Waldorf Schools

[amhalaba]

I saw the informative thread on Masons... thought some folks might not know about Waldof Schools and their base in Anthroposophy/Theosophy.

They are deceiving a lot of parents to believe they are secular schools with an artsy "back to nature" curriculum that encourages independent thinking.

Waldorf Schools are actually based on the teaching of self-proclaimed clairvoyant, Rudolf Steiner. Steiner was a racist chialist who concocted his own religion of a bizarre mix of Christianity, Hinduism and Theosophic Occultism and called it a "philosophy" of agriculture, medicine and child development/teaching, naming it Anthroposophy.

Many Waldorf Schools have become PUBLICALLY FUNDED "charter schools". They claim to be non-religious, yet they do all kind of wierd things, including a formalized dance which is actually a "language" to communicate with the spirit-world (parents are NOT told this). They are not allowed to paint their walls, so that students can see through them to the spirit world.  Young children are not allowed to make distinct lines or use the color black. All classrooms have "nature tables" that resemble altars. They are taught that "Lucifer" was actually a "good" God of Light!

The funny thing is that these schools appeal to college educated, liberal parents... who tend to be ultra-sensitive to racism as un-PC. Steiner was an ardent aryan, describing blacks as "child-like" and aborigines as "de-evoluting" that is, they are evolving backwards!

Hard-core Waldorf teachers are very secretive and believe they need to correct "miseducation" by parents by whatever means necessary, and other Waldorf teachers are ignorant and in denial. The entire Waldorf curriculum for training teachers consists almost solely of Steiner writings. This is not "independent thinking", but truly an unholy indoctrination.

Anyway, even though most of you would naturally steer clear of such schools, I think the publically-funded part is worth fighting, should it come up in your community.

http://www.waldorfcritics.org/

[Innocent]

I've never herd of them.  It sounds pretty disturbing. Can't get the government to fork over money for a nice Catholic School but they will open the bank for this garbage. It does not surprise me.

[Bogoliubtsy]

A number of my good friends attended a Waldorf School from K-12, sometimes attending public school for a year or two during high-school for one reason or another. The mother of one of these friends was actually a teacher at this school. And, incidentally, I almost attended this Waldorf School.
Though the teaching methods are quite different from those in public schools(they have "blocks" or periods during the year where one subject is most concentrated on), and some of the classes are a bit odd(like "eurythmi", which is a class that deals with body motions, dance, etc), I never noticed any overtly "occult" behavior. A number of the parents of these kids were/are into various Eastern religions, but a number are just into being "earthy", without any real spiritual stance or agenda, per se.
The kids who come out of these schools are usually totally unprepared for traditional colleges and don't score well on standardized tests. Some of the kids though, besides being uprepared for this sort of thing, are totally "normal" kids and are sometimes more of the free-thinking type.
Anyway, perhaps the school was created to be a haven for occultists and weirdos, but the faculty and students of the school I am acquanted with didn't seem too nutty. Maybe it's so "occult" that the teachers don't speak publically about their beliefs but subtly put them in the students' minds?
If anyone's interested, I can ask around a bit and get some specifics on these things.

[amhalaba]

I first learned about Waldorf through an aquaintance who tried to convince me to look at Waldorf for my children, claiming it had Christian "roots". She swears Steiner's wierder theories are not taught, but couldn't logically argue why kids are discouraged from using black in their artwork, or why young children can't draw lines.

So I looked into it myself, and was appalled because I had heard a lot of  praise for these schools, and knew they were a growing movement... and that many Waldorf schools are being publically funded.

Just read some Steiner, and realize that Waldorf teachers study his material almost exclusively in their training. I don't see how you can separate his "good" ideas from this stuff. He's obviously a nutty megalomaniac.

"If you use a lot of abstractions with children, you will stimulate them to concentrate particularly intensively upon the formation of carbonic acid in the blood and upon the crystallization process in the body, upon dying. If you bring children as many living pictures as possible, if you educate them by speaking in pictures, then you sow the seed for a continuous retention of oxygen, for continuous development, because you direct the children toward the future, toward life after death"

[Rudolf Steiner, 62. The Foundations of Human Experience: Foundations of Waldorf Education. Anthroposophic Press 1996]

"The Ancestors of the Atlanteans lived in a region which has disappeared, the main part of which lay south of contemporary Asia. In theosophical writings they are called the Lemurians. After they had passed through various stages of development the greatest part of them declined. These became stunted men, whose descendants still inhabit certain parts of the earth today as so-called savage tribes. Only a small part of Lemurian humanity was capable of further development. From this part the Atlanteans were formed.
"Later, something similar again took place. The greatest part of the Atlantean population declined, and from a small portion are descended the so-called Aryans who comprise present-day civilized humanity. According to the nomenclature of the science of the spirit, the Lemurians, Atlanteans and Aryans are *root races* of mankind. If one imagines that two such root races preceded the Lemurians and that two will succeed the Aryans in the future, one obtains a total of *seven*." (Steiner, 1904, CM p. 48)

"You see, when we really study science and history, we must conclude that if people become increasingly strong, they will also become increasingly stupid. If the blonds and blue-eyed people die out, the human race will become increasingly dense if men do not arrive at a form of intelligence that is independent of blondness. Blond hair actually bestows intelligence. ... It is indeed true that the more the fair individuals die out the more will the instinctive wisdom of humans vanish." (Steiner, 1922, HI-1, p. 86)

And this is from a recent teachers training manual... Steiner racism still figures prominently in Waldorf teaching, and this is not disclosed to parents. Many Waldorf parents really have no idea what Anthroposophy is.

"In ancient times Persia was inhabited by two different peoples, the Aryans and the Turanians. The Turanians, yellow with small cunning eyes, worshipped the god Ahriman, the prince of darkness. The Aryans saw their god in the light of the sun, and named him Ahura Mazdao, the Great Light." (Wilkinson, 1992, pp. 16-17)

[Iconodule]

I witnessed an Anthroposophical wedding today. The Anthroposophists have their own "church" called the "Christian Community". I kind of appreciated the ritual from a distance... the celebrants made no attempt to make anyone comfortable- they played it straight and with utter solemnity, with very strange language that reminded me more of a William Blake poem than a really Christian ceremony, and all kinds of odd cultic gestures. References to Christ and the "risen one" were made in the vaguest of terms, and there was talk of souls and spirits intertwining from "the worlds of God."

In terms of Waldorf education, I'm a little conflicted. I'm not a fan of Steiner's philosophy, but what is actually taught in Waldorf schools seems to me to be far better than what one encounters in public school. A friend of mine went to a Waldorf school for elementary and I feel envious whenever he tells me about all the cool things they did and the awesome books they read. 

[Volnutt]

In terms of Waldorf education, I'm a little conflicted. I'm not a fan of Steiner's philosophy, but what is actually taught in Waldorf schools seems to me to be far better than what one encounters in public school. A friend of mine went to a Waldorf school for elementary and I feel envious whenever he tells me about all the cool things they did and the awesome books they read. 

Well there's always Montessori, and she was a devout Catholic.

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