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WALDORF / STEINER 

NEWS ARCHIVE

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March, 2013.

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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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Andy Lewis has posted the following at his website, The Quackometer. I have added a few endnotes.  While I do not wholly agree with Lewis on all points,much of what he says is manifestly accurate.

Steiner Schools are based on the idea that children’s spirits and souls need attention as they are incarnated into their bodies. This incarnation happens in seven years cycles and a teacher’s early role is to help children understand their previous incarnations. [1] As such, these are not places of education, but places of spiritual midwifery. Karma drives the manifestation of souls, with previous actions bearing on subsequent lives. If you have done wrong, then that wrong must be worked out in another life in order for the souls to evolve towards higher forms of spiritual development. Steiner believes the blond haired, blue eyed races of Europe represented the current pinnacle of spiritual development [2] and a child’s soul must be guided towards such incarnations from the ‘lower races’. [3]

Naturally, none of this is discussed on the current Michael House Steiner School web site. [4]

This worldview has consequences within schools. It is a common complaint that bullying goes unchecked as [there] is a belief that the bullied and the bullier [are] reversing roles from previous incarnations and these karmic issues must be worked out by the children. [5] Children are divided into temperaments: choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic. Such designations, based on physical appearance, guide a teacher’s interactions with a child. [6]

Karma is central to Steiner’s worldview. Disease is a result of karmic influences. If you get measles, that is what is intended for you. If you die [due to measles], then you will be reincarnated having worked out that aspect of your karma. Steiner schools are notorious as centres of unvaccinated children. Why would you want to intervene in karma? [7]

[http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2013/03/bill-roache-karma-reincarnation-and-steiner-schools.html]

Waldorf Watch Footnotes:

[1] See, e.g., “Incarnation”, “Karma”, and “Most Significant”. “[T]he purpose of [Waldorf] education is to help the individual fulfill his karma.” — Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson, THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF STEINER EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 52. Steiner taught that in a future evolutionary epoch, we will transcend karma — see "Sixth Epoch". But in the present, we are very much creatures of karma.

[2] “If the blonds and blue-eyed people die out, the human race will become increasingly dense ... Blond hair actually bestows intelligence. 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.” — Rudolf Steiner, HEALTH AND ILLNESS, Vol. 1 (Anthroposophic Press, 1981), pp. 85-86.

Steiner taught that whites lead "thinking lives" whereas blacks lead "instinctual lives" and yellow-skinned peoples lead "emotional lives."  [See "Races".] While Steiner downplayed the importance of the brain [see "Steiner's Specific"], he nonetheless placed thoughtful, white-skinned Europeans — and especially Germans — at the peak of human development. Indeed, he was a German nationalist who saw special significance in German culture and the Gernan "national mission." [See "The Good Wars".]

[3] “A race or nation stands so much the higher, the more perfectly its members express the pure, ideal human type ... The evolution of man through the incarnations in ever higher national and racial forms is thus a process of liberation [leading to] an ideal future." — Rudolf Steiner, KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT (Anthroposophic Press, 1944), p. 149.

[4] Michael House is the premier Steiner school in the United Kingdom. See http://www.michaelhouseschool.co.uk/.

[5] See, e.g., "Slaps".

[6] See "Humouresque" and "Temperaments". In Waldorf belief, physical appearance is not the sole indicator of temperament, but it is important.

[7] Steiner taught that intervention in karma is sometimes necessary, but in general karma should be allowed to play itself out. Souls need to fulfill their karmas. Thus, for example, "[W]e see...groups of human souls in their descent from pre-earthly into earthly existence wander to regions situated, for example, in the vicinity of volcanoes, or to districts where earthquakes are liable to occur ... [S]uch places are deliberately chosen by the souls thus karmically connected, in order that they may experience this very destiny ... [They think] 'I choose a great disaster on earth in order to become more perfect....'" — Rudolf Steiner, KARMIC RELATIONSHIPS, Vol. 2 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1974), pp. 226-227. Victims of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, among other disasters, choose their fates. They are fulfilling their karmas.

If you see that a child is about to be crushed to death in a dreadful accident, you probably should step back and allow the event to unfold. The child’s own spirit has willed this eventuality. "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 [at] just that moment. It is also possible to show in an outer way that all kinds of circumstances caused the child to be in that place at the time the van overturned, circumstances considered chance if the materialistic view is taken ... Studying the case in the light of spiritual science [i.e., Anthroposophy] and of karma it will be seen to demonstrate very clearly that external logic, quite properly used in external life, proves flimsy in this case and does not apply ... [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.

So, you see, being crushed to death was good for this child. Indeed, his own ego willed it. In other words, he got want he deserved — his horrible death fulfilled his karma, which he created by his own actions in past lives..

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From a lecture Rudolf Steiner delivered 

on this date, March 18, in the year 1921:

"Frequently, what can quite correctly be designated as clairvoyance is confused with phenomena that can arise in the human constitution when conscious functions are suppressed so that they fall below the level of everyday consciousness — as in hypnosis, under the influence of suggestive mental images, and so forth. This suppression of consciousness, this entering into a subconscious realm, has absolutely nothing to do with what is meant here by the attainment of imagination. For in the case of imagination we have an enhancement of consciousness, we go in exactly the opposite direction from what is often called clairvoyance when the term is used in a trivial sense. As it is commonly used, the word is not given its correct meaning ('clear vision,' or 'seeing in the light'), but rather 'a reduced vision' or 'dim vision.' At the risk of being misunderstood, it would not be incorrect to describe the upward striving toward imaginative knowledge as a striving toward clairvoyance." 

— Rudolf Steiner, 

ANTHROPOSOPHY AND SCIENCE 

(Mercury Press, 1991), 

lecture 3, GA 324.

Response:

Waldorf schools are often praised for emphasizing imaginative thinking. This praise is largely misplaced. In the Waldorf/Steiner belief system, “imagination” — the forming of mental images — is a type of clairvoyance. Waldorf teachers often consider themselves to be clairvoyant, and they try to lead their students down a path leading toward clairvoyance. They disguise their intention by saying that they encourage imagination.*

Exaggerating only slightly, Rudolf Steiner said that all Waldorf teachers either are clairvoyant or they accept the guidance of their “clairvoyant” colleagues: “Not every Waldorf teacher has the gift of clairvoyance, but every one of them has accepted wholeheartedly and with full understanding the [clairvoyant] results of spiritual-scientific investigation concerning the human being.” — Rudolf Steiner, WALDORF EDUCATION AND ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1995), Vol. 2, p. 224.

Steiner taught that humanity once had natural clairvoyance, but in recent centuries we have it lost. Waldorf teachers, he said, need to reacquire the powers of clairvoyance. He called this the Waldorf teacher’s consciousness. ”[W]e must work to develop this consciousness, the Waldorf teacher’s consciousness, if I may so express it ... We must realize that we really need something quite specific, something that is hardly present anywhere else in the world, if we are to be capable of mastering the task of the Waldorf school ... [We need] what humanity has lost in this respect, has lost just in the last three or four centuries. It is this that we must find again.” — Rudolf Steiner, DEEPER INSIGHTS INTO EDUCATION (Anthroposophical Press, 1983), p. 21. 

Advocates of Waldorf education today continue to affirm the need for teacherly clairvoyance: "Must teachers be clairvoyant in order to be certain that they are teaching in the proper way? Clairvoyance is needed...." — Waldorf educator Eugene Schwartz, THE MILLENNIAL CHILD (Anthroposophic Press, 1999), p. 157.

The fundamental error in all of this is that clairvoyance is a delusion. There is no evidence that clairvoyance or any other psychic phenomenon — telekinesis, telepathy, etc. — exists. "After thousands of experiments, a reproducible ESP phenomenon has never been discovered, nor has any individual convincingly demonstrated a psychic ability." — David G. Myers, PSYCHOLOGY (Worth Publishers, 2004), p. 260 — emphasis by Myers. 

Waldorf education is built on a false vision of the world and a false vision of human capacities. It is built on delusion, in other words, and it seeks to lead children into this delusion. The resulting harm it can inflict on children is almost boundless.

For more on these matters, see, e.g., “The Waldorf Teacher’s Consciousness”, “Why? Oh Why?”, "Who Gets Hurt?", and “Fooling (Ourselves)”.

* Not all Waldorf teachers are consciously aware of the deceptions they practice. Often, a significant degree of self-deception is involved. [See, e.g., "Secrets" and "The World of Waldorf".] Often, too, there is a degree of naiveté among Waldorf faculties. Some Waldorf teachers are well-versed in Anthroposophical doctrines, but others — especially newcomers — may know little about Anthroposophy.

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From a report about the Sierra Waldorf School, on March 17, 2013:

"Waldorf education is an international program that is the fastest growing independent educational movement in the world, now with more than 900 Waldorf schools in 83 countries." [http://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/2016013/Bollywood-Nights-At-Mother-Lode-Fairgrounds.html]

From the Waldorf School of Garden City, on the same day, March 17, 2013:

"Today, there are over 2,500 Waldorf Schools worldwide." [http://www.waldorfgarden.org/page.cfm?p=601]

Response:

Getting reliable information about Waldorf schools is difficult. Various Waldorf organizations make varying claims. Sometimes the total number of Waldorfs in the world is bruited to be 3,000 or more. But such numbers are wildly exaggerated — they include at-home Waldorf play groups and other gatherings that do not truly qualify as schools. Moreover, many Waldorfish operations that may have a legitimate claim to being considered schools are nonetheless tiny, having only a handful of students. Some of these "schools" are recognized by central Waldorf organizations, but some are not recognized. Some survive and grow, while others flash into existence and then quickly disappear.

Here is one reasonably reliable tabulation of Waldorf schools worldwide, offered by a pro-Waldorf source, Bund der Freien Waldorfschulen [www.waldorfschule.de]. According to this source, today — in early 2013 — there are 1,024 Waldorf schools in the world, spread among 60 countries. By far the largest concentration of the schools (712) is in Europe, and the country having the most Waldorfs is Germany (233). There are 22 Waldorf schools in Africa, the same total as two years ago; most of these schools are in the Republic of South Africa. Today there are 199 Waldorfs in the Americas, down from 211 two years ago; most are in the USA. There are 46 Waldorf schools in Asia, and 47 in Oceana (Australia and New Zealand).

Just as it if hard to know for sure how many Waldorf schools exist, it is hard to prove or disprove the oft-repeated claim that Waldorf schools constitute "the fastest growing independent educational movement in the world." Part of the problem lies in defining the concept of "independent schools." If by "independent" we mean largely free from control by government educational authorities, then Waldorf schools generally qualify.* However, various Waldorf schools in various countries receive state funding of one form or another, and to some degree these schools may be inspected and supervised by governmental authorities. Indeed, some advocates of public education worry that inclusion of Waldorf schools in state systems may corrupt public education, while some advocates of Waldorf education worry that state supervision may subvert Waldorf aims and practices.

Then there is the issue of comparing the Waldorf movement to other educational movements worldwide. Various Muslim and Hindu schools movements are widespread and fast-spreading. Finding reliable statistics about them — and comparing these numbers to Waldorf claims — would be daunting. Unless advocates of Waldorf schooling have undertaken this work, the assertion that theirs is the "fastest growing" movement would seem to be unsupported. The educational movement to which Waldorf is most often compared is Montessori, and there too difficulties arise. The term "Montessori school" is even more amorphous than the term "Waldorf school," so a tabulation of Montessori schools is well nigh impossible. See, e.g., the Global Montessori School Census. By at least some standards, there are considerably more Montessori schools than Waldorf schools, and Montessori has spread at least as fast as Waldorf. But all of this is foggy.** 

Probably the most accurate summary is that there are about a thousand Waldorf schools in the world today, and the Waldorf movement continues to grow.

* Most Waldorfs govern themselves, and thus they may be deemed independent in the broadest sense — they run their own affairs. However, to the degree that individual Waldorf schools are bound to central institutions such as the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship (SWSF) or the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA), their autonomy is limited by their submission to these institutions. 

** Wikipedia says, for instance, "Montessori education spread to the United States in 1911 ... [It] languished after 1914. [But] Montessori education returned to the United States in 1960 and has since spread to thousands of schools there." In one country, then — the USA — the total number of Montessori schools would seem to be much greater than the total number of Waldorf schools, while the speed of the spread of Montessori schools in that country has waxed and waned and waxed again.

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From Waldorf on Etsy:

A Basic Introduction to Rudolf Steiner’s Four Temperaments

by Brenda Massei

Rudolf Steiner promoted the idea of four temperaments, the concept of which have [sic] remained rather unchanged since their creation by Hippocrates. Steiner believed the four temperaments, “naturally never manifest themselves in such pure form. Every human being has one basic temperament, with varying degrees of the other three mixed in.” He contends that as we strive for adulthood, we should try to balance our own temperaments. 

For elementary age children a look at the dominant temperament is a helpful way to promote understanding in the adults who care for them.  Steiner stated “When we meet the children we very soon see that they have different dispositions, and despite the necessity of teaching them in classes, even large classes, we must consider their various dispositions.”  His inspired desire to not fit every single child into one peg [sic] was apparent.

Today, Steiner’s ideas can help any parent, teacher, or parent-teacher. For instance, applying routines for a phlegmatic child will help both the parent and the child alleviate transition problems.

[http://waldorfonetsy.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-basic-introduction-to-rudolf-steiners.html]

Response:

Hippocrates died almost four centuries before the birth of Christ. The father of ancient Greek medicine, Hippocrates was — by today’s standards — deeply ignorant of both human physiology and human psychology. His medical theories were supplanted by better knowledge long ago. Yet Rudolf Steiner revived Hippocrates’ concept of four temperaments, and this concept is revered in Waldorf schools today. Waldorf schools do not try to “fit every single child into one peg,” but they try to hang all students from the four pegs of an ancient medical theory: They stereotype all children as predominantly phlegmatic, choleric, sanguine, or melancholic. [See “Humouresque”.]

Students in Waldorf schools are literally segregated on the basis of four categories that do not, in reality, exist. The plan for the four-part segregation comes from Rudolf Steiner: 

“In Waldorf education, we greatly value the ability to enter and understand children according to their temperaments. We actually arrange the classroom seating on this basis. For example, we try to determine which children are choleric and place them together. Thus, the teachers know that one corner contains all the children who tend to be choleric. In another, the phlegmatic children are seated; somewhere in the middle are the sanguines; and somewhere else, the melancholics are in a group.” — Rudolf Steiner, HUMAN VALUES IN EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2004), pp. 139-140.

The Waldorf view of temperament is so shallow as to include the belief that temperament manifests in body type. By looking at a child’s body, you can gain insight into that child’s personality. This is a stunningly superficial system of judging and categorizing children, and its potential for causing psychological damage should be clear.

[R.R.].

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“The melancholic children are as a rule tall and slender; the sanguine are the most normal; those with more protruding shoulders are the phlegmatic children; and those with a short stout build so that the head almost sinks down into the body are choleric.” — Rudolf Steiner, DISCUSSIONS WITH TEACHERS (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. 34.

If you are a pudgy kid, you are probably choleric. Go sit in the corner with the other pudgy kids — don't, for heaven's sake, sit with the attractive sanguine children.

Waldorf teachers often organize their lesson plans, and make assignments, based on their fallacious view of temperament. Here are some recommendations given by Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson in his booklet THE TEMPERAMENTS IN EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner College Press, 1997). For the most part, I will paraphrase:

• Teachers should tell choleric children stories in which rashness is shown to become dangerous or ridiculous. These students need lots of different things to do, tasks that present challenges for the kids to work through. Teachers should be firm, strong, direct. Sanguine students should be given lively stories full of exciting descriptions, pictures, and variations. These children need many diverse activities. Teachers should be friendly but firm. Phlegmatic kids should be given unexciting stories told quietly. Assign a specific task and provide advice on how to accomplish it. Teachers should show calm strength. Melancholic students need sad stories that lead to eventual triumph. Teachers should enter into these students’ sad moods and encourage the students to assist others who are less capable. Be sympathetic.

• Children with different temperaments have affinities for different mathematical processes and rules. By starting each child with the proper math activity for her/his temperament, a teacher can lead the child to learn all other parts of arithmetic. Cholerics have a feeling for division, sanguines for multiplication, phlegmatics for addition, and melancholics for subtraction.

• Learning and performing music should be keyed to temperament. Cholerics are suited to percussion instruments, and no matter which instruments they try, they want to play solo. Sanguines are adapted to brass and reed instruments, and they enjoy being part of an orchestra. Cholerics are drawn to the piano; they also enjoy choral singing. Melancholics have an affinity from stringed instruments; they want to sing solo.

• Different forms of discipline should be applied to different temperaments. For cholerics, punishment should not come immediately — these children need to simmer down before they can be reasonable. Remind choleric children of their misdeeds later, and discuss things with them then. Sanguines may not need punishment: “[A] friendly word will probably be sufficient.” Give this friendly word immediately. Phlegmatics: “[I]f punishment is necessary, it should be immediate.” Melancholics: Be sympathetic but firm. Immediately point out the consequences that will befall later.

What a way to run a school! The four classical temperaments do not exist. Hippocrates was wrong. Nor is there any factual basis for thinking that a child with a certain body type has a certain personality and therefore s/he has educational needs different from children who have other body types. Steiner was wrong. This is not education for the twenty-first century; it is education for the fourth century BCE.

[For more of this sort of prejudicial treatment of students in Waldorf schools, see "Temperaments".]

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From The Shelburne News, Shelburne, Vermont, USA:

Life of the Child Conference explores alternative education March 22-23

The Lake Champlain Waldorf School hosts its annual Life of the Child Conference on March 22-23. This year, renowned neurophysiologist and educator Carla Hannaford Ph.D presents a two-day workshop exploring how movement, music, and play are essential for learning and creativity.

In this experiential workshop, Dr. Hannaford will show why and how the body plays an essential role in learning. She will present her accessible, cutting-edge brain research....

Pam Graham, Admissions Director at the Lake Champlain Waldorf School, explained the school’s interest: “Waldorf education was founded almost a century ago, but it takes a holistic approach to learning that is backed by contemporary neuroscience.  We are eager to bring forward research that helps parents and teachers work with all of a child’s potential.”

[http://shelburnenews.com/?p=5529]

Response:

Waldorf spokespeople have a long record of misleading the public. Waldorf education is not “backed by contemporary neuroscience” or any other present-day knowledge. Waldorf education is founded on an occult belief system concocted a century ago by the Austrian/German mystic Rudolf Steiner.

At the risk of boring faithful readers, I will reprint a list of truthful statements describing the real nature of Waldorf education. All of the following statements were made by leading advocates of Waldorf education, including Rudolf Steiner himself. These are the sorts of admissions you can find if you dig; they are not the sorts of statements Waldorf spokesmen usually make when addressing the public at large:

• “[T]he purpose of [Waldorf] education is to help the individual fulfill his karma.” — Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson, THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF STEINER EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 52.

• “Waldorf education strives to create a place in which the highest beings [i.e., the gods], including the Christ [i.e., the Sun God], can find their home.” — Anthroposophist Joan Almon, WHAT IS A WALDORF KINDERGARTEN? (SteinerBooks, 2007), p. 53. 

• "[W]hat we [Waldorf teachers] have to do in education is a continuation of what higher beings [i.e., the gods] have done ... [O]ur work with young people is a continuation of what higher beings have done [with the children] before birth." — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 37.

• “This is precisely the task of school. If it is a true school, it should bring to unfoldment [i.e., incarnation and development]...what [the child] 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.

• “A Waldorf school is...an organization that seeks to allow the spiritual impulses of our time to manifest on earth in order to transform society ... [I]t strives to bring the soul-spiritual into the realm of human life.” — Waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli, “On Earth as It Is in Heaven”, Research Bulletin, Vol. 16 (Waldorf Research Institute), Fall 2011, pp. 21-24.

• "[The] special contribution, the unique substance, mission, and intention of the independent Waldorf School, is the spiritual-scientific view of human nature [i.e., Anthroposophy].” — Anthroposophist Peter Selg, THE ESSENCE OF WALDORF EDUCATION (SteinerBooks, 2010)‚ p. 4.

• “The task of education conceived in the spiritual sense is to bring the Soul-Spirit [i.e., the combined soul and spirit] into harmony with the Life-Body [i.e., the etheric body, the first of our three invisible bodies]." — Rudolf Steiner, STUDY OF MAN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), pp. 19-20.

• “[Waldorf] education is essentially grounded on the recognition of the child as a spiritual being, with a varying number of incarnations behind him ... [I]t is [the faculty's] task to help the child to make use of his body, to help his soul-spiritual forces to find expression through it, rather than regarding it as their duty to cram him with information.” — Anthroposophist Stewart C. Easton, MAN AND WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989), pp. 388-389. 

• "The reason many [Waldorf] schools exist is because of the Anthroposophy, period. It's not because of the children. It's because a group of Anthroposophists have it in their minds to promote Anthroposophy in the world ... Educating children is secondary in these schools" — Former Waldorf teacher "Baandje". [See "Ex-Teacher 7".]

• “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...are actually carrying out the intentions of the gods ... [W]e are, in a certain sense, the means by which that streaming down from above will go out into the world.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 55.

• “In the child we have before us a being who has only recently left the divine world. In due course, still at a tender age, he comes to school and it is the teacher’s task to help guide him into earthly existence. The teacher is therefore performing a priestly office.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE ESSENTIALS OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. 23. 

• "Waldorf education is a form of practical anthroposophy." — Waldorf teacher Keith Francis, THE EDUCATION OF A WALDORF TEACHER (iUniverse, 2004), p. xii.

• “[F]rom a spiritual-scientific [i.e., Anthroposophical] point of view child education consists mainly in integrating the soul-spiritual members [i.e., the etheric, astral, and ego bodies] with the corporeal members [i.e., the physical body].” — Waldorf teacher Gilbert Childs, STEINER EDUCATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (Floris Books, 1998), p. 68.

• “The success of Waldorf Education, Rudolf Steiner [said], can be measured in the life force attained. Not acquisition of knowledge and qualifications, but the life force is the ultimate goal of this school.” — Anthroposophist Peter Selg, THE ESSENCE OF WALDORF EDUCATION (SteinerBooks, 2010)‚ p. 30.

Carla Hannaford, Ph.D., may be a brilliant and credentialed scientist. I will not impugn her or her work. But I will point out that even brilliant and credentialed scientists can make grave errors when they align themselves with occult systems such as Anthroposophy. In 1977, the Waldorf Press (now defunct) published a mighty tome by Wolfgang Schad, MAN AND MAMMAL, that endeavored to overturn contemporary biology in order to substantiate Rudolf Steiner's teachings about the human organism, including Steiner's claim that animals evolved from humans, humans did not evolve from animals. It is an impressive, well-documented, carefully argued book. But it has had essentially no effect within the scientific community for one overwhelming reason. Its thesis is false. MAN AND MAMMAL misrepresents the evidence it presents, and it draws clearly fallacious conclusions.

"Professor Wolfgang Schad, Ph.D., 

was born in 1935 and studied biology, 

chemistry, physics, and education. 

He is a professor of evolutionary biology 

at the university of Witten Herdecke and is widely viewed 

as an authority in his field." 

— SteinerBooks [http://steinerbooks.org/author.html?au=1368]

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Anthroposophical "research" is tendentious and misleading. It starts with a conclusion it desperately wants to affirm — the "truth" of Anthroposophy — and it bends every piece of information and every form of argumentation in this effort. The result is usually little more than illogical misinformation. Indeed, such "research" is rarely meant to break new ground; nor is it usually intended to persuade non-Anthroposophists. Rather, the goal (which may or may not be openly acknowledged) is to fortify Anthroposophists in the views they already hold. Steiner's followers are assured that, if they ignore all the other scholarship in the world and focus instead on narrowly contrived arguments provided by their fellow believers, they may feel justified in thinking that there is some rational, factual basis for their otherwise wholly unfounded convictions.

As for the claim that Waldorf education is validated by “contemporary neuroscience” or any other genuine scholarship or research — no, it is not. Rudolf Steiner’s followers often do extensive “research” that consists of cherry-picking, raking through scholarly papers, news reports, and any and all other publications seeking any tidbit that might conceivably be interpreted (or misinterpreted) as providing tangential confirmation of Steiner’s teachings. But such “confirmation” is almost always illusory. Steiner taught, for example, that the heart does not pump blood. His followers try their best to substantiate this loopy falsehood, but of course they can’t. See, e.g., THE DYNAMIC HEART AND CIRCULATION (Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, 2002), edited by Craig Holdrege. It is another scholarly, carefully crafted book that ultimately makes no sense and has had essentially no influence outside the Anthroposophical cult.

As for the brain, the head, and thinking, here are some of the statements Steiner and his followers have made. Consider how well they conform to the knowledge available through “contemporary neuroscience.”

• “[T]he...brain represents a process of decay: materialistic thinking unfolds only through processes of destruction, death-processes, which are taking place in the brain.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), pp. 147-148.

• "The brain does not produce thoughts." — Henk Van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), p. 16.

• “[O]ne can think with one's fingers and toes much more brightly, once one makes the effort, than with the nerves of the head." — Rudolf Steiner, BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS 1919-1924 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 126.

• “The body thinks, the body counts. The head is only a spectator.” — Rudolf Steiner, RHYTHMS OF LEARNING (SteinerBooks, 1998), p. 159.

• "Within the brain there is absolutely no thought; there is no more of thought in the brain than there is of you in the mirror in which you see yourself." — Rudolf Steiner, WONDERS OF THE WORLD, ORDEALS OF THE SOUL, REVELATIONS OF THE SPIRIT (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 119.

• “The intellect destroys or hinders.” — Rudolf Steiner, WALDORF EDUCATION AND ANTHROPOSOPHY, Vol. 1 (Anthroposophic Press, 1995, p. 233.

• "Intellectuality flows forth from [the demon] Ahriman as a cold and frosty, soulless cosmic impulse.” — Rudolf Steiner,  ANTHROPOSOPHICAL LEADING THOUGHTS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 98.

• “[T]he brain and nerve system have nothing at all to do with actual cognition.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 60.

Such bizarre, mystical views have a distinct — and damaging — impact on Waldorf education. Thus, according to Steiner, "You will injure children if you educate them rationally.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 61. You should choose Waldorf education for your children only if you want them to have irrational schooling.

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Here is yet another report of bullying in a Waldorf school, this time from mothering.com. There have been many similar reports — see, e.g., "Slaps" and the "News Archive".

I am so disappointed. I thought Waldorf would be a great experience for my daughter. It is, EXCEPT 

1. 5 kids in the class are out of control, constantly interrupting, hitting, yelling. Stealing crayons & flutes from other children's desks, etc. The main bully had another child restrain a third child in the boys bathroom so he could punch him — one of 1000 examples. 

2. The teacher says that the rowdy kids "need held" and my dau. needs to be stronger. 

3. The teacher says the bullies are really improving so much since September, that should make all of us parents content. 

4. The school will not acknowledge that there are any problems. 

5. 4/5 of the bullies are from rich families. 

It is too late to apply to other schools for next fall. I am so depressed. When I googled "waldorf bullying" i lost my mind. I had no idea it was like this. 

How can it be OK to tolerate so much chaos? Those 5 kids take up 70% of the teacher's time. 

[http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1377068/help-waldorf-1st-grade-out-of-control]

Response:

Bullying has been — and apparently still is — a serious problem in Waldorf schools for several reasons, including the belief that children must be allowed to enact their karmas (some kids are fated to bully while others are fated to be bullied), the belief that guardian angels will oversee the children so teachers needn't bother, and the defensive belief that things cannot possibly go amiss in Waldorf schools. All of these factors seem to underlie the problem reported here. 

It is important to recognize that most students in Waldorf schools are not physically abused by students or teachers. Waldorf schools are usually peaceful places where the days pass pleasantly. Most graduates of Waldorf schools probably have, for the most part, pleasant memories of their childhood years. [To explore the issue of bullying in Waldorf schools, see, e.g., "Slaps".]

The chief problem with Waldorf education is not that students are physically abused (although some of them are); the chief problem is that students are lured toward a wholly false view of reality. Most Waldorf teachers are, to one degree or another, followers of Rudolf Steiner, and as such they believe in such things as karma, reincarnation, guardian angels, Atlantis, gnomes, the Sun God, astrology, floating continents, present-day populations of the Moon and planets, clairvoyance, ghosts, magic... The list is long and depressing. [For a catalogue of bizarre Waldorf beliefs, see "Steiner's Blunders".]

The bodies of Waldorf students may not usually be in danger. But the minds and souls of Waldorf students quite often are. [See, e.g., "Sneaking It In".]

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Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School Presents Student Circus March 10 [Massachusetts, USA]

Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School (GBRSS) presents “A Circus Day in the Park,” starring 7th and 8th graders in an extravaganza of juggling, jumping, balancing, tumbling, clowning and twirling fun for the whole family ... GBRSS Athletic Director and circus creative director Krista Palmer commented, “Circus arts are part of the physical education curriculum at the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School. Through activities like tumbling and acrobatics, children are encouraged to feel comfortable moving their bodies as well as extending into the space around them, and their strength is felt both physically and emotionally. The adult capacities of being flexible, leading a balanced life, helping and supporting others and juggling life’s tasks are exercised in childhood through circus arts.”

[http://gbrss.org/great-barrington-rudolf-steiner-school-presents-student-circus-march-10/]

Response:

A small but growing number of Waldorf schools train their students in "circus arts." Thus, you may occasionally see Waldorf help-wanted ads like the following:

Circus Teacher Wanted

Oct 17 2012 | Marin Waldorf School | San Rafael, CA

Marin Waldorf School in San Rafael, CA [California, USA] is seeking a part time circus instructor for 4th, 5th and 6th grades. Familiarity with Waldorf teaching methods is preferred. Applicants must be experienced in teaching acrobatics, unicycle, tightwire balance and spotting. We will provide tumbling mats, a crash mat, juggling balls, pins and a few scarves. You should provide a tightwire to install between trees, as well as a vaulting trampoline; a globe is desirable. [http://jobs.waldorftoday.com/job/33998/circus-teacher-wanted-at-marin-waldorf-school/]

Study of circus arts is even included in some Waldorf teacher-training programs. The following is from the Rudolf Steiner Institute (RSI) in Massachusetts, USA:

Creativity and the Arts

ONE-WEEK INTENSIVE: JULY 18–24

3 SESSIONS PER DAY

8:30–10:00 • 10:45–12:15 • 2:30–4:00

To take this course, you will need to have done either this year's Level 1 (see the RSI week one course "Courage to Be — A Clowning Course") or a similar course. This Level 2 course continues the Level 1 work offering further practice of clowning with the focus on structure and relationship. The more demanding aspects of this level come from a need to practice responsiveness to, and awareness of, your partner on stage, your audience and the images, stories and characters that emerge during improvisation. [http://www.steinerinstitute.org/courses/our-courses/one-week-intensive-2/clowning.aspx]

What in the world is going on?

At one level, all of this clowning is simply good public relations. Offering colorful, jovial events such as student circuses puts a happy face on a form education that, at its core, is anything but lighthearted. Rudolf Steiner and his followers have not been distinguished by laughter and whimsy. Indeed, recognizing that the teachers at the first Waldorf school tended to be overly serious and even dour, Steiner took them to task, instructing them to leaven their work with humor. [See "Faculty Meetings".] The effort was not wholly successful — the teachers were true-believing Anthroposophists who saw nothing funny about their work — but it has continued, in various forms, down to the present. Waldorf faculties strive to be more jolly, or at least to seem to be so. And how better to do this than by staging school circuses?

At another level, classes in circus arts can be seen as part of the Waldorf effort to educate the whole child — "head, heart, and hands." [See "Holistic Education".] Virtually all activities at Waldorf schools have spiritual purposes; the religion of Anthroposophy undergirds everything. [See "Schools as Churches".] Because, in Anthroposophical belief, spirit pervades everything — even at the physical level of existence — all manner of apparently secular activities can be undertaken at Waldorf schools, as long as the teachers honor the spiritual essence of such activities. Thus, Waldorf schools often place great emphasis on arts and crafts and even, sometimes, athletics. If the spiritual purposes of Waldorf education are not always apparent in such things as knitting, soccer games, and circus performances, such purposes can be readily discerned in artistic endeavors such as painting, music, and dance. Steiner taught that the fine arts connect us to the spirit realm. [See "Magical Arts".] Lower forms of art — such as circus arts — may be taught with a similar intention, although the underlying, unspoken rationale may be more tortuous.

You should also realize that Waldorf education contains a deep strain of anti-intellectualism. Although Waldorf schools claim to educate heads as well as hearts and hands, in fact they often downplay the significance of brainwork. Instead, the children are encouraged to play a lot, and to use their imaginations rather than the reasoning centers of their brains — approaches that may segue into clowning and other circus arts. If the fine arts put us directly in touch with the spirit realm, circus arts may at least loosen us up, get our creative juices flowing, and stimulate our imaginations. Circuses are fantasy lands that reinforce the fantastical, otherworldly atmosphere found in Waldorf schools. They work to unplug the rational mind. In service to such objectives, Waldorf teachers sometimes enroll in special training courses to learn how to bring circus activities into their work. [See, e.g., the announcement of clowning courses offered at the Rudolf Steiner Institute: http://www.steinerinstitute.org/courses/09courses/clown-facilitator-training.aspx.] 

The time spent in Waldorf schools on knitting, painting, playing, juggling, clowning, etc., has to come from somewhere, and generally it comes from periods that might otherwise be spent on serious schooling: brainwork. Rudolf Steiner's followers think that the brain is not a terribly important organ. No real thinking occurs in the brain, they believe. Thus, Steiner made such remarkable statements as 

"[T]he brain and nerve system have nothing at all to do with actual cognition." 

And 

"Within the brain nothing at all exists of the nature of thought." [See "Steiner's Specific".] 

Consequently, Waldorf educators think that training and informing the brain are not high priorities; instead, they explain their approach by saying, for example, 

“The success of Waldorf Education...can be measured in the life force attained. Not acquisition of knowledge and qualifications, but the life force is the ultimate goal of this school.” — Anthroposophist Peter Selg, THE ESSENCE OF WALDORF EDUCATION (SteinerBooks, 2010)‚ p. 30. [See the section "Waldorf education - goals" in "The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia".]

Anthroposophy is, in many ways, an optimistic faith, and Waldorf schools often reflect this optimism. There is frequently a sheen of smiles and uplifting sentiment at the schools. [See "Glory".] In a sense, the objective of Anthroposophy and the objective of the Waldorf movement is to find happiness — the high, spiritual happiness of redemption. Circuses do not bring redemption, and in some ways their frivolity contravenes the deep seriousness of spiritual aspiration. But circuses are undoubtedly venues of happiness; hence the pursuit of circus arts in Waldorf schools is explicable. From the Waldorf perspective, good cheer, optimism, and fantasy may lead indirectly toward the bright, glowing, upward path of Anthroposophy — the search for supernal happiness — so they should certainly be cultivated.

If you attend a Waldorf circus, enjoy yourself. But realize that there is much more behind the smiling clown faces than may be immediately apparent. Everything at Waldorf schools has an esoteric purpose — even clowning..

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Is the following relevant? 

From an Anthroposophical perspective,

learning to be a clown may lead 

toward deep levels of mysticism:

"Clown.  The buffoon-jester is only one type of clown. Far older historically, more widespread, and of greater significance is the clown-magician with cosmic powers who acted as an intercessor between his people and the gods — also, the souls of the dead." — George Riland, THE NEW STEINERBOOKS DICTIONARY OF THE PARANORMAL (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1980), p. 53.

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The following is from the Waldorf Critics list, March, 2013: Moderator Dan Dugan posted a letter from former Waldorf teacher Rachael Colley [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorf-critics/message/25809]. I have added a few endnotes.

This letter went public when it was sent to the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools, and is posted with the permission of the author. — Dan

To The Parents Desert Sky Community School and the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools: 

My name is Rachael Colley and I recently resigned from Desert Sky Community School. [1] I am writing to inform you of the reason for my untimely departure. I resigned from my position as grade 3/4 teacher because I was unaware that I had been employed by what is, in my opinion, a religious cult [2] and cannot in good conscience continue, despite my love of the children and my sincere desire to give them the best education. 

I love that Waldorf education has a rhythm [3], that there is a large block in the morning for children to really get into the lesson and that true unstructured play is encouraged. However,  I cannot work in a place where lighting candles at a staff meeting and chanting a childs name (without the parents knowledge), as well as reading from the "Calendar of the Soul" [4] is done and is seen as normal, and even called a "child study".

I cannot work in a place where the children are told to walk on the outside of the circle because the director is afraid they will "break the chalice". [5] Or where children say verses (prayers) to "spirit". [6] I am a spiritual person, but it should not be required of children in a publicly funded school. When this was brought up to my superiors, I was told that they "cannot imagine how I think religion is there". [7] Yet I was told that the chicken coop must be built in a certain way because it, "brings the childrens souls to the earth". [8]

If you have not already looked up anthroposophy, please do. It underpins everything that is said and done at Desert Sky. Understand that you will be lied to [9], and some people at Desert Sky believe that they know more about your child and what is best for him/her than you do. [10] Many (parents) are referred to in negative terms behind their backs, and your children are saying prayers with words that they do not know the meaning of. 

There are good people at Desert Sky, people who love your children and also want the best for them. However, someone needed to stand up and be the voice of what really happens and what is really expected. Sadly, that task seems to have fallen onto me. 

To all of the families, especially those with children in grades three and four I wish you all the best. 

Sincerely,

Rachael Colley

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Waldorf Watch Footnotes:

[1] A "Waldorf-inspired" school in Tucson, Arizona, USA: http://www.desertskycommunityschool.org/.

[2] Waldorf education arises from the religion created by Rudolf Steiner, called Anthroposophy (pronounced an-throw-POS-oh-fee). One of the doctrines of this odd religion is that Anthroposophy is a science, not a religion. But there is nothing scientific about it [see "Is Anthroposophy Science?"], and objective observers clearly identify it as a religion [see "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"].

[3] In Waldorf belief, there are spiritual rhythms in all things, and spirit is invoked by manifesting these rhythms. [See "Methods".]

[4] The CALENDAR OF THE SOUL is a collection of 52 mystic meditations written by Rudolf Steiner and used by his followers as part of their religious observances.

[5] In Anthroposophy, the Holy Grail or Chalice symbolizes occult spiritual knowledge — the hidden knowledge that Anthroposophists seek to acquire through their religious practices.

[6] Waldorf students are usually required to recite prayers written by Rudolf Steiner. [See "Prayers".] The recitation is usually done in unison with teachers. To disguise this practice, the prayers are usually referred to as "morning verses."

[7] One of the chief difficulties in dealing with Steiner's followers is that they often do not realize what they are doing. [See "Here's the Answer".] Even on such elementary matters as whether their practices constitute a religion, they often deceive themselves. [See "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"] The additional difficulty is that when they aren't unwittingly deceiving themselves, they may well be — wittingly or not — trying to deceive you. [See "Secrets".]

[8] Crafts classes are important in Waldorf schools; building objects of various sorts is considered a spiritual discipline. Essentially all activities at Waldorf schools are meant to help children incarnate properly. [See "Incarnation".] The doctrines of reincarnation and karma are central to Anthroposophy. “[T]he purpose of [Waldorf] education is to help the individual fulfill his karma.” — Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson, THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF STEINER EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 52.

[9] Believing that they possess hidden spiritual wisdom, which makes them occult initiates, Anthroposophists conceal many of their beliefs from outsiders. Waldorf schools likewise conceal many of their underlying beliefs, as Rudolf Steiner directed them to do. [See "Secrets".]

[10] Considering themselves to be occult initiates, Anthroposophists think they know more about almost everything than anyone else knows. Rudolf Steiner told Waldorf teachers to compensate for the foolish errors made by students' parents and to take control of the children as much as possible. • "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. • "[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.

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Here’s an announcement of a parenting workshop to be offered by Sydney Rudolf Steiner College [Australia]: 

Start Date: Saturday, April 6, 2013

End Date: Sunday, April 7, 2013

Venue: Various Locations

CP01 Conscious Parenting Saturday 6 April 1pm-5pm $95*

Conscious Parenting is a very practical and inspiring afternoon workshop covering Steiner-inspired early childhood topics. Positive rhythms, making ordinary moments extraordinary; The ideal play environment, ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge’ (Albert Einstein); Joyous yearly festivals (including seasonal tables and craft); Storytelling: as a transforming and healing tool; Nurturing the development of the ‘Twelve Senses’ for a happy, healthy and well balanced childhood. Overall workshop theme: how does a house become a home?

[http://www.steinereducation.edu.au/professionals/events/sydney-rudolf-steiner-college-parenting-workshops]

Response:

When you are invited to involve yourself or your child in the “Steiner-inspired” world, you may want to pause and consider whether that world has been clearly and accurately described to you. What, exactly, are you being invited into? Read the materials you are given and look for points on which you may want clarification.

Let’s examine three potentially intriguing points in the Sydney Rudolf Steiner College announcement, above. 1) What is meant by “positive rhythms”? 2) Why is “imagination” emphasized? 3) What is meant by “the twelve senses”?

We’ll take these matters one at a time. 

1) Rhythm. Rudolf Steiner’s followers believe that all of the cosmos is characterized by rhythmical recurrences, ranging from the very large (such as the slow rotation of the zodiac) to the smallest (such as a child's breathing). Waldorf teachers generally believe that rhythms in the lives of students must be recognized and encouraged, and indeed class work and class scheduling should be rhythmical. • "As far as possible, a certain rhythm is established in the sequence of lessons so that the same thing, or something of the same nature, is taken at the same time each day." — Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson, THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF STEINER EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 33. • The well-being of the students is thought to be at stake. "[I]f the outer influences do not synchronize with...inner rhythms, the young person will eventually grow into a kind of inner cripple...." — Waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli, RHYTHMS OF LEARNING: What Waldorf Education Offers Children, Parents & Teachers (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 129-130. • Rhythms are also thought to extend beyond the limits of a single life. "Just as there are world rhythms so are there rhythms in the life or lives of the human being. One of these rhythms is the frequency of incarnation." — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER (Temple Lodge Publishing, 2005), p. 50. 

No one can deny that rhythm is important or that we live in a world of rhythms. But note that the Steiner approach to rhythm leads to such subjects as the zodiac and incarnation. Windows start to open, here, giving a view into the Steiner belief system. In that system, astrology — with its mystical interpretation of the rhythmic movements of the zodiac — plays a large role, while the twin doctrines of karma and reincarnation play an equally important role. Sooner or later, you are likely to perceive serious deficiencies in Waldorf education and child-rearing unless you are able to accept the Steiner/Waldorf view on such matters as positive rhythms, astrology, reincarnation, and karma. [To consider these things, you might look at such Waldorf Watch pages as “Astrology”, “Waldorf Astrology”, “Star Power”, “Reincarnation”, and “Karma”.]

2) Senses. Generally, people say that human beings have five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. This description of our sensory abilities is only approximately correct, and science refines the list in various ways. But the Steiner/Waldorf view is radically different. Steiner taught that we have twelve senses. The physical senses, he said, are touch, life sense, movement sense, and balance sense. The "soul senses" are smell, taste, vision, and temperature sense. The "spirit senses" are hearing, speech sense, thought sense, and ego sense. You might ask yourself whether some of these “senses” are plausible. What is the “thought sense,” or the “speech sense”, or the “life sense,” for instance? At a minimum, you should raise such questions with any Steiner followers who try to recruit you, and you should carefully consider whether you find the answers acceptable. Basing the treatment of young children on an unrealistic conception of human nature is clearly a dubious — and potentially very dangerous — proposition. [For more on this, see "What We're Made Of", “Oh Humanity”, and “Our Parts”.]

You should also know that, in Steiner/Waldorf belief, the twelve senses fall under the influence of the twelve signs of the zodiac. Specifically, the senses — listed in the order I have given — are associated with Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Virgo, Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, and Aries. 

Portion of a chart on p. 142 of Albert Soesman's

OUR TWELVE SENSES (Hawthorne Press, Anthroposophy Series, 1990).

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So, once again, looking through a window into Steiner/Waldorf belief, we are brought to the subject of astrology. There is no getting away from it: Astrology lies just below the surface of Steiner/Waldorf belief, in almost all of its extensions. You will probably never see a horoscope openly displayed in a Waldorf school, but astrological “knowledge” often underlies Waldorf thinking. Thus, Rudolf Steiner sometimes used horoscopes to determine the best treatment for children. On one occasion, for instance, he said “By looking at what the horoscope shows we can see what is really the matter [with a child]. Take first this horoscope [he showed his audience a child’s birth chart] ...  It will probably have struck you that you find here in this region, Uranus together with Venus and Mars. You will not really need to carry your considerations any further than this triangle. Here then are Mars, Venus and Uranus. Consider first Mars. For this child, who was born in 1909, Mars stands in complete opposition to the Moon. Mars, which has Venus and Uranus in its vicinity, stands — itself — in strong opposition to the Moon. Here is the Moon and here is Mars. And Mars pulls along with it Uranus and Venus. And now I would ask you to pay careful attention also to the fact that the Moon is at the same time standing before Libra... [etc., etc.].” — Rudolf Steiner, CURATIVE EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1972), lecture 11.

Affirmations of astrology and horoscopes can be found in such books, written by Steiner followers, as Elizabeth Vreede’s ANTHROPOSOPHY AND ASTROLOGY (Anthroposophic Press), and Ron Odama’s  ASTROLOGY AND ANTHROPOSOPHY (Bennett & Hastings, 2009). You might want to take a look. (Anthroposophy — pronounced an-throw-POS-oh-fee — is the name of the belief system created by Rudolf Steiner; it is the system upon which Waldorf education stands.)

3) Imagination. Albert Einstein asserted the importance of imagination. He did not mean dreaming up fantasies, such as we find in Walt Disney films. And he certainly did not mean — as Steiner’s followers often mean — that imagination should be fostered at the expense of real-world, factual, scientific knowledge. Einstein’s point was that we should gather as much real knowledge as we possibly can, and then we should use our powers of reasoning and visualization to create accurate mental pictures of the phenomena we study. This is what he did, for instance, when reimagining the universe in his general theory of relativity.

Rudolf Steiner’s followers agree with Einstein that imagination is not mere fantasization. But what they mean by “imagination” is poles apart from what Einstein meant. In the Steiner/Waldorf world, imagination is a species of clairvoyance. Rudolf Steiner claimed to be clairvoyant, and he said that his followers should aim to develop the same psychic powers he possessed. When they emphasize imagination, Waldorf schools seek to usher children along the preliminary stages of the path to clairvoyance. If you doubt the reality of clairvoyance (as you certainly should), then the entire Waldorf enterprise should strike you as, at best, a quixotic waste of time and effort.

Steiner taught that all humans once had instinctive clairvoyance, but we have lost it. A central goal for the Steiner movement is to lead humanity to a new, higher form of clairvoyance. (In the following quotation, note how “clairvoyance” and “Imagination” are essentially synonymous.) “Essentially, people today have no inkling of how people looked out into the universe in ancient times when human beings still possessed an instinctive clairvoyance.... If we want to be fully human, however, we must struggle to regain a view of the cosmos that moves toward Imagination again.” — Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 256.

Waldorf schools hope to assist children toward that goal. Steiner taught that most people today are trapped in dim, ordinary "day consciousness." But above this are ascending levels of "higher knowledge": imagination, inspiration, and intuition. These are stages of clairvoyance. When the present solar system dies and it is reincarnated in a form called "Future Jupiter,” all humans will possess perfected imagination, otherwise known as "Jupiter consciousness." Later, the solar system will die again and be reincarnated as “Future Venus.” At that stage, all humans will possess perfected inspiration or “Venus consciousness” — a clairvoyant stage higher than imagination. Later yet, the solar system will be reincarnated as “Future Vulcan,” and all of us will then possess perfected intuition or “Vulcan consciousness” — a still higher form of clairvoyance.

But why wait? Steiner showed how people can rise to these higher forms of consciousness here and now. Or so his followers believe.

In the Steiner/Waldorf world, higher knowledge is clairvoyance,

and it has three distinct stages.

[SteinerBooks, 2009.]

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Perhaps all of this is beginning to sound a little weird to you. It should. But this, truly, is what Steiner’s followers believe. Think carefully before sending a child to a school run by followers of Rudolf Steiner. Likewise, you should think carefully before enrolling in a simple, pleasant-sounding workshop such as CP01 Conscious Parenting. Recruiters and teachers in the Steiner/Waldorf world are unlikely to lay many of their bizarre beliefs on you, initially; they will probably keep mum about most of the doctrines of their faith, at least until they can decide whether you seem like a potential convert. They will, in other words, keep their secrets. Such secrecy can be a problem in and of itself, can't it?

[To delve into some of these matters a bit more, you might visit such pages as “Here’s the Answer”, "Secrets", “Clairvoyance”, “The Waldorf Teacher’s Consciousness”, “Matters of Form”, and pertinent pages in “The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia”.] 

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In his book, PARTNERSHIPS OF HOPE — Building Waldorf School Communities (Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, 2012), Waldorf graduate Christopher Schaefer suggests approaches for creating healthy Waldorf communities. From anthroposophy.org, here is the beginning of a review of PARTNERSHIPS OF HOPE:

Bringing Social Health to Waldorf Schools

By: John Miller

I’m always amazed at how children flourish in Waldorf schools. I’m often equally astounded (and dismayed) at the dysfunctional dynamics amongst adults — faculty, staff, administrators, and parents — in these schools. Out of his many decades of work with Waldorf schools and other organizations, Christopher Schaefer describes how we can become social artists, flourishing within nurturing communities of mutual destiny. What a wonderful challenge! And what a daunting one. 

[http://www.anthroposophy.org/nc/articles/article-detail/archive/2013/03//article/bringing-social-health-to-waldorf-schools-1167.html]

Response:

Whether children “flourish” in Waldorf schools is, perhaps, questionable. At least some children have quite awful Waldorf experiences. [See, e.g., “Slaps”.] And all children at Waldorf schools are potentially in danger of being indoctrinated in a harmful, occult faith. [See "Indoctrination".]

But whatever happens to kids in Waldorf schools, it is certainly true that there is often strife and discord among the adults who populate Waldorf-centered communities. This is virtually inevitable when a social movement is based on occult doctrines that many adults cannot possibly embrace and that have no connection to reality. 

To get a feel for the “dysfunctional dynamics amongst adults...in these schools,” you might look at the reports in the “Ex-Teacher” series of reports at Waldorf Watch, along with “Moms” and “Pops”. 

One former Waldorf teacher has written this, for example:

"When Waldorf teachers work together the external opposing forces [i.e., opponents of Waldorf education and/or Anthroposophy] can be resisted effectively, if not defeated. Bitter experience has taught me, however, that these periods of well-being do not last, and that when things go bad [at a Waldorf school] they do so from the inside ... Since there is a tendency for anthroposophy to bring out the very best and the very worst in people, the deviations from the norm are greater than usual, and this only compounds the problems of making good decisions and keeping the school on course ... Waldorf communities make very convenient homes for loose cannons ... I remember several occasions when the work of the College [1] ground to a halt for weeks or even months because of implacable bees in the bonnets of one or two members. I remember other occasions when good people left the school because they couldn’t stand it any more.” [See “His Education”.]

Another former Waldorf teacher has reported, 

“Anthroposophy is an apocalyptic philosophy, and anthroposophists are quite consciously preparing the groundwork for the incarnation of Ahriman [2], for the development of Sorat [3] and accompanying demonic entities, for the far-future war of All Against All [4], etc. And Steiner's New Jerusalem can't come about without spiritual conflict ... [T]his is why that typical, never-ending community conflict dynamic in a Waldorf school is accepted and intellectualized away as necessarily preferable to happy, healthy and balanced (normal) human interaction. Conflict is a particular type of ecstatic union: the spiritual feast. I witnessed many teachers who literally went out of their way to create issues if it happened to be too slow a month, problem-wise ... [A]nthroposophists welcome and allow themselves and others to be chewed up, swallowed and processed via conflict, which is why for instance a teacher who is approaching emotional and psychic breakdown status is still supported by his/her colleagues and allowed to teach.” [See “Ex-Teacher 7”.]

Here is yet another report, relaying a Waldorf teacher’s personal experience when she underwent an inquisition in a parent-teacher meeting: 

“The tension in the room was not just thick, it was stifling. Someone unaccustomed to the thickness of Trembling Trees [5] would have been gagging from the tension but we all had learned to breathe in this environment by now ... I clutched my pen as I took notes trying to keep my throat from closing in ... I listened as they talked about who left, like [student] #20 and why. Someone brought up another girl who was in my class briefly. She was a charity case from the beginning but due to family problems had to leave the school. I couldn’t believe I was about to be blamed for this one too ...[D]espite how humiliated I felt, how out of control the whole meeting seemed and useless, very useless unless the point was to dance on my grave as if I were dead. But then the pivotal moment occurred, when 14’s mom nonchalantly said, ‘I don’t think Lani cares.’ My face slid off. I lost it. I lost it. I began to cry and the harder I tried to hold it like a child holding her breath, the more helplessly I sobbed ...The next day #1’s mom came up to me [and said] ‘I heard about the meeting yesterday. Sorry we couldn’t make it ... But I heard that people were happy to see you cry ... [I]t showed that you care.’” [See “Ex-Teacher 2”.] 

A former Waldorf board member has written the following: 

“My first board meeting included a faculty grilling re: sexual preference, directed at a young gay teacher. She was afraid to say she was gay. I was blown away. I kept saying, ‘This is a violation of her civil rights. We cannot ask these questions’  ... I learned regular rules do not apply in Waldorf schools. Anthroposophy is more important than individual rights, laws, or common truths ... The healthy teachers were eventually run out and the ill ones took over hiring ... There was deceit everywhere. In the books. The financial statements were literally made up and had nothing to do with the true financial picture of the school. The Administrator was sleeping with the bookkeeper. Unpaid payroll taxes, marked as paid, were seized from our bank account without warning ... The school was like a train headed straight for the cliff and the faculty appeared to be worried only about how the table in the dining car was set ... During this crazy time, I used to watch the Waldorf teachers at parent gatherings ... 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. Board meetings were always exhausting because you could cut the tension between the teachers with a knife. Words were always so carefully chosen but what was being left unsaid screamed way louder than what was actually being said.” [See “Coming Undone”.]

Of course, not al Waldorf schools constantly teeter on the brink of chaos. Conflict and deceit are not always paramount. But these problems are sufficiently widespread in the Waldorf movement that even proponents of Waldorf schooling sometimes acknowledge “the dysfunctional dynamics amongst adults...in these schools” — as we see today at anthroposophy.org. 

[1] The central governing body in a Waldorf school is often called the College of Teachers. (One of the purposes of this “college” is to organize study of Rudolf Steiner’s works by the faculty.)

[2] Ahriman is one of the arch-demons in Anthroposophical doctrine. [See “Ahriman”.]

[3] Sorat is the Antichrist. [See “Evil Ones”.]

[4] Rudolf Steiner forecast a apocalyptical war, the War of All Against All. [See “All vs. All”.]

[5] This is a name invented by the teacher to disguised the Waldorf school where she worked.

Disclosure statement: I knew Christopher Schaefer, slightly, long ago. We attended the same Waldorf school at approximatey the same time. I was a member of the class of 1964; he was in the class of 1967. — R.R.

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Currently featured at SteinerBooks as an "educational resource" for Waldorf teachers:

FIVE PLAYS FOR WALDORF FESTIVALS

Richard Moore

(Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship, 2004)

From SteinerBooks:

Richard Moore's collection of seasonal plays are [sic] suitable for classes 1 to 5 and feature original songs. They include two Christmas plays, an Easter play, a St John's festival play, and a Michaelmas play.... 

[http://www.steinerbooks.org/detail.html?id=9781900169189]

Response:

Note that the "Waldorf festivals" are actually religious celebrations and the "seasonal plays" are actually religious pageants, centered on Christmas, Easter, the feast of St. John, and Michaelmas. (If you have any doubts about the religious nature of the publication in question, study the cover art.) This is appropriate because, although they generally deny it, Waldorf schools are in fact religious institutions. The chief question that may come to most readers' minds is what sort of Christianity is observed in Waldorf schools, considering that they place such emphasis on Christian festivals. The answer is: No form of Christianity that you will find in any mainstream Christian denomination.

According to Anthroposophical doctrine, Christ is not the Son of God, in the usual sense. Instead, Christ is the Sun God, the god who has been recognized in other religions as Hu or Balder or Ahura Mazda. Unlike real Christianity, Anthroposophy is polytheistic, recognizing a vast horde of gods. Among these is Christ, and Rudolf Steiner said that Christ (the Sun God) is very important to human evolution. But In Anthroposophy, Christ is only one of the many, many gods. Moreover, according to Steiner, the Biblical account of the life of Christ Jesus is badly flawed. To know what really happened to Jesus, we need to turn from the four gospels of the New Testament and consult instead "the fifth gospel" — which, it so happens, was written by Rudolf Steiner himself, relying on his marvelous powers of clairvoyance.

In reading Steiner's account, you will learn for instance that there were actually two Jesus children. One Jesus came from the line of Solomon, the other came from the line of Nathan. The former was actually the reincarnation of Zarathustra, while the latter was infused with the spirit of Buddha. The two Jesuses melded, and thus they became the host who was able to receive the incarnating Sun God, Christ, who inhabited the body of "Solomonic-Nathanic Jesus" for three years. [For more on such matters, see, e.g., "Was He Christian?", "Gnosis", "Rosy Cross", "Polytheism", and "Sun God".]

This is the sort "Christianity" that Rudolf Steiner's followers embrace and that they subtly offer to Waldorf students through "seasonal plays" during the "Waldorf festivals."

It is hard to believe that Rudolf Steiner's followers — including a great many Waldorf teachers — believe the things they believe. But they do.

THE FIFTH GOSPEL - From the Akashic Record

Rudolf Steiner

(Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001)

Steiner claimed to learn the "truth" about Christ and the two Jesuses by using clairvoyance to study the Akashic Record, an invisible celestial storehouse of knowledge. The problem with this claim is that Steiner did not possess clairvoyance, since no one does, and the Akashic Record does not exist. [See "Clairvoyance" and "Akasha".] Otherwise, Steiner's story holds some points of interest.

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Bullying has frequently been a problem in Waldorf schools, arguably accentuated by the Anthroposophical belief that children should be allowed to fulfill their karmas. Thus, if a child has the karma to be a bully or to be victimized by bullies, so be it. [See, e.g., “Slaps”.]

A family in New Zealand has had a long-running dispute with a Waldorf school in that country. The dispute was triggered, at least in part, by incidents of bullying at the school. Here is the latest:

Payout for bullied girl

By Abbie Gillies

5:30 AM Thursday Mar 7, 2013

The family of an Auckland girl tormented by bullies, including one who threatened her with an axe, have received a payout and an admission the school failed her.

The girl, who was aged 8 at the time, was bullied by boys at the Titirangi Rudolf Steiner School.

She was kicked, punched, poked, hit and threatened.

Her parents, Steve Paris and Angel Garden, say that despite their efforts, the school did little to protect her.

After a three-and-a-half year battle, during which the couple took their complaint to the Human Rights Commission, they have reached an agreement with the school including a $9000 payment and an admission of failure from management.

...In a statement to the family, school manager Mark Thornton acknowledged some children in the class had displayed bullying behaviour.

He said that the girl's claims at the time "were honest and that her actions in reporting bullying were fully commensurate with the school policy, which emphasises the importance of telling both teachers and parents".

...Mr Paris...and Ms Garden said that when they approached the school, their concerns fell on deaf ears.

A scheduled meeting with staff was cancelled, and a week after the axe incident, the couple received a letter telling them their three daughters — the 8-year-old, [a younger sister] in the kindergarten and another due to begin the following year — were no longer welcome at the school.

Mr Thornton said the school regretted not going through with the meeting to address the bullying.

The couple's continued attempts to address the bullying "arose out of their natural and dutiful concern as parents for the safety of their child and concern for the well-being of other children in the class," he told the couple in a statement.

[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10869700]

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The Guardian of the Threshold

as depicted onstage at the Anthroposophical headquarters.

[R.R. depiction, 2010.]

On this date — March 6 — in the year 1913, Rudolf Steiner delivered a lecture that has been preserved as “Errors in Spiritual Investigation: Meeting the Guardian of the Threshold” [http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/Dates/19130306p01.html].

Here’s a sample:

“Everything that the human being experiences on entering the spiritual world is designated ordinarily as the experience with the Guardian of the Threshold. I tried to describe something concrete about this experience in my Mystery Drama, The Guardian of the Threshold. Here it only need be mentioned that at a certain stage of spiritual development, man learns to know his inner being as it can love itself with the force of an event of nature, as it can be frightened and horrified on entering the spiritual world. This experience of our own self, of the intensified self of that inner being that otherwise never would come before our soul, is the soul-shaking event called the Meeting with the Guardian of the Threshold. Only by having this meeting will one acquire the faculty to differentiate truth from error in the spiritual world.”

Response:

Steiner taught that there are actually two Guardians of the Threshold, spiritual beings that we, in a sense, create out of ourselves. We must satisfy these ominous apparitions before we can gain entree to the spirit realm.

The concept of Guardians of the Threshold can be traced far back in the history of mysticism, but Steiner apparently picked up the concept and the label from a work of fiction, the novel ZANONI.

“Central to [one’s] spiritual work on inner development is what Rudolf Steiner calls (following Bulwer Lytton, who introduced the term in his Rosicrucian novel ZANONI), the ‘Meeting with the Guardian of the Threshold.’” — Christopher Bamford, editor, START NOW! (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2007) p. 243.

Although the Guardians may be, in more than one sense, purely fictional characters, Steiner took their existence with great seriousness. Thus, in his crucial book, KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT — a book in which he lays out many of his key doctrines and instructions for his followers — he gives the following description of an encounter with one of the Guardians:

“[W]hen the Guardian has [spoken], there arises from the spot where he stands a whirlwind which extinguishes all those spiritual lights that have hitherto illumined the pathway of [the spiritual aspirant’s] life. Utter darkness, relieved only by the rays issuing from the Guardian himself, unfolds before the student. And out of this darkness resounds the Guardian's further admonition: ‘Step not across my Threshold until thou dost clearly realize that thou wilt thyself illumine the darkness ahead of thee; take not a single step forward until thou art positive that thou hast sufficient oil in thine own lamp. The lamps of the guides whom thou hast hitherto followed will now no longer be available to thee.’ At these words, the student must turn and glance backward. The Guardian of the Threshold now draws aside a veil which till now had concealed deep life-mysteries. The family, national, and racial spirits are revealed to the student in their full activity, so that he perceives clearly on the one hand, how he has hitherto been led, and no less clearly on the other hand, that he will henceforward no longer enjoy this guidance. That is the second warning received at the Threshold from its Guardian.” — Rudolf Steiner, KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT (Anthroposophic Press, 1947), chapter 9, "The Guardian of the Threshold", GA 10.

Having accepted a fiction as a reality, and proceeding to embed this “reality” in his teachings, Steiner turned to a fictional (or dramaturgical) form to express his belief in this “reality.” Steiner wrote four “mystery dramas” — essentially religious pageants patterned after medieval stage performances meant to dramatize and express religious mysteries. Mystery dramas — those from the Middle Ages and those from Steiner's pen — are essentially religious celebrations. The difference is that Steiner's mystery dramas express his Theosophical/Anthroposophical religious doctrines, not the teachings of any mainstream Christian church or sect. 

The third of Steiner's dramas is titled “The Guardian of the Threshold.” Here are excerpts from the synopsis provided in FOUR MYSTERY DRAMAS (SteinerBooks, 2007):

“SCENE ONE. A group of twelve persons, representing the ‘general public’ has been invited by a Mystic or Occult Brotherhood ... The Brotherhood is motivated...by the publication of certain books on spiritual science ... The author is Thomasius ... They offer to sponsor his work ... SCENE TWO. Thomasius refuses this offer. In reality, what he has written will be utilized by [the demon] Ahriman, because Thomasius himself is not able to exert full control over his lower self ... He describes an actual encounter with Ahriman on his way to this meeting ... SCENE THREE. Maria unexpectedly meets Capesius in Lucifer’s realm ... Capesius’ soul is a captive of this world ... Maria’s soul has entered Lucifer’s realm for the sake of Thomasius. She witnesses the initiative which Lucifer has taken in order to bind Thomasius to himself ... SCENE FOUR. A quiet, harmonious conversation takes place between Strader and Theodora ... The scene ends, however, on a note of doubt and shock. Lucifer’s machinations have begun their work. SCENE FIVE. Strader seeks comfort in the home of Felicia and Felix Balde ... After [recollecting] his former life, in medieval times, [Strader] has lost interest in the present time and place ... SCENE SIX. Capesius’ soul finds itself carried into the etheric world by mantric words received in earlier times from Benedictus ... Lucifer and Ahriman re-echo the mantric words ... [A] fairy tale of the child of light (‘Imagination’) gives Capesius the inner strength and courage to bring back his ego-consciousness into his earthly body ... SCENE SEVEN. Thomasius, accompanied by Maria, appears before the Guardian of the Threshold ... Because Maria vouches for him, the Guardian lets them both pass into the spiritual world ... SCENE EIGHT. Ahriman in his own domain is not recognized by Hilary ... Strader enters fully aware of Ahriman and is witness to his power over the twelve souls who in their sleep come under his spell ... The scene ends with Thomasius’ initial experience beyond the actual threshold, a renewed encounter with his Double [i.e., his doppelgänger], and his release from Lucifer’s magic spell ... SCENE NINE. Benedictus meets his friends, Capesius and Strader, who have become his pupils ... Thomasius recalls for Maria his shattering experience in Ahriman’s realm ... SCENE TEN. The sanctuary of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood is a symbolic temple with three altars ... The duties at the altars in East, South and West are now taken over by free individuals who, under the guidance of Benedictus, have achieved direct insight into the world beyond the threshold ... The Soul Forces close the play with words of grace.”

Steiner’s four plays are regularly performed by his followers, especially at the Anthroposophical headquarters in Switzerland, the Goetheanum. Don’t go out of your way, but if you ever have a chance, you might want to see if you can bear to sit through a performance. Even sympathetic commentators acknowledge that the plays are hard to take.

“[A]s theater, Steiner’s Mystery Dramas are, I think, an acquired taste ... [T]hey can appear stiff, and redolent somewhat of Sunday school ... [They] suffer from being heavy on message and light on movement. There are many long speeches, and what there is of action seems to consist of the characters’ engaging in extended arguments about the need for a new spiritual vision [i.e., Steiner’s teachings].” — Gary Lachman, RUDOLF STEINER (Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2007), p. 165.

Still, as primers on the bizarre doctrines of Anthroposophy, the plays have their value. Bear in mind, these are the doctrines on which Waldorf education is founded, so you might want to take a gander.

[For more on the plays — including a list of principle characters — see "Plays". For more on the Guardian(s) of the Threshold, see "Guardians".] 

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The following is from a blog by a professed former Waldorf student. I have added a few explanatory endnotes.

Beans, flutes & freedom: A critique of Steiner education.

Posted on March 4, 2013

To our Western society it is entirely self-evident that the philosophy of a man [i.e., Rudolf Steiner] who fundamentally believed that knitting prevented tooth decay is flawed. [1] Entirely flawed even. Yet Pythagoras banned the eating of beans among his followers and appears to have harboured an innate fear of crumbs. These oddities did not, however, prevent him from coming to some extraordinary truths.

The fact Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy is not really philosophy at all is perhaps by the by. Personally I think it is heavy going, garbled, shite. He is not engaged in an enquiry into truth, but rather in relaying his own beliefs which he gained through clairvoyance and insight. [2] Such wisdom bares [sic] no relation to philosophy, although this naturally doesn’t mean that it is valueless. What it means is that we take his words at face value, without enquiring into his methods. What we have in such a case is religion, not philosophy. Steiner himself called Anthroposophy a cult [3], as it is now labelled by many modern day [sic] critics. There is nothing wrong with a cult per se, but when a cult stars [i.e., starts] to believe that the outside world doesn’t or ought not to exist we begin to encounter problems.

Accepting for now that his work is wrong (i.e. that eurythmy is not in fact an effective cure for depression or bed wetting) [4] doesn’t mean that the ways in which his work is enacted in the real world necessarily leads to wrong or bad things. For example I might eat fruit because I believe it will guarantee me reincarnation (not incidentally one of Steiner’s beliefs!) [5] While this is a false belief it nevertheless has good consequences in the real world, in that I eat fruit, so I am healthier and thus live longer ... [S]omething [e.g., Steiner education], even if conceived for the wrong reasons, can still have tremendous merit in the real world.

[http://kropotkinsdiary.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/beans-flutes-freedom-a-critique-of-steiner-education/]

Response:

Does Waldorf work? Might Waldorf schools, by accident or coincidence or happenstance, actually provide children with positive developmental experiences despite being based on a “philosophy” that is totally bonkers?

Perhaps. Stranger things have happened.

But is it likely? No.

In evaluating Waldorf education, you need to bear in mind that Waldorf schools are not primarily intended to give children a good education. Waldorf goals are very different, and thus the standards for judging the success or failure of the Waldorf enterprise are very different. Thus, for instance, one prominent Waldorf advocate has explained that the purpose of Waldorf education is to assist children with their karmas. To decide whether a particular Waldorf school works well, then, we have to determine whether that school has improved or impeded its students' karmas. But how, precisely, do we do this? It is, to say the least, a challenge.

There are grave dangers in attempting to justify Waldorf education by claiming that, despite being based on bonkers thinking, it still has "merit in the real world." If the Nazis advocated the eating of fruit, and if the consumption of fruit soared during the Nazi era in Germany, would we conclude that Nazism was thus justified, even a little? (Bear in mind that Hitler was a vegetarian; he ate vegetables and fruits, no meat.) The small, incidental benefits achieved by Nazism are wholly outweighed by the colossal evils perpetrated by the Nazis.

Nazism is an extreme example, of course; Anthroposophy is not nearly as destructive as Nazism. But both of these mistaken belief systems produce far more harm than "merit in the real world." Indeed, the chief harm produced by Anthroposophy is that it lures people away from the real world into a phantasmagoric alternative world consisting of fantasies and superstitions. [See, e.g., "Summing Up".] Children who are inducted into that alternative world may have great difficulty ever reemerging. Some will never reemerge; some will stay forever in the Anthroposophical black hole. [See, e.g., "Who Gets Hurt?"]

Waldorf education may occasional produce some small, positive results. But it does so largely by accident, and it does so within the context of perpetrating broad-gauge harm. If we want to find educational approaches that produce widespread "merit in the real world," there are many other approaches to consider, including approaches that operate wholly in the real world. They offer far better options than an approach that fundamentally makes no sense. [See "Oh Humanity" and "Oh Man".] 

To help you decide whether Waldorf education is likely to suit you and your children, here is a list of statements — all by advocates of Waldorf education (including the Great Man himself) — explaining what Waldorf schools attempt to achieve. Consider these statements carefully, please. (And keep an eye out for sensible pronouncements such as “Waldorf schools attempt to teach children real knowledge about the real world.” You won't find them on the list. Waldorf representatives usually make different sorts of statements.) If you have seen the list before — I have posted it on various pages — please just skip ahead.

• “[T]he purpose of [Waldorf] education is to help the individual fulfill his karma.” — Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson, THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF STEINER EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 52.

• “Waldorf education strives to create a place in which the highest beings [i.e., the gods], including the Christ [i.e., the Sun God], can find their home.” — Anthroposophist Joan Almon, WHAT IS A WALDORF KINDERGARTEN? (SteinerBooks, 2007), p. 53. 

• "[W]hat we [Waldorf teachers] have to do in education is a continuation of what higher beings [i.e., the gods] have done ... [O]ur work with young people is a continuation of what higher beings have done [with the children] before birth." — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 37.

• “This is precisely the task of school. If it is a true school, it should bring to unfoldment [i.e., incarnation and development]...what [the child] 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.

• “A Waldorf school is...an organization that seeks to allow the spiritual impulses of our time to manifest on earth in order to transform society ... [I]t strives to bring the soul-spiritual into the realm of human life.” — Waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli, “On Earth as It Is in Heaven”, Research Bulletin, Vol. 16 (Waldorf Research Institute), Fall 2011, pp. 21-24.

• "[The] special contribution, the unique substance, mission, and intention of the independent Waldorf School, is the spiritual-scientific view of human nature [i.e., Anthroposophy].” — Anthroposophist Peter Selg, THE ESSENCE OF WALDORF EDUCATION (SteinerBooks, 2010)‚ p. 4.

• “The task of education conceived in the spiritual sense is to bring the Soul-Spirit [i.e., the combined soul and spirit] into harmony with the Life-Body [i.e., the etheric body, the first of our three invisible bodies]." — Rudolf Steiner, STUDY OF MAN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), pp. 19-20.

• “[Waldorf] education is essentially grounded on the recognition of the child as a spiritual being, with a varying number of incarnations behind him ... [I]t is [the faculty's] task to help the child to make use of his body, to help his soul-spiritual forces to find expression through it, rather than regarding it as their duty to cram him with information.” — Anthroposophist Stewart C. Easton, MAN AND WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989), pp. 388-389. 

• "The reason many [Waldorf] schools exist is because of the Anthroposophy, period. It's not because of the children. It's because a group of Anthroposophists have it in their minds to promote Anthroposophy in the world ... Educating children is secondary in these schools" — Former Waldorf teacher "Baandje". [See "Ex-Teacher 7".]

• “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...are actually carrying out the intentions of the gods ... [W]e are, in a certain sense, the means by which that streaming down from above will go out into the world.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 55.

• “In the child we have before us a being who has only recently left the divine world. In due course, still at a tender age, he comes to school and it is the teacher’s task to help guide him into earthly existence. The teacher is therefore performing a priestly office.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE ESSENTIALS OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. 23. 

• "Waldorf education is a form of practical anthroposophy." — Waldorf teacher Keith Francis, THE EDUCATION OF A WALDORF TEACHER (iUniverse, 2004), p. xii.

• “[F]rom a spiritual-scientific [i.e., Anthroposophical] point of view child education consists mainly in integrating the soul-spiritual members [i.e., the etheric, astral, and ego bodies] with the corporeal members [i.e., the physical body].” — Waldorf teacher Gilbert Childs, STEINER EDUCATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (Floris Books, 1998), p. 68.

• “The success of Waldorf Education, Rudolf Steiner [said], can be measured in the life force attained. Not acquisition of knowledge and qualifications, but the life force is the ultimate goal of this school.” — Anthroposophist Peter Selg, THE ESSENCE OF WALDORF EDUCATION (SteinerBooks, 2010)‚ p. 30.

[1] “Go into our needlework classes and handicraft classes at the Waldorf School, and you will find the boys knit and crochet as well as the girls ... This is not the result of any fad or whim ... [T]o drive the soul into the fingers means to promote all the forces that go to build up sound teeth.” — Rudolf Steiner, SPIRITUAL SCIENCE AND MEDICINE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1948), lecture 17, GA 312.

[2] Steiner’s entire body of occult teachings is the result of his claimed use of clairvoyance. The obvious problem is that clairvoyance is a delusion — it doesn’t exist. This being the case, the results of the "use" of clairvoyance are null and void. [See, e.g., “Clairvoyance”, “Exactly”, and “The Waldorf Teacher’s Consciousness”.]

[3] This is, perhaps, questionable. Steiner said that his system, Anthroposophy, is a science — specifically, it is “spiritual science” (a term he adopted from Theosophy). Steiner denied that Anthroposophy is a religion — although sometimes he admitted it, perhaps without meaning to. E.g., "[T]he Anthroposophical Society...provides religious instruction just as other religious groups do." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 706. 

[4] Eurythmy is the mystic form of dance performed by Steiner's followers. At most Waldorf schools, all students are required to do eurythmy — for their own good, of course. It cures what ails you. [See "Eurythmy".]

[5] Steiner’s teachings are an amalgam of Western and Eastern mysticisms. Steiner assigned central importance to Christ (whom he identified as the Sun God, Hu), but his theology is polytheistic, and he asserted the truth of such un-Christian doctrines as reincarnation. Along the way, Steiner did indeed advocate the eating of fruit, but then who doesn’t?

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At the website "The Toast in the Machine", Rachel Playforth has posted a message labeled "What every parent needs to know (but can’t find out) about Steiner schools?" Here are a few excerpts and a few notes from yours truly.

“I attended a Steiner school for four years and have mostly positive feelings about it....

"[T]here is no empirical basis for most anthroposophical beliefs/approaches (aka they are INSANE). However I don’t agree that Steiner’s views constitute damning evidence against Steiner schools....

“Even the most mainstream, standardized state education is not based on rigorous scientific principles. As most state school teachers will tell you, it is driven by methodological fashions, policy based on flawed or partial research, and arbitrary targets set by politicians, with very little reference to what we know about child development. None of this means that Steiner schools should NOT be critically examined, it’s just that a lot of the criteria for ‘failing’ this examination would see other forms of schooling fail as well....

“I have a bigger problem with my taxes paying for actual faith schools (eg. 4000+ Church of England schools and 2000+ Catholic schools) than with non-denominational ‘spiritual’ schools becoming [state-supported] academies.”

[http://playforth.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/what-every-parent-needs-to-know-but-cant-find-out-about-steiner-schools/]

Response:

Ms. Playforth writes, "[T]here is no empirical basis for most anthroposophical beliefs/approaches (aka they are INSANE). However I don’t agree that Steiner’s views constitute damning evidence against Steiner schools."

Defenders of Steiner education often attempt to draw a line between Anthroposophy and Steiner schools. But there is really no such line — or if such a line exists, it is a blurred, thin, and broken line. Steiner education is intimately linked to Anthroposophy. [See, e.g., “Oh Humanity” and “Schools as Churches”.] Steiner schools exist, in large part, precisely in order to spread Anthroposophy. As Steiner himself said, 

“One of the most important facts about the background of the Waldorf School is that we were in a position to make the anthroposophical movement a relatively large one. The anthroposophical movement has become a large one.” — Rudolf Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER IN THE WALDORF SCHOOL (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p.156.

Many Waldorf teachers, past and present, have acknowledged that Steiner schools are inextricably bound to Anthroposophy and indeed serve the interests of Anthroposophy. Thus, one former Waldorf teacher has written, 

"The reason many [Waldorf] schools exist is because of the Anthroposophy, period. It's not because of the children. It's because a group of Anthroposophists have it in their minds to promote Anthroposophy in the world ... Educating children is secondary in these schools."* — "Baandje". [See "Ex-Teacher 7".]

Likewise, a leading Waldorf educator — who rose to become chairperson of the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City — has written, 

"Waldorf education is a form of practical anthroposophy." — Keith Francis, THE EDUCATION OF A WALDORF TEACHER (iUniverse, 2004), p. xii. 

Another Waldorf teacher has added, 

"Waldorf teachers must be anthroposophists first and teachers second." — Gilbert Childs, STEINER EDUCATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (Floris Books, 1991), p. 166.

If Anthroposophy is insane, then Steiner education is insane. And indeed this point can be made with great clarity. Anthroposophy depends on clairvoyance. If there is no such thing as clairvoyance, then there is no rational basis for Anthroposophy. And if there is no rational basis for Anthroposophy, there is no rational basis for Steiner education. Here’s the kicker: There is no such thing as clairvoyance. Or, at a minimum, we can firmly state that no one has ever produced any convincing evidence for the existence of clairvoyance. [See “Clairvoyance”.] Hence, there is no rational basis for Anthroposophy, which means there is no rational basis for Steiner education.

Ms. Playforth writes, “Even the most mainstream, standardized state education is not based on rigorous scientific principles ... None of  this means that Steiner schools should NOT be critically examined, it’s just that a lot of the criteria for ‘failing’ this examination would see other forms of schooling fail as well.”

Ms Playforth evidently thinks that by making a statement about mainstream schools, she has told us something meaningful about Steiner schools. Mainstream schools have shortcomings, she says, hence implicitly Steiner schools are no worse than mainstream schools. But this is clearly illogical. Mainstream schools might have problems and Steiner schools might be much better, or mainstream schools might have problems and Steiner schools might be much worse. The only way to evaluate Steiner schools is to focus on Steiner schools. Put it this way: In a discussion centered on “What every parent needs to know...about Steiner schools,” the subject is Steiner education, not any other form of education. If we conclude — as we should — that Steiner education has significant flaws and shortcomings, then on a future occasion we can turn to the question of finding better sorts of schools. (And there are many.)

Parents are often eager, even desperate, to find alternatives to the mainstream schools in their communities. But not all alternatives to poor-performing mainstream schools are superior. Some alternatives, indeed, are distinctly inferior. Steiner schools are distinctly inferior. [To look closely at Steiner education as it actually exists in the world today, see, e.g., “Waldorf Now”, “Today”, “Academic Standards at Waldorf”, “Curriculum”, “Methods”, etc.]

Ms. Playforth writes, “I have a bigger problem with my taxes paying for actual faith schools (eg. 4000+ Church of England schools and 2000+ Catholic schools) than with non-denominational ‘spiritual’ schools becoming academies.”

Here Ms. Playforth falls for a pair of central deceptions spread by Anthroposophists. The reality is that Anthroposophy itself is a religion. The inescapable corollary is that Steiner schools are “actual faith schools” — that is, they are religious institutions.

As in so many cases, the deceptions in these matters are, to some degree, instances of Anthroposophical self-deception. Steiner insisted that Anthroposophy is a science, not a religion. His followers today generally accept this article of faith. They think that Anthroposophy enables them to objectively, scientifically study the spirit realm through the use of disciplined clairvoyance. And, if Anthroposophy is not a religion, then Steiner schools — even if they embody Anthroposophy — are not religious institutions.

But these beliefs are false. Anthroposophy is certainly a religion. It combines teachings from Theosophy, gnostic Christianity, and Hinduism, with admixtures of other religions including Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. The practice of Anthroposophy entails faith, reverence, prayers, meditations, spiritual guides, spiritual observances, submission to the gods, and efforts to fulfill the will of the gods. Anthroposophy lays out the path to spiritual improvement and salvation for its adherents, and it threatens spiritual loss and perdition for everyone else. Anthroposophists believe that they are on the side of the gods, and they believe that their critics are on the side of the demonic powers. Anthroposophy is a religion. [See “Is Anthroposophy a Religion?”]

Moreover, the religion of Anthroposophy is practiced inside Steiner schools. Steiner students are generally required to recite prayers (usually in unison with their teachers), sing religious songs including hymns, participate in religious festivals such as Michaelmas and Advent, and perform such Anthroposophical spiritual rituals as eurythmy. Steiner schools are distinctly religious institutions. Thus, Steiner made such statements as these: 

• "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." — Rudolf Steiner, THE CHILD's CHANGING CONSCIOUSNESS AS THE BASIS OF PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICE - Foundations of Waldorf Education XVI (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 94. 

• "[A] religious atmosphere can be created in every lesson and subject. Such an atmosphere is created in our school. When teachers, through their own soul mood, connect everything that exists in the sensory world to the supersensible and divine, everything they bring to their classes will naturally transcend the physical, not in a sentimental or vaguely mystical way, but simply as a matter of course." — Rudolf Steiner, WALDORF EDUCATION AND ANTHROPOSOPHY - Foundations of Waldorf Education XIV, Vol. 2 (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 184.

Occasionally, Steiner representatives today acknowledge the fundamental religious impulse in Steiner education. Thus, for instance, Steiner teacher Jack Petrash has written, “One question that is often asked is: 

‘Is a Waldorf school a religious school?’ ... It is not a religious school in the way that we commonly think of religion ... And yet, in a broad and universal way, the Waldorf school is essentially religious.” — Jack Petrash, UNDERSTANDING WALDORF EDUCATION (Nova Institute, 2002), p. 134. 

[For more on the religious nature of Steiner schooling, see, e.g., “Schools as Churches”, “Spiritual Agenda”, “Soul School”, "Prayers", and "Eurythmy".]

I am glad that Ms. Playforth enjoyed the Steiner school she attended. I enjoyed the one I attended. But warm childhood memories should not deflect us from making mature, informed judgments about the Steiner movement today.

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From a recent exchange on RedCafe.net:

Waldorf-Steiner schools & project based learning

Q. Anyone here have experience on these two different types of schools? 

A1. I have never heard of either. Hope this helps.

A2. I'm sorry but I have no information on this matter. 

Q. really helpful. feck off!

[http://www.redcafe.net/f64/waldorf-steiner-schools-project-based-learning-366901/]

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From the Garden City News Online (New York, USA), March 1, 2013:

Waldorf School Celebrates Annual Carol Sing

On the evening of Friday, December 21st, the Waldorf School held its annual Carol Sing and Alumni Reception. Under the baton of alumna Penelope Herdt Grover ‘71 and Music Teacher Andrew Fallu, families and alumni heralded the holiday season with beautiful Christmas carols in the candle-lit [sic] gymnasium. The Carol Sing was followed by a festive holiday reception in the high school student room where close to 80 families, alumni and their families reconnected with friends and former teachers.

The Carol Sing is one of the Waldorf School’s longest and most cherished traditions — providing a peaceful interlude for individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and religions to come together. For more than 40 years, the Carol Sing has provided a gentle transition from the hectic pace of the season into the warmth of the holidays. Illuminated by the glow of candlelight, Waldorf families from the past and the present enter and leave the School’s gymnasium in silence, enhancing the peaceful mood of the evening. 

[http://www.gcnews.com/news/2013-03-01/Community/Waldorf_School_Celebrates_Annual_Carol_Sing.html]

Response:

This rather belated report of Yuletide activities at a Waldorf school holds points of interest. Carol Sings are often important annual events within a Waldorf community. They can be bonding experiences, bringing together past and present members of the community in a shared — and often beautiful — experience.

There is nothing inherently wrong with such events held in private schools. And indeed carol sings can be organized in such a way that adherents of “all...religions” may find them pleasant. We should note, however, that such events belie the usual claim, made by many Waldorf schools, that the Waldorf movement is not religious. Waldorf schools are actually, at their core, religious institutions, even if the doctrines of the Waldorf religion are kept more or less veiled. Sometimes, indeed, this point is conceded. Here is what a leading advocate of Waldorf education has said: "I think we owe it to our [students'] parents to let them know that the child is going to go through one religious experience after another [in a Waldorf school] ... [W]hen we deny that Waldorf schools are giving children religious experiences, we are denying the whole basis of Waldorf education." — Waldorf teacher Eugene Schwartz, "Waldorf Education — For Our Times Or Against Them?" (transcript of talk given at Sunbridge College, 1999).

The religion at the core of the Waldorf movement is Anthroposophy. Anthroposophy has ties to many other religions, and thus it can be made to seem more or less compatible with many belief systems. But it is closest to gnostic Christianity, and anyone who cannot give at least notional assent to the doctrines of gnostic Christianity may ultimately find Waldorf beliefs strange and even repellant. [See, e.g., “Gnosis”, “Was He Christian?”, and “Is Anthroposophy a Religion?”]

On an evening when, during the Christmas season, a school auditorium is darkened, with candles providing the only illumination, and religious songs are sung — on that evening, the auditorium becomes in effect a chapel, and the school brings its faith nearer to the surface than on many other occasions during the year. Bear in mind, there are different sorts of Christmas carols. Songs about reindeer and snowmen and Santa Claus generally have little or no spiritual content or meaning. But only rarely will you hear such carols sung in Waldorf schools. Far more often, the carols sung will be closely akin to hymns.

Here are excerpts from the sorts of songs generally used in Waldorf schools. I will quote from THE WALDORF SONG BOOK (Floris Books, 1992) and THE SECOND WALDORF SONG BOOK (Floris Books, 1993), both of which were compiled by Waldorf teacher Brien Masters. To keep this report concise, I will give only a few lines from each song.

FOR ALL THE SAINTS

"For all the saints who from their labours rest,

Who thee by faith before the world confest,

Thy name, O Jesus, be for ever blest."

I BIND UNTO MYSELF TODAY

(St. Patrick's Hymn)

"I bind unto myself today

The strong name of the Trinity."

UNCONQUERED HERO OF THE SKIES

"Thine aid we pray the foe to slay, Saint Michael."

ALLELUIA FOR ALL THINGS

"Of all created things, of earth and sky,

Of God and man, things lowly and high,

We sing this day with thankful heart and say,

Alleluia, alleluia."

ECCE SACERDOS

“Ecce sacerdos magnus, 

Ecce sacerdos magnus, 

Qui in diebus suis, 

Qui in diebus suis placuit Deo.”

[Translation:

 “Behold the high priest, 

Behold the great priest, 

Who in his days, 

Who in his days pleased God.”]

THE SEVEN JOYS OF MARY

“The first good joy that Mary had,

It was the joy of one;

To see her own son, Jesus Christ,

When he was first her son, 

Good man, and blessed may he be,

Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

To all eternity.”

PASSIONTIDE CAROL FROM ODENWALD

“O Son, dearest Son

O dearest Jesu mine,

What will become of you on Sunday?

On Sunday I shall be king

And decked in royal robes

And strewn, strewn with palms.”

ALLELUIA

"Alleluia,

 Alleluia, 

Alleluia, 

Alleluia..."

Christmas is not the only occasion when such holy songs are sung in Waldorf schools. Here is part of a report by a former Waldorf student who went on to become a Waldorf teacher:

"The first important Christian celebration of the year was Martinmas, followed by the 'Lantern Festival' (St. Martin's Day), then the 'school fair' was usually held at the beginning of the 'Spiral of Advent' festival, then there were the four weeks of Advent leading up to Christmas, followed by Easter, St. John's festival, and so forth. When the 'Advent season' began, we spent about three-quarters of an hour each morning (during 'main lesson,' the two-hour-long period from 9 to 11) singing hymns about Mary and the coming to Earth of the Jesus child. I still know these hymns by heart. It was the same with songs about the Archangel Michael before the 'feast of St. Michael.' A small candle was lit on the class table while we sang in chorus 'Mary went through the forest' and 'Angels in our countryside,' etc. In addition, at the beginning of each of the four weeks of Advent, on Monday morning, the whole school would gather in a common area to attend the lighting of four candles placed on a large crown of pine branches that adorned the lobby of the main building. A mantra by Rudolf Steiner was then read." — Grégoire Perra, "My Life Among the Anthroposophists."

For more on such matters, including prayers recited in Waldorf Schools, see, e.g., “Prayers”. For an analysis of the "Christian" nature of Anthroposophical teachings, see “Was He Christian?”

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Here is an announcement recently posted by Sydney Rudolf Steiner College, a Waldorf teacher-training institution in Australia. The photos appear in the announcement as you see them here:

Life Phases

Do human beings ask different questions about life in their 20s and 40s? Does the same question asked aged 30 and aged 50 [sic] have the same meaning? Is life really a search for happiness or could it be more about struggle and transformation? Could there by an archetypal pattern to the biography of a human being that can help one make sense of their life, celebrate the downs as well as the ups and actually look forward to the later years? Rudolf Steiner thought so – Come and explore your life story through the revealing lense [sic] of Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy.

Location: Sydney Rudolf Steiner College, 307 Sussex St Sydney

Dates: 15 May-29 May 2013 Time: 9.00am – 12.30pm

5 June-12 June 2013 9.00am-3.00pm

Day: Wednesdays

Cost: $360.00

[http://www.sydneyrudolfsteinercollege.com/life-phases/]

Response:

Anthroposophists face a dilemma. They think they possess hidden or occult spiritual knowledge — they deem themselves to be occult initiates. [See, e.g., "Inside Scoop".] One of the rules for occult initiates, according to Rudolf Steiner, is that initiates must not reveal their secrets to anyone except true, questing spiritual aspirants — i.e., candidates for occult initiation. This is a principal reason that Waldorf faculties generally hide their real beliefs and purposes from outsiders. [See "Secrets".]

On the other hand, Anthroposophists want to spread their faith — they have the urge to proselytize. This is the ultimate reason for the existence of Waldorf schools,* and it is why various Anthroposophical organizations offer performances and classes for outsiders. This "Life Phases" program is clearly meant to be an introduction to Rudolf Steiner's teachings, probably presented in simplified and prettified form. (Note the photos.)

Many families select Waldorf schools without having been told much if anything about the occult doctrines on which the schools are founded. [See "Here's the Answer".] The schools often make concerted efforts to misrepresent themselves, pretending to be arts-based preparatory schools, for instance. Usually, after your children have been admitted to a Waldorf school, the faculty will quietly evaluate you, weighing your potential for conversion, before deciding whether to start taking you into its confidence. Meanwhile, the school will continue staging public presentations, seeking — in the most gingerly way — to attract more potential converts. Other Anthroposophical enterprises, such as the Sydney Rudolf Steiner College, will do the same.

As for the photos we see here: They appear to have little connection to the announced theme of the "Life Phases" course. In fact, they represent eurythmy, a kind of spiritualized dance inaugurated by Rudolf Steiner. Eurythmy (pronounced yur-RITH-me) is meant to make visible the inner, spiritual meaning of language. [See "Eurythmy".] Anthroposophists believe that the gods create by speaking their intentions, and they believe that human speech has a similar magical effect, creating actual, living phenomena in the spirit realm. Doing eurythmy, then, is a way of manifesting with your body the creative powers of the universe; it is Anthroposophy in motion, a modern version of temple dancing. Eurythmy is meant to cleanse and fortify the soul, and Steiner's followers believe it puts participants in direct contact with the spirit realm. Eurythmy is considered so important that, at Waldorf schools, all students are usually required to perform it. 

"Eurythmy is obligatory. The children must participate. Those who do not participate in eurythmy will be removed from the school." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 65.

* Consider the following statements:

• "One of the most important facts about the background of the Waldorf School is that we were in a position to make the anthroposophical movement a relatively large one. The anthroposophical movement has become a large one.” — Rudolf Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER IN THE WALDORF SCHOOL (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p.156.

• "The reason many [Waldorf] schools exist is because of the Anthroposophy, period. It's not because of the children. It's because a group of Anthroposophists have it in their minds to promote Anthroposophy in the world ... Educating children is secondary in these schools." — Former Waldorf teacher "Baandje". [See "Ex-Teacher 7".]

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