May, '20
MAY 29, 2020
FEARING TECHNOLOGY
AND ITS INNER DEMONS
The bizarre beliefs of Rudolf Steiner's followers — many of whom work in, and even lead, Waldorf schools — continue to receive critical scrutiny in these days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The following is excerpted from a recent article in the French edition of Slate:
Let's try to understand
the people who are afraid of 5G
Technology generates many pseudo-medical and conspiracy theories.
[By] Laure Dasinieres
...The theory of a causal link between 5G technology and COVID-19 can be traced to Dr. Thomas Cowan, former vice-president of the Physicians Association for Anthroposophic Medicine. Let us recall that Anthroposophy is an esoteric movement of gnostic inspiration, initiated at the beginning of the twentieth century by the Austrian occultist Rudolf Steiner.
In a video posted on YouTube and Facebook in March (the original version of which has since been withdrawn), Cowan claims that not only do viruses not exist, but also that every pandemic in the past 150 years has appeared during a new stage in the electrification of the planet.
The so-called Spanish flu would have emerged with the spread of radio waves; the flu at of the end of the Second World War came from the introduction of radars; Covid-19 is caused by 5G. In this respect, Cowan stresses the fact that 5G tests were carried out in Wuhan, the first site of the pandemic — forgetting, however, that 5G had previously been installed widely in South Korea and tested in seventy-nine other cities in China.
For Grégoire Perra, a former Anthroposophist and ex-teacher at a Steiner-Waldorf school, all of this is extremely consistent with Anthroposophist philosophy. “Generally speaking, Anthroposophy is against technology. Steiner wanted modern technology to disappear, to be replaced by an 'etheric' technology, with engines that would work on the power of morality — otherwise, machines should be completely abolished," he explains.
"In Anthroposophy, there are three forces of evil: Lucifer, linked to electricity; Ahriman, linked to magnetism; and Sorat, linked to radioactivity," Perra continues. "In short, all forms of beam-projection is disapproved by Anthroposophists..."
An unforseen health crisis, which causes great anxiety and forces us to confront uncertainty — which may be compounded by confused government pronouncements entangled in contradictions — allows extremist theories to spread among the general population, far beyond their original audience....
[5/29/2020 https://korii.slate.fr/tech/5g-craintes-defiance-theories-complot-covid-19-medecine-frequences-anthroposophie Translated by Roger Rawlings, relying heavily on Google Translate. Dasinieres' article originally appeared on May 28.]
Waldorf Watch Response
According to Anthroposophical belief, Lucifer, Ahriman, and Sorat are evil gods or major demons. Lucifer tries to lure humanity into false forms of spirituality, where he is supreme. Ahriman tries to lure humanity into complete immersion in the material universe, where he is supreme. Sorat is the Sun Demon — he tries to break the power of the Sun God, the true Christ (who is defended by Michael, the Sun Archangel).
The victory of Sorat, the Antichrist, would be the most calamitous of all. Anthroposophists believe that Sorat has stalked humanity with particular vehemence since his most recent re-emergence, coming late in the twentieth century (specifically, in the year 1998).
"This being is known as Sorat, the Sun Demon and the most powerful opponent to Christ Jesus in the universe. Sorat rises every 666 years to deceive humanity. Now that in 1998 three times 666 years have run their course since the birth of Christ, it [i.e., Sorat] will aim its wrath at humanity again. Sorat will do everything in its power to obliterate humanity’s connection with the spiritual world and tempt humanity to deny Christ." — René Querido, in the introduction to a collection of Steiner texts, THE BOOK OF REVELATION AND THE WORK OF THE PRIEST (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 8.
As the latest, most advanced form of Internet technology, 5G may be considered the latest, most intense form of demonic energy unleashed on humanity by Sorat and his hellish partners in anti-Anthroposophical crime.
[For an overview of Anthroposophical doctrines concerning spiritual entities mentioned above, see "Lucifer", "Ahriman", "Bad, Badder, Baddest", "Sun God", and "Michael".]
Sorat, Demon of the Sun —
based on a painting by Waldorf teacher Charles Kovacs,
reproduced in his book
THE APOCALYPSE IN RUDOLF STEINER'S LECTURE SERIES
(Floris Books, 2013).
[R.R. copy, 2015.]
MAY 26, 2020
ANTHROPOSOPHISTS AMONG
THE PANDEMIC PROTESTORS
A vaccine to prevent COVID-19 has not yet been developed, but already demonstrators are warning against it. Protests have been staged in many countries, including Germany.
The following is from The Guardian [United Kingdom]:
Europe's Covid predicament –
how do you solve a problem
like the anti-vaxxers?
[By] Philip Oltermann
Compulsory vaccination risks boosting a protest movement gaining ground in Europe’s cities.
In front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate a politically incongruous crowd of protesters gathered on Saturday. They wore flowers in their hair, hazmat suits...[or] badges displaying the old German imperial flag [etc.]...
Around the globe, millions are counting the days until a Covid-19 vaccine is discovered. These people, however, were protesting for the right not to be inoculated — and they weren’t the only ones.
For the ninth week running, thousands gathered in European cities to vent their anger at social distancing restrictions they believe to be a draconian ploy to suspend basic civil rights and pave the way for “enforced vaccinations” that will do more harm than the Covid-19 virus itself...
The alliance of anti-vaxxers, neo-Nazi rabble-rousers and esoteric hippies, which has in recent weeks been filling town squares in cities such as Berlin, Vienna and Zurich is starting to trouble governments as they map out scenarios for re-booting their economies and tackling the coronavirus long term.
Even before an effective vaccine against Covid-19 has been developed, national leaders face a dilemma: should they aim to immunise as large a part of the population as possible as quickly as possible, or does compulsory vaccination risk boosting a street movement already prone to conspiracy theories about “big pharma” and its government’s authoritarian tendencies?....
[5/26/2020 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/23/europes-covid-predicament-how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-the-anti-vaxxers This article originally appeared on May 23.]
Anthroposophists evidently may be found amid the protestors.
The following is from DW News [Germany]:
In Germany, vaccine fears
spark conspiracy theories
...The increasing number of gatherings in German cities, some under the motto "Resistance 2020," have attracted all sorts of supporters: people who belong to the far-right Reichsbürger movement, conspiracy theorists, liberals and people from the neo-right — and increasingly, those who support the anti-vaccine movement...
[S]ome people who come to the anti-vaccine protests might not be right-wing or believe in conspiracy theories; they could just be into homeopathy or anthroposophy, said Beate Küpper, a social psychologist at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences....
[5/26/2020 https://www.dw.com/en/in-germany-vaccine-fears-spark-conspiracy-theories/a-53419073 This article originally appeared on May 12.]
If there is a line between Anthroposophists and right-wing conspiracy theorists, it may be faint. Historian Peter Staudenmaier, a scholar who writes about Anthroposophy, posted the following at the Waldorf Critics discussion site [USA]:
Covid Protests in Germany
There is an informative article in the Guardian on the recent wave of pandemic protests in Germany (as well as Austria and Switzerland), with substantial attention to the hybrid of anti-vaccination ideology and far right views. These protests have received extensive press coverage in Germany...
There is no direct mention of anthroposophists specifically [in The Guardian's article], but the overall themes will sound familiar; German news reports do refer to anthroposophist beliefs in the context of the protests, and much of the coverage there has been quite critical. All too often, periods of widespread social crisis seem to bring out the worst sides of Steiner's followers.
[5/26/2020 https://groups.io/g/waldorf-critics/message/32042 This message originally appeared on May 24.]
Staudenmaier has written extensively about ties between Anthroposophists and the far right, including Fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany. See, for example, his book BETWEEN OCCULTISM AND NAZISM: Anthroposophy and the Politics of Race in the Fascist Era (Brill, 2014).
For a summary of Anthroposophical views about vaccines, see "vaccination" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.
— R.R.
MAY 23, 2020
SOME WALDORFS GOING,
SEMI-WALDORFS COMING
Here are excerpts from two news reports about Waldorf-related developments in a community in central New England, near the White Mountain National Forest, in the shadow of Mount Washington.
1.
From The Conway Daily Sun [New Hampshire, USA]:
Albany Town Column:
White Mountain Waldorf School
closing its doors
[By] Mary Leavitt, Dorothy Solomon
The May 6 selectmen’s meeting was held on the phone...
The selectmen agreed to table for a week two Intents to Cut Timber as both intents are off Passaconaway Road...
The select board agreed to accept funds and a grant agreement with N.H. [New Hampshire] Department of Environmental Services ... This project will look into groundwater protection...
[Etc.]
Waldorf School: Due to challenges of the current economy and dwindling enrollment, the school will close its doors at the end of June. Though no longer operating as a school they will continue to aid those in pursuit of a Waldorf education in Mount Washington Valley....
[5/23/2020 https://www.conwaydailysun.com/community/town_columns/albany-town-column-white-mountain-waldorf-school-closing-its-doors/article_964788d8-9ab2-11ea-8740-0f6ec586868d.html This article originally appeared on May 20.]
2.
From the same newspaper, a few days earlier:
New Waldorf-themed
charter school in town
[By] Tom Eastman
A new Waldorf-inspired, outdoors-focused charter school is set to open this fall serving K-7 students for the 2020-21 school year.
Organizers say Northeast Woodland Chartered Public School will be renting space from Granite State College...
In contrast to the private White Mountain Waldorf School in Albany, as a charter school, Northeast Woodland will be a tuition-free public school...
[According to White Mountain kindergarten teacher] Carolyn Harrison...White Mountain Waldorf "has done a fantastic job introducing Waldorf education to the Mount Washington Valley, but the cost of tuition has made that education unavailable for so many families"....
[5/23/2020 https://www.conwaydailysun.com/news/local/new-waldorf-themed-charter-school-in-town/article_136d7154-8e12-11ea-a37e-9f7b2e4da534.html This article originally appeared on May 4.]
Waldorf Watch Response
During the century since the first Waldorf school opened its doors [1], the Waldorf movement has slowly but steadily expanded. Today there are approximately 1,200 Waldorf schools in the world. [2]
This impressive record of growth is blemished by the large number of Waldorf schools that, over the years, have failed for one reason or another. Waldorf schools often start small — they arise from the enthusiastic efforts of a few committed proponents. In some cases, the schools expand and thrive. But in other cases, energy flags, money grows short, enrollment stagnates or declines — and eventually these projects fold. [3]
Funding is often a determinant factor. Traditionally, most Waldorf schools have been private institutions, dependent on their own fund-raising efforts — although, in some countries, various levels of state support have been provided. Recently in the United States and the United Kingdom, the trend to create charter schools (called free schools in the UK) has effectively extended state funding to the Waldorf movement. Taxpayers pick up the tab for Waldorf charter schools. This has opened new options for Waldorf supporters. In some instances, private Waldorf schools may be able to reconstitute themselves in the guise of public institutions. In others, private Waldorfs may elect to go out of business while their allies develop wholly new, state-funded Waldorf schools.
An important question is whether government officials who approve the creation of Waldorf charter schools understand the real nature of Waldorf education. Too often, it seems, they do not. The Waldorf movement has long been cagey about its purposes, concealing much from outsiders. [4] True Waldorf schools — those that abide most faithfully to the visions of Waldorf founder Rudolf Steiner [5] — are essentially disguised religious institutions. [6] They quietly serve the religion created by Steiner, the faith called Anthroposophy. [7] Penetrating the Waldorf disguise can be difficult; busy elected officials and their bureaucratic assistants may often be ill-equipped to make the effort.
A complicating point is that not all Waldorf schools are "true" Waldorf schools — some Waldorfs diverge, to varying degrees, from Steiner's vision. [8] This may be particularly true among "Waldorf-inspired" or "Waldorf-themed" schools. Teachers at such schools may intend to implement certain Waldorf methods that seem appealing (emphasis on the arts, lowering of academic pressures, embrace of green values, and so on) without making a commitment to Anthroposophy. But in other instances, labels like "Waldorf-inspired" may conceal a fundamental intention to steer a school closer and closer to full-fledged Anthroposophical orthodoxy when the time seems ripe.
Some Waldorf proponents worry that trends such as the turn toward Waldorf charter schools may drain the soul out of Waldorf education, leading it farther and farther from its Anthroposophical roots. But other gung-ho Steiner followers evidently hope that infiltrating state school systems will enable the Waldorf movement to gain increased clout, spreading Anthroposophy more widely than ever before. [9]
Parents, educationalists, government officials, and others who want to understand Waldorf education certainly should do their homework. Among other things, they should learn from the situation that has developed recently in the UK. School inspectors there, having sharpened their focus on Waldorf or Steiner schools, have issued a series of extremely critical inspection reports. They have found what seem to be systemic problems throughout Waldorf education in the UK, problems running the gamut from poor teaching, to lax safety procedures, to dysfunctional management. UK Waldorf schools are reeling as a result — some have shut down, and others are in danger of closing [10] Significantly, a number of Waldorf free schools have been found to be among the worst offenders. [11]
Waldorf Watch Footnotes
[1] See "Waldorf School, the first" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).
[2] See the semi-official Waldorf World List [https://www.freunde-waldorf.de/fileadmin/user_upload/images/Waldorf_World_List/Waldorf_World_List.pdf].
[3] See, e.g., "Failure".
[4] See "Secrets".
[5] See "Steiner, Rudolf" in the BWSE.
[6] See "Here's the Answer" and "Schools as Churches".
[7] See "Anthroposophy" in the BWSE.
[8] See "Non-Waldorf Waldorfs".
[9] Steiner's followers hope to remake essentially all institutions in conformity with Anthroposophy. [See "Threefolding".]
[10] See "The Steiner School Crisis".
[11] See "Inadequate: Bristol, Frome, &...".
— R.R.
MAY 19, 2020
HITTING BACK AT INSPECTORS —
PARENTS FIGHT FOR WYNSTONES
Several Steiner or Waldorf schools in the United Kingdom have closed, or are on the verge of closing, after receiving severely critical inspection reports from UK education officials. [1] These closures should not be confused with temporary shutdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Inspectors found deep and widespread failings at the schools, faults ranging from bad teaching to poor safeguarding of students. Efforts are afoot to repair and reopen most of the affected schools, but the survival of the schools remains in doubt.
One of the Steiner schools that closed following harsh inspection reports is the venerable Wynstones School, a Steiner boarding school that was established in 1937. Inspectors gave Wynstones a failing grade ("inadequate") in early 2019. [2] Subsequently, the school's trustees announced the closing of the school with a promise to reopen after implementing robust corrective actions. [3]
In the meantime, a group of parents has begun a legal action contesting the closure of Wynstones. The group has hired a prominent barrister to spearhead their effort. The following is from The Stroud News and Journal [Gloucestershire, England]:
Wynstones closure - Michael Mansfield QC
represents parents in Ofsted challenge
By Matty Airey
ONE of Britain’s leading defence lawyers is representing a group of parents who are fighting back against a damning Ofsted report. [4]
With Michael Mansfield QC at the helm [5], families of pupils at Wynstones Steiner school in Whaddon, have launched a legal challenge against Ofsted.
The Steiner Waldorf school...closed in January after the education watchdog found it had ‘serious and widespread failures’.
Human rights barrister Michael Mansfield, who has worked on a number of high profile cases...has taken the case on...
A spokesman for the Wynstones Parent Initiative, a group of over 50 parents [6], said..."It is contended that the January 2020 Ofsted Report on Wynstones school cannot stand because its blanket condemnatory conclusions, particularly in relation to safeguarding, are irrational and unlawful on several grounds.
"The legal team is also arguing that Ofsted has not followed its own procedures..."
A spokesman for Ofsted said..."Ofsted did not close the school and has no power to do so. The trustees of the school closed it."
In response, the parents' group said the trustees 'had no choice', having been told by the Department of Education [7] that if they did not close Wynstones, the school would be de-registered [8] and “trustees who operate a school which is not registered are liable to unlimited fines and imprisonment".
[5/19/2020 https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/18454573.wynstones-closure---michael-mansfield-qc-backs-parents-ofsted-challenge/ This article originally appeared on May 16.]
Addendum
On May 20, the BBC published an article essentially confirming the report summarized above.
The BBC article is titled "Judicial Review Sought Over Closed Steiner School" [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-52721840]. Without going into details, the article characterizes the two sides of the argument. On one side, Ofsted inspectors found Wynstones School had a "toxic culture." On the other side, a spokesperson for the Wynstones Parent Initiative is quoted as saying Ofsted "completely misrepresents the nature" of the school. This pretty well encapsulates the issues at stake: They center on the very nature of Steiner or Waldorf education. Is such schooling potentially malignant or is it perhaps marvelous?
For more on the alleged toxicity of Wynstones School, see "Toxic Times: BBC Takes Note", February 14, 2020. For other BBC reports about Steiner education, see "BBC & SWSF".
Waldorf Watch Footnotes
[1] See "The Steiner School Crisis".
[2] See, e.g., "Another 'Damning' Inspection of Another Steiner School", February 28, 2019.
[3] For a BBC report, see "Steiner Crisis Makes the Beeb", January 29, 2020.
[4] Ofsted is the UK government's Office for Standards in Education.
[5] See the website for Mansfield's practice: http://www.nexuschambers.com. (QC stands for "Queen's Counsel" — the designation for a senior barrister, a lawyer who is entitled to serve as an advocate, including in higher courts. Retaining such a lawyer is usually quite expensive.)
[6] The Initiative has a Facebook page where financial support is solicited. As of yesterday, the Initiative says it has raised £20,000. [See https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=114127803559871&story_fbid=123679015938083.]
[7] The Department for Education is a division of the UK government; it has responsibility for child education and protection. The Department for Education is the "parent department" for Ofsted.
[8] To operate legally, an independent school in England must register with the Department for Education. If a school is "de-registered" (removed from the register), it has lost the right to operate.
— R.R.
MAY 17, 2020
REOPENING WALDORF:
A CASE DOWN UNDER
Some Waldorf schools that shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic are now reopening or preparing to do so. A small Waldorf school in central Australia — Alice Springs Steiner School — provides an instructive example.
The following is from Alice Spring News [Northern Territory, Australia]:
Steiner School not fazed
by COVID precautions
By Julius Dennis
In the quest for the New Normal the Steiner School [in Alice Springs] is ahead of the game [1]: For example, students already use a single classroom for the entire day and are generally taught by only one teacher. [2]
Almost all of the close to 200 students have returned to the school...
Principal Dina Fieck says that besides the pick and drop off periods in the mornings and afternoons, the students’ days have returned to as close as they can be to pre-COVID procedures.
“Parents come in and drop off their children, however they need to keep the social distancing when around the school verandas,” she says...
Kindergarten and early learning parents are expected to drop off their children in person. [3]
Only two parents at a time are allowed up to the classroom...
No Territory schools [4] are expected to enforce social distancing amongst students, but the Steiner school has put assemblies [5] on pause.
For the around 20 staff there have been some changes. Only three people are allowed in the staffroom at any time and morning meetings have been moved from indoors to beside the vibrant vegetable garden...
[T]he school has brought in extra cleaning systems as well as hand sanitiser at every entrance.
Plus, the students are “cleaning the desk surfaces and the doorhandles of their classrooms every day,” says Ms Fieck...
Community building aspects [6] such as the school garden [7] are already back in action. The store that sells the fruits and vegetables once a week could be up and running once again next week.
Sadly, the Autumn Fair that the school is well known for, will not be going ahead later this month...
While the fair is the school’s biggest annual fundraiser, Ms Fieck says they “would manage without it.
“The main reason we do it is not for finance, it’s for community.
“Most people in Alice Springs know this school for its fair.” [8]
[5/17/2020 https://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/2020/05/15/steiner-school-not-fazed-by-covid-precautions/ This article originally appeared on May 15.]
Waldorf Watch Response
Some of the procedures being followed at Alice Springs Steiner School clearly make sense and may contribute to the safety of everyone involved. But other procedures implemented at the school are, to varying degrees, alarming.
It may seem good, for instance, to have students clean their classrooms. But inadvertent contact with the virus during cleaning can lead to infection, and the cleaning supplies used may also pose problems. What precautions are taken to protect the students while they do this work? Do the kids wear masks and gloves? Are disinfectants used? Ordinary soaps are generally safe for children to use, but such soaps cannot destroy the virus. Disinfectants can be effective against the virus, but they are generally caustic to humans. In the USA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued guidelines for the protection of cleaning workers who might come in contact with the virus. [9] Does Alice Springs Steiner School follow any such guidance?
Children will not become infected at school, of course, if the virus does not enter the school. But how well will the procedures at Alice Springs Steiner shield students there? Consider the practice of confining students to a single room for the entire day. This certainly reduces the number of people children will encounter that day, but the kids might well become infected nonetheless. Consider. Each child comes from a family and neighborhood where s/he has recently encountered numerous individuals. If s/he picks up the virus from any of these contacts, s/he may carry it into the school. Then her classmates, closed up with her in a confined space for hours on end, may easily receive the virus from her.
Protective measures such as social distancing could minimize the spread of the virus within a classroom, but evidently there will be no such "social distancing amongst students" at Alice Springs. (The local government does not require social distancing at any area schools, but Alice Springs could voluntarily implement it.) Wearing face masks all day might also be advisable, but there seems to be no plan to require this.
Let's continue with this analysis. If a child brings the virus into the classroom and infects others, s/he has become a vector (a carrier of the disease). Any children s/he infects may themselves become vectors, spreading the virus to still other children. And at the end of the day, when the students disperse to their neighborhoods and families, all the infected children will carry the disease into those groups. The school would thus become both a center of contagion and, potentially, a source of contagion in the wider community.
The same consideration applies to teachers. Each teacher who enters the school may be a vector bringing infection into the school, and each may become a vector spreading the virus both within the school and in the community beyond. Bear in mind, each teacher will spend many hours enclosed in a single room with a group of children, any one of whom might be infected. The chance that the teacher might pick up the disease under such circumstances seems fairly large. And during periods when teachers at the school interact with each other, they clearly might spread the disease to one other. Remember: Up to three people at a time are allowed to occupy the staffroom.
Are there other ways for the virus to enter the school? Yes. Parents of the youngest students are expected to take their children to their classrooms. Up to two parents at a time may approach a classroom — and, in rotation, all of the parents with young students will go to the school's classrooms each morning. (Presumably a similar process will occur at the end of the day, when parents pick up their kids. If so, then all of the parents of young students will go to the classrooms twice a day.) The parents themselves may act, then, as vectors.
All other adults who come to the school for any reason (janitors, administrators, delivery people, and so on) may also serve as vectors.
Finally, we should note that the school does not intend to sequester itself entirely — it will not attempt to block interactions with the wider community. So, for instance, the school store — selling produce grown at the school — will be back in business soon.
Schools must reopen sooner or later. But a school that reopens too soon, implementing inadequate precautionary measures, may do its students and its community a serious disservice.
Waldorf Watch Footnotes
[1] Local news media often publish articles that are essentially peans to local institutions. This seems to be the case here. Little if any effort seems to have been made to check out the claims made by proponents of the local Steiner school.
[2] This is typical procedure at Waldorf or Steiner schools. It may have some educational benefits (teachers presumably get to know their students well), but it also may have significant educational disadvantages. A single teacher — who, in a Waldorf school, is often a devoted Anthroposophist — teaches almost all subjects, including those for which s/he has no real qualifications. Her influence on the students may be very great, whether or not s/he provides good instruction. One consequence is that s/he may lure students into the Anthroposophical mindset — s/he may, effectively, indoctrinate the kids in a junior form of Anthroposophy. [See "Indoctrination".] The consequences can be greatly magnified because, in most of these schools, the teacher stays with the same children for many years: from first grade through fifth grade, or through eighth grade, or even — sometimes — all the way through twelfth grade.
[3] Waldorf schools often have nursery schools (for children about four years old) and kindergartens (for kids around five years old). Many also have play groups or other gatherings for children too young for nursery school. Little or no academic preschool education is provided at any of these levels, however — instruction in reading, writing, and math is usually postponed at least until first grade (children six or seven years old). The principle effect of Waldorf preschooling is to bring children into the Anthroposophical milieu as early as possible. [See "early childhood education" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]
[4] I.e., schools in the Northern Territory — the north-central part of Australia.
[5] I.e., gatherings of the entire school.
The newspaper says that the school will hold no assemblies, for now, but children within a classroom will not be required to observe "social distancing" — which usually would mean maintaining a distance of six feet or more between individuals.
[6] I.e., activities intended to promote a sense of community — including activities that establish ties between the school and the surrounding community.
[7] Waldorf schools often have organic or "biodynamic" gardens in which vegetables are grown. Some of the resulting produce may be used for students' meals; other produce may be sold to the public. The schools often require students to work in the gardens. [See "Biodynamics".]
[8] The Waldorf school year is punctuated by numerous festivals, most of which have religious import — Michaelmas, etc. But when the festivals are open to the public, they serve to present a shining face to outsiders and, potentially, attract new families to the schools. In this sense, they are public relations exercises. [See the section on festivals in "Magical Arts". Also see "PR".]
[9] See, e.g., https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/controlprevention.html.
— R.R.
MAY 15, 2020
SCHOOLS AND THE VIRUS —
CONTAGION AND CURRENCY
In some countries, schools that had been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic are being reopened. And pressure is increasing to reopen schools elsewhere, such as in the USA. Closed Waldorf schools will likely reopen as soon as they are able.
Authorities deciding whether to permit schools to reconvene — and parents deciding whether to send their kids into these schools — should proceed cautiously. Children seem to withstand COVID-19 far better than their parents and grandparents, but they are not immune. Moreover, kids can become vectors: If they become infected, they can transmit the infection to older folks (relations, neighbors, and others) who might perish as the result.
It is also important to remember that an open school is occupied by a diverse population, not just by children. There are teachers, teachers' aides, administrators, janitors, cooks, coaches — a wide array of adults, all of whom may be more endangered than the students. Schools may become centers of contagion affecting individuals of all ages, and the contagion may easily spread into the wider community.
Studies indicate that opening schools can widen the effects of the pandemic. The following is from CNN:
Should your kids go back to school?
These studies suggest not
By Emma Reynolds
Moves by countries to reopen schools that were shut to prevent the spread of coronavirus could risk a second wave of infections, some studies suggest.
Most cases of Covid-19 in children are mild, but studies suggest kids may play a major role in transmitting the virus to each other and to vulnerable adults — and that keeping schools closed for longer may help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
One study conducted in China and published in the journal Science last week suggested that keeping schools closed could reduce infections and delay the epidemic.
Researchers from China, Boston and Italy performed contact surveys in Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected, and Shanghai, China's largest city.
They estimated that removing all interactions normally seen in schools for children up to 14 years old would lead to a reduction in the average daily number of new cases of about 42%, while reducing children's interactions to those typically seen during vacation periods could reduce new cases by 64%....
[5/15/2020 https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/06/health/schools-reopening-coronavirus-children-wellness-intl/index.html This item originally appeared in May 6.]
A related concern is that children may not be nearly as resistant to the coronavirus as previously thought. Many children have become seriously ill from COVID-19, and some have died. Moreover, children seem to be contracting a condition that had not previously been traced to the coronavirus. The following is from The New York Times:
A New Coronavirus Threat to Children
By Pam Belluck
The coronavirus has largely spared children. Most confirmed to be infected have had only mild symptoms. But doctors in Europe and the United States have recently reported a troubling new phenomenon: Some children are becoming seriously ill with symptoms that can involve inflammation in the skin, eyes, blood vessels and heart.
The condition, which doctors are calling “pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome,” is so new that there are still many unanswered questions about how and why it affects children...
Symptoms can include fever, rash, reddish eyes, swollen lymph nodes and sharp abdominal pain...
The syndrome can bear some resemblance to a rare childhood illness called Kawasaki disease, but as doctors learn more, they are emphasizing that the two conditions are not the same.
Both involve a surge of inflammation in the body and can have serious effects on the heart...
[T]he new syndrome has sent many of the children into a kind of toxic shock with very low blood pressure and an inability of the blood to effectively circulate oxygen and nutrients to the body’s organs...
Three children in New York have died from it, Governor Andrew Cuomo reported on Saturday. Another death, of a 14-year-old boy in England, was reported in a study in the journal Lancet....
[5/15/2020 https://www.nytimes.com/article/kawasaki-disease-coronavirus-children.html This article originally appeared on May 13.]
Despite all this, pressures are increasing to reopen schools in the USA and elsewhere. In this context, American Waldorf schools may benefit from policies being implemented by the US Department of Education. Funds originally intended for public schools are being diverted instead to private and charter schools, including religious schools. Waldorf schools might possibly receive at least a portion of this largesse. The following is from The New York Times:
DeVos Funnels Coronavirus Relief Funds
to Favored Private and Religious Schools
By Erica L. Green
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is using the $2 trillion coronavirus stabilization law to throw a lifeline to education sectors she has long championed, directing millions of federal dollars intended primarily for public schools and colleges to private and religious schools.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, signed in late March, included $30 billion for education institutions turned upside down by the pandemic shutdowns, about $14 billion for higher education, $13.5 billion to elementary and secondary schools, and the rest for state governments.
Ms. DeVos has used $180 million of those dollars to encourage states to create “microgrants” that parents of elementary and secondary school students can use to pay for educational services, including private school tuition. She has directed school districts to share millions of dollars designated for low-income students with wealthy private schools...
The most contentious move is guidance that directs school districts to increase the share of dollars they spend on students in private schools. Under federal education law, school districts are required to use funding it receives for its poorest students to provide “equitable services,” such as tutoring and transportation for low-income students attending private schools in their districts. But the department said districts should use their emergency funding, which was doled out based on student poverty rates, to support all students attending private schools in their districts, regardless of income....
MAY 11, 2020
KEEPING ONLINE LEARNING
AS OFFLINE AS POSSIBLE
In these days of the cornonavirus pandemic, education has become largely electronic. Teachers, students, and students' parents communicate with one another — individually or collectively — over the Internet. Students plop down in front of their computers to receive long-distance instruction. They listen/watch as their teachers deliver lessons of various kinds, then they use keypads or touchscreens to perform exercises and fulfill assignments through the powers and limitations of 21st century electronic wizardry. Meanwhile, teachers confer with one another through such services as Zoom, and parents join similar virtual gatherings, exchange emails or text messages with the teachers, and try to help their kids cope with the online material that now generally constitutes curricular content.
Such educational practices were once all but inconceivable for Waldorf schools. Waldorf education is based on a metaphysical ideology, Anthroposophy [1], that has a strong anti-technological bent. Adherents of Anthroposophy have long warned against the injurious effects of modern technological gadgets and processes. Computers, some have said, are demonic. [2] Televisions dull our minds, swamping us in stupid images that stunt our proto-clairvoyant powers of imagination. [3] Movies are similarly stupefying, punching holes in our etheric bodies. [4]
Aversion of modern technology was built into Anthroposophy from the get-go. Rudolf Steiner, who was both the founder of Anthroposophy and the father of Waldorf education, voiced strong misgivings even about mechanisms that seem quaint to us now: steam engines, typewriters, abacuses. [5] Any machine, he warned, has the potential to drag us down into a materialist style of life, which could deliver us into the grasp of the terrible demon Ahriman. [6]
Steiner did not wholly abjure technology. He liked to be driven around in motor cars, for instance, and he oversaw the construction of a boiler house on the campus of the Anthroposophical headquarters. [7] But he urged his followers to be very, very wary of tech gimcrackery — and, by and large, his followers have heeded his warnings. But the world has changed considerably since Steiner's death in 1925, and gradually Waldorf schools have had to rethink their practices, at least to a degree. In some of the schools, older students have been permitted to make occasional use of computers in some situations, for some purposes. But younger students have still been carefully shielded from such dangerous influences, in almost all cases. And fears of Ahriman continue to hang spectrally over the entire Anthroposophical movement. [7]
Despite their inner reservations, however, Waldorf faculties now face the imperative to cope with the coronavirus, social distancing, sheltering in place — and the near-universal institution of distance learning. Waldorf schools have been forced to adapt to a new reality that, for them, is both alien and potentially doom-laden. Here are excerpts from two reports indicating how at least some Waldorf schools are attempting to make the transition into a reality they would otherwise wish to avoid. (As you read, bear in mind that both reports, appearing in small news outlets, verge on Waldorf PR: They advocate Waldorf education as it has been and as it is attempting to become. Small news operations serving local communities often boost the institutions in their communities.)
1.
From Augusta Free Press [Virginia, USA]:
Distance learning looks different
at the Charlottesville Waldorf School
Waldorf Schools focus on experiential learning: an active approach to a subject’s lesson which uses different senses and subjects like arts and music, tactics, and manipulatives [sic] to best stimulate the mind to retain what is being learned. [8]
The Waldorf classroom experience is designed to build strong relationships, enhance social and emotional learning, and create community bonds through seasonal events, festivals, assemblies, plays, and more. [9]
What does that look like now, from afar, with distance learning in place and students off campus? At the Charlottesville Waldorf School, teachers and administrators are working creatively to bring Waldorf education’s multisensory, multi-faceted, human-centered curriculum to students no longer in classrooms...
As a generally screen-free school in normal times, any use of electronic media is a change from life-as-normal. Now, although classes meet online with video conferencing and keep track of work through google classroom [sic], the majority of the classwork continues to be offline and hands-on, especially in the early childhood and elementary grades.
Recently, fourth-grade botany students explored local natural areas in search of fungi and observed the life cycle of plants in their yards; first graders are studying local birds and hand-writing and -illustrating their books of “Feathered Friends”; second-graders received individual instructions for completing their knitting projects, along with needles and extra yarn. [10]
In the middle school, technology is more prevalent, with the fifth grade meeting online regularly to practice Bal-A-Vis-X as a group and the eighth grade building on their recent robotics and cyber civics classes [11]...
Throughout the school, teachers are modeling the imagination, innovative thinking, and adaptive response inherent in a Waldorf classroom, pivoting carefully planned curricula to this new paradigm....
[5/11/2020 https://augustafreepress.com/distance-learning-looks-different-at-the-charlottesville-waldorf-school/ This item originally appeared on May 10.]
2.
From Baltimore Fishbowl [Maryland, USA]:
Digital Divide: Keeping Balance
in Distance Learning
On any regular school day a guest could walk into the Waldorf School of Baltimore and find children engaged in activities from reading to playing string instruments to exploring the great outdoors.
What guests won’t see are children glued to screens [12] – in fact, a guest would be hard-pressed to find a screen at all. The school embraces slow technology [13] and is screen-free during the school day on the Pre-K through eighth grade campus...
With the emergence of the global pandemic earlier this year, the school began to engage in distance learning and is taking part in it today. As the teaching staff began to create a distance learning model, being able to deliver quality programming without inundating children with screen time became a thoughtful part of curriculum planning [14]...
During a regular routine week, every Waldorf student, in middle and lower schools, begins the day with main lesson [15] ... This important start to each day is an imperative part of Waldorf education and is not being spared through distance learning. In first grade, the students are being logged on to get a shortened period of instruction time with their teacher ... For the days when they aren’t getting screen time with her, she sent home materials to facilitate lessons with non-digital learning activities including reading and doing math exercises. These students will continue with their nature studies program as well as Spanish, movement and different artistic programs. [16] Lessons for these specialty classes are communicated with parents, and materials were sent home in packages that were prepared as the school building closed...
Students in the third grade are engaged in an exciting main lesson block that involves learning about shelters from around world and throughout history. The concept of how shelters are built to protect people from the elements and how this varies with climate was explored before distance learning began. One of the very first assignments third graders received was to build their own shelter outside...
Meanwhile seventh grade students are also getting assignments that bring their attention to the world immediately around them rather than in the digital sphere. Students were instructed to use their pre-algebra skills to draw up schematics of structures in their own homes and figure out all of the calculations associated with a doorway or window. This arts-integrated math lesson was drawn out and calculated all on paper [17]....
[5/11/2020 https://baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/digital-divide-keeping-balance-in-distance-learning/ This item originally appeared on April 28.]
Waldorf Watch Footnotes
[1] See "Anthroposophy" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).
[2] See "Spiders, Dragons and Foxes".
[3] See "television" in the BSWE.
[4] From the Waldorf perspective, movies inflict many of the same damaging effects as television. These effects may especially harm the "etheric body," the first of three invisible bodies that, according to Waldorf belief, incarnate during the first 21 years of life. [See "etheric body" in the BWSE.]
[5] E.g.,
◊ “When we build steam-engines, we provide the opportunity for the incarnation of demons ... In the steam-engine, Ahrimanic demons are actually brought to the point of physical embodiment.” — R. Steiner, “The Relation of Man to the Hierarchies” (ANTHROPOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT, Vol. V, Nos. 14-15, 1928).
◊ "[E]very stroke of a typewriter key becomes a flash of lightning ... [T]he human heart is constantly struck and pierced by those lightning flashes ... [A] terrible thunderstorm rages when one is typing.” — Rudolf Steiner, SOUL ECONOMY (Anthroposophic Press, 2003), p. 146.
◊ "[W]hen I see calculators [abacuses] in classrooms, from a spiritual point of view it strikes me as if I were in a medieval torture chamber." — Rudolf Steiner, SOUL ECONOMY, p. 173.
[6] See "Ahriman".
[7] The headquarters is called the Goetheanum. [See the section "The Goetheanum" in "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?" For a view of the boiler house, see "The World of Waldorf".]
[8] This item, evidently coming to us from the Charlottesville Waldorf School, is steeped in educational jargon.
[9] See, e.g., "festivals at Waldorf schools" in the BWSE.
[10] The students did these things at home, under the long-range tutelage of their Waldorf teachers who communicated with them electronically.
[11] "Bal-A-Vis-X" stands for Balance-Auditory-Vision-eXercises.
Waldorf classes in robotics (generally involving the construction of small electric droids) are conditioned by Steiner's dread-inducing accounts of "automatons" (beings without souls) — students may not be informed about these accounts, but Waldorf teachers are likely to have them firmly in mind. [See "automatons (automata)" in the BWSE.]
"Cyber civics" classes at Waldorf may consist of instruction in good Internet manners and warnings against the injurious effects of various Internet activities and sites.
[12] I.e., computer screens, TV screens, movie screens...
[13] Waldorf schools may once have been no-techonology (that is, they strove to exclude all modern, high-tech equipment), but they have gradually transitioned to a more slow-tech approach (banning high-tech stuff from the lower grades but gradually admitting some of it into upper-grade classrooms).
[14] Note that this item, like the one from Augusta Free Press, essentially praises and promotes Waldorf; it likely originated in, or was largely informed by, the local Waldorf school. (The item is hardly neutral. So, for instance, it says that the school's "thoughtful" planning delivers "quality" content without "inundating" the children.)
[15] See "main lesson" in the BWSE.
[16] The "movement" instruction in Waldorf schools generally centers on eurythmy, a form of spiritual dance created by Steiner. [See "Eurythmy".] The arts, including eurythmy, are given great importance in Waldorf schooling, generally for spiritual rather than merely aesthetic reasons. [See "Magical Arts".]
[17] For the Waldorf approach to math instruction, see "Mystic Math".
— R.R.
MAY 9, 2020
BRINGING WALDORF HOME:
INVITING STEINER INSIDE?
Many Waldorf schools are closed now, due to the coronavirus pandemic. One consequence is a burst of interest in Waldorf homeschooling. Unfortunately, some of the articles that have appeared touting Waldorf-at-home schooling contain serious misrepresentations of the Waldorf approach. Some, indeed, are little more than Waldorf PR, pushing the pleasing but misleading line that Waldorf authorities have been polishing for decades.
Here are excerpts from a new item appearing at moms.com:
Everything You've Wanted To Know
About The Waldorf Homeschool Curriculum
By Yhanik James
Developed in the early 1900s by Rudolf Steiner, the Waldorf education model is a revolutionary education model based on the premise that children develop pertinent skills within three major age groups: early childhood education, elementary education and secondary education. The model concentrates on creating well-rounded children with instruction centered around developing the head (thinking), heart (feeling) and hands (doing), at all age levels...
Features Of The Waldorf Curriculum
Proposers of the Waldorf curriculum identify the program's repetitive mantra of "head, heart and hands" as the most attractive aspect of the approach. This is because Steiner believed that a child's education was based on developing the "whole" child:
Head - Children learn to think logically and independently.
Heart - Children are in sync with their emotions and can emotionally connect with the work which they are doing as well as their world.
Hands - Children become active in accomplishing their personal goals and contributing to the world...
So How Is The Waldorf Curriculum Implemented?
1. Oral Expression, Storytelling and Art
In the early stages, language is taught and reinforced through a fun curriculum based on storytelling, singing songs and reciting poetry. The students are exposed to the arts quite early too through handiwork, art, music and body movements...
2. Limited or No Technology During Instruction
With the growing incorporation of technology in the traditional classroom, adopting the Waldorf approach may seem like you are taking a step backward. But it really isn't so ... [I]n the Waldorf model, technological dependence is replaced by lots of tactile activities which foster creativity in the child. Simple wooden props, open-ended play and interaction with the environment builds children's imaginations and connects them to the real world...
3. Incorporated Spiritual Element
We know what you are thinking, but let's just clarify foremost that the Waldorf framework does not require your child to attend religious services and does not abide by specific religious rules. The model simply seeks to connect children with a deep inner respect for life through the spiritual science of Anthroposophy...
How The Waldorf Curriculum Unfolds At Each Level
The Waldorf philosophy of learning, which is also referred to as the Steiner education philosophy, places children into these precise learning age groups, where they remain for about 7 years as they learn the skills which are important at their current age.
Early Childhood Education - From birth to 7, children learn primarily through creative play and tactile activities...
Elementary Education - Between 7 and 14, children are motivated through connections with their emotions and creativity...
Secondary Education - By age 14 up until 21, independence becomes the focus of instruction...
[5/9/2020 https://www.moms.com/waldorf-homeschool-curriculum-explained/ This item originally appeared on May 8.]
Waldorf Watch Response
We should look closely at a few of the above assertions. As is typical in materials promoting Waldorf, important facts have been omitted. Far from providing "everything" important about the Waldorf approach, the article skips along the surface while leaving out information that is critically important to a true comprehension of Waldorf education.
Here are a few particulars:
"Revolutionary" Waldorf — Waldorf education is certainly an alternative to conventional schooling, but this doesn't mean Waldorf is progressive. Indeed, Waldorf is fundamentally backward — it is a reactionary response to the modern age, rejecting much of the knowledge, science, and technology that has resulted from the Enlightenment. The Waldorf worldview is mystical and, in many ways, medieval. [See, e.g., "Occultism" and, on the page "Waldorf Now", see the section "Are Waldorf Schools Progressive?"]
"Head, Heart, and Hands" — Waldorf education is often represented as being "holistic." This representation is correct only in a mystical sense. According to Waldorf belief, a "whole" child has four bodies, three of which are invisible; s/he has both a soul and a spirit; s/he has a karma; s/he is subject to specific astrological influences; s/he is a reincarnating spirit who has had many previous lives and will have many more; she exhibits one of four classical temperaments (melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine, or choleric); and so on. Waldorf education endeavors to take all of this into account. One consequence is that much of the Waldorf curriculum has little if anything to do with ordinary education. Rudolf Steiner taught that the brain and thinking are not terribly important, and he rejected much of the knowledge produced by modern science and scholarship. For these reasons, Waldorf education does not generally emphasize rationality or the acquisition of factual knowledge. [See "Holistic Education", "Thinking Cap", and "Steiner's Specific — Thinking Without Our Brains".]
"Fun Curriculum" — For reasons we have already summarized, Waldorf schools generally place low emphasis on academics. Instead, there is a fair amount of playtime, handcrafts, and art. Some of this can be very good for children, and much of it creates a lovely impression that induces parents to select Waldorf for their kids. But the underlying rationale is the Waldorf belief that through non-academic activities (non-rational, emotional, artistic activities) children will be drawn into the hazy, polychromatic, mystical visions promulgated by Rudolf Steiner. Fundamentally, Steiner's body of teachings — Anthroposophy — constitute a gnostic religion, and Waldorf education is an enactment of this religion. [See "Academic Standards at Waldorf", "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?", "Magical Arts", and "Here's the Answer".]
"Limited Technology" — Steiner taught that, in the modern age, humans are under attack by a terrible demon named Ahriman. This evil spirit seeks to destroy our capacity to connect with the spirit realm; he seeks to destroy our spirituality. One of the chief approaches Ahriman uses, Steiner said, is tempting us with modern technology. Science and technology sunder us from the natural world with its many attendant spirits, Steiner taught; science and technology drag us down into a wholly materialistic level of existence; they allow demons — Ahriman and his minions — to incarnate on Earth. (I'll pause here while you catch your breath.) Not every teacher in every Waldorf school is a thoroughgoing apostle of Rudolf Steiner, but many are. And under their direction, Waldorf schools do indeed limit students' exposure to modern technology. Ahriman, be gone! [See "Ahriman", "demons", and "technology" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).]
"Spiritual Element" — Waldorf schools have a spiritual atmosphere, which can be pleasing and lovely. And Waldorf spirituality is not, for the most part, associated with any widely recognized church. But don't be misled. Waldorf schools are not "spiritual" in a vague, nondenominational way. They are spiritual in a very specific way — they are built upon, and they enact, the religion created by Rudolf Steiner, the religion of Anthroposophy. Indeed, true Waldorf schools — those that most fervently embrace Steiner's teachings — are religious institutions. True Waldorf schools are, effectively, Anthroposophical places of worship. [See "Schools as Churches". Also see "Anthroposophy" and "Waldorf schools" in the BWSE.]
"Precise Learning Age Groups" — Although Waldorf schools often claim to honor the individuality of students, in fact they stereotype the kids in multiple ways. One way is by postulating that all kids move, more or less in lockstep, through a specific sequence of three seven-year-long "leaning age groups." These three stages of childhood, as postulated by Steiner, center on the incarnation of the students' three invisible bodies. According to Waldorf belief, children receive their "etheric bodies" (configurations of formative forces) at about age seven, their "astral bodies" (configurations of soul forces) around age 14, and their "ego bodies" or "I"s (configurations of spirit forces) around age 21, at the end of childhood. Dumbfounding though it may seem to outsiders, supervising this process of incarnations is a central preoccupation for true-believing Waldorf teachers. [See "Incarnation" and, e.g., "Soul School".]
The Waldorf curriculum may appeal to parents looking for an alternative to conventional education. And Waldorf-based homeschooling may appeal to many. But you should look below the surface, to be sure you understand what you may be getting involved in. You might, for instance, consider these statements made by Waldorf teachers when they were being particularly candid:
◊ "Waldorf education is based upon the recognition that the four bodies of the human being [the physical, etheric, astral, and ego bodies] develop and mature at different times.” — Waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli, RHYTHMS OF LEARNING: What Waldorf Education Offers Children, Parents and Teachers (SteinerBooks, 2017), p. 4.
◊ “[F]rom a spiritual-scientific [i.e., Anthroposophical] point of view child education consists mainly in integrating the soul-spiritual members with the corporeal members." — Waldorf teacher Gilbert Childs, STEINER EDUCATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (Floris Books, 1998), p. 68.
◊ "Waldorf education is a form of practical anthroposophy." — Waldorf teacher Keith Francis, THE EDUCATION OF A WALDORF TEACHER (iUniverse, 2004), p. xii.
◊ "Waldorf teachers must be anthroposophists first and teachers second." — Waldorf teacher Gilbert Childs, STEINER EDUCATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (Floris Books, 1991), p. 166.
If you decide to homeschool your child using the Waldorf model, you will be choosing to become — at least informally — a Waldorf teacher. You might try to employ Waldorf methods while leaving out all the mystical content of Waldorf schooling. But Rudolf Steiner would caution you against any such attempt. He said Waldorf education and Anthroposophy are inextricable. So, for instance, he said the following to teachers at the first Waldorf school:
“As teachers in the Waldorf School, you will need to find your way more deeply into the insight of the spirit and to find a way of putting all compromises aside ... As Waldorf teachers, we must be true anthroposophists in the deepest sense of the word in our innermost feeling.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 118.
— Response by Roger Rawlings
MAY 6, 2020
HOW TO EDUCATE KIDS
FROM THIS POINT ON
Schools in many places are closed now, due to the coronavirus pandemic. While struggling to help their children continue their educations at home, parents are thinking through their possible options for the future. Here are excerpts from one rumination on these themes, a rumination that includes multiple references to Waldorf education.
From iNews [United Kingdom]:
'It squeezed all the creativity out of her':
the parents reconsidering formal education
during school closures
By Sophie Morris
The night before visiting a primary school for my nearly four-year-old daughter, I have a nightmare. I am trapped inside the school I went to myself ... I didn’t like being told what to do and think all day ... We were taught to pass exams. Excessive testing is criticised as one of the major ills of contemporary schooling ... [Downplaying the resulting pressure in contemporary schools,] the Department for Education says the children won’t notice they are being tested “in most cases”.
Fran Russell, the new chief executive of the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship, tells me that children know when they are being tested. Steiner schools focus on unhurried, creative learning. [1] It is perhaps the best known of the UK’s “alternative” education landscape, which includes Montessori and a number of small, independent schools, as well as homeschooling. [2] A common factor among these approaches is a rejection of the hierarchical, adult-led approach of mainstream education and its focus on assessment and achievement. [3] These schools represent a tiny proportion of our education provision – there are 26 Steiner schools in the UK, most small – but the view that excessive homework and testing has made the school system an unwelcome environment for any child who doesn’t conform, and led to increased levels of anxiety and depression, is far from niche.
[One alternative to conventional schooling is homeschooling.] When I was a teenager, homeschooling was something I’d heard of only in the context of odd extremist groups. I was surprised to learn that you can keep your child at home in the UK without informing the authorities of your plans. The BBC reports an increase of 40 per cent between 2015 and 2018 ... Anecdotally, parents report that removing the stress of a physical school can help pupils learn...
[Steiner Waldorf schools offer another alternative.] In a more affluent nearby town is another fledgling alternative school, the New School, Canterbury. It was anointed with independent school status in September 2019, the same day Steiner education, the model it follows, celebrated its centenary. [4] “It is almost like mainstream education sees children as empty vessels to fill up with knowledge and facts, and Steiner nurtures what is in the child,” explains headteacher Beth Cuenco when I ask her what Steiner’s really all about. [5] “We teach self confidence, flexibility, empathy, compassion and self-confidence..." [6]
I am enthused by this approach, as well as the focus on the environment, which she points out is amplified not by scare stories [about ecological catastrophe] but by learning to revere nature [7]...
Steiner Waldorf students learning outdoors.
[Photo: New School, Canterbury.]
[But] there is trouble in paradise. The New School grew out of the closure of a Steiner school, which Beth attended herself. [8] The Steiner Waldorf mission has been mired in controversy and school closures in recent years. [9] Fran Russell was appointed Steiner CEO last summer to sort out the mess, following the closure in 2018 of a private Steiner school, and three Steiner free schools in 2019 [10], which were condemned by Ofsted and passed over to another academy trust. [11] One state-funded Steiner school, in Hereford, remains. There were allegations of bullying, racism and inadequate provision for special education needs children [in Steiner Waldorf schools]. These were dangerous places to leave your children, and the problems were covered up. “The schools were run by people who were not properly trained,” says Russell. “There was a lack of understanding about safeguarding, and the particular risks of Steiner schools, which are often started by parents. [12]”
...Steiner advocates insist it is Rudolf Steiner’s forward-thinking pedagogy, not his skewed spirituality, which guides their teaching. [13] “The most important thing we have to offer mainstream education is to show you can teach children to read and write from the age of six and they will go on to do well [14],” says Russell. “But in order to show that, we have got to sort out some of our own issues, and there’s great enthusiasm for doing that now [15]”...
On balance, I think the time spent outside of school is as important as the timetabled day, and I am keen for my daughter to go to a school she can walk to. If I suspect that school is squeezing the innate curiosity out of her, I will be ready to step in. I may have found my own education creatively suffocating, but it at least inspired me to learn. I return to studying, and teaching, again and again [16]....
[5/6/2020 https://inews.co.uk/news/education/school-closures-coronavirus-lockdown-parents-reconsider-education-2546961 This article originally appeared on April 23.]
Waldorf Watch Footnotes
[1] See "Play — Isn't Slow Learning Best?"
[2] Waldorf schools are often compared to Montessori schools, although the differences — reflecting the mystical basis of Waldorf schooling — are fundamental. [See, e.g., "Ex-Teacher 5".]
[3] Waldorf schools do generally reject standardized testing as much as possible. On the other hand, they are often accused of being both hierarchical and authoritarian. [See, e.g., "Anthroposophy Now: Review and Overview", May 1, 2020.]
[4] See, e.g., "Here and There: Celebrations", September 27, 2019. The first Waldorf School, personally overseen by Rudolf Steiner, opened in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1919. [See "Waldorf School, the First" and "Waldorf Schools" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).]
[5] Waldorf schools generally have different goals than conveying knowledge to children. [See "Waldorf education: goals" in the BWSE.] As a result, Waldorf schools have long had a reputation for low academic standards. [See "Academic Standards at Waldorf".]
[6] Critics contend that Waldorf schools shelter and pamper students by immersing them in a mystical worldview. [See, e.g., "Mistreating Kids Lovingly".]
[7] The Waldorf view of nature is actually more complicated than this. [See "Neutered Nature".]
[8] See, e.g., "Canbterbury Steiner School in Chartham will be auctioned off in October", October 10, 2017. Also see "Coronavirus Kent: Steiner School founder Ulrike Brockman dies from Covid-19 at Faversham Cottage Hospital", April 17, 2020.
[9] The very survival of Steiner Waldorf education in the UK may be at stake. [See "The Steiner School Crisis".]
[10] In general, Waldorf schools have traditionally been private institutions that funded themselves. But some Waldorf charter schools — called "free schools" in the UK — have opened in recent years. Such schools receive funding from the government.
[11] Ofsted is the UK government's Office for Standards in Education. Inspectors from Ofsted have found severe deficiencies in various UK Steiner schools, a number of which have now closed or been taken over by a new educational trust (an umbrella organization) seeking to implement changes. [See, e.g., "Inadequate" Bristol, Frome, and..."]
[12] Inspectors found many faults at the schools, ranging from poor teaching to dysfunctional management. Failure of adequately protect students — poor "safeguarding" — was especially criticized in several instances. [See, e.g., "Steiner Academy Exeter".]
It is almost certainly wrong to blame any of these schools' problems on parents who were involved in establishing the schools. The inspectors found fault with the conduct of teachers and administrators, including at long-established Steiner schools. The training of personnel at the schools may indeed have been deficient, but this is largely because it was the sort of training typically provided within the Steiner school movement. [See "Teacher Training".]
[13] This is the central issue concerning Waldorf schools. Do these schools attempt to lure students into an occult religion, "Steiner's skewed spirituality", Anthroposophy? [See, e.g., "Here's the Answer".]
[14] For esoteric spiritual reasons, Waldorf education postpones instruction in reading and writing until first grade. Defending such practices is a major preoccupation for defenders of Waldorf education. [See, e.g., "reading" in the BWSE.]
[15] I.e., proponents of Waldorf education are working hard to salvage as much as they can from the wreckage of Steiner Waldorf schools that have been closed or placed under threat of closure in the UK.
[16] Having reviewed alternatives to conventional education, the author concludes that her old school — which, in many ways, she disliked — had at least one important virtue: "it at least inspired me to learn."
— R.R.
MAY 4, 2020
SEX & AN APOLOGY —
CHARGES & DENIALS
Anthroposophists in France have been gunning for Grégoire Perra. A former Waldorf student who became a Waldorf teacher, Perra subsequently broke away from the Waldorf movement — he is now a prominent critic of Waldorf education and its ideological foundation, Anthroposophy. [1] In retaliation for his criticisms, Anthroposophists have counterattacked in numerous ways, such as filing a series of lawsuits accusing Perra of defamation. [2]
Arguing that Perra is morally debased, some of his opponents cite a particular piece of evidence: a letter he wrote years ago, in which he apparently confesses to sexually molesting a young woman. This letter was reproduced, for instance, by pro-Anthroposophical writer Martin Bernard in a scathing article he published in 2019: "L'imposture Grégoire Perra" {The Impostor Grégoire Perra}. [3]
Perra now says writing the letter was the greatest mistake of his life. He says he wrote it under duress, in a period of great stress and emotional turmoil. He contends that the situation for which he apologized was far more complex than his adversaries claim. Most importantly, he categorically denies that he has ever sexually molested anyone, including the young woman to whom he addressed his letter. [4]
Recently at the Waldorf Critics discussion website [5], moderator dan Dugan posted a link to Martin Bernard's article. [6] Former Waldorf parent Margaret Sachs then posted the following brief essay:
In 2017, the Federation of Steiner Waldorf Schools in France announced in an internal newsletter that it was focusing on the preparation of a national communication plan and a response to Grégoire Perra's attacks. The newsletter stated that “Several companies have already been consulted; others are preparing an offer to accompany us in this reflection, bringing their professionalism.” This resulted in the hiring of Martin Bernard, who wrote the article “L’imposture Grégoire Perra” and promoted it on social media.
As usual, Waldorf education was defended in the article by references to allegedly independent studies, none of which actually were independent. Unfortunately, Anthroposophists in Europe appear to have infiltrated the academic world, giving a false sense of legitimacy to Waldorf studies. It was frustrating for me in a back-and-forth discussion with Bernard that by the time I had finished checking out a slew of additional studies he had cited and found every one of them to be linked to Anthroposophists, the discussion thread at that particular site had been closed down.
Bernard’s cheerleader on social media was a person I won’t name here but who ended up being blocked by a number of people because of his name-calling and absurd claims and accusations. I chose not to block him because I knew his behavior was detrimental to his own cause. In my case, in response to my tweeting information at a Holocaust memorial site about Anthroposophists who aided and abetted the atrocities of Nazism in World War II, he called me a “monster” and illogically claimed that I hate Jews. [7]
Unfortunately, more serious issues were involved in the effort to discredit and intimidate Grégoire. He has been the target of insults, harassment, and threats, some of them violent. Some of the harassment he has told me about is similar to what Scientology does to some of its former members.
I’m not the only former Waldorf parent to have witnessed how manipulative lies and rumors in a Waldorf school can create a community that believes the innocent to be guilty and the guilty to be victims. This type of behavior, however, is even more dangerous when it becomes part of a larger plan to silence a critic like Grégoire. In an article on his blog, he wrote, “… some students, even within the Steiner-Waldorf schools and during their schooling, seem to have been set up against me by their teachers. For example, I could cite the case of a pupil who attended a Steiner-Waldorf school in the Paris region who recently began to make public statements against me which, if he had persisted, would have led to a criminal conviction. On enquiry, it was about a person [8] who was visibly at odds with society and who had been convicted by the courts for criminal behavior in the context of demonstrations against the labor law. The reading of his blog, where he talks about his conviction, reveals well the type of product that can come out of the Steiner-Waldorf schools: disconnected from himself, in total loss of social references, scorning laws and institutions, hovering in a delirious poetic and mystical sphere that he confuses with creativity, not understanding at all the conviction he was sentenced to [9], etc. Does the Federation not see the risks it is taking with this strategy of rumor in which even the pupils of its educational institutions are sometimes involved, some of whom are socially maladjusted and psychically unbalanced? Using teenagers who do not yet have a sense of reality to propagandize the Steiner-Waldorf schools [10] and stir up fierce hatred towards one of its detractors is a serious act that the Federation of Steiner-Waldorf Schools should absolutely prohibit in its schools.” https://veritesteiner.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/la-federation-des-ecoles-steiner-waldorf-prepare-un-vaste-plan-de-communication-contre-gregoire-perra/?fbclid=IwAR2uJiOW51KQEnqhWxig0M-_2fXFh1iQF9PKegLfx9LBwXFdqVGGxBWAvBo
As for Anthroposophists publishing Grégoire’s apology letter to a student, Grégoire has told me “Yes, I wrote this letter, but I never made any sexual aggression on this girl, or any aggression at all. The trials of 2013 and 2019 [11] told about this letter and the judges (twice !) said that there is no relation between this event and my critical work about anthroposophy and Steiner schools. The court said very clearly that my work is without anger or spirit of revenge. The purpose of Martin Bernard is to say the contrary, which is against two court decisions [12].” My family would have welcomed such a letter from the Waldorf teacher who groped our daughter. An apology was promised but never given. Instead, we ended up receiving the same atrocious treatment other Waldorf school victims have experienced. Grégoire’s apology seems to me to have been an anomaly in the world of Anthroposophy and was, in my opinion, heartfelt and sincere.
What Anthroposophists fail to recognize is that any wrongdoing on Grégoire’s part occurred while he was an Anthroposophist. I am reminded of Mike Rinder, a former senior executive of the Church of Scientology. [13] As a Scientologist, he was heavily involved in activities that were harmful to others. After seeing the light and leaving Scientology, he has worked hard to expose the truth about the cult and to help other former members. In doing so, he has become an invaluable Scientology critic, appreciated and respected not only by TV audiences but by people he once harmed. Watching him as Leah Remini’s co-host in the TV series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath [14], it was sometimes easy to see the pain and guilt in his face when he was in friendly conversation with people he had previously mistreated. Many former cult members have to deal with the guilt of what they did while under the influence of cult indoctrination. Recovery is a long road for them, which in most cases requires the help of a therapist.
Fortunately, in France, a growing number of journalists and organizations are now active in exposing the truth about Waldorf education, Anthroposophical medicine, and other Anthroposophic activities. Maybe the genie is out of the bottle.
-Margaret [15]
To read English translations of some of Perra's writings, see, e.g., "He Went to Waldorf", "My Life Among the Anthroposophists", "Sexual Mores in Steiner-Waldorf Schools", and, "Mistreating Kids Lovingly".
Waldorf Watch Footnotes
[1] See Perra's websites La Vérité sur les écoles Steiner-Waldorf {The Truth About Steiner-Waldorf Schools} and Blog de Grégoire Perra {Grégoire' Perra's Blog}.
[2] See "Grégoire Perra".
[4] See the sections "A Slightly Odd and Potentially Dangerous Friend" and "The Whole Truth" in "My Life Among the Anthrposophists, Part 2".
[5] See https://groups.io/g/waldorf-critics.
[6] See https://groups.io/g/waldorf-critics/message/32036.
[7] Margaret Sachs has written in opposition to anti-Semitism. Her husband is Jewish. She has said that her children consider themselves to be half-Jewish.
[8] I.e., the former Waldorf pupil who was maligning Perra.
[9] I.e., the infraction for which he was sentenced.
[10] I.e., propagandize on their behalf.
[11] These were trials resulting from lawsuits brought against Perra by representatives of the Waldorf/Anthroposophical movements. He won both trials. [For his detailed account of the 2013 trial, see "My Life Among the Anthrposophists, Part 3". The results of the 2019 trial are currently on appeal.]
[12] I.e., the proposition advanced by Bernard and others — that Perra has acted out of anger and a desire for revenge — has twice been rejected by French courts.
[13] Rinder now has an anti-Scientology blog: https://www.mikerindersblog.org.
[14] See https://www.aetv.com/shows/leah-remini-scientology-and-the-aftermath.
[15] See https://groups.io/g/waldorf-critics/message/32037.
— R.R.
MAY 1, 2020
ANTHROPOSOPHY NOW:
REVIEW AND OVERVIEW
Waldorf education is built upon the spiritual system devised by Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy. [1] Helmut Zander and Peter Staudenmaier are scholars who have contributed greatly to our understanding of Anthroposophy — its doctrines, applications, and history. Now Staudenmaier has published a review of a new book by Zander.
Here are excerpts from the review:
Helmut Zander, Die Anthroposophie: Rudolf Steiners Ideen zwischen Esoterik, Weleda, Demeter und Waldorfpädagogik (Paderborn: Schöningh, 2019)
{ANTHROPOSOPHY: Rudolf Steiner's Ideas Spanning Esotericism, Weleda, Demeter and Waldorf Education}
Reviewed by Peter Staudenmaier
Theologische Revue 116 (2020)
[A]nthroposophy today touches on many aspects of daily life. What began as a relatively small offshoot of the modern German occult revival a century ago [2] has grown into a far-flung movement encompassing Waldorf schools, Demeter foods, Weleda products, biodynamic farms and vineyards, anthroposophical clinics, hospitals, colleges, and more. [3] Though not always acknowledged in public, all of these initiatives are grounded firmly in the esoteric worldview promulgated by Steiner (1861-1925) and form part of the fabric of alternative spirituality that has become a common element of the religious landscape in recent decades...
Helmut Zander’s new book offers an illuminating and informed guide to contemporary anthroposophy in its various manifestations...
One of Zander’s principal themes is that anthroposophy is anything but a monolithic movement in the present global context. He traces a growing divide between established anthroposophist organizations, with their generally orthodox orientation [4], and the newer crop of anthroposophically inspired initiatives that take a more eclectic approach to Steiner’s ideological inheritance ... The range of political positions within the spectrum of contemporary anthroposophy is similarly diverse. Yet all of these perspectives derive from Steiner’s teachings about the divine forces that determine the cosmos, the supernatural factors governing phenomena like karma, reincarnation, and clairvoyance, and the “higher worlds” that shape human destiny. [5]
...Steiner’s...latter-day followers sometimes downplay the occult elements in their worldview in order to appeal to a broader audience. [6] Zander shows that such efforts have been only partly successful, frequently relying on distorted claims about Steiner’s background and the import of his “spiritual science,” as the founder of anthroposophy preferred to call his ideas. [7] Steiner drew heavily on the traditions of nineteenth century theosophy and devoted the first decade of his career as an esoteric teacher to the Theosophical Society. [8] Claiming the theosophical mantle of a comprehensive cosmology that would incorporate the ancient hidden truth of all religions, he simultaneously insisted that this syncretic spiritual outlook was thoroughly modern and scientific. As Zander notes, Steiner wanted anthroposophy to be more than a religion [9] ... His followers today often have trouble coming to terms with this conflicted legacy and disentangling its disparate threads.
...[Zander] offers extended reflections on the tension between secrecy and publicity that typically accompanies Steiner’s esoteric principles, as well as the concomitant dynamic of attraction and disappointment among individuals drawn to anthroposophy. [10] The book is especially insightful on the authoritarian and hierarchical elements within internal anthroposophical culture and its chronic difficulties with open debate and democratic procedures [11] ... Discussing the growing popularity of Waldorf schooling in China, for instance, Zander notes the possibility that this success may have to do with similarities to standard Chinese educational practices, above all an authoritarian and teacher-centered pedagogy, reflecting longstanding features of the Waldorf model ... Zander is careful to balance critical observations with positive ones, continually pointing to the readiness among some anthroposophists to adapt their conventions to modern multicultural societies. [12]
It is the critical points in the book, however, that turn out to be the most telling. Zander recounts the lengthy series of lawsuits that anthroposophists have filed over the years against journalists, scholars, and others in an effort to stifle critical reporting on Steiner’s movement ... [T]he same unfortunate practice continues today in France and elsewhere. [13] He also takes an unflinching look at “the increasing acceptance of far right positions within the anthroposophical milieu” [14] ... In particular, Zander details the succession of public scandals in the past decade and a half at German and Austrian Waldorf schools where teachers, parents, and staff were actively involved in far right groups [15]; the most recent incidents occurred in 2018 at Waldorf schools in Vienna and Berlin ... For anybody following the contemporary anthroposophist scene, these alarming developments have been unmistakable, and it is crucial to view them in historical context. Zander’s treatment makes a major contribution to that effort.
Despite anthroposophy’s seeming obscurity and unworldliness, it can have definite practical consequences for adherents. The chapter on measles indicates how relevant this factor is to current concerns [16] ... Zander offers an evenhanded appraisal of the striking frequency of measles outbreaks at Waldorf schools and other anthroposophical institutes, a trend routinely reported in German media that has recently garnered attention in the international press, from the Guardian to the New York Times. Noting the “widespread skepticism toward vaccination” among Steiner’s followers ... Zander outlines how such beliefs can present a significant public health risk...
...A snapshot of anthroposophy in its current state of transition, the book affords an exceptionally perceptive viewpoint on one of the most fertile forms of alternative spirituality in the modern era.
— Peter Staudenmaier, Marquette University
[5/1/2020 https://www.academia.edu/42823160/Review_of_Zander_Die_Anthroposophie Staudenmaier's review originally appeared in April.]
Waldorf Watch Footnotes
[1] See "Anthroposophy" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).
[2] Dating from around 1880 to around 1910, this was a resurgence of German interest in esoteric, occult, spiritual subjects. This revival, in turn, had roots in the German romantic movement of the 19th century. [See, e.g., "German Literature, 19th Century, Romantic Movement", ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA.]
[3] Demeter foods are grown organically on Demeter farms — agricultural operations guided by Steiner's gardening/farming recommendations. [See "Demeter" in the BWSE.] Weleda products are health and beauty products created in accordance with Steiner's herbal and medicinal indications. [See "Weleda" in the BWSE.] Anthroposophical clinics and hospitals similarly work from Steiner's medical teachings. [See "medicine" in the BWSE.] Like Waldorf schools, Anthroposophical colleges base their curricula and methods on Steiner's educational precepts.
[4] The central Anthroposophical organization is the General Anthroposophical Society, which has branches worldwide. [See "The General Anthroposophical Society" in the BWSE.] The Society is "orthodox" in that it endeavors faithfully to abide by Rudolf Steiner's teachings.
[5] For Anthroposophical beliefs on such matters, see, e.g., "Karma", "Reincarnation", "The Waldorf Teacher's Consciousness", and "Higher Worlds".
[6] In at least some instances, this may be essentially a public relations strategy. [See "PR".] Anthroposophists, who believe they possess privileged spiritual wisdom, may often conceal their beliefs and practices from outsiders. [See, e.g., "Secrets".]
[7] Anthroposophists, like Theosophists, claim to follow a spiritual discipline that provides objective, verifiable knowledge of the spirit realm. Hence, they refer to their systems as "spiritual science."
[8] For Steiner's debt to Theosophy, see "Basics".
[9] Steiner generally denied that Anthroposophy is a religion, although outside observers often conclude that its certainly is. [See "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"]
[10] This dynamic is often particularly evident with regard to Waldorf schools. Newcomers who are initially highly enthusiastic about Waldorf schools may often become deeply disillusioned eventually. [See, e.g., "Our Experience" and "Coming Undone".]
[11] Steiner taught that democratic principles should apply only in limited circumstances. [See "Democracy".]
[12] Steiner has been criticized for holding racist and Euro-centric views. [See, e.g., "Steiner's Racism".] His followers today often try to undo this legacy, to one degree or another.
[13] See, e.g., the lawsuits lodged against former Waldorf teacher and student Grégoire Perra.
[14] Zander, Staudenmaier, and others have traced links between Anthroposophy and fascism. [See "Sympathizers?"]
[15] The relationship between Waldorf schools and far-right political groups has been complex. Staudenmaier has previously described a rightward tilt within Anthroposophical circles in recent years. [See, e.g., "Waldorf and the Far Right", December 17, 2018.]
[16] Steiner warned against various dangers posed by vaccination, although he did not rule out all uses of vaccines. A general anti-vaxx culture prevails in and around many Waldorf schools, which has led to disease outbreaks occurring at some of these schools. [See "vaccination" in the BWSE and in the Waldorf Watch Annex Index.]
— R.R