THE STUDY OF MAN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 16]. Waldorf schools often describe themselves as offering “holistic” education. They say they educate the “whole child” — head, heart, and hands. To understand what these fine words mean in a Waldorf context, see “Holistic Education”.  [Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, 2004.] Waldorf educators have become increasingly skilled at making their curriculum seem "normal." The teachers' guide shown here is a good example. Much of the book presents more or less straightforward, simple chemistry. The impression is created that Waldorf teachers following the book would teach modern science in a fair and balanced manner. The author even has nice things to say about Darwin and Einstein [pp. 250, 259.], scientists whom Anthroposophists normally scorn. And yet, if you carefully consider the statements made in the book, you can easily perceive how in Waldorf schools the teaching of chemistry is bent to serve the occult purposes of Anthroposophy. Here are three excerpts. They are written in the sort of code Waldorf teachers often employ — the words may sound fine until you stop to mull them over: "Waldorf education works with the developmental stages of growth in children. The harmonious unfolding of the personality depends on the healthy maturation of each developmental stage...." [p. 7.] "Pre-school children are informed about the world through their bodily or sense impressions. The wonder of the world passes directly into their physical/sensory organization through every experience they encounter. Impressions are stored as cellular memory as the organs of the body are being sculpted." [p. 7.] "When a foundation of observation and disciplined thinking is established, the high school science teacher now introduces a new type of thinking ... [F]irst a phenomenon is carefully observed; second, the rigors and laws of thinking and science are applied ... third, everything up to now is laid to rest, the mind is cleared, and the phenomenon itself is allowed to speak. The student observes what comes forward while keeping the mind from straying ... This type of thinking is freed from the senses and allows the universe to speak through the individual. It is a type of thinking which is truly moral and can be the fertile ground for the 'new' science of the twenty-first century." [pp. 12-13.] What is wrong with any of that? Let's observe with disciplined thinking: Anthroposophists believe that students mature through a precisely defined series of "developmental stages": These are seven-year-long periods during which invisible bodies (the etheric body, the astral body, and the "I") incarnate. [See "Most Significant".] Anthroposophists also believe that children arrive on Earth from their past lives (reincarnation), retaining memories of the wondrous spirit realm. The "physical/sensory organization" of children (a phrase taken straight from Steiner) bears this spiritual imprint. The kids' overall "organization" extends beyond the physical body to multiple, invisible spirit and soul components: This is the "human organization" Steiner often discussed.* "Cellular memory" is a speculative notion with little basis in real science: It posits that our cells hold the patterns of our history and mentality, independent of DNA or the brain. Anthroposophists like the concept because it can be made to fit with their belief that the physical body is "sculpted" by spiritual forces, including the astrological effects of the stars and constellations. [See "What We Are".] The "new type of thinking" is Anthroposophical thinking, very much akin to meditation ("the mind is cleared ... keeping the mind from straying"). Such meditation is key to Steiner's doctrine that one can discipline the mind and thus become clairvoyant. [See "Clairvoyance".] The "phenomenon" or "universe" is said to "speak" when the spirit flows through it into the receptive mind. Anthroposophical thinking is "freed from the senses" because, as Steiner taught, real thinking doesn't depend on the brain but on invisible "organs of clairvoyance." [See "Thinking Cap".] Such thinking is "moral" because it is spiritual (not like the neutral objectivity aimed at in real science) and it leads to the "'new' science" which, for Anthroposophists, is spiritual science — Anthroposophy itself.** [See "Steiner's 'Science'".] So, as you can see, even careful statements made by Anthroposophists trying to hide their occultism often reveal this very occultism. We get a hint of this from the very title of the book: It refers to "Waldorf Chemistry". What is this? It is not the same as ordinary chemistry; it is Goethean science of the sort promoted by Steiner. [See "Goethe".]
 It is not uncommon to find Anthroposophical symbols — often presented in a distinctive Anthroposophical style — in and around Waldorf schools. Here are seven occult planetary columns intended for use in the second Goetheanum, the worldwide Anthroposophical headquarters. This is my sketch of a design created by Christian Hitsch and P. A. Wolf, based on indications given by Steiner. [Rudolf Steiner, ARCHITECTURE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 129. R. R. sketch, 2010.]  Comprehending the occult thinking that lies behind Waldorf schools can be difficult — but the effort is necessary. Here is one example of Waldorfthought. If you don't fully grasp the details, you can still perceive the mysticism involved: invisible beings, clairvoyance, occult poisoning and health... “It is a remarkable thing that animals and man, who in their lower organs are in fact earth-bound, should experience as poison what has become corrupted on the earth in the belladonna, whereas birds such as thrushes and blackbirds, which should really get this in a spiritual way from the sylphs ["elemental beings" that live in the air] — and indeed through the benevolent sylphs do so obtain it — should be able to assimilate it, even when what belongs up above in their region has been carried downwards to the earth. They find nourishment in what is poison for beings more bound to the earth. "Thus you get a conception of how, on the one side, through gnomes [elemental beings that live in the earth] and undines [elemental beings that live in water] what is of a parasitic nature strives upwards from the earth towards other beings, and of how the poisons filter downwards from above. "... And so you have gained a picture of those beings which are just on the boundary of the world lying immediately beyond the threshold, and of how, if they carry their impulses to their final issue, they become the bearers of parasites, of poisons, and therewith of illnesses. Now it becomes clear how far man in health raises himself above the forces that take hold of him in illness. For illness springs from the malevolence of these beings who are necessary for the upbuilding of the whole structure of nature, but also for its fading and decay. "These are the things which, arising from instinctive clairvoyance, underlie such intuitions as those of the Indian Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva ... Brahma is intimately related to all that is of the nature of the fire-beings ["salamanders" — elemental beings that live in fire], and the sylphs; Vishnu with all that is of the nature of sylphs and undines; Shiva with all that is of the nature of undines and gnomes. Generally speaking, when we go back to these more ancient conceptions, we find everywhere the pictorial expressions for what must be sought today as lying behind the secrets of nature.” [Rudolf Steiner, MAN AS SYMPHONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1970), lecture 8, GA 230. R.R. sketch, 2010.] Waldorf schools generally acknowledge that their methods are based on Anthroposophy (i.e., the clairvoyant "insights" of Rudolf Steiner), but they say they do not teach Anthroposophy to the students. This is not quite true, but let's accept it as true. How reassuring is it? Consider this analogy. Imagine a school that says "All of our methods are based on voodoo. However, we do not teach voodoo to the children." Would you be reassured? Would you send your child to that school? A PARENT’S GUIDE TO WALDORF DANGERS Most of the following are passages adapted from other essays on this Web site. If you are acquainted with these passages, please skip ahead to the Addendum. ◊◊◊◊ A child attending a full-fledged Waldorf school will be educated in accordance with Steiner’s dubious theory of human nature. The effects on the child may be profound. Here’s a glimpse of the Waldorf perspective on human nature. (Also see my essay “What We’re Made Of” at this Web site.)
◊ Every real human being eventually has a physical body plus several nonphysical bodies and components (including an “etheric body,” an “astral body,” and an “I”). In order to understand Waldorf teaching methods, you should know that, according to Anthroposophical doctrine, each human child is in the process of gathering additional, invisible “bodies.” A Steiner-inspired education seeks to facilitate the process of acquiring these bodies. Imagine trying to explain to a public school teacher how a curriculum can be designed to help students manifest their nonphysical bodies. (For more on all this, see my essays “Unenlightened” and/or “The Waldorf Scandal”. We will look into Steiner's claim that some children are not real humans, below.)
◊ According to Steiner, each student represents one of four “temperaments”: sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic. Waldorf teachers should segregate students into these categories, and discourage any mingling. “The temperaments that are next to each other merge into one another and mingle; so it will be good to arrange your groups as follows: if you put the phlegmatics together it is good to have the cholerics on the opposite side, and let the two others, the melancholics and sanguines, sit between them.” [5] (See my essay “Humouresque”.) ◊ Steiner taught that human beings have twelve senses: “First, we have the four senses of touch, life, movement and balance. These senses are primarily permeated by will ... The next group of senses, namely smell, taste, sight and temperature are primarily senses of feeling ... I need to add that the sense of I and the senses of thought, hearing and speech are more cognitive senses....” [6] Some parts of that quotation probably need clarification. The "sense of the I” is one’s perception of her/his defining spiritual self: “the spiritual sense of our Self.” [7] As for “cognitive senses,” Steiner said that there are several ways for an individual to gain knowledge, including some that function while one is dreaming or asleep. [8]
◊ Deep knowledge of the spirit world(s) becomes available when one develops the necessary “organs” for clairvoyance: “[J]ust as natural forces build out of living matter the eyes and ears of the physical body, so will organs of clairvoyance build themselves....” [9] ◊◊◊◊ Waldorf teachers participate in a mystic/gnostic system that has significant potential to harm children. Here’s a revealing comment made by Steiner to Waldorf teachers: “Among the faculty, we must certainly carry within us the knowledge that we are not here for our own sakes, but to carry out the divine cosmic plan. We should always remember that when we do something, we are actually carrying out the intentions of the gods, that we are, in a certain sense, the means by which that streaming down from above will go out into the world.” [10] Note the word “gods.” Anthroposophy is, indeed, a weird religion, and children will be exposed to it — probably indirectly, subtly, secretively — in most Waldorf schools. As Steiner said: “Anthroposophy will be in the school when it is objectively justified, that is, when it is called for by the material itself.” [11] Steiner promoted Anthroposophy as the great, objective truth that underlies all phenomena and knowledge. He also considered Waldorf teachers to be instruments for achieving the “gods’” purposes. So Anthroposophy will pervade virtually every subject in the Waldorf curriculum. When will Anthroposophy be “called for by the material”? Almost always. Perhaps the plainest way to summarize this is to say that Steiner wished to brainwash children into pro-Anthroposophical beliefs and views. ◊◊◊◊ For Steiner and his followers, the truest thinking is not rational cognition or brainwork, which they deem dry and un-heartfelt. Proper “thinking,” in their view, is tempered by imagination: It is more akin to emotion than to cool, rational conceptualizing. For this very reason, it often leads to complication or even mystification rather than to clarity. Ask yourself whether it is what you want for your children. Seen through Waldorf eyes, nothing in the world is as it seems. What we see around us isn’t what it is, exactly — it is always something more, or less — there are layers upon layers of hidden deeps. The Anthroposophical solution is to feel one’s way past appearances by opening outwards through imagination or clairvoyance (in Anthroposophy, these terms are sometimes synonymous). Here’s an example of the sorts of insight “clairvoyance” can lead to: “There are beings that can be seen with clairvoyant vision at many spots in the depths of the earth ... If you dig into the metallic or stony ground you find beings which manifest at first in remarkable fashion — it is as if something were to scatter us. They seem able to crouch close together in vast numbers, and when the earth is laid open they appear to burst asunder ... Many names have been given to them, such as goblins, gnomes and so forth ... Their nature prompts them to play all sorts of tricks on man....” [12] ◊◊◊◊  By hook or by crook, children in Waldorf schools are directed toward otherworldly aspirations and beliefs, and they are often diverted from a realistic comprehension of the real world. Let’s hear again from Steiner, talking again to Waldorf teachers: “We can accomplish our work only if we do not see it as simply a matter of intellect or feeling, but, in the highest sense, as a moral spiritual task. Therefore, you will understand why, as we begin this work today, we first reflect on the connection we wish to create from the very beginning between our activity and the spiritual worlds.... Thus, we wish to begin our preparation by first reflecting upon how we connect with the spiritual powers in whose service and in whose name each one of us must work.” [13] So, according to Steiner, Waldorf teachers labor in the “service” of “spiritual powers,” and they exercise these labors upon their students. As to whether Waldorf schools impart a realistic view of the real world, here are some enlightening comments made by Steiner:
◊ “[T]he brain and nerve system have nothing at all to do with actual cognition....” [14]
◊ Science “sees the heart as a pump that pumps blood through the body. Now there is nothing more absurd than believing this, for the heart has nothing to do with pumping the blood.” [15]
◊ “With the students, we should at least try to ... make it clear that, for instance, an island like Great Britain swims in the sea and is held fast by the forces of the stars. In actuality, such islands do not sit directly upon a foundation; they swim and are held fast from outside.” [16]
◊ “[I]t is not that the planets move around the Sun, but these three, Mercury, Venus, and the Earth, follow the Sun, and these three, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, precede it.” [17]
◊ “[R]ealize that looking at the human head you are looking at the transformed body of your previous earth life, and that the head you had then was the transformed body of your preceding life — you must imagine it without the head, of course. The head you see now is the transformed organism of the last life lived on earth. The rest of the organism as you see it now will be the head in the next life. Then the arms will have metamorphosed and become ears, and the legs will have become eyes.” [18] This last one is extremely strange, even by Waldorf standards. The gist of the quotation is that Anthroposophists believe in reincarnation. ◊◊◊◊ I wish that my parents or I had read some of Steiner’s books while I was in a Waldorf school. Surely my parents would have yanked me out fast if they had seen passages such as the ones I’m quoting here. The parents of the other students in my school should have read a few of these books, too. Waldorf would quickly have become depopulated. If anyone who gets involved with a Waldorf school winds up feeling deceived about the nature and purposes of the school, s/he must accept part of the responsibility. Steiner frequently spoke with Waldorf teachers about the need to deceive non-Anthroposophists. Three quick examples: ◊ “We also need to speak about a prayer. I ask only one thing of you. You see, in such things everything depends upon the external appearances. Never call a verse a prayer, call it an opening verse before school. Avoid allowing anyone to hear you, as a faculty member, using the word ‘prayer.’” [19] ◊ “Such cases are increasing in which children are born with a human form, but are not really human beings ... I do not like to talk about such things since we have often been attacked even without them. Imagine what people would say if they heard that we say there are people who are not human beings....” [20] We’ll examine the subject of people who are not human, below. ◊ When the students at the first Waldorf did poorly in standardized final exams, Steiner said he wished he and the Waldorf faculty dared to be honest about their intentions: “ ... whether we dare tell those who come to us that we will not prepare them for the final examination at all....” [21] As we saw in the epigraph I used, above (“I have heard so much gossip...”), Steiner’s general rule was that Waldorf teachers should reveal nothing to anyone outside the school, and even within the school that should keep parents generally uninformed. I will return to this statement later. ◊◊◊◊  ◊◊◊◊ Whether or not Steiner was clinically sane, it is frightening that anyone ever took him seriously, much less founded schools devoted to his doctrines. Above, I said that Steiner taught that some people are not human. Let’s return to a passage I quoted and flesh it out a bit more (the original passage is too long to quote in full, here — but you can easily find it in the book I refer to). The following is a little discussion between Steiner and Waldorf teachers, concerning a first-grade student who had learning disabilities: [Dr. Steiner]: “Such cases are increasing in which children are born with a human form, but are not really human beings ... instead, they are filled with beings that do not belong to the human class. Quite a number of people have been born ... [who] are not reincarnated, but are human forms filled with a sort of natural demon....” [A teacher]: “How is that possible?” [Dr. Steiner]: “Cosmic error is certainly not impossible ... I do not like to talk about such things since we have often been attacked even without them. Imagine what people would say if they heard that we say there are people who are not human beings....” [22]
◊◊◊◊
It seems undeniable that, as a general trend, what happened within my Waldorf’s walls decades ago is being replayed now, in different forms, throughout the nation. Here’s a statement made, not long ago, about what goes on inside Waldorf schools today here in the USA. The speaker — who is a Waldorf teacher, one who sends his own children to a Waldorf school — first refers to a prayer that students in most Waldorf schools recite every morning. Then he enlarges on his theme: "I'm glad my daughter gets to speak about God every morning ... That's why I send her to a Waldorf school. She can have a religious experience. A religious experience. I'll say it again: I send my daughter to a Waldorf school so that she can have a religious experience." [23] (See my essays “Waldorf Now”, "Today", and “Non-Waldorf Waldorfs”.) Perhaps you want your children to have religious experiences. Fine. But do you want that religion to be Anthroposophy? ◊◊◊◊ I would not want others to go through what I experienced after graduating from a Waldorf school: a long, wearisome struggle to recover from a Waldorf “education” and to find one’s footing in reality. ◊◊◊◊ “Steiner viewed human beings as consisting of three spheres of activity — the head, the heart, and the will — that manifest through thoughts, feelings and physical actions. To educate children to be complete and balanced human beings, we must attend to the needs of all three aspects of a child’s being. From the Waldorf perspective, attaining knowledge is one purpose of the learning process, but just as important — and perhaps even more important — is to educate the heart and the will of the child, so that knowledge is joined with reverence and action.” [24] Note that at Waldorf schools, educating hearts and wills is at least as important as — and may be “even more important” than — imparting knowledge. This deviates significantly from a conventional definition of education. Also, clearly, you should ask what is meant by “educating” the heart and the will. What sorts of emotions and desires are Waldorf schools pushing? I’ll sketch in some of the answers in the following two passages. ◊◊◊◊ In sensitizing a child to the supernatural, Waldorf teachers are at least partially trying to preserve what Anthroposophists say is the child’s innate connection to the spirit realm:  “Childhood is commonly regarded as a time of steadily expanding consciousness.... Yet in Steiner’s view, the very opposite is the case: childhood is a time of contracting consciousness.... [The child] loses his dream-like perception of the creative world of spiritual powers which is hidden behind the phenomena of the senses. This is ... the world of creative archetypes and spiritual hierarchies. “In mastering the world of physical perception the child encounters difficulties in that he first has to overcome a dream-like yet intensely real awareness of spiritual worlds. This awareness fades quickly in early childhood, but fragments of it live on in the child for a much longer time than most people imagine. “ ... In a Waldorf school, therefore, one of the tasks of the teachers is to keep the children young.” [25] Think about the implications of keeping children young as opposed to helping them to mature, especially mentally. ◊◊◊◊ Waldorf-style “thinking” is intended to be moderated by the faculties of intuition and/or imagination and/or clairvoyance. Taught that logic (i.e., methodical reasoning) is insufficient, the Waldorf student is directed toward spiritual experience that is notionally self-evident (i.e., no proof required). Is this is genuine thinking at all, or merely a form of wishfulness? Consider: “To what extent will [a child’s] thinking become purely logical and colorless, unenriched by imagination, uninformed by experience? ... More than ever, therefore, should the attempt be made with our adolescents to preserve from the earlier stage of childhood those capacities which are natural to it, and to unite them with the new gift of intellectual thought. For this means to transform thought from what it is at present — the capacity for abstract hypothesis — into the capacity for self-evident spiritual experience.” [26] Ask yourself whether an education aiming at such a form of “thought” is likely to equip children for life in the real world. In brief: Should we teach our children to live rationally in the real world or to have unsubstantiated intuitions of unseen worlds? (Steiner did not deny that some types of thinking occur in the brain, but he found little significance in such forms of thought. For him “real” thinking means clairvoyance.) ◊◊◊◊  For anyone who does not subscribe to Anthroposophy, Steiner’s blunders must seriously weaken the plausibility of “spiritual science” (i.e., Anthroposophy, the religion that underlies Waldorf “education”). His errors are hard to overlook or excuse. From today’s perspective, Steiner’s racism was a particularly grave error. Perhaps we might explain it away by saying that Steiner was a man of his times, sharing the prevailing views and attitudes (including prejudices) of his times. The trouble with such a defense, for Anthroposophists, is that it undermines the indispensable premise that Steiner, a professed clairvoyant, could see ultimate truth. The whole point of being a soothsayer, after all, is to say sooth: speak truth. Yet Steiner repeatedly failed this paramount test of his “profession.” Here’s what Steiner said about the French “race” and their language: “The use of the French language quite certainly corrupts the soul. The soul acquires nothing more than the possibility of clichés. Those who enthusiastically speak French transfer that to other languages. The French are also ruining what maintains their dead language, namely, their blood. The French are committing the terrible brutality of moving black people to Europe, but it works, in an even worse way, back on France. It has an enormous effect on the blood and the race and contributes considerably toward French decadence. The French as a race are reverting.” [27] ◊◊◊◊ On the crucial subject of racism: ◊ Steiner taught that the external physical characteristics of the various races reflect and even cause those races’ inner qualities. Hair- and eye-color, for instance, have great significance, showing why whites are smarter: “In the case of fair people, less nourishment is driven into the eyes and hair; it remains instead in the brain and endows it with intelligence. Brown- and dark-haired people drive the substances into their eyes and hair that the fair people retain in their brains.” [28] ◊ Racial differences, according to Steiner, are much more than skin deep. He taught that whites are humanity’s vanguard: “The white race is the future, the race that is creating spirit.” [29] You'll find more on this disagreeable subject in the Addendum, below. ◊◊◊◊ According to Steiner, a Waldorf school should be authoritarian, with strict discipline. If need be, the discipline should include corporal punishment. Waldorf teachers should present themselves as unyielding authority figures. Steiner said, “[K]eep the children from losing their feeling for authority. That is what they need most. You can best achieve this by going into things with the children very cautiously, but under no circumstances giving in.” [30] The discipline needed for the school to work properly must be maintained strictly. “We may never place ourselves in a situation where we may have to relent in a disciplinary decision.” [31] This may require inflicting pain on the students. For instance, “If a child comes late ten minutes, have him or her stand for half an hour ... Let them stand uncomfortably ... you can be particularly effective if you allow [sic] them to stand in an uncomfortable place ... They may even get cramps in their legs.” [32] In extreme cases, spanking or slapping may be required. “Under certain circumstances it may be necessary to spank a child ... I have to admit that there are rowdies....” [33] Slapping is generally not productive, Steiner said. But he allowed that a teacher may feel compelled to administer a slap. In that case, the student should recognize the gravity of the action. “If you give them a slap, you should do it the way Dr. Schubert does ... There are physical slaps and astral [nonphysical] slaps. It doesn’t matter which one you give, but you cannot slap a child sentimentally.” [p. 323] “Astral” slaps — psychological or spiritual punishment — may be preferable to physical slaps, but note that Steiner’s statement is quite different from what he could have said, such as: You must never slap a student, period. ◊◊◊◊ If you are thinking about sending your children to a school where Steiner’s doctrines are observed, think long and hard. If you already have children in such a school, consider removing them. My advice? Get them out.
Here is an excerpt from an account given by parents who sent their children to a Waldorf school. (This is from a Norwegian Website; I have done some light editing. — R.R.) http://www.steinerkritikk.no/In%20English.htm The Waldorf schools present their anti-materialistic and [pro-]ecological values to people searching other ways to lead their lives – ourselves included. A lot of the Steiner/Waldorf values are similar to those of the green- and the anticapitalist movement. What scared us the most, was the fact that we, in order to find the very best pedagogical alternative for our children, were led to believe that the pedagogical tools of the Waldorf school were not closely linked to Antroposophy, but separable from their religious beliefs, whereas the whole movement in every possible way evolves around the thoughts of reincarnation and hierarchic structure. [Anthroposophy says] your life, your existential situation, the ones you love, your health are all a result of how you led your previous lives. And if or when you become critical, you will be told that you have not studied enough. Unfortunately we experienced the school to be a highly religious sect with no respect whatsoever for legal contracts, and with no continuing professional development, and [no commitment] to what we regard to be social responsibility. In very subtle ways, and with a mild and friendly smile, they assure you that the children’s education is in the best of hands. But, as time showed us, their teacher-training consists exclusively of the spiritual fantasies of one single man [i.e., Rudolf Steiner]. And having done teaching there ourselves, we found their curriculum not comparable to what is required from the state, nor [is it what they] claimed. — Kristín A. Sandberg To keep things balanced, here is a list of statements by people praising Waldorf schools. I will respond to them in general, but I will make a specific response only to the first, taking it as a representative example. Similar replies can be made to all the others — and indeed such replies are implicitly made on other pages here at Waldorf Watch. See my comments at the end of this list. I have taken the list from "Waldorf Answers": [http://www.waldorfanswers.com/WaldorfComments.htm] Note that some of the statements were made by people with little or no direct experience in Waldorf or Steiner schools. Kenneth Chenault, (also here) Chairman and CEO of American Express, former Waldorf student (Waldorf School of Garden City): "My parents were looking for a school that would nurture the whole person. They also felt that the Waldorf school would be a far more open environment for African Americans, and that was focused on educating students with values, as well as the academic tools necessary to be constructive and contributing human beings. ... I think the end result of Waldorf education is to raise our consciousness. There is a heightened consciousness of what our senses bring us from the world around us, about our feelings, about the way we relate to other people. It taught me how to think for myself, to be responsible for my decisions. Second, it made me a good listener, sensitive to the needs of others. And third, it helped establish meaningful beliefs. In all the Main Block lessons -- in history, science, philosophy -- we really probed the importance of values and beliefs. In dealing with a lot of complex issues and a lot of stress, if that isn't balanced by a core of meaningful beliefs, you really will just be consumed and fail." Evelyn Galinski, former Waldorf pupil and daughter of Heinz Galinski, Auschwitz survivor and Chairman of the Central Jewish Council in Germany from 1988 until his death in 1992: "I personally have had only good experiences during my school time; it was liberal, antiracist, tolerant of every faith and not missionary" Julianna Margulies, Actress, former Waldorf student (High Mowing Waldorf School): "The first time I understood the benefit of a Waldorf education was my first week in college. Students around me were flipping out because they were afraid of writing papers. At High Mowing we had at least ten pages to write every night. It was such a big part of our education that I was very confident in my writing. We had to analyze each scene, then write the analysis. I still have my "Faust" main lesson book with me. When I wrote about it, I was able to expand my thinking and make it my own. That's what's so wonderful about Waldorf education. You're exposed to all these different ideas, but you're never given one view of it. You're encouraged to think as an individual." Diana Kerry, sister of former Presidential candidate John Kerry about the time she went to the Rudolf Steiner School in Berlin in 1954 (at age 7), during their father's work there as diplomat at the American Consulate (John, 11 at the time, was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland): "The classes were in German. Of course I did not understand much at first. During a stage play I had to play the devil - the role had no lines. But in the end I knew the whole play by heart. I learnt German quickly, and John also still knows some words." "I think that this time in Berlin somehow set the course for my life." (Der Tagesspiegel, Nov. 2, 2004) Russell Schweickart, Apollo 9 astronaut, NASA Astronaut Technical Advisor, California Energy Commission, former Waldorf parent: "My daughter's experience at the Waldorf school has been both exciting and mind opening. I hope that more people can make Waldorf education available to their children." Joseph Weizenbaum, Professor (now emeritus), MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), author ofComputer Power and Human Reason: "Being personally acquainted with a number of Waldorf students, I can say that they come closer to realizing their own potential than practically anyone I know." An interview with Prof. Weizenbaum. Ernest L Boyer (1928-1995), Former President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: "Those in the public school reform movement have some important things to learn from what Waldorf educators have been doing for many years. It is an enormously impressive effort toward quality education, and schools would be advised to familiarize themselves with the basic assumptions that under gird the Waldorf movement. Art as it helps to reveal the use of language, art as it can be revealed in numbers, and certainly in nature" Albert Watson, International fashion photographer, former Waldorf student at the Rudolf Steiner school in Edinburgh: "It was art-oriented, that's for sure. They were very interested in your inner creativity, but at the same time they were instilling a certain amount of discipline to maximise it. And I have, from my Scottish background, a very, very solid work ethic. I'm dedicated to the work, to doing good work and doing things the right way." Thomas Armstrong, Ph D, Author: "In Their Own Way. Discovering and Encouraging Your Child's Personal Learning Style": "Cultural literacy is the key concern throughout a Waldorf program, and here Waldorf educators are also in accord with other experts in their field. Apparently many parents are discovering that Waldorf fills a need for a creative, artistic approach to learning that is hard to find elsewhere." Joseph Chilton Pearce, Author: "The Magical Child", "The Crack in the Cosmic Egg": "The beauty of the Waldorf school is that it is designed entirely to keep children intact until they are ready to move out into the world as whole individuals." Michael Ende, Author: "The Neverending Story", former Waldorf student: "I am deeply grateful for Waldorf education, which woke me up and helped me rediscover my imagination." Jennifer Aniston, Actress, former Waldorf student: "I was always fascinated by acting, but my experience at Rudolf Steiner [school] encouraged me to pursue it as a career." "Steiner was a free-spirited school that encouraged creativity and individualism." Eric Utne, founder of, publisher, and former editor-in-chief of Utne Reader, (described by The New York Times as "one of the most distinctive voices in magazine journalism") now a Waldorf teacher: "My son Leif attended a Waldorf school from nursery through eighth grade. Even more gratifying than his specific achievements are his ongoing infatuation with learning and absence of incapacitating cynicism. ... Waldorf schools generally turn out young people who get into the colleges of their choice, but more importantly are well prepared for life. I hope this form of education becomes the basis for public school curriculum throughout the United States. And I hope it happens soon." Selma Lagerlöf (1859-1940), 1909 Nobel Literature Laureate: "[Rudolf Steiner] taught a number of things in which I have long believed, among them that it is no longer possible in our time to offer a religion full of unsubstantiated miracles, but rather that religion must be a science which can be proven. It is no longer a question of belief, but of knowing. Further, we acquire knowledge of the spiritual world through steady, conscious, systematic thinking ... In years to come, his teachings will be proclaimed from the pulpits" Saul Bellow (1915-2005), 1976 Nobel Literature Laureate: "If I had a child of school age, I would send him to one of the Waldorf Schools." Marjorie Spock, Author: "Teaching as a lively art", teacher (sister of Dr. Benjamin Spock and inspirer of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring", that led to Earth Day): "Waldorf education enables young people to be in love with the world as the world should be loved." Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), 1952 Nobel Peace Laureate: "My meeting with Rudolf Steiner led me to occupy myself with him from that time forth and to remain always aware of his significance. We both felt the same obligation to lead man once again to true inner culture. I have rejoiced at the achievements his great personality and his profound humanity have brought about in the world." Gilbert H. Grosvenor (1875-1966), President & Chairman, National Geographic Society, former Waldorf parent: "It is a pleasure for me to write an endorsement for Waldorf Education ...[which] has been extraordinarily successful for my son. In three years, the remarkable, dedicated faculty has directed his attitude and energies toward academic achievement and civic responsibility... The school draws out the best of qualities in young people. While this is not an instant process, the values they learn by constant contact with the faculty will provide a lifetime platform from which to grow... - In summary this system works!" Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), Author, on Rudolf Steiner, after having met him during his Berlin time: "... meeting a man of such a magnetic personality at so early a stage, when he yielded himself to the younger people around him in friendship and without dogmatizing, was an incalculable gain for me. In his fantastic and at the same time profound knowledge I realized that true universality, which we, with the overweening pride of high school boys, thought we had already mastered, was not to be gained by flighty reading and discussion, but only by years of burning endeavor." Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986), Russian film director (Solaris, Stalker, Nostalghia, The Sacrifice): "Steiner offers us a world view that gives a reasonable place to the development of man in the spiritual area. And if you earlier in a serious way could take a materialistic position and explain the meaning of life and society on a physical-material basis, that is not any more possible today. Today, we need other views, we must develop our spiritual essence and finally ask the question about the meaning of life." Ken Wilber, Author (among many works: "Integral Psychology"): "Steiner (1861-1925) was an extraordinary pioneer ... and one of the most comprehensive psychological and philosophical visionaries of his time ... his overall vision is as moving as one could imagine." Konrad Oberhuber (1925-2007), world leading expert on Raphael, former Director of the Museum of Art Albertina in Vienna, former Professor of Fine Arts,Harvard University, then at International Christian University, Mitaka, Tokyo: "No other educational system in the world gives such a central role to the arts as the Waldorf school movement. Even mathematics is presented in an artistic fashion and related via dance, movement or drawing, to the child as a whole. Anything that can be done to further these revolutionary educational ideas will be of the greatest importance." Douglas Sloan, Ph D, Professor [Emeritus] of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University: "Based on a comprehensive, integrated understanding of the human being, a detailed account of child development, and with a curriculum and teaching practice that seeks unity of intellectual, emotional and ethical development at every point, Waldorf education deserves the attention of all concerned with education and the human future." Jack Miller, Professor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto: "Waldorf education has been an important model of holistic education for almost a century. It is one of the very few forms of education that acknowledges the soul-life of children and nurtures that life. It is truly an education for the whole child and will continue to be an important model of education as we move into the 21st century." Paul Bayers, (earlier) Professor at Teachers College,Columbia University: "The importance of storytelling, of the natural rhythms of daily life, of the evolutionary changes in the child, of art as the necessary underpinning of learning, and of the aesthetic environment as a whole - all basic to Waldorf education for the past 70 years - are being "discovered" and verified by researchers unconnected to the Waldorf movement." Bruno Walter (1876-1962), composer and conductor: "There is no task of greater importance than to give our children the very best preparation for the demands of an ominous future, a preparation that aims at the methodical cultivation of their spiritual and their moral gifts. As long as the exemplary work of the Waldorf School Movement continues to spread its influence as it has done over the past decades, we can all look forward with hope. I am sure that Rudolf Steiner's work for children must be considered a central contribution to the twentieth century and I feel it deserves the support of all freedom-loving thinking people." Dee Joy Coulter, Ed.D., founding member of Addressing Children's Traumas, Waldorf parent, keynote speaker at Waldorf conferences: I first heard of Waldorf education about five years ago, after having carried out extensive study of the neurological aspects of cognition, movement, and maturation. I was delighted to discover such a neurologically sound curriculum. I heartily support efforts to spread the awareness of Waldorf education and hope that it will spawn not only an increase in Waldorf schools, but an infusion of at least some of the ideas into the mainstream where they are so sorely needed. In Colorado, I am working with several districts to incorporate various Waldorf strategies into the teaching of reading and mathematics. The ideas are very well received and very much needed. Jane W. Hipolito, Ph D, Professor of English, California State University, Fullerton: "For the past ten years my teaching responsibilities have compelled me to inform myself not just about what would-be teachers need to learn. All of my instructionally related research into childhood has pointed toward the superiority of Waldorf education over all other current educational methods." Sidney M. Baker, M.D., former Executive Director ofGesell Institute of Human Development: "From careful observations of the child, Waldorf education arrived at the same conclusion (Gesell Institute) and applies the same principles to development of curricula for children's education: pushing skills before children are biologically ready sets them up to fail." James Shipman, History Department, Marin Academy, San Rafael, California: "What I like about the Waldorf school is, quite simply, its graduates. As a high school teacher at Marin Academy, I have seen a number of the students who come from Marin Waldorf, and I can say that in all cases they have been remarkable, bright, energetic and involved." Christian Morgenstern (1871-1914), German author and poet: "When it falls to the lot of his first biographer to recount the life of this great man, then, and only then, will the full extent of Rudolf Steiner's achievements and their, in the highest human sense, creative nature be revealed. Then men will view with profound amazement ... what irreplaceable strength and support [humanity] has received from this man's mind while this age hurtles onwards into the terrifying wasteland of materialism." ◊◊◊
If you are considering a Waldorf school for your child, I would urge you to consider the following question. What if a Waldorf school provided an excellent education but also attempted to lure students into occultism: Would you feel comfortable sending your child there? For personal reports by parents who sent children to Waldorf schools, and by former Waldorf students, and by former Waldorf board members, and by former Waldorf teachers, etc., see "Secrets", "Magical Arts", "Slaps", "Ex-Teacher", and "Moms" (etc.). Parents may also want to read “Non-Waldorf Waldorfs: Looking for a Good One” and "Clues" here at Waldorf Watch. To examine efforts by Waldorf schools to change their image as part of "a weird cult that brainwashes children," see "PR". To examine what may be Steiner's central educational "insight," see "Most Significant". For a detailed discussion of Steiner’s teachings and the nature of Waldorf education, please see “Unenlightened” on this site. For selections of revealing statements made by Steiner, see “Say What?” and "Wise Words" — I have included several statements from FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER. And in the essay "Faculty Meetings", I analyze several of these, and other, quotations. For relatively candid remarks by Rudolf Steiner on the spiritualistic agenda of Waldorf schools, see "Spiritual Agenda". For advice Steiner gave to Waldorf teachers, see "Advice" For a peek at Waldorf teacher training, see "Teacher Training" For an overview of the Waldorf spirit, see "Spirit" For information on signs and symbols you may spot at a Waldorf school, see "Signs"
For the experience of reading a lecture We'll walk through it together.  New Moon, by Elizabeth Lombardi. There is much beauty in and around Waldorf schools. Parents need to determine whether this beauty reflects truths they want to embrace, or perhaps something less compatible with their own views and values.  Kindergarten room at a Steiner school. EDUCATION WEEK, June 20, 2001 The Spirit of Waldorf Education By David Ruenzel Grass Valley, Calif. For a small but growing number of critics, the allure of public Waldorf schools is profoundly deceptive. The K-8 Yuba River Charter School here is, like many Waldorf schools, a place of astonishing beauty ... Inside classrooms painted in the soft pastels of sky and clouds are luxuriant student paintings ... Outside in the grassy quad, boys and girls twirl arm in arm in a medieval folk dance; a classmate plays the violin. When it's time to return to the classroom, a teacher jingles a bell. ...Waldorf education has received glowing national attention in recent years ... But, for a small but growing number of critics, the allure of public Waldorf schools like Yuba River and John Morse is profoundly deceptive. The schools, they say, may be tantalizingly beautiful, but they are in fact abusing the freedom granted to magnets and charters by promoting anthroposophy. ...Debra Snell, a former Waldorf parent who also served as one of the founding board members of Yuba River in 1994, likens Waldorf education to the tale of Hansel and Gretel. "Your critical thinking is suspended because the window dressings are so beautiful, but once you get inside, well, anthroposophy informs every second of every day," she says. ...Waldorf educators insist that anthroposophy is never presented in Waldorf public schools. But critics such as Snell argue that Steiner's anthroposophy is implicit in the curriculum and educational philosophy. "One night, as we were about to say grace," Snell recalls, "my son said to me, 'Why do we pray to the same God each night? I want to pray to Hermes,' " referring to the god from Greek mythology who served as a messenger to other gods. "The mythology he was learning at the Waldorf school was treated as fact," Snell maintains. ...In 1997, Snell joined forces with a longtime Waldorf opponent, Dan Dugan, and several others to form an organization called People for Legal and Nonsectarian education, or PLANS. ..."Like most parents [Dugan said], I was impressed with the beautiful environment, the dedicated teachers, the integration of art into everything. But over time, I came across a number of disturbing things." Among other causes of concern was the teaching of what his son called "baby science." He came home one day complaining that a 6th grade teacher, in the course of a chemistry unit, had said that the four elements were earth, air, fire, and water. That was followed, Dugan says, by other excursions into pseudo-science: The planets influence the growth of plants, light is "pure spirit," the heart doesn't pump blood. "The school had told me that they were teaching using a conventional science curriculum, using Steiner's teaching methods," Dugan recalls. "But this was all in fact Steiner content — anthroposophical doctrine." The school, Dugan says, gave him an ultimatum: Stop asking difficult questions or leave. He pulled his son out of the school after the 7th grade and embarked upon what became a decade-long study of Steiner, anthroposophy, and Waldorf education, collecting rafts of books and periodicals that constitute a small library at the back of his studio. He concluded that it was easier to split the atom than separate anthroposophy from Waldorf education. ...[C]hildren at Waldorf schools today are given no direct reading instruction in the early grades, as Steiner doctrine suggests that premature reading can impair the soul. Instead, instruction is oral, consisting primarily of a steady diet of fairy tales, legends, and myths that endow everything with feeling and nourish the "instinctive soul qualities of the imagination." Children often transcribe the tales into a main lesson book; they also fill the books with beautiful artwork tied to a given theme or subject. ...Steiner stated that "one who seeks knowledge of the human being must find it in anthroposophy." He also criticized his supporters who "propagate an education without letting it be known that anthroposophy is behind it." Of course, there is no necessary relationship between what Steiner said in 1924 and what occurs in Waldorf schools today. Nevertheless, a number of teachers say they left their Waldorf public schools because of the training they received at Rudolf Steiner College or the troubling experiences they had at their schools. Several of those teachers, who were contacted by Education Week, asked not to be identified, as they still teach in the sponsoring school districts. One former teacher, who taught at John Morse, the magnet school in Sacramento, in the mid-1990s (the school was then called Oak Ridge), says that she was drawn to the Waldorf program because of its emphasis on art and music, but that she had found some of the kindergarten training objectionable. "A lot of the training was very nature-driven, even animistic," she recalls. "Once, for instance, we participated in a ceremony in which we were told to 'thank' a tree, the presumption being that there's a spirit in the tree. When I objected, they told me that I wouldn't be successful." She also objected to a ceremony in which birthdays were celebrated by having the child dress in white clothing and sit upon a throne. "We were to walk around the child as many times as he was old, while the supervising teacher talked about the child as a 'spirit come down to earth,' " she says. "I said that I didn't believe in reincarnation, and I was again told I wouldn't do well." Barbara Roemer, who taught 5th grade at Yuba River, the Grass Valley charter school, in 1995-96 before resigning, but still works as an occasional grant writer for the school, says that she was troubled by some of the math and science instruction. "Math was almost all calculation, with little time for exploring topics like spatial concepts, or the construction of algorithms," she says. "And anthroposophy underpins much of the science instruction. All the texts I had in my training were Steinerian. There was also too much emphasis on demonstration, when I felt students needed engagement with scientific ideas." Even so, Roemer emphasizes that there is much she admires about Waldorf education that she wishes could be a part of all public schools: the art and the music, the downplaying of standardized testing, the reverence for nature. ...Most Waldorf public school educators contest the notion that their schools propagate anthroposophy. "There's just nothing to it," says Betty Staley, the director of teacher training at Rudolf Steiner College. ...Indeed, the issue of determining what practices at the public Waldorf schools may have their roots in anthroposophy is extremely difficult. Much is in the eyes of the beholder. ... Dan Dugan and PLANS have an accidental ally of sorts in a prominent Waldorf educator and author named Eugene Schwartz, who stirred up a hornets' nest when he invited Dugan to a 1999 conference at Sunbridge College, a Waldorf institution in Spring Valley, N.Y. Schwartz says he did so because Dugan was feared as a demagogue within the Waldorf community when, in reality, Schwartz argues, the Waldorf critic was pointing out genuine inconsistencies within the movement. "I've discovered that many Waldorf teachers actually agree with much of what Dugan has to say, but are afraid of speaking out on account of the leadership," Schwartz says. Schwartz himself says he's well aware of the dangers of speaking out. Shortly after the Dugan invitation, he was fired from his position as the director of teacher training at Sunbridge College following his criticism of the way in which Waldorf educators, in his view, were denying the movement's religious essence in order to move into public education. "Anthroposophy, true enough, is not sectarian, but we're lying if we say we're not bringing religious experiences to children," Schwartz says. "The way a Waldorf education speaks to children evokes religious experiences in them that are similar or identical to those they would have in a religious setting. Anthroposophy wants to make everything sacramental, and this can't help impacting the way we teach almost everything." [http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2001/06/20/41waldorf.h20.html?tkn=QLYF8Ifu7pY1ddKY4OZrLXJFaR8%2Fbl%2BhO%2FtW&print=1] Some illustrations on each page are closely connected to the essay on that page; others are not — they provide general context.  A temple of learning, so to speak. This is the front door of the Waldorf school I attended, as it was when the school first opened. Later, as the school expanded, this became a minor side door. [1963 PINNACLE (Inter-Collegiate Press, 1963).]  This sketch of scenery used for staging one of Steiner's "mystery plays" has some of the qualities you may detect in paintings created and displayed at Waldorf schools: watercolor, with transparent pastel shades, an effect of veils, vague organic/spiritual forms, a suggestion of passageways leading into the distance, perhaps some mysterious shapes like runes or occult symbols... Often the paintings, produced by Waldorf teachers, are far more accomplished than what you see here, creating an impression of many layers and thus great depth. The forms of art promoted at Waldorf schools are meant to have powerful occult effects. [R.R., 2009, based on a stage set used at the Goetheanum — see, e.g., GOETHEANUM: School of Spiritual Science (Philosophical-Anthroposophical Press, 1961), p. 21. Most Waldorfish art takes its lead from artwork created or specified by Steiner and now exemplified in works displayed at the Goetheanum.] The Norse goddess Freya. Many myths, fables, and legends weave through Waldorf schooling. Norse mythology is especially emphasized at most Waldorf schools. Steiner taught that gods such as Freya, Odin, and Zeus really exist. [Johannes Gehrts.] The following items are from the Waldorf Watch "news" page: The discussions at the waldorf-critics list are usually worth following, even if you disagree deeply with some of the views expressed. Here is the beginning of one recent message: “Steve Hale [an Anthroposophist] has been regularly harassing me by private email. He has been continuing the same type of attacks he tried on this list... trying to browbeat me into thinking I've been a 'bad father.'” [10-17-2011 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorf-critics/message/21786] The nastiness that one sometimes encounters from Anthroposophists can be shocking. There are, of course, many loving, sweet, and kind Anthroposophists — and people often choose Waldorf schools for their kids thinking that the schools are centers of loving sweetness and kindness. Sometimes they are. Sometimes they aren’t. What causes at least some Anthroposophists to become nasty? (This list has seen example after example.) True-believing Anthroposophists accept Rudolf Steiner’s almost inconceivably lunatic doctrines, which are almost impossible to defend. Yet Anthroposophists insist on defending them. This makes them testy, frustrated, and sometimes furious. There is, in other words, a fundamental insecurity or fragility that comes with believing nonsense, and this breaks out sometimes in Anthroposophical misbehavior. True-blue Anthroposophists are also self-righteous, thinking that they and Steiner are on the side of the angels while their opponents are on the side of the demons. There is no compromising with demons, of course — the way to deal with demons is to smash them. So Anthroposophists try to do a lot of smashing. It’s a little hard to imagine Jesus or Buddha — two spiritual guides Anthroposophists revere — behaving as Anthroposophists often behave. But after all, Anthroposophists are ordinary humans, subject to the frailties and failings of mortal humanity — even if they deny this. The denial in itself causes problems. You can’t fix your faults if you do not see your faults. Debra Snell, who served on the board of a Waldorf school, has written, “I used to watch the Waldorf teachers at parent gatherings (festivals). The teachers would stand on the stage with their arms around each other, singing songs in rounds, while parents beamed. ‘How lucky we are to have this school,’ was the mantra. Personally I was amazed by the teachers' performance as they presented a 'real' sense of unity between them. Amazed because behind closed doors, they were all backstabbers. Seemingly insecure people competing for the top position on the Anthroposophical dog pile. It was never pretty. There was a lot of acting out, both blatant and passive (aggressive). I thought it was just this school, these teachers at the time. Now I think it comes out of some very deep flaws that Anthroposophy is incapable of dealing with. At least so far.” [See “Coming Undone”.] The thing for newcomers to do when visiting Waldorf schools is to be on guard. Try to look beyond the gleaming surface. Don’t take everything you are told on faith. Understand that when entering a Waldorf school, you are entering an alternate universe, one that is in many ways severely disconnected from reality. [See, e.g., "Clues".] ◊◊◊◊ “The First Three Years: San Francisco Waldorf School Parenting Program "San Francisco Waldorf School’s Early Childhood Parenting Program offers two types of classes for babies, toddlers, and their parents. Observation classes are the first step in our program. They provide a gentle introduction to the group setting and a welcoming space for parents and children to explore and experience the rhythm and mood of Waldorf early childhood. Work and Play classes are for parents who have completed an Observation class. They encourage continued personal growth and exploration of Waldorf education through our established practice of quiet observation with the additional activity of inspired domestic and artistic work or observation and connection with one’s child in Nature.” [1-2-2012 http://www.redtri.com/san-francisco/the-first-three-years-san-francisco-waldorf-school-parenting-program] Although Waldorf schools generally employ a slow-learning approach — postponing reading and arithmetic until age 7, for example — they like to enroll children as early as possible. Thus, they often offer programs for infants too young to attend kindergarten. The underlying purposes are 1) to begin a child’s Anthroposophical* conditioning at the earliest possible age, and 2) to offset the influence of the child’s parents, who are presumed not to understand the true nature or needs of children. Anthroposophists believe that only they possess the needed knowledge. Thus, Rudolf Steiner said to Waldorf teachers: “You will have to take over children for their education and instruction — children who will have received already (as you must remember) the education, or mis-education given them by their parents.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE STUDY OF MAN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 16. And he added: "Given the difficult, disorderly, and chaotic conditions of our time, it might almost be preferable from a moral viewpoint if children could be taken into one's care soon after birth." — Rudolf Steiner, WALDORF EDUCATION AND ANTHROPOSOPHY, Vol. 2, (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 69. As always, try to see beyond the surface when considering a program offered at a Waldorf school. The description of the program at the San Francisco Waldorf School contains several points of interest. • “Rhythm and mood” are crucial Waldorf values. Spiritual truths and conditions are thought to ebb and flow rhythmically, and Waldorf activities are meant to embody such rhythms. • In the Waldorf system, mood is far more important than thought. The schools try to help children to feel spiritual truths; they are less interested in helping children to understand spiritual truths as ideas or mental constructs. [See, e.g., "Spiritual Agenda".] • Promoting "personal growth" is, of course, a noble ideal. But you should know what such growth means according to Waldorf belief. To a large extent, it means the incarnation of invisible bodies, such as the etheric body that supposedly incarnates at around age 7. [See "Incarnation" and "Most Significant".] • “Inspired domestic and artistic work” is a telling phrase. Inspiration is one of the three forms of clairvoyant consciousness stressed in Anthroposophy (the others are imagination and intuition). Waldorf faculties think that children should be inspired to walk the Anthroposophical path, as should their parents (who will then be able to perform inspired domestic work). • Art is of great importance, since in Waldorf belief the gods speak to us through art and even descend to Earth through art, while we can ascend into the spirit realm through art. [See “Magical Arts”.] • “Nature” is a loaded term in the Waldorf vocabulary. Note how the is capitalized in the statement above. According to Waldorf belief, the natural world is infused by the spiritual world; entering nature is a way of approaching spirituality. Nature is also the domain of invisible “nature spirits” such as gnomes and sylphs. Some nature spirits are hostile to man, but generally this is downplayed in Waldorf public presentations. [See “Neutered Nature”.] Before opening the door of a Waldorf school and walking through, acquaint yourself with Waldorf beliefs and consider whether they are compatible with your own. * "Anthroposophy" is the name of the Waldorf belief system. See "Everything" and "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"  Sketch of a detail from a window at the Goetheanum, depicting the emergence of the will or will power. [R.R., 2009.] Anthroposophists — including many Waldorf teachers — think that only they possess full Truth. Judaism is wrong, for instance, and so is mainstream Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant. A few indicators: ◊ "As you know, we distinguish the Jews from the rest of the earth's population. The difference has arisen because the Jews have been brought up in the moon religion for centuries [i.e., they worship the Moon being, Jehovah] ... The Jews have a great gift for materialism, but little for recognition of the spiritual world." [Rudolf Steiner, FROM BEETROOT TO BUDDHISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999), p. 59.] ◊ "If Jesus of Nazareth had continued in the Jewish way, he could not have taught anything but the moon religion." [Ibid., p. 60.] ◊ "The Roman Catholic religion has completely forgotten these things." [Ibid., p. 60.] ◊ "By the sixth century all understanding of the spirit had really been lost." [Ibid., pp. 102-103.] ◊ "[T]he knowledge that the Christ is a spirit coming from the sun, a spirit who lived in Jesus, the human being, is reflected in a symbols we can see on every altar today during high mass: the monstrance [above] — the sun is at the center and the moon supporting it. This made good sense when people still knew that the Christ was a spirit from the sun ... Christendom ought to know that their symbol is the one where the sun gains victory over the moon". [Ibid., pp. 103-104.] ◊ As for Islam, Steiner said “Mohammedism is the first manifestation of [Satan, aka] Ahriman ... Mohammed's god, Allah, Eloha, is an Ahrimanic imitation or pale reflection of the Elohim [gods of Steiner's polytheistic teachings] ... The Mohammedan culture is Ahrimanic, but the Islamic attitude is Luciferic.” [Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 75-76.] [My sketch, 2009, is based on image on p. 103 of FROM BEETROOT TO BUDDHISM.]  The trident of Shiva symbolizes that god's triple nature: creator, preserver, and destroyer. [J. C. Cooper, AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TRADITIONAL SYMBOLS, (Thames and Hudson, 1978), p. 181.] ADDENDUM
Any parent should certainly be aware of Rudolf Steiner's racial doctrines — and then check to see if these are present, even in disguised form, in any Waldorf school you may be considering for your children. I deal with this subject at length elsewhere on this Web site — se, e.g., "Steiner's Racism". But here is a brief, unpleasant exposure. It is drawn from a message I posted as part of an online discussion in August, 2009. To see the message in its original form, please use this link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorf-critics/message/11627 The following covers some of the same ground we have already been over, but it adds further information and may, on the whole, be helpful. Rudolf Steiner frequently discussed race. He made statements that may seem, at least to some readers, reasonable; and he made statements that would strike many readers as appalling. I think I am violating no one's confidence by reporting that I have shown some of Steiner's "good" statements about Jews to Jewish friends who have been shocked; they found nothing even remotely acceptable in them. I can report the same thing concerning black friends; when I showed them quotations about "Negroes" or "the black race" that Anthroposophists generally consider fine, they said — sometimes angrily — that those statements were absolutely racist. Perhaps this is not the best test. Members of ethnic groups that have suffered horrifically (the Holocaust, slavery) naturally have heightened sensitivities. But, then, one reason everyone needs to avoid racist comments is to avoid hurting one another for no good reason. Steiner's own sensitivity on this point was deficient, although he may have been no more insensitive than many other people in his time and place. Anthroposophists today, however, have little or no excuse for such insensitivity. ••• A related point. Dan Dugan, in his review of Ida Oberman's THE WALDORF MOVEMENT IN EDUCATION, comments on the surprising number of black and brown faces in the book's photos. I've noticed the same thing in other Waldorf publications, including material disseminated by my old Waldorf school. It may be purely a coincidence, but since I started publishing/posting my essays, the number of minority students in such photos seems to have increased markedly. Maybe this is well and good. But maybe not. Racism entails singling people out due to their race, whether for special mistreatment or special favors and notice. Racism, in other words, includes patronization. I think it is not unfair to say that an Anthroposophical attitude (declining today? I hope so) is that members of nonwhite races and non-Christian faiths deserve compassion. Blacks can't help it if they are childish; Jews can't help it if they were born into an outmoded religion and culture. But we Anthroposophists may be able to steer them in the right direction, away from their inferior group or culture toward a better race (white) or culture (Christian, meaning Gnostic Christian: Anthroposophy). Good little Jewish children might be led to abandon Judaism in this life. Good little black children cannot become white in this life, but with help they may make it in some future incarnation. I'm simplifying, of course, but I think my basic point is valid: Anthroposophists who are true to Steiner inevitably attach undue significance to people's race. This may show up as discrimination against some people or discrimination for some people. Both forms of discrimination are racist. I'll offer the group a few quotes many of which may have first shown up on the list thanks to your own research, Peter: “One can only understand history and all of social life, including today's social life, if one pays attention to people's racial characteristics. And one can only understand all that is spiritual in the correct sense if one first examines how this spiritual element operates within people precisely through the color of their skin.” [Rudolf Steiner, VOM LEBEN DES MENSCHEN UND DER ERDE (Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1993) p. 52. Translations provided by Peter Staudenmaier.] “[T]he impregnation of the flesh by the spirit is the characteristic mission, the overall mission of white mankind. People have white skin because the spirit works in the skin when it wants to come down to the physical plain.” [Rudolf Steiner, DIE GEISTIGEN HINTERGRÜNDE DES ERSTEN WELTKRIEGES (Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1974), p. 37.] “Races would not stay behind and become decadent if there were not people who wish to stay behind and are obliged to stay behind ... Older races only persist because there are people who cannot or will not move forward to a higher racial form.” [Rudolf Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), p. 69.] A person who evolves properly -- a good black child or Jew, for instance -- moves upward through racial forms: “By striving forward ... he is drawn up from race to race to ever higher stages.” [Ibid.] “[E]ach person has the opportunity to become caught up in the essence of one incarnation ... or instead to undergo the transformation into higher races, toward ever higher perfection. Races would never become decadent, never decline, if there weren’t souls that are unable to move up ... Look at the [lower] races ... they only exist because some souls could not climb higher.” [Rudolf Steiner, DAS HEREINWIRKEN GEISTIGEN WESENHEITEN IN DEN MENSCHEN (Rudolf Steiner Verlag), p. 174.] But good individuals do rise -- according to Steiner, they reincarnate in higher and higher racial forms. So we should be good to them even when they are unfortunate enough to temporarily incarnate in low racial forms. "That is why we must distinguish so carefully between soul evolution and racial evolution. The souls reappear in bodies belonging to higher races, while the bodies of the lower races die out." [Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION OF MORALITY (SteinerBooks, 1995), p. 30.] “As you know, we distinguish the Jews from the rest of the earth's population ... Look where you may, the Jews have a great gift for music ... The Jews have a great gift for materialism....” [Rudolf Steiner, FROM BEETROOT TO BUDDHISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999), p. 59.] Talk about backhanded compliments! But Steiner made his meaning plain. Here is the same quote with the omitted words included: "Look where you may, the Jews have a great gift for music and very little talent when it comes to sculpture, painting, and the like. The Jews have a great gift for materialism, but little recognition of the spiritual world, because out of the whole world beyond this earth they venerated only the moon [Jehovah's seat], really, and hardly knew that they did so any more. Jewish and Greek nature are complete opposites. The Greeks were mainly concentrating on sculpture and painting and architecture -- at least as far as sculpture went. The Jews are the musical people, the priest nation where the inner life is essentially developed; and that is due to gifts originally developed in the womb.” [Ibid.] Isn't this nice? Can't blame the Jews; they have certain gifts; extremely infantile, to be sure; but they didn't know what they were doing. (And by the way: I consider Steiner's statement as stereotyping Greeks just much as it stereotypes Jews. Greeks have certain racial qualities, Jews have other racial qualities: "Jewish and Greek nature are complete opposites." This is racism; this is deplorable, even when it seems complimentary.) Certainly we can't blame sweet little black children or red children for being what they are: It is out of their hands. Here is an explanation by one of Steiner's adherents: “[T]he most childlike and the most aged racial types — the Negro and Red Indian — are both of them, though in such different ways, the result of planetary forces working into the glandular system.” [George Adams Kaufmann, SOULS OF THE NATIONS, Being a Help to the Study of Rudolf Steiner's Lecture-Cycle (given at Oslo, Norway in 1910), THE MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS in Connection with German and Scandinavian Mythology", (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1938), "Lecture 6".] Yes, the planets affect us in amazing ways: “Venus and Jupiter work in the nervous system via the breathing and senses, producing respectively the Malayan racial type and the Caucasian or European racial type. The Greeks [are] under the Jupiter influence ... Mercury and Saturn work in the glandular system. Mercury is connected with the growth forces of the body, hence Mercury creates the Negro racial type. Saturn ossifies the glandular system and creates the Red Indian; hence his bony features.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 16 - synopsis, lecture 6.] Races are affected by the mystic forces that focus in a particular part of the earth: “[A] centre of cosmic influence [is] situated in the interior of Africa. At this centre are active all those terrestrial forces emanating from the soil which can influence man especially during his early childhood ... The locality where a man lives exercises its most potent influence in early childhood and thereby determines for their whole life those who are completely dependent on these forces, so that the particular locality impresses the characteristics of their early childhood permanently upon them. This is more or less typical of all those who, in respect of their racial character, are determined by the etheric formative forces of the Earth in the neighbourhood of that particular locality. The black or Negro race is substantially determined by these childhood characteristics.” [THE MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS, p. 75.]* That last quote overlooks the possibility that a black child might be born and raised far from Africa. But of course Steiner opposed allowing races to go where they don't belong: “On one side we find the black race, which is earthly at most. If it moves to the West, it becomes extinct. We also have the yellow race, which is in the middle between earth and the cosmos. If it moves to the East, it becomes brown, attaches itself too much to the cosmos, and becomes extinct. The white race is the future, the race that is creating spirit.” [VOM LEBEN DES MENSCHEN UND DER ERDE, p. 62.] Or, as Steiner nicely put this on another occasion: "The French are committing the terrible brutality of moving black people to Europe, but it works, in an even worse way, back on France. It has an enormous effect on the blood and the race and contributes considerably toward French decadence. The French as a race are reverting.” [Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 558-559.] Oh, the poor little French children! Born into a "race" that is reverting! What could a good Waldorf teacher do to help a French tike? Well, s/he might try to prevent the child from speaking French: Here's how the above quotation begins: “The use of the French language quite certainly corrupts the soul. The soul acquires nothing more than the possibility of clichés. Those who enthusiastically speak French transfer that to other languages. The French are also ruining what maintains their dead language, namely, their blood. The French are committing the terrible brutality of moving black people...." [Ibid.] I assume everyone is as sickened by all this as I am, so I will now desist. — Roger Rawlings * There are several such centers of cosmic influence. “Dr. Steiner ... draws a line, shaped roughly like a horseshoe opening westward, connecting three or four important points, foci of cosmic influence in the configuration of our planet. These centres, as he indicates, are still existent, though we are no longer subject to them in the same intense degree. The first is in the interior of Africa; there work the forces which influence the human being most of all in early childhood. The race there formed impresses characteristics of early childhood upon the human being for his entire life. It is the black, the Ethiopian or Negro race.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE SOULS OF THE NATIONS, lecture 4 http://wn.rsarchive.org/RelAuthors/AdamsKaufmannGeorge/SoulNation/SouNat_lecture04.html]
The walls of Waldorf classrooms may be painted in varying attractive colors. These colors are meant to have not just psychological but spiritual effects on the students.  An occult color wheel, based on Steiner's teachings. Colors are vehicles for spirits to enter our world, and they reflect conditions in higher worlds. Moreover, specific colors have specific effects on us, paired to the occult or astrological effects of the planets and stars. “[B]lack. white, green and peach blossom have a quiescent effect ... In the three colors of red, yellow and blue there is an inner movement, a planetary quality. Something of the nature of the fixed stars is present in black, white, peach-blossom and green; something of the planets lives in yellow, red and blue.” [Rudolf Steiner, quoted in John Flecther’s ART INSPIRED BY RUDOLF STEINER (Mercury Arts Publications, 1987), p. 132. R.R, sketch, 2010, based on one by Fletcher on p. 134.] "In kindergarten, my daughter painted sheets of wet watercolor paper that had the corners rounded off. At first, only single colors of yellow or blue were used. I thought this was odd and wondered why the children didn't paint images. I asked the teacher why they were only allowed one color and what the purpose for these 'paintings' was. She said it was Steiner's 'color theory' and that the children were developing their 'imagination.' After leaving the school, I learned from Anthroposophist Audrey McAllen that: The colours which the child uses for the expression of the harmonious connection with his body before the change of teeth are blue and yellow; out of these colours the soul weaves its connection with the hereditary body and transforms it (McAllen, 1985, p. 44). "In other words, painting a sheet of wet watercolor paper with yellow or with blue helps the reincarnating soul connect with the physical body. Later I noticed that children were painting 'discs' of color surrounded by a counter color — for example, a blue disc surrounded by red, or vise versa. Years later I was to learn that Steiner also offered his adult pupils meditative exercises that resembled my daughter's disc paintings. Disciples were to perform the following exercise seven times in the mornings: Concept of a blue circular disc with red surrounding. Then transformation into a red disk with blue surround. Reconversion into the original state. "...I now think of the Waldorf color exercises in terms of mandalas and talismans ... I have since learned from Chassidic Rabbi Yonassan Gershom that the Waldorf paintings represent 'the creative energy of higher spiritual worlds.' My mind raced back to my first impression of the children's artwork at the Waldorf school in Minneapolis. Nobody was drawing houses, horses, cars and trucks — the usual things children make in primary school art class. Instead, the walls were covered with artwork that was literally fuzzy around the edges, without clearly defined forms and boundaries. To me, all the children's paintings looked alike. I saw no individuality in them at all. So what was going on here? I later spoke at the Goetheanum, the Anthroposophist headquarters in Dornach Switzerland, where I saw the artwork on the walls was also done in the same abstract swirls of pastel colors. This, I was told, is because the paintings represent the creative energy of higher spiritual worlds. Clearly the Anthroposophists have been conditioned from childhood to "see" these swirling colors as representing something spiritual. (Gershom, 1997, May, http://www.pinenet.com/~rooster/multi.html brain page 6). "Steiner taught that color is the living organ of spiritual beings and that color can heal — a concept I was not familiar with until reading about Anthroposophy and consulting other occult sources. Steiner said that beings come to earth on the wings of color ... Waldorf proponent Mary C. Richards wrote, 'Art is taught, not to make children into artists, but to expose them to the healing influence of color' (Richards, 1980, p. 26)." — Sharon Lombard, "Spotlight on Anthroposophy"   Waldorf student paintings courtesy of PLANS. (I do not know if the originals had rounded corners; I recall round-cornered paper used at my Waldorf school, at least sometimes. - RR] AFTERWORD Late in August, 2009, Cathy Balme posted the following message in an online discussion. I was impressed by it and asked her for permission to reprint it here. She kindly consented. If you'd like to see the original message, please use this link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorf-critics/messages/11628 As far as I can see, the way Anthroposophists view race isn't in line with anyone's opinion I know. A Steiner teacher on a blog recently couldn't see (refused to see?) the racism in what was to others quite a racist quote from Steiner. The way children are dealt with, using an Anthroposophical model, is deep in the schools. Who can intuit when or who may use Steiner’s spiritual racial hierarchies? His writing is used as some kind of sacred text at the best of times; even the Woods Report for the DES commented on how Waldorf teachers often don't stray from referring to Steiner at every opportunity. I read an Anthroposophist about a year ago, advising teachers to take into account a child's temperament, and I'm fairly sure he also said race, when dealing with children (I think it's been taken from the Internet or I'd link to it). I don't know if our children with their Jewish/Asian roots were treated in a particular way according to some Anthroposophical law (our youngest was certainly "encouraged" to change her left-handedness.) Some of what happened was scandalous, and all roads led to Anthroposophical "indications" as far as I could see. If Anthroposophists and teachers reject Steiner on race, they have to then make choices about it all: do you leave in trolls, or simply gnomes? Mars, Jupiter — or start at Atlantis and Lemuria and forget the extraterrestrial bit? Dinosaurs evolving simultaneously with man? Steiner's race beliefs are included in some books used for teacher training, I think. Waldorf teachers surely have been taught a bit of it before they attend the in-depth study groups later, haven't they? The thing is, Steiner's race beliefs, how central they are to his model of reincarnation, makes fairly uncomfortable reading. There were some discussions last year on the waldorf-critics list that were fairly conclusive about Steiner's meaning, how race and skin colour play a central role in rising spiritually; Stephen Clark, the Anthroposophist, discussed this in a dignified way, examined Steiner's work, and said some quite damning things about his fellow Anthros, if I remember. Recently I heard an Anthroposophist talking about their beliefs in a free, unguarded way; it left me reeling. He touched on many subjects, Steiner's "truths" about a host of things; I found it disquieting, to put it mildly; it's one thing to discuss Steiner's work and beliefs here, but to stand next to someone who truly believes this stuff is another matter; if I hadn't known much of it I would have said he was distinctly unbalanced, but in retrospect I realised that the only difference between him and, say, our children's teachers, was that they have the presence of mind to be restrained. Among the disturbing things he talked about was race; he said Steiner's views about races and skin colour were just facts, observances, not racist at all. Anthroposophists think it so unfair for us to analyze their beliefs; unfair that their beliefs are deconstructed and the magic wrenched from them; unfair that by spotlighting the offensive, it somehow negates all the lovely things Steiner said. Steiner's offensive statements on race (right up until the end of his life. too) throw into doubt his more pleasing, acceptable ones. His audiences were variable, his lectures differed from his books. I don't think there's "hate" against Anthroposophy in our discussions here. Isn't it funny how that word slips so easily from Anthros' mouths? "Hate' and "evil" and "materialistic." Does it make Steiner's world seem better to them, when they say the outside world is so filled with venom? There's outrage from parents who've read Steiner and realised they've been deceived, and there's a need to put what's ethically right in place; people should know about Anthroposophy. Parents should be told. Anthroposophists aren't special; who cares that they believe in Atlantis, karma, reincarnation, spirits, trolls, angels, and devils? Who wants to step on their path of initiation, with its impulses and essences? That's their affair. But they have no right to use this supernatural hokum secretly on children or people with learning difficulties. Until they are truthful about Anthroposophic belief, and until they lift their heads from the mire of denial about race, those of us who have read Steiner owe it to other parents to suggest they find out about it, too. No one's making this up, it's there, in Steiner's writing. As a parent, shouldn't one know what the teachers who have care and influence over your children are trained in and using in the classroom? Isn't this right? ◊◊◊◊
ENDNOTES [1] Steiner considered students’ parents to be outsiders. He told Waldorf teachers to keep quiet about what happens inside the school. To protect the reputation of the school, they should talk to no outsiders, except for parents — and with them, only about their own children, nothing more. Here is a more extended version of the quotation I use as this essay’s epigraph: “[D]o not attempt to bring out into the public things that really concern only our school. I have been back only a few hours, and I have heard so much gossip about who got a slap and so forth ... We should be quiet about how we handle things in the school, we should maintain a kind of school confidentiality. We should not speak to people outside the school, except for the parents who come to us with questions, and in that case, only about their children, so that gossip has no opportunity to arise ... There are people who like to talk about such things because of their own desire for sensationalism ... Those of us on the faculty should in no way support it.” [FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 10.] By gossip, Steiner clearly means speculation and reports about what happens inside the school, including the slapping of students. Parents who are treated as outsiders may have difficulty learning what really goes on at a Waldorf school. I discuss this at length in my essay “Clues”. I return to the issue of teachers slapping children, below. [2] Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998). This two-volume set consists of notes taken by Waldorf faculty members during their meetings with Steiner. We should not place too much emphasis on any one sentence attributed to Steiner, since the note takers may have made errors. A similar problem arises in the many books consisting of Steiner’s lectures — these, too, generally rely on transcriptions rather than texts approved by Steiner for publication. However, when any of Steiner’s reputed remarks is compatible with several other statements Steiner made, we can have a high level of confidence that it probably is an accurate reflection of Steiner’s meaning. Moreover, the note takers were usually devoted followers who considered Steiner’s words virtually to be divine wisdom. We can be sure that they intended to be as accurate as possible. For a guide in how to interpret Steiner, you might consult Steiner’s OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1969). Steiner wrote the first version of this book in 1909 and thereafter he revised it many times, the final revision coming just months before his death. Thus, the contents absolutely present Steiner’s views. And what are they? Occultism, “mystery” knowledge, occult initiation, irrationality, racism, heresy, a preposterous version of mankind’s past, an even more preposterous vision of its future, and a bizarre presentation of the spirit realm. In brief, OCCULT SCIENCE provides the context for Anthroposophy and Waldorf education. The quotations I present here and in my other essays are consistent with it. [3] “The Jews have a great gift for materialism, but little for recognition of the spiritual world.” [Rudolf Steiner, FROM BEETROOT TO BUDDHISM Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999), p. 59.] “Judaism as such has long outlived itself and no longer has a legitimate place in the modern life of peoples.” [Rudolf Steiner, “Vom Wesen des Judentums” {On the Nature of the Jews}, DIE GESCHICHTE DER MENSCHHEIT UND DIE WELTANSCHAUUNGEN DER KULTURVOLKER, Dornach, 1968.] “It certainly cannot be denied that Jewry today still behaves as a closed system, and that it has frequently intervened in the development of our current states of affairs in a way that is anything but favorable to European ideas of culture. But Jewry as such has long since outlived its time ... We do not mean the forms of the Jewish religion alone, but above all the spirit of Jewry, the Jewish way of thinking.” [Steiner in the Deutsche Wochenschrift in 1888, in Steiner, GESAMMELTE AUFSÄTZE ZUR LITERATUR, 152.] “I consider antisemites [sic] to be harmless people.” [Rudolf Steiner, "Die Sehnsucht der Juden nach Palästina," Magazin für Literatur, vol. 66 no. 38, 1897.anti] “These people have a tendency to diabetes. The Jew has more difficulty absorbing sugar....” [Rudolf Steiner, FROM COMETS TO COCAINE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001), p. 284.] “Jahve [Jehovah] cooperated with His six colleagues....” [Rudolf Steiner, THE MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 99.] “The best thing that the Jews could do would be to disappear into the rest of humankind, to blend in with the rest of humankind, so that Jewry as a people would simply cease to exist.” [DIE GESCHICHTE DER MENSCHHEIT UND DIE WELTANSCHAUUNGEN DER KULTURVOLKER, 189.] [4] See, e.g., Peter Staudenmaier, “Race and Redemption: Racial and Ethnic Evolution in Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy,” 2004, http://www.waldorfcritics.org .) [5] Rudolf Steiner, RHYTHMS OF LEARNING: What Waldorf Education Offers Children, Parents & Teachers, p. 72. [6] Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, Foundations of Waldorf Education (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), pp. 142-145. [7] Ibid., p. 67. [8] Ibid., p. 118. [9] Rudolf Steiner, KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT, p. 28. [10] FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 55. [11] Ibid., p. 495. [12] Rudolf Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), pp. 62-3. [13] THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, pp. 33-34. [14] Ibid., p. 60. [15] Rudolf Steiner, FREUD, JUNG, AND SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY, pp. 124-125. [16] FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 607. [17] Ibid., pp. 30-31. [18] Rudolf Steiner, POLARITIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF MANKIND (Steiner Books, 1987), p. 59. [19] FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 20. [20] Ibid., pp. 649-650. [21] Ibid., p. 712. [22] Ibid., pp. 649-650. [23] Eugene Schwartz, “Waldorf Education — For Our Times or Against Them?”, November 13, 1999, transcript edited by Michael Kopp. Schwartz is an Anthroposophical writer and educator. He is the author of WALDORF EDUCATION: Schools for the Twenty-First Century (Xlibris Corporation, 2000) and MILLENNIAL CHILD: Transforming Education for the Twenty-First Century (Anthroposophic Press, 1999). [24] Lawrence Williams, Ed.D., OAK MEADOW AND WALDORF. Williams is an Anthroposophist who has given an account of the scandal at my old Waldorf school. He is the author of OAK MEADOW AND WALDORF and THE OAK MEADOW TRILOGY (Oak Meadow, Inc., 1997) — see http://www.oakmeadow.com . (Access to the account of my school's history seems to be blocked. It was freely available when I first came upon the site.) [25] A.C. Harwood, PORTRAIT OF A WALDORF SCHOOL (The Myrin Institute Inc., 1956), pp. 15-16. A.C. Harwood had a long career as a Waldorf educator and lecturer. Harwood died in 1975. [26] Ibid., pp. 23-24. [27] FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, pp. 558-559. [28] Rudolf Steiner, HEALTH AND ILLNESS, VOL. 1 (Anthroposophic Press, 1981), pp. 85-86. [29] Rudolf Steiner, ON THE LIFE OF HUMAN BEINGS AND OF THE EARTH (VOM LEBEN DES MENSCHEN UND DER ERDE (Verlag Der Rudolf Steiner-Nachlassverwaltung, 1961), translated by Roger Rawlings, 2005), p. 62. Some of Steiner’s most dreadful statements are hard, if not impossible, to find in English translations of his works. Here is another example: “White mankind is still on the path of absorbing spirit more deeply into its essence. Yellow mankind is on the path of preserving the period when the spirit was kept away from the body, when the spirit could only be sought outside of the physical human- being. But the result will have to be that the transition from the fifth cultural epoch [i.e., now] to the sixth cultural epoch cannot happen differently than as a violent fight between white mankind and colored mankind in the most varied areas.” [Rudolf Steiner, DIE GEISTIGEN HINTERGRÜNDE DES ERSTEN WELTKRIEGES {The Spiritual Background of the First World War} (Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1974), p. 38, translated by Roger Rawlings, 2005.] Yet even in the translations of Steiner's works offered by Anthroposophical presses, we can find his appalling opinions exposed. See the passage I quote, above, about the French “race” and “blacks” (i.e., Africans). Here is another example: “Lucifer and Ahriman ... fought against [the] harmonious tendency of development in the evolution of humanity, and they managed to change the whole process so that various developments were shifted and displaced. While there should have been basically only one form of human being ... Lucifer and Ahriman preserved [earlier human types] ... even into the time after the Atlantean flood. Thus, forms that should have disappeared remained. Instead of racial diversities developing consecutively, older racial forms remained unchanged and newer ones began to evolve at the same time. Instead of the intended consecutive development of races, there was a coexistence of races. That is how it came about that physically different races inhabited the earth and are still there in our time although evolution should really have proceeded [unimpeded].” [Rudolf Steiner, THE UNIVERSAL HUMAN: THE EVOLUTION OF INDIVIDUALITY, Lectures from 1909-1916 (Anthroposophic Press, 1990), p. 75.] To explicate: In this passage, Steiner is discussing higher and lower races, explaining why humanity is divided into various races instead of comprising a single, highly-evolved race. Lucifer and Ahriman are demonic spiritual powers. “Atlantean” refers to Atlantis. Steiner professed to believe the Atlantis myth, and he traced the “Aryan” race back to it. Consider the following: “The ancestors of the Atlanteans lived in a region [i.e., Lemuria, an earlier lost continent] which has disappeared ... After they had passed through various stages of development the greatest part of them declined. These became stunted men, whose descendants still inhabit certain parts of the earth today as so-called savage tribes. Only a small part of Lemurian humanity was capable of further development. From this part the Atlanteans were formed. Later, something similar took place. The greatest part of the Atlantean population declined, and from a small portion [that did not decline] are descended the so-called Aryans who comprise present-day civilized humanity ... ” [Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Garber Communications, 1990), pp. 45-46.] The Aryans equate with progress; other races descend from “stunted men” and Atlanteans who “declined” — hence, the existence today of “savage tribes.” (See my essay “Steiner’s Racism” on this Web site.) [30] FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p.14. [31] Ibid., p. 109. [32] Ibid., p. 110. [33] Ibid., p. 22. [34] Ibid., p. 323. |
