A Critical Review of Waldorf Resources - Page 9

[Rhonwyn]

I'm glad. No one should chose any education system for their child without their eyes wide open and their mind also. Good luck in your search!

[raksmama]

Boongirl <So, this all brings me to some more questions for those who are critical of waldorf. Let me first say that I am asking respectfully.
Just curious because religious beliefs could explain a lot about why some have strong negative opinions of Waldorf and some do not.>

Hi Boongirl!
Although I have said in many posts that there is allot I like about Waldorf education, I could not in all honesty say that I can recommend it without allot of reservations. This is because of what I experienced when my son was in Waldorf schools for 3 and ½ years. So in answer to your questions:

<1. How has your own Christian or other religious views affected your opinions of Waldorf?>

I was initially drawn to Waldorf because I liked what I knew about anthroposophy.
I was raised Catholic. After rejecting Catholicism for years I have made peace with it. I also have done Yoga for years so I am open to allot yogi ideas such as the idea of reincarnation. I believe there are truths in many religions. For that reason I felt comfortable with allot of Steiner’s ideas.

<2. Is your negative experience with Waldorf related to your religion?>

In no way. I knew about anthroposophy years before I enrolled my son in a Waldorf school.

<3. Do you believe that Waldorf is a cult or that anthroposophy is an occult religion?>

No to both of those. It is not a cult although some of the members some times act like they are in a cult in that they take Anthroposophy for an absolute truth. Whether it is Occult or not depends on where you are coming from. A born again Christian might say Anthroposophy is Occult. For me I agree with those who call it "esoteric Christianity".

My reservations with Waldorf education are only indirectly related to Anthroposophy in that I feel the Waldorf teachers should have more training than just the works of Rudolf Steiner. I think Steiner was very enlightened for his time and he had many good ideas,but like allot of clairvoyant people, he was on some of the time but certainly not all of the time. I think Waldorf teachers should study about other forms of education as well as other types of child development theories. They absolutely, positively should up date themselves about things that were not around in Steiner's time(or where but not identified yet) like ADD, Sensory Integration Dysfunction, Dyslexia,Dyspraxia, and just in general learn more about different learning variations instead of just saying a child is "not incarnating properly in their bodies” every time there is a problem.

The other reason I and allot of the parents I knew pulled their children out of The Waldorf schools that my son was in is all the unsupervised free play. There was just too much bullying, hitting, and bad behaviour going on with not enough intervention. I might have thought this was just the schools my son was in (in different parts of the country because we moved) but I read the” Bullying in Waldorf schools” thread and there was allot there that sounded very familiar to me. I think if you read that tread it puts in a nutshell many of the things I don’t like about Waldorf Ed. I especially was touched about all the times I read about children being considered "a problem" in Waldorf schools and then excelling once they changed schools. My son is also now one of those children.
Lorraine

[beansavi]

Just my opinion:

What a very nice thing to say and I am glad it worked out for your family-regardless of the direction! Information is always a good thing, and censoring it is not. I am glad some of Pete's hard work has taken a positive effect on people. I know it helped me and my son...

Beansavi

Originally Posted by RubyWild

Pete, I've been meaning to come and thank you. We had always planned to homeschool, but then had an offer to pay for private school and were very seriously considering Waldorf. We had been to several open houses, puppet shows, a May festival.

I came here and saw your posts and realized that while I was impressed with some things, I had this niggling feeling that something was wrong with the particular Waldorf school I was visiting. Based on what you have been saying here, I began asking different questions and talking to Waldorf parents and was able to determine that this Waldorf school is not right for us. They were hiding their religious philosophy from us, among other things.

My Dh is very relieved because he has always wanted to homeschool, but I had some doubts.

One more thing, after talking to one Waldorf parent - who happened to be an acquaintance of mine from more than 20 years ago - this parent began having her own doubts and has since put her Dd into Montessori.

So, Pete, you are having and impact.

[Rhonwyn]

Originally Posted by jalilah

The other reason I and allot of the parents I knew pulled their children out of The Waldorf schools that my son was in is all the unsupervised free play. There was just too much bullying, hitting, and bad behaviour going on with not enough intervention. I might have thought this was just the schools my son was in (in different parts of the country because we moved) but I read the” Bullying in Waldorf schools” thread and there was allot there that sounded very familiar to me. I think if you read that tread it puts in a nutshell many of the things I don’t like about Waldorf Ed. I especially was touched about all the times I read about children being considered "a problem" in Waldorf schools and then excelling once they changed schools. My son is also now one of those children.
Lorraine

I am sorry that this is what you experienced. I think this can be a problem at a lot of Waldorf schools because of lack of supervision. Our school has done a lot to increase the supervision during playtimes. The parents have to be reminded though, that the teachers on the playground are there to supervise not chat with the parents. Also, the teachers remind the parents that at all school events, the parents are in charge of their children not the teachers. I have seen the most problems when the parents are in charge.

[raksmama]

Originally Posted by Rhonwyn

I am sorry that this is what you experienced. I think this can be a problem at a lot of Waldorf schools because of lack of supervision. Our school has done a lot to increase the supervision during playtimes. The parents have to be reminded though, that the teachers on the playground are there to supervise not chat with the parents. Also, the teachers remind the parents that at all school events, the parents are in charge of their children not the teachers. I have seen the most problems when the parents are in charge.

Rhonwyn,
I want to say that I really appreciate your sensitivity and understanding!

The things that happened were not when the parents were supervising but in the class, things we heard from the children but did not see ourselves.

I have written in other posts that I think times have changed since Rudolf Steiner was alive. In those days it was the norm for children when not in school to have allot of unstructured free play. My mother who grew up in the 1930s talks about her summers that were spent the entire time outdoors playing with only children and no adult supervision. They had no toys only playing with objects likes sticks and rocks. Nowadays when we are afraid to let our children out alone on the street, it is so different. Children are not used to that much freedom anymore. In Steiner's time most people still lived in extended families. Not so now a days. Sadly many children are not used to dealing with many children at once.
This could be why there are often problems during the free play in Steiner schools.
Lorraine