Q. Do Waldorf schools harm children?
A. It depends on the child, the specific school s/he attends, and the specific teachers s/he has.
Waldorf teachers mean well; it is very unlikely that any Waldorf teacher would intentionally harm any child. And we must recognize that many students have fine Waldorf experiences and emerge undamaged. But harm may occur in numerous cases nonetheless.
When, for ideological reasons, Waldorf teachers withhold early childhood education, they deprive children of instruction that they may sorely miss in the future. The resulting deficit may cause Waldorf students to lag behind their peers from other schools for many years, possibly permanently.
Likewise, when Waldorf teachers immerse children in an atmosphere of mystic beliefs, they may be luring them down avenues of delusion and falsehood from which recovery is extremely difficult. The children who are most secure against such damage are usually those who enter in a fairly high grade and who stay in Waldorf for only a brief period. Those at most risk are usually those who enter very young and stay throughout their school years.
Yet another form of harm often inflicted in and around Waldorf schools results from the use of "Anthroposophical medicine," which may lead families to eschew vaccination and other needed, proven medical procedures. [See "Steiner's Quackery".]
The overall effect of a Waldorf education, in far too many cases, is to detach children from reality, failing to prepare them for their futures, and leading them into false beliefs and practices that may hobble them far into adulthood.
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