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WALDORF / STEINER 

NEWS ARCHIVE

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April, 2011.

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This site supplements Waldorf Watch.

To go to Waldorf Watch itself, please click here:

Waldorf Watch.

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The news items below are presented in reverse chronological order — newest first, oldest last.

Please excuse a certain amount of repetition in the contents of this archive. Items that now appear close together on the screen may have originally been separated by intervals of several days.

Many of the items in this archive generalize about Waldorf schools, describing them as Rudolf Steiner and leading Waldorf representatives have said they should be and as evidence shows they often are today. Not all Waldorf schools, Waldorf charter schools, and Waldorf-inspired schools conform to this model precisely. To evaluate an individual school, you should carefully examine its stated purposes, its practices (which may or may not be consistent with its stated purposes), and the composition of its faculty.

— Roger Rawlings

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"The Spiritual Task of the Mother ... The challenge of home-making today can bring stresses, problems and questions.  Join us in exploring the spiritual basis of the mother’s role.  Our group [The Anthroposophical Society in New Zealand] holds monthly workshops on the last Saturday of every month ... This month’s topic is: Soul Types - Another Way of Looking at Your Teenager ... Registration Fee - $20 (Inclusive of craft materials) This may be negotiated if this fee is difficult for you to attain."  

[4-29-2011  http://www.anthroposophy.org.nz/~anthropo/node/322]

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Response:

Anthroposophists — including those who serve on Waldorf faculties — usually deny that their ideology is a religion, yet they eagerly provide spiritual advice and guidance. They think they possess special knowledge on such matters as “soul types.” The primary source of their spiritual “knowledge” is Rudolf Steiner, according to whom the spiritual tasks of mothers and fathers involve helping their children to incarnate properly and helping them to fulfill their karmas. 

[See “Incarnation” and “Karma”.] 

Waldorf teachers believe that, to a significant extent, parents can help their children best by relinquishing control to Waldorf teachers. Steiner told Waldorf faculty members to take charge as soon as possible. Doing so immediately after a child is born would probably be best, if only it could be arranged.

"[I]t 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.

The would be the "moral" approach.

Steiner indicated that most parents, being ignorant of Anthroposophical doctrines about childhood, damage their children. So he told Waldorf teachers that they will need to undo the harm caused by parents. (If parents can be educated to accept Anthroposophical doctrines, so much the better; but in any case Waldorf teachers should steer children in the correct direction.) 

"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.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE STUDY OF MAN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 16.

Note that in referring to the special tasks set for mankind today, Steiner meant the spiritual-evolutionary needs of humanity during the current Earth “planetary condition.” In other words, he was speaking of occult spiritual matters — the things humanity needs to do in order to proceed to the next evolutionary stage, on Future Jupiter. These are the sorts of things Anthroposophists understand and ordinary mortals do not; this is the sort of wisdom that makes Waldorf teachers fit to raise children and ordinary mortals unfit.

[See “Here’s the Answer” and "Matters of Form"]

If mothers learn how to discharge their "spiritual task" (under the tutelage of Anthroposophists), so much the better. Children will be better off, then. But the key is tutelage by Anthroposophists.

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“Little Angels Waldorf Inspired Nursery School - Imaginative play in a nurturing environment... Monday through Friday 9-11:30am    1 1/2-5 year old children    Circle, story, puppet time    Wholesome, nutritious snack    Arts and crafts- home made play doh    Lots of outside play    Small group- no more than 4 children per day    No TV or screens of any kind.”  

[4-27-2011 http://sacramento.craigslist.org/kid/2348967305.html]

Response:

Surely the saddest thing about the Waldorf movement is that it consists of so many good people who love so many good things.  A nurturing environment! Yes! Outdoor play! Yes! Wholesome snacks! Yes! Art! Yes! Small groups! Yes! Nature, organic foods, spiritual aspiration, loving kindness, reverence, sweetness, beauty... Yes, yes, yes!

There is so much goodness behind the Waldorf movement. And yet, the movement is fatally flawed. It is based on Rudolf Steiner’s deeply irrational occult doctrines.

Learning that Waldorf is hollow and destructive takes a long time, usually. Most of the people who are now prominent critics of Waldorf schooling were once deeply involved in it, deeply committed to it.* But a day of realization came for each one. One by one, they realized that they had been lied to, misled, manipulated, cheated. A day came when truth shone through the mists of Waldorf occultism. A day came when they understood that Steiner and his followers are occultists. (“In occultism we differentiate in man firstly his actions...” — R. Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM, lecture 17, GA 93a. In occultism we.) A day came when they realized the full horror of Steiner’s pledge that “Anthroposophy will be in the school.” — R. Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 495.

Waldorf schools can be inspiring — in them you find art, and reverence, and kindliness, and high ideals. So it is easy to get swept away. Only, later, you may penetrate to the truth. Waldorf education is rooted in occultism. “In occultism we...” — Rudolf Steiner.

The sad truth is that, no matter how high the aspirations, any movement rooted in occultism is erroneous, flawed, false. It poses grave dangers. It leads us away from reason, and reality, and truth.

* I can’t list them all; I don't know them all. But here are a few names: Dan Dugan, Diana Winters, Steve Walden, Maura Kwaten, Margaret Sachs, Pete Karaiskos, Debra Snell, Grégoire Perra, and — what’s his name? — oh, yes, Roger Rawlings. And others... A growing list of others who have staggered away, wounded but finally aware.

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A comment on the Waldorf aversion to vaccination:

“How to convince anthroposophic and other opponents? - I find it unacceptable that parents decide based on dubious reasons not to protect their children against diseases that are potentially life threatening or crippling and preventable by just one or two jabs. Who has good experience in convincing these groups to enter discussion and be convinced vaccinations are safe, beneficial for their children and cheap.” 

[4-27-2011  http://eiw.euro.who.int/forum/topics/how-to-convince-anthroposophic]

Although Rudolf Steiner did not absolutely rule out vaccinations, he generally set his followers against them, and Waldorf schools today are often centers of anti-vaccination sentiment. The result for the health of children can be dire. [See “Steiner’s Quackery”.]

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[Q] "I'm looking into schools at the moment and was recently talking to someone whose kids go to a Steiner school in Kent. It sounded great (no formal learning until the age of 6 or 7 and lots of creative activities, etc) but DH says he's not keen as he's heard lots of bad things about Steiner schools... I was hoping someone with experience could tell me about the good and bad things. I live in London. Thank you"  

[A #1]  "I know adults who went there and found it a bit of a bear pit. But then again a lot of people do seem to like it. Not sure myself why you'd want to pay money in order for your children not to be taught much."  

[A #2]  "I have no personal experience, but looked into Steiner for DS at one point and found some of what is available on the internet very concerning. The fact that Steiner supporters attempt to stifle the debate is also of concern."  

[A #3]  "I went to a steiner primary school and my parents panicked and had me crammed for common entrance at 11. Despite living in London, I met my first black person at secondary school. Everyone at my primary school was white (occasional Asian). I am still hazy on what a noun or a verb is - really basic stuff (I went on to get a first in English lit at uni)."  

[A #4]  "What useful role would you say gnomes could play in the teaching of maths? How do you feel about reincarnation? Are you members of an organised religion already or do you have a belief system that you subscribe to? How do you feel about joining one or participating in one without being told it is a religion? Do you think children can get art 'wrong'?"  

[A #5] "My ds is at this moment watching Dr Who on tv whilst using the laptop and spent part of the morning on the xbox. We are not strict vegans nor do we hug trees or talk to gnomes,but he is very happy at out local Steiner where he is doing very well academically,is learning three languages and two instruments,he has become a confident and popular child with a wide general knowledge as well as developing a love of gardening,cooking woodwork and pottery. There are children at his school from across the globe and of many ethnic origins. You will hear good and bad reports of every type of school but I think it is important that you visit the school and make up your own mind. I don't think it is the place for every child but I am happy it's the right place for my child (he's 13 now) I have three other ds who all went/go to different schools as what is right for one is not always right for another.”  

[4-27-2011  http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1201719-Please-can-someone-tell-me-about-Steiner-schools]

Response:

The writer of answer #5 is surely correct. Visit the school, make up your own mind. 

But the writer of answer #5 may also be overlooking some things. 

• "[W]hat is right for one is not always right for another" — or, in other words, not every school is right for every child. This is true, as far as it goes. But is a school based on absurd occultism right for any child? 

• "Doing well academically" at a Steiner school may not mean much. The child may be getting nice grades and happy reports from the teachers — but how much is s/he actually learning? At a Steiner school, there may be a great difference. 

• For example, "learning three languages" at a Steiner school may merely mean attending classes in three languages, not learning those three languages. I know. I attended a Steiner school. From second grade through eighth grade, I "learned" French — i.e., I attended French lessons. I passed every such class. And how much French did I learn? Not a jot. I took German lessons even longer than I did French lessons — from second grade well into my high school years. I passed every German class I took, and I learned next to nothing. (Today I know a bit of German — but only because I have worked at it as an adult.) 

• It is easy to be happy at a Steiner school, playing musical instruments, creating paintings and drawings, doing gardening and cookery and pottery... This may not, however, be quite the same thing as receiving a good education. 

• There may be reasons to send a child to a Steiner school, but the reasons may not be compelling unless you are an occultist or, at a minimum, a very relaxed parent who doesn't mind letting occultists teach your child. (You may not believe in gnomes, for instance, but at a Steiner school your child's teachers almost certainly will.) 

[See, e.g., "Academic Standards at Waldorf", "Occultism", "Beings", and "The Waldorf Teacher's Consciousness".]

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“Here's a list of Cults - Anthroposophy is at the top (OK, it's alphabetical...but still) ... It's number 8 on this [other] list ... It's number 2 on [yet another] list.”  

[4-25-2011  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorf-critics/message/18804].. '

As usual, interesting discussions are occurring at the Waldorf Critics site. One current discussion (including an extended satire) concerns Waldorf teacher training. Another (wholly serious) considers whether Anthroposophy is a cult. One participant has provided links to lists of cults that include Anthroposophy, and he has suggested that Anthroposophy qualifies as a cult when evaluated according to a published set of criteria [http://www.csj.org/infoserv_cult101/checklis.htm].

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“Waldorf education also termed as Steiner education is a pious approach to the profession of teaching based upon the learning philosophy of Rudolf Steiner Education, a great Austrian philosopher. [sic]”  

[4-25-2011  http://www.articleslash.net/Reference-and-Education/613119__Rudolf-Steiner-Education-and-Steiner-Teacher-Training-is-an-approach-towards-humanism.html]

Response:

Waldorf education does indeed entail piety. If this appeals to you, be sure that you understand what gods are being worshipped in and around Waldorf schools. The “great Austrian philosopher,” Rudolf Steiner, was in fact an occultist, as he frequently and openly asserted. One quick example: Steiner said the following:

“[I]n occultism we call the Moon the ‘Cosmos of Wisdom’.” Note that Steiner explicitly included himself — and by extension his followers — within the ranks of occultism. "In occultism we."

[See “Occultism”.] 

The god who is the chief focus of Waldorf piety is Christ. But He is not the same Christ worshipped in mainstream Christian churches. The “Christ” described by Steiner is the Sun God. Steiner taught that the three persons of the Christian triune God are actually three separate gods, one associated with Saturn, one with the Sun, and one with the Moon. 

“The highest Ruler of Saturn, the Ego Spirit, appears to us as the Father God, and the highest Ruler of Sun, the Sun-God, as the Christ. Similarly the Ruler of the Moon stage of Earth appears to us as the Holy Spirit.” 

[See “Sun God”.]

These are not the only three gods recognized in the Waldorf belief system. The faith underlying Waldorf schools — called Anthroposophy — is polytheistic and it recognizes innumerable gods arrayed in many ranks or hierarchies. [See “Polytheism”.] These gods have created a plan for human evolution, and Steiner told Waldorf teachers that, as Waldorf faculty members, they serve the will of the gods: 

“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.” 

[See "Here's the Answer".]

There is piety in Waldorf schools. But before sending a child to a Waldorf school, be sure that you are comfortable with the faith embraced by Rudolf Steiner’s followers. That faith will indeed be found in any true Waldorf school. As Steiner said, 

"It is possible to introduce a religious element into every subject, even into math lessons. Anyone who has some knowledge of Waldorf teaching will know that this statement is true." 

Or, as Steiner said on another occasion, 

"Anthroposophy will be in the school." 

[See “Here’s the Answer” and "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"]

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“What is Waldorf Education? Part 2 — Interview with Eugene Schwartz  ... Part of this interview will be featured in an upcoming film about the Marin Waldorf School in San Rafael, CA, but here you can view all of the questions asked by Rachel Humphreys and all of Eugene's replies."  

[4-25-2011  http://vimeo.com/22397678]

Response:

Eugene Schwartz is an articulate, charming, and very active proponent of Waldorf education. Watching his videos and reading his publications can be instructive. He may win you over; he will certainly try his best to do so.

Like other Waldorf spokespeople, Schwartz usually downplays the occultism inherent in Waldorf schooling. But on some occasions he has been somewhat more open. For example, in his book WALDORF EDUCATION - Schools for the Twenty-first Century (Xlibris, 2000), he discusses the use clairvoyance by Waldorf teachers, and he endorses Steiner’s doctrine that children develop invisible “higher” bodies (such as etheric bodies) that incarnate through a series of seven-year-long stages: 

“Earlier in this book I spoke of the ‘everyday clairvoyance’ which allows us to perceive the activities of the ‘higher bodies’ of the human being without our necessarily being endowed with the degree of spiritual sight necessary to see the bodies themselves [i.e., the “exact” clairvoyance used by Rudolf Steiner] ... [A]t every seven-year developmental phase the teacher works intensively with one on the child’s higher bodies ... What is distinctive about the Waldorf method is that it perceives the validity of each approach in the course of time as a particular ‘higher member’ is dominant.” — WALDORF EDUCATION, pp. 34-35.

During a discussion in 1999, Schwartz was quite candid about the religious nature of Waldorf schooling. 

“That's why I send [my daughter] 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. So that she learns something about reverence. So that she learns something about respecting a higher being ... [W]hen we deny that Waldorf schools are giving children religious experiences, we are denying the whole basis of Waldorf education.” — "Waldorf Education--For Our Times Or Against Them?", http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/schwartz.html.

Schwartz works hard to make Waldorf education seem sensible and attractive. What he wants to attract you to, however, is an occult worldview that has been put into practice in the field of education by Rudolf Steiner’s devout followers. You probably will not be truly happy with Waldorf education unless you find that worldview compatible with your own religious views and your own comprehension of reality..

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A word about videos, including Schwartz's: Videos zip by. Videos often defeat logic. A fallacious argument offered on a video can seem convincing — unless you pause the rushing stream of images, giving yourself time to think. So pause, back up, and think. When someone on a video says something positive about Waldorf schools, pause, and analyze what you have just heard. Arguments in favor of Waldorf schools are often fallacious, since it is difficult to rationally defend a system rooted in occultism. If, on a video, Schwartz says or shows something that seems convincing, mull it over in the cool light of reason. Maybe you will remain convinced, and Schwartz will have won you over. But maybe not.

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“My children go to the Wellspring School in Chelsea, Vt., a small aspiring Waldorf school tucked in the woods of central Vermont [USA]. For those of you who don’t know, the Waldorf education is nontraditional, with a focus on the development of the person before the development of the mind ... These [Waldorf teachers] are incredible people who make incredible sacrifices so that my children can be the amazing individuals they are, and they need help ... I am asking for whatever support you can give to keep Wellspring going.”  

[4-24-2011 http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/317180/group/Opinion/]

Response:

Descriptions of Waldorf education are often framed in reassuring but misleading terms. Even true statements about Waldorf schools often conceal more than they reveal. Thus, Waldorf education is not merely “nontraditional,” it is spiritualistic and occult. Waldorf teachers do indeed focus on the “development of the person,” but what they mean by this is extraordinary. They think that the first seven years of a child’s life should center on developing the physical body, after which focus shifts to developing the “etheric body” — a collection of "life forces" — that incarnates at about age seven. The years from seven to 14 are largely devoted to developing this invisible body. Then, at age 14 or thereabouts, the “astral body” incarnates, and developing this invisible body — which consists of soul forces — is a chief task of life up to age 21 or so. [See “Incarnation”.]

The development of the “mind” at a Waldorf school is also an esoteric enterprise. Steiner taught that children should not learn to read or do arithmetic until they have their etheric bodies (signaled by the replacement of baby teeth by adult teeth), and he said that children are unable to form any real mental constructs until the astral body gets going (signaled by puberty). Moreover, thinking does not really occur in the brain, Steiner said, and use of the intellect takes us into the realm of the arch-demon Ahriman. So, instead of relying on our brains and intellects, we should rely on imagination, inspiration, and intuition — which, in Waldorf belief, are forms of clairvoyance. And clairvoyance, according to Waldorf belief, operates out of invisible organs of clairvoyance, not the head or brain. [See "Clairvoyance", “Ahriman”, “Steiner’s Specific - Thinking Without Our Brains” and “Thinking Cap”.]

When people speak or write about Waldorf education — whether to praise or criticize it — they would do well to give clear, open descriptions of Waldorf beliefs and practices. They should, in short, tell the truth. Certainly such accuracy should be required when soliciting support, financial or otherwise.

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“A Webster Township woman is suing the Rudolf Steiner School of Ann Arbor [Michigan, USA], alleging that a student pierced her son's right eye socket with a metal sword during a school play rehearsal last year, leaving him with vision loss and brain damage ...The suit alleges the school entrusted a 14-year-old student with a 'sharp unguarded metal sword' to use in a fighting scene involving the plaintiff's son even though he wasn't trained to handle it.”  

[4-23-2011  http://www.annarbor.com/news/crime/student-was-injured-by-sword-during-school-play-rehearsal-lawsuit-claimes/]

Response:

Accidents can happen anywhere, and lawsuits are often filed without justification. Thus, this report may not tell us much about Waldorf schools. It is worth noting, however, that Waldorf schools are sometimes criticized for failing to take proper safeguards. Waldorf teachers sometimes assume that students’ guardian angels will provide any needed protections, so the teachers need not be vigilant. 

Rudolf Steiner also taught that many “accidents” are actually fulfillments of karma. To repeat a quotation posted here recently: 

“In the autumn we experienced the death of a member's child, a child seven years of age. The death of this child occurred in a strange way. He was a good boy, mentally very much alive already within the limits set for a seven-year-old; a good, well-behaved and mentally active child. He came to die because he happened to be on the very spot where a furniture van overturned, crushing the boy so that he died of suffocation. This was a spot where probably no van went past before nor will go past again, but one did pass just that moment ... [T]he karma of this child was such that the ego, to put it bluntly, had ordered the van and the van overturned to fulfil the child's karma." — Rudolf Steiner, THE DESTINIES OF INDIVIDUALS AND OF NATIONS (SteinerBooks, 1987), pp. 125-126.

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“Waldorf Education asks both parents to work together to support their child and the learning taking place at school. Fathers often must make complex choices and sacrifices in order to create a balance among their home, work, and school lives to honor the commitment the family makes to send their child to a Waldorf school.  With this in mind, Potomac Crescent Waldorf School [Virginia, USA] is offering a workshop exclusively for fathers.”  

[4-22-2011  http://www.potomaccrescentschool.org/FathersTalk2011.pdf]

Response:

Parents sometimes do not realize that choosing a Waldorf school is tantamount to entering an Anthroposophical community. Waldorf teachers generally expect families to make a deep commitment to the school (“honor the commitment the family makes”), which for parents may mean doing extensive volunteer work at the school, making financial gifts to the school, and — more fundamentally — moving toward an acceptance of Rudolf Steiner’s occult theology. 

Waldorf teachers work as priests, according to Steiner, and Steiner said they should become the most important adults in their students’ lives, supplanting parents in this role. 

• “The position of teacher becomes a kind of priestly office, a ritual performed at the altar of universal human life — not with a sacrificial victim to be led to death, but with the offering of human nature itself, to be awakened to life.” — Rudolf Steiner. 

• "You [Waldorf teachers] 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. 

• "[I]t might almost be preferable from a moral viewpoint if children could be taken into one's care soon after birth." — Rudolf Steiner. 

[See, e.g., “The Waldorf Curriculum”, "Waldorf Priests", and “Faculty Meetings”. For accounts of Waldorf experiences by some fathers, see “Pops”. For similar accounts by some mothers, see “Moms”.]

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“It is proposed that this article be deleted because of the following concern: New journal established in 2010. Not notable yet, article creation premature. Does not meet WP:NJournals or WP:GNG.”  

[4-22-2011  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_on_Steiner_Education]

Response:

Wikipedia may delete its brief article about the journal Research on Steiner Education (RoSE).

It would be interesting to see research that confirms any of the unique educational methods used in Steiner or Waldorf schools. We should accept the possibility that some Steiner schools educate children well and some Steiner methods work well. 

Quite often, Steiner schools and methods do not work well [see “Academic Standards at Waldorf” and “Methods”], but there may certainly be exceptions. And after all, the primary reason to oppose Steiner education is not that it is academically inferior, but that it is wedded to a form of occultism (Anthroposophy) and it seeks to lure children and their families toward that occultism. Fundamentally, Steiner schools exist to serve Anthroposophy, not to convey rational knowledge to students. 

[See “Here’s the Answer”, “Spiritual Agenda”, and “Soul School”.]

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"It is amazing how many parents are scared of sex education lessons for kids. Many private schools, particularly alternative schools like Steiner schools, just don't teach them. Every child has a basic right to be protected from abuse and being informed is a crucial part of that protection. No parent has the right to deny their child that information, just like they can't deny them maths or science lessons." 

[4-21- 2011 http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/crisisdriven-approach-is-failing-our-most-vulnerable-children-20110420-1dok9.html]

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The Goetheanum, headquarters of the Anthroposophical Society.

[R.R. photo rendering.]

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“The executive council of the General Anthroposophical Society (GAS) has survived an attempt to force it to resign at the annual general meeting which was held in Dornach on Saturday ... A motion put forward at the AGM by a long list of signatories asked members whether, in view of the problems, it is responsible and beneficial for anthroposophy to put continued trust in this executive council ... In setting out their reasons for the motion, the proposers said among other things that there had been too great an externalisation in the direction taken by the council, that it had become a spiritual service centre and that no original impulses were any longer being worked on to reach out into the world?. Reductions in the field of the arts at the Goetheanum were also criticised and that the executive council was intervening in areas in which it had no right to do so. With regard to the finances, the proposers of the motion complained that a number of decisions in recent years had damaged the confidence in the executive council in financial matters ... Before the motion was debated, three of the six council members had spoken to justify the work of the council. Sergej Prokofieff said that the present council could be seen as representing a world society if one looked at the widely differing international backgrounds of the various council members. The council had grown into a real team in the last few years in which all the karmic streams of the first executive council appointed by Rudolf Steiner were represented. The council had made errors, it was not infallible, but the motion was not justified because it introduced a political approach into a spiritual society.”  

[4-20-2011  http://www.nna-news.org/news/en/]

Response:

The Anthroposophical movement has been torn by schisms and power struggles virtually from its founding. 

E.g., from 2007: 

"The General Anthroposophical Society (GAS) at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, has announced the expulsion of 44 of its members because of their concurrent membership of the 'Living the Christmas Conference' grouping. The expulsions will take effect from the end of the Society’s annual general meeting on 31 March. In a statement published today in the society’s newsletter, 'Nachrichten für Mitglieder' (News for Members), the executive council accuses the members of the group of having waged a negative campaign against the GAS which had begun to sap the strength of the society. As a consequence, the council had been forced to act." [http://www.philosophyoffreedom.com/?q=node/1164]. 

And the the story continues.

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"Waldorf seven venture into high school

"First freshman class tests the waters for expanded program

"The region’s newest high school doesn’t have many of the things common in other schools. It doesn’t have rows of desks, Regents exams or even many students. But Aurora Waldorf High School has a committed group of supporters  ... Located on 13 acres in the rolling hills of rural West Falls [New York, USA], the private school is conducting a pilot high school program with a freshman class of seven ... The fledgling high school is housed in one classroom — a 33-by- 54-foot room in the back of a red brick building that had housed the now-closed West Falls Elementary School.”  

[4-20-2011  http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/southern-tier/article397346.ece]

Response:

Waldorf schools are often tiny. There can be advantages in this: Teachers can get to know their students well, and a close, familial atmosphere may develop. On the other hand, there can be serious drawbacks. Among them: 

• Children may be unduly influenced by a tiny band of teachers — who at a Waldorf school are usually occultists.

• The social milieu may be extremely confining — students may not be exposed to differing viewpoints and cultures.

• And the school’s facilities may be quite poor.

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Announcement of a course in Anthroposophical medicine, aimed at doctors: 

“Introduction to the methodology, diagnostics and therapeutic possibilities of Anthroposophic Medicine. Path of inner development for the practitioner — educating sense perceptions as a basis for new diagnostic skills and meditative path. Medicines from nature: From plant to medicine including practical experience in making a remedy. How to assess a patient holistically taking into account energy levels, soul life and path in life, as well as physical problems. Introduction to eurythmy (an expressive movement art used in education and performances) in its therapeutic application.“  

[4-19-2011 http://www.anthroposophy.org.nz/~anthropo/files/u27/Brochure_NZ_IPMT_2011_FINAL.pdf]

Response:

Steiner’s success in hoodwinking and recruiting medical doctors — not many, but a few — is one of his most impressive achievements. One would like to believe that all graduates of medical schools are rational. This is not, unfortunately, the case. 

Of course, doctors share the spiritual yearnings that most people feel. They are interested in their own “inner development” and, possibly, they may seek a “meditative path.” But do you want to receive treatment from a doctor who makes his/her own “remedies” from plants (“From plant to medicine including practical experience in make a remedy”)? Or a doctor who thinks s/he can assess your “soul life,” knowing that for Anthroposophists this means using clairvoyance, dreams, and even horoscopes? Or a doctor who thinks that eurythmy (a form of dance invented by Rudolf Steiner) has a “therapeutic application” (that is, dancing in a certain way can cure you)? 

In other words, do you want to place your health in the hands of someone who has lost contact with reality?

This, ladies and gents, is the kind of “medicine” often practiced in and around Waldorf schools. It is quackery. 

[See “Steiner’s Quackery”.]

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“I went to Steiner school, and it's true that the theory is essentially nothing-but-crazy. But the practice of it can be utterly fantastic, and at least where I went the theory was entirely unmentioned. In the final half hour of school we had a lesson on ‘where did the last 14 years of your education come from?’ — we apparently (for example) literally have seven bodies, but you would thankfully never have guessed it from those 14 years of education.”  

[http://hackerne.ws/item?id=2418788]

Response:

The worldview underlying Waldorf education is loopy — it consists of Rudolf Steiner’s occult fantasies. But often the students attending a Waldorf school do not receive explicit instruction in Steiner’s doctrines. Advocates of Waldorf education often make a point of this. Waldorf schools, they say, base their programs on Anthroposophy but they do not teach Anthroposophy to the students. How reassuring is this? If you learned that a certain school based its program on voodoo but refrained from teaching voodoo to the kids, would you send your child there?

It is also important to realize that even if a Waldorf faculty tries to keep its beliefs more or less under wraps, kids will pick up plenty of clues and suggestions. I attended a Waldorf school. Looking back, it seems to me that I came away having absorbed at least the following Anthroposophical beliefs: • the natural world is a place of illusion (maya), • unseen spirits are numerous and busy around us, • spiritual phenomena are real; physical phenomena are not, • science is faulty and unreliable, • the arts have spiritual — even magical — powers, • intellect and the brain generally do not bring us truth, • imagination and intuition are preferable to rational thought, • ESP or clairvoyance is probably real, • the stars and planets have esoteric powers (astrology), • humans are evolving, but not in the way Darwin described, • modern technology is wicked, • various forms of "earth spirits" or "nature spirits" probably exist, • there are deep and significant differences between races, • the ancients were wiser than modern humans, • dreams can be reliable sources of knowledge, • it is possible to commune with spiritual beings and with the dead, • we are subject to karma or fate or destiny, which we make for ourselves, • we probably have multiple lives (reincarnation), • Christ is extremely important, but churches generally misrepresent him, • some people develop special powers that give them access to hidden (occult) knowledge, • Waldorf schools are unique, pure refuges in a nasty, violent world. I absorbed at least these beliefs and probably more.

The faculty at the Waldorf school I attended never openly and honestly explained their intentions to the students or their parents, but the faculty at the school referred to in the item above did eventually open up. At the very last moment, they pulled aside the curtain and said, "Aha! Here's what we believe. Here's what we have been doing." There is, I suppose, some honor in such an approach. (Lie to the kids and their parents for 14 years, but then for 30 minutes come clean. At the very end, finally tell the truth about your intentions and practices.) My old teachers — most of whom I respected and admired — did not take this "honorable" course. Their secrets came out only when a scandal, reported in THE NEW YORK TIMES, nearly ripped our school apart. [See "The Waldorf Scandal".]

Enjoying the "utterly fantastic" life within a Waldorf school is easy. You dwell in a cozy, countercultural world of art, handcrafts, playtime, and organic gardening. There are minimal academic pressures, and much of the hurly-burly of modern life is blocked out. But you enjoy these features at the expense of being lied to and manipulated by teachers who want to steer you toward a utterly false set of fantasies, such as the belief that human beings have "seven bodies." You enjoy a life, in other words, that is totally false — one that is "nothing-but-crazy."

(Concerning the “seven” bodies: Steiner taught that we incarnate various invisible bodies as we age. The process is often thought to end at age 21, by which time a human being will have a physical body, an etheric body, an astral body, and an “I.” However, Steiner taught that the process of incarnation continues at least through age 42 as additional spiritual members — the sentient soul, the mind soul, and the consciousness soul — develop. If we count these latter three forms of soul as "bodies" — a debatable proposition — then, yes, in Waldorf belief we wind up with seven bodies. [See “What We’re Made Of”.])

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A course to be offered at Rudolf Steiner College, California, USA:

"Fundamentals of Waldorf Education

"Start: Jun 26 2010 9:00 am

"End: Jun 26 2010 5:15 pm

"This class will provide a brief introduction to the philosophical foundations, methodology, and view of child development that stand at the heart of Waldorf education. We will focus on how a deeper understanding of the whole child forms the basis of the Waldorf curriculum and educational practice. artistic activities will be included.

"Recommended reading: Teaching as a Lively Art by Marjorie Spock"  

[4-17-2011  http://rudolfsteinercollege.edu/node/1296]

Response:

TEACHING AS A LIVELY ART generally avoids occult terminology, but it is rich in Steiner's occult educational doctrines. On p. 10, for instance, Spock says this:

"With the coming of the second teeth significant changes may be noted in the child's whole being." 

According to Waldorf belief, the replacement of baby teeth by adult teeth signals the incarnation of a child's "etheric body." [See "Incarnation".]

On p. 131, Spock explains that a Waldorf teacher must "reverence the children" s/he teaches, marveling that "kind fate has given such lovable children into his keeping." Destiny or karma rules much of life, according to Waldorf belief. It is the karma of a teacher to have certain students, and it is their karma to have her/him. [See "Karma".] The teacher should revere the students because they have arrived from the spirit realm more recently than he has. [See "Thinking Cap".]

On multiple pages, Spock speaks of the "temperaments" of students. For example, p. 121: 

"The phlegmatic group will be the hardest to handle. Often the teacher may have to resort to artificial thunder-claps to waken them." 

Following Spock's guidance on such matters would create a highly artificial atmosphere, since the four categories into which Waldorf teachers sort their students (phlegmatic, melancholic, sanguine, and choleric) are wholly unreal. [See "Humouresque".]

People train to become Waldorf teachers by studying such texts, often at problematic institutions such as Rudolf Steiner College. Whether this prepares them to be good teachers is, at best, doubtful.

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[SteinerBooks, 2009.]

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Posted today by SteinerBooks:

“During 1924, the last full year of Rudolf Steiner’s life, he gave a series of urgent, sometimes impassioned, talks to members of the Anthroposophical Society about their karma ... Steiner’s words reveal a great gathering of forces to do spiritual battle for the soul of humanity ... To awaken members of the Anthroposophical Society to the significance of their task, Steiner could see that it was essential for them to understand the various karmic threads that form the fabric of the anthroposophic movement ... [T]oday’s task calls for unity based on love and knowledge — to work with the Archangel Michael and Christ in the face of Ahriman, materialism, and the possibility of social collapse and decadence.”  

[4-16-2011  http://www.steinerbooks.org/detail.html?session=cf1a847ad9e1d9de42b7d1cad797a4c4&cat=1&id=9781855842199]

Response:

Anthroposophists believe that they are on a messianic mission to save humanity and, indeed, the entire universe. Anthroposophical Waldorf teachers work to achieve this messianic mission through the work they do with the children enrolled in Waldorf schools. 

Anyone who wants to save humanity deserves our thanks. But to achieve humanity's salvation, people need to have their feet on the ground and their heads screwed on straight. Anthroposophists, unfortunately, live in a dream world. They can no more save us than can any other band of fantasists. 

[See, e.g., "Weird Waldorf". To investigate the "spiritual battle" Steiner forecast — the "War of All Against All" — see "All v. All". To look into Anthroposophical beliefs about karma, see "Karma". As for Ahriman and Michael, see "Ahriman" and "Michael".]

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“September 29, 2011 will be a momentous occasion in the history of Waldorf Education: it will be a culminating moment when we celebrate Michaelmas — a day of courage and action — and acknowledge the 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner's birth. It will also mark the first attempt at a global participation in WOW Day. The Waldorf One World (WOW) movement — which originates with the Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners e.V. ("Friends of Rudolf Steiner Education" in Germany) — is branching out beyond its European-base and is striving to become an international event this year — and, as such, we need your help to get North America involved.”  

[4-16-2011  http://www.anthroposophy.org/nc/calendar/event-details/archive/2011/03//article/wow-day-555.html]

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The hiatus, announced here a while ago, has proven to be brief. We will return to regular business, now.

— Roger Rawlings

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This page will be on hiatus for a while.

I’m not sure how long “a while” will be.

Check back from time to time.

Things will return to normal when/if they can..

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A personal note:

I must seem to be an utterly implacable foe of Rudolf Steiner and all his works. Perhaps, indeed, that is what I have become. Almost.

I didn’t set out to be such a foe. A Waldorf student since age seven, I was raised to be an Anthroposophist — and for much of my life, I teetered on the brink of becoming one. Life would have been far easier if I’d gone over the edge, as I often longed to do. But somehow I had suspicions and doubts; somehow I held back.

I commend holding back. There is a real universe; and there are ways of apprehending it. Fantasies like Steiner’s, attractive though they may seem, can be recognized for what they really are: nonsense. Comforting nonsense. Alluring nonsense. But nonsense all the same.

(And yet, I still feel the allure of such nonsense. At one level, I still wish that the fantasies of my youth had proven true. All of the people who “educated” me shared a grand and beautiful vision. And they waved that vision in front of me, luring me on. My science teacher gave me antiscientific books to read. My history teacher directed me to legends and myths. My headmaster encouraged me to join a Steiner study group. Oh, how I longed to believe!)

We face a simple choice, really. Truth or untruth. The question isn’t what makes us feel good, or what we wish were true, or what we once longed to believe. The question is, What is the truth? And finding the truth, while difficult, is often within our capacities. We have brains. We have the tools of logic, science, and scholarship. We can differentiate between what is and what is not.

I suggest that the comfort found in fantasies is, in the end, worthless. False comfort is, in the end, no comfort at all. I commend cleaving to what is and setting aside what is not. And, you know, the truth has one inestimable advantage. It is the truth.

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This page will be up and running again when circumstances allow.

— Roger Rawlings

April 11, 2011

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[Anthroposophic Press, 1998.]

Steiner was happy to pontificate on any and all topics.

Some people find the range of his interests impressive.

Others note that he made little or no sense on the many topics he discussed.

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“While industries continue to pollute the planet with their toxic chemicals, toxic waste and toxic spills, Earth’s pollinators sing a swan song that leaves no doubt as to the folly of modern civilization. Our ability to hear and appropriately respond to the crisis of declining pollinators will determine humanity’s survival.

“’In 1923, Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian scientist, philosopher and social innovator, predicted that in 80 to 100 years honeybees would collapse.’” Queen of the Sun [a movie]

“Steiner believed the industrialization of bees would lead to their demise. It looks like he was right. In the past two decades, the United States has lost 100-300 billion bees, and the problem has spread to Europe and beyond.” 

[4-10-2011  http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2011/04/10/industry-s-war-on-nature-what-are-the-be]

Response:

Steiner did sometimes make a lucky guess. Of all his myriad predictions, approximately .01% have proven correct. (But to be precise, he did not “predict.” He used “exact clairvoyance” to see the actual, undeniable future. At least, this is what he followers believe, anyway. [See "Exactly".])

Concerning bees, Steiner said such things as this:

“The group soul of a beehive is a very high level being, higher than that of ants. It is of such a high development that you might almost say it is cosmically precocious. It has attained a level of evolutionary development that human beings will later reach in the Venus cycle, which follows the completion of the present Earth cycle ... The group soul of corals, however, is on a still higher plane.” — Rudolf Steiner, BEES (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 176. [See "Bees".]

Concerning his visions of the future, Steiner foresaw, for instance, that Anthroposophy would stand triumphant at the end of the 20th century, having entered virtually all human souls:

“[T]he Anthroposophical Movement is called to work on and on, and to appear again not only in its most important [souls], but in nearly all souls, at the end of the 20th century.” — Rudolf Steiner, KARMIC RELATIONSHIPS, Vol. 4 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 99. [See "Millennium".]

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Concerning my own view of bees: I agree that the collapse of honeybee populations is a serious matter. The cause of the collapse is still unclear, but I would not be surprised to learn that it results from the environmental damage we humans are inflicting on our home planet. But the "industrialization of bees" — that is, bee farming — is almost surely not the problem. I know several beekeepers, and their work seems to have helped preserve honeybees. The keepers' hives have generally remained active and healthy while wild hives 'round about have been stricken. (Although recently I have noticed at least a tentative resurgence in wild honeybees in our neck of the woods.) — R.R.

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"Prairie Moon [Waldorf School] was one of three schools named a 'Kansas Green School of the Year.' The others were Hesston Elementary School and Tomahawk Elementary School in Shawnee Mission [Kansas, USA]. The awards were presented during a ceremony April 1 in Topeka. “These schools really are models for how all of us can be more green,” said Wilson, of KACEE [the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education]. The state organization will present the students at Prairie Moon with a big green banner on May 7." 

[4-8-2011http://wellcommons.com/groups/locavores/2011/apr/8/prairie-moon-waldorf-school-earns-state-/]

Response:

Is it ever wrong to be right? Perhaps not. But it is possible to be right for the wrong reasons. Waldorf schools are right to promote green values. But their reasons for embracing such values are wrong — their reasons are occult nonsense. Waldorf Anthroposophists believe, for instance, that nature is the abode of elemental beings, otherwise known as nature spirits. Some nature spirits live in water, some live in the air, some live in fire, and some live underground. The underground nature spirits are called gnomes or goblins. (I am not making this up.) 

“A gnome is only visible to someone who can see on the astral plane, but miners frequently possess such an astral vision [i.e., clairvoyance]; they know that gnomes are realities.” — Rudolf Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), lecture 27, GA 93a.

Gnomes are useful in various ways, but they also tend to be naughty. (I am not making this up. Really.) 

"Many names have been given to them, such as goblins, gnomes and so forth ... What one calls moral responsibility in man is entirely lacking in them ... Their nature prompts them to play all sorts of tricks on man....”  — Rudolf Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), pp. 62-63. 

The good things gnomes have done include (in a manner of speaking) creating the physical Earth. (I am not making this up. I swear, I am not!) 

“The predecessors of our Earth-gnomes, the Moon-gnomes, gathered together their Moon-experiences and from them fashioned this structure, this firm structure of the solid fabric of the Earth, so that our solid Earth-structure actually arose from the experiences of the gnomes of the old Moon.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE RIDDLE OF HUMANITY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1990), lecture 9.

The problem with the Waldorf view of nature is that it populates (as it were) the natural world with creatures that never existed while misjudging and undervaluing the creatures that actually do exist. (Steiner was dismissive of animals, calling them mere cast-off fragments of human nature.) When Waldorf teachers who believe in gnomes teach children to respect the Earth, they are teaching them a right lesson for a wrong reason. True morality — and true stewardship — is not born of fantastical delusions. Our moral duty is to the real planet we live on and the real creatures we share it with. We should preserve the Earth because that is the rational, compassionate, and responsible thing to do. We should save the Earth for the future generations of all the real species — including, of course, our own species. (And we can let the gnomes, sylphs, and other imaginary "nature spirits" look out for themselves.)

[For more on the Waldorf view of nature, see "Gnomes", "Neutered Nature", "Evolution, Anyone?" and "Biodynamics".]

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“Let us acknowledge the wonderful contribution small schools with combined classes make at primary level. Let us recognise the many advantages of small schools with combined classes: creativity that is not burdened by tradition, flexibility in decision making, problem solving and adopting new approaches. But most of all, small schools can provide a warm, social, secure and personal learning environment for our children. Small schools with combined classes are the seeds for the future growth of Waldorf Education.”  

[http://www.ecswe.org/downloads/articles/Reaching-Across-The-Ages-201103.pdf]

Response:

Advocates of Waldorf education offer many rationalizations. Most Waldorf schools are indeed small, and indeed there may be advantages in schools of limited size. Students will usually receive more individual attention, for instance. Discipline may be better. A sense of belonging — a feeling of communal involvement and identity — may be fostered.

On the other hand, small schools may have serious shortcomings. Facilities may be very limited. There may be few truly qualified faculty to teach various subjects. There may be little or no exposure to varying viewpoints. Because all the students at the school may come from similar backgrounds, the school’s culture may be intensely insular.

Combining classes can accentuate some of these problems. If, let us say, the first three grades all meet in the same room under the same teacher(s), none of the classes may really function at the appropriate grade level.

Parents considering a small Waldorf school should consider some additional factors as well. If the teachers at the school are, as Rudolf Steiner stipulated, “true Anthroposophists,” the insularity of the school will likely mean that children are reared in an Anthroposophical environment with minimal consideration given to non-Anthroposophical perspectives. Also, because a small Waldorf school will necessarily have a small faculty, the influence on the children exercised by this small band of teachers may be enormous. This can be exacerbated when — as often happens at Waldorf schools — a single teacher remains the primary instructor for a class in virtually all subjects, year after year. At some Waldorf schools, a “class teacher” begins with a group of children in first grade and stays with these children through fourth or fifth grade; at other Waldorfs, a class teacher may stay with the group through eighth grade or even longer. The children will emerge having been molded to an extraordinary degree by this teacher — who may, in fact, supplant the students' parents as the most important influence in the children's lives.

A small Waldorf school with a tiny faculty of devoted Anthroposophists will, in all probability, immerse the students in an intense atmosphere of Anthroposophical attitudes, approaches, and doctrines (although the latter may mainly be conveyed indirectly). After all, Anthroposophists believe that their worldview is true, and teachers naturally want to lead students to the truth. Parents should select a Waldorf school for their children only if they think that Anthroposophists do indeed possess the truth.

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THE HOBBIT (George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1954)

as purchased in a Waldorf school lobby.

(Not that it's important.)

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“As the Grand Theatre busily prepares for its final show of the season, children will get a great look on Friday at some of the costumes and props that will be used in the production of THE HOBBIT ... A new partner this year is the London Waldorf School which is also offering tours of its facility.”  

[4-6-2011  http://www.lfpress.com/entertainment/stage/2011/04/05/17885311.html]

Response:

It may just be a coincidence, but the production planned at the Grand Theatre has particular resonance for Waldorf schools. Fantasies such as those penned by J.R.R. Tolkien (THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS...) are embraced by many Anthroposophists as having deep spiritual meaning. 

Rudolf Steiner taught that myths, legends, fairy tales, and the like, are clairvoyant reports of true conditions in the spirit realm. 

• “Fairy tales are never thought out [i.e., invented]; they are the final remains of ancient clairvoyance, experienced in dreams by human beings who still had the power ... All the fairy tales in existence are thus the remnants of the original clairvoyance.” — Rudolf Steiner, ON THE MYSTERY DRAMAS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 93. 

• “Myths...are the memories of the visions people perceived in olden times ... At night they were really surrounded by the world of the Nordic gods of which the legends tell. Odin, Freya, and all the other figures in Nordic mythology were...experienced in the spiritual world with as much reality as we experience our fellow human beings around us today.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 198.

In praising fabulous tales, Steiner presumably did not have Tolkien’s fantasies specifically in mind (although as a professed clairvoyant he presumably could see these fantasies coming down the line...). Really, he was talking about traditional myths and legends, such as Norse myths, not the invented imaginings of modern writers.

On the other hand, Waldorf schools have been known to sell Tolkien’s books alongside Steiner’s. They find deep significance in both authors' fantasies.

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“The state, if you recall, released a snapshot of student performance in Milwaukee’s school choice program last week. Tony Evers, head of the Department of Public Instruction [Wisconsin, USA], used the numbers to make a political statement against school choice, which he opposes.

“But the figures had issues, and now still more are emerging. One of the surprises in the figures were how poorly one particular choice school, Tamarack Waldorf, did.

“It’s surprising because Tamarack is by reputation a good school, unusually deliberate in its curriculum and rigorous in the peculiar way of schools in the Waldorf movement ... Rather than taking tests, the children produce books to demonstrate their learning.

“The kind of people who send their kids to such a school are generally engaged and intellectual parents — and, generally, not favorably disposed to standardized testing.

“So an unusual number of Tamarack parents opted their children out of the state’s tests ... The state’s figures say that 42% of Tamarack students did well – scored ‘proficient’ or ‘advanced’ in reading, and 24% did in math ... As Tamarack administrator Jean Kacanek wrote to parents, ‘The data published is not complete because the Department of Public Instruction averaged scores of “0’” for each MPCP student in grades 4-8 at Tamarack who did not take the test. As one might expect for a Waldorf school, with a philosophy averse to standardized testing, many parents chose to opt out of the test.’”  

[4-5-2011  http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/119193074.html]

Response:

Evaluating Waldorf schools can be difficult. When large numbers of Waldorf students skip the standardized tests used by most schools, there is little basis for making a clear comparison. But the Waldorf system is fundamentally so dissimilar to most other schools, the very attempt to make comparisons may be inherently unfair. 

To cite a small example: When Waldorf students produce lesson books, does this demonstrate their learning, or does it merely demonstrate that the kids have done as they were told? That is, are the books full of learned material or merely transcribed material, copied from the blackboard? [See "Lesson Books".] 

Bear in mind, conveying subject matter to students is not generally a high priority in Waldorf schools. The purpose of schooling, according to Waldorf belief, is not to impart knowledge to children; the purpose is to help students incarnate properly, fulfill their karma, and move in the "right" direction spiritually. The kids don't need to be taught much — they carry intuitive knowledge within themselves, brought into this life from their previous lives on high. [See "Thinking".] As we saw recently, 

“This is precisely the task of school. If it is a true school, it should bring to unfoldment in the human being what he has brought with him from spiritual worlds into this physical life on earth.” — Rudolf Steiner, KARMIC RELATIONSHIPS , Vol. 1 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1972), lecture 5, GA 235. 

By this standard, evaluating Waldorf schools is virtually impossible. How are we to know what the students brought to this life from the spiritual worlds? How can we determine whether the students have properly "unfolded" the things they brought from the spiritual worlds? How can we make any rational assessment of Waldorf success rates in such matters? Clearly, we cannot. (And no one else can, either. Including Waldorf teachers.)

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From Chicago Now:

"[S]ome parents...feel that their children are just not ready for Kindergarten at age five. These parents tend to be middle and upper-middle class ... These parents want the option to hold their children back a year so that they will be six when they start Kindergarten ... [W]hat's going on here? Are our five-year-olds becoming less capable of handling kindergarten? ... I can see why many parents want to delay sending their kids to kindergarten. I have a friend who sent her daughter to a Waldorf school for preschool from age 3 - 5. The Waldorf philosophy does not stress academic skills...." 

[4-4-2011 http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/little-kids-big-city/2011/04/kindergarten-age-cutoffs.html]

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Response:

Many parents are critical of public schools today, and some of them consider Waldorf schools an attractive alternative. I would only urge parents to make sure they understand the Waldorf approach before buying into it.

Waldorf education "does not stress academic skills.” Very true. But is this good or bad? Most people consider childhood to be a period of enormously important mental, emotional, and psychological growth. Parents want their children to bloom. Of course, pushing youngsters too hard, expecting them to learn too much too soon, can be damaging. But the Waldorf alternative can also be damaging. Waldorf schools try to restrain children from growing and developing in a normal fashion.

“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 [i.e., the consciousness s/he brought from her past life in the spirit realm] ... 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 ... [I]n a Waldorf school, therefore, one of the tasks of the teachers is to keep the children young." — A. C. Harwood, PORTRAIT OF A WALDORF SCHOOL (The Myrin Institute Inc., 1956), pp. 15-16.

Waldorf teachers think these "fragments" of supernatural consciousness will lend truth to a child's imaginings and dreams, which in turn can lead to the acquisition of clairvoyant powers later in life. This is the sort of "growth" Waldorf schools aim at. The Waldorf approach is delusory. [See "Thinking Cap" and "Clairvoyance".]

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“Any opinion on Waldorf Rudolph [sic] Steiner education methods? My nephew will send his 3 year old son (in South America) to be schooled this way. I read few articles but I'm curious if anyone had the experience. Any pros or cons?”  

[4-3-2011  http://askville.amazon.com/opinion-Waldorf-Rudolph-Steiner-education-methods/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=79424507]

Parents who sent children to Waldorf or Steiner schools may want to respond.

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"I'm wanting to know about anyone who was educated through the Steiner education. Do you think it has benefited you?"  

[4-1-2011 http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110331212103AAClSVc]

This plaintive query seems to have elicited only one response so far.

(Generally, when advocates of Waldorf schooling learn of such queries, they rush in with fervent replies, sometimes all but drowning out any critical responses.)

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"I would like to go somewhere far and foreign where no one has been yet before.

A happy place, with no sorrows, no hunger, sickness anymore.

To smell the spices of East Asia to feel the soft sand of the deserts and hear the waves upon the shore 

or see the highest mountains soar.

People who speak different tongues but they are still my kind 

as we all breathe the same air brothers and sisters we are in mind."

[4-1-2011  http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/8948576.Poetry_competition_winner_announced/]

Response:

This sweet poem, written by a Waldorf student, has won a small poetry contest. The poem voices the yearnings so many people feel. They are the yearnings that can lead families to Waldorf schools; and they are the yearnings that Waldorf schools can stimulate. Whether Waldorf schools can actually address such yearnings may be, unfortunately, a different matter. Human fulfillment must be found in the real universe, not in the fantasy realms of wistful Waldorf fantasies. 

But what do I mean by this? Why do I not rejoice in the kindly, beneficent intentions of Waldorf faculties? Waldorf teachers say that they mean well, and indeed I acknowledge that they do mean well. But, sad to say, they often live in a dream world, where no truth can truly be found.

But what do I mean by this? Teachers at Waldorf schools (otherwise known as Steiner schools) believe the statements of their founder, Rudolf Steiner, which run to such things as the following:  

"The Sun-Initiation gave the Druid priest the spiritual impulse, and as a result he had his science of Nature ... His science of Nature being a Moon-science, the Druid priest perceived how the elemental beings [aka “nature spirits”] can grow and expand into gigantic size.

"From this resulted his knowledge of the Jötuns, the giant-beings. When he looked into the root-nature of a plant beneath the soil, where the Moon-forces were living, there he found the elemental being in its true bounds. But the beings were ever striving to go forth and grow outward gigantically. When the kind of elemental beings who lived beneficially in the root-nature, expanded into giants, they became the giants of the frost ... And what worked in the growth of the leaves, this too could grow to giant size. Then it lived as a giant elemental being in the misty storms that swept over the Earth." — Rudolf Steiner, MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE; The Evolution of Consciousness (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1966), lecture 4, September 10, 1923.

I’m sorry. I attended a Waldorf school. I share the yearnings that Waldorf schools represent and fertilize. But, in the end, I have had to reach the realization that no wisdom (nada, zero, zilch) can be found in the philosophy that informs Waldorf education.

I’m sorry.

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