Steiner School Secrecy
Here is a lightly edited version of a message I posted in February, 2022,
summarizing the problem so many people confront,
sooner or later, at Steiner or Waldorf schools:
secrecy that borders on (or
is a species of) deception.
A common thread runs through the experiences of most people who become critical of Waldorf schools, I think. Sooner or later, one way or another, they realize that Waldorf education is not what it seems. They have been misled. The truth has been hidden from them. To find the truth, they realize, they need to dig deep.
The culture of Anthroposophy is deeply invested in the notion of "initiation." Truths are necessarily hidden from the uninitiated, who are unequipped to deal with these truths. Steiner expressed this as a "law":
"[T]here is [a] natural law which lays down that no word of esoteric knowledge shall be imparted to anyone not qualified to receive it." — Rudolf Steiner, KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Company, 1944), p. 9.
Therefore, concealing the truth from outsiders is not only necessary, it is wise and good.
Waldorf schools, as outgrowths of Anthroposophy, often share in this culture. This helps explain the shock of disillusionment that so many people undergo at or around Waldorf schools. The truth has been hidden — from students' parents, from uninitiated teachers, and from authorities (such as Waldorf board member Debra Snell who eventually, disillusioned, became president of the Waldorf critics group, People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools).
The great contribution scholars like Peter Staudenmaier make is to delve into hidden corners of the Anthroposophical/Waldorf legacy, bringing to light information that helps make sense of things about Waldorf that otherwise seem confusing or even unreal.
Rudolf Steiner himself taught his followers, including Waldorf teachers, to deceive the uninitiated. For instance, concerning the doctrine that some people are not human beings, he told Waldorf teachers this:
“I do not like to talk about such things since we have often been attacked even without them. Imagine what people would say if they heard that we say there are people who are not human beings ... [W]e do not want to shout that to the world.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 649-650.
Concerning the "morning verses" (actually prayers, written by Steiner) that Waldorf students and teachers often recite together at the beginning of each day, Steiner said this to Waldorf teachers:
“We also need to speak about a prayer. I ask only one thing of you. You see, in such things everything depends upon the external appearances. Never call a verse a prayer, call it an opening verse before school. Avoid allowing anyone to hear you, as a faculty member, using the word ‘prayer.’” — FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 20.
As a sort of general rule, Steiner indicated, Waldorf faculty should keep mum about events in the school:
“[D]o not attempt to bring out into the public things that really concern only our school. I have been back only a few hours, and I have heard so much gossip about who got a slap and so forth ... We should be quiet about how we handle things in the school, we should maintain a kind of school confidentiality. We should not speak to people outside the school....” — FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 10.
Often, Steiner indicated, Waldorf faculty should withhold the truth from students' parents. So, for instance, he told Waldorf teachers that he himself had to hide things:
“The things I say here [in a faculty meeting], I could not say to parents." — FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 408.
On another occasion, Steiner extended this rule of secrecy beyond himself:
"We [the faculty] cannot speak to them [i.e., students' parents] in the way we speak among ourselves." — Rudolf Steiner, EDUCATION FOR ADOLESCENTS (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 128.
We might think Steiner was just being politic. But his intentions were strategic and self-protective. He said the basic Anthroposophical character of Waldorf education should be kept under wraps:
“[W]e have to remember that an institution like the Independent Waldorf School with its anthroposophical character, has goals that, of course, coincide with anthroposophical desires. At the moment, though, if that connection were made official, people would break the Waldorf School’s neck.” — FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 705.
Has that moment passed? Are Waldorf schools now open and candid about their Anthroposophical nature? There isn't much evidence suggesting so.
Anyone who wants to really understand Waldorf, either to oppose the schools or to support them, needs to perceive the hidden truths.
— Roger Rawlings
