anthroposophy and waldorf schools
article by Norwegian Steiner school critics in the recent edition of Fri Tanke. In Norwegian but worth google translating:
http://www.fritanke.no/upload/2009-/pdf/fri_tanke_0904.pdf
(the article begins on p 32)
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better opportunities to incarnate (via @thetismercurio)
Steiner childcare is "working with the spiritual world", this is from advertisement for a book called Creating a Home for Body, Soul and Spirit -- A New Approach to Childcare:
The concept of a ‘home away from home’ has been penetrated with a deep understanding of what forms this environment and the anthroposophical day nursery is built around the knowledge of an archetypal home, the development of the human being and an awareness of the individuals whose karma and destiny has, at this point in time, led them to be here.
Lastly and most importantly through this dedicated and committed approach, the unfolding of these children’s lives are given the best opportunity to incarnate and develop fully in order to be able to take up their life path as best as they are able and to be able to build a solid foundation towards reaching their full potential.
launch event! hooray! (steiner waldorf at plymouth uni)
University of Plymouth announces an upcoming launch event of a project on Steiner education. It's a project report called Meeting the Child.
The Steiner Waldorf School Fellowship apparently approves of this little document, since they're alread advertising it.
Quote from university's press release:
The report, ‘Meeting the Child’, written by Mary Jane Drummond and Sally Jenkinson, draws on classroom observations and interviews with kindergarten teachers in Hereford, Cambridge and Bristol, and focuses on the Steiner approach to observation and assessment.
This report will "be presented to the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ Academies Division."
Professor Michael Totterdell, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education, and Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Plymouth, said: “This is an important piece of research, the result of a joint investigation between Steiner and mainstream educators.
Mr Totterdell seems to be speaking against his better knowledge: neither Drummond nor Jenkinson are mainstream educators -- and after all, they wrote the report, they draw the conclusions. To which extent mainstream educators were involved at all, is unknown to me at this time.
Steiner education is now receiving public funding through the Academies Programme and this research demonstrates that other educators may have valuable lessons to learn from the Steiner kindergarten teachers’ distinctive approach to developing a full and detailed knowledge of each individual child.
Blah blah blah. I said on twitter that this looks to me like a typical propaganda move. Steiner education is recieving public funding, thus it must be a valid educational approach. This research, undertaken by authors already committed to the Steiner movement, show good things about Steiner education, naturally, thus other educators have things to learn from waldorf/Steiner. (This was the same conclusions drawn by anthropsophist Bo Dahlin in his research. Which, by the way, was deeply flawed.) Then the passage continues by boldy asserting that Steiner teachers approach means a full and detailed knowledge of each child. The assumption being that this is in some way unique for waldorf. Yes, it indeed is -- if you mean that Steiner teachers consider astral and etheric bodies and the higher "I" and posits the existance of a reincarnating individual soul. Detailed knowledge is, in fact, the institutionalized dissection of -- and thereupon passing judgment on -- unknowing and non-assenting children's souls and spiritual qualities. Should've written that in the press release, I believe. But I suppose it's easier to boast that others have things to learn from waldorf than it is to speak about anthroposophy's role in "developing a full and detailed knowledge of each individual child." Huh?
When the project was launched initially it was described like this in Steiner/waldorf newsletter:
The project will explore the importance of the ‘narrative form’ – each child’s unique life-journey - in enabling the teacher to reflect on the child's nature and learning. The focus on observing the whole child - physical; emotional; cognitive; social – in preference to emphasising externally-generated check-lists of pre-determined learning outcomes and targets is likely to provide one fertile line of enquiry.
Anyway -- who are Drummond and Jenkinson? They are authors previously published by anthroposophical publishers. They both worked with this brochure The Future of Childhood.
It is published on the initiative of the anthroposophical organisation Alliance for Childhood. Another author of the same brochure appears to be Christopher Clouder -- a representative of the waldorf school movement.
So what about the authors of this new Plymouth report?
Sally Jenkinson is described on Steiner Books' website; she
is a lecturer, mother and kindergarten teacher. She works for the Alliance for Childhood, having advised Waldorf kindergartens for many years. She is a respected contributor to British and European research conferences on early childhood. She is a tireless advocate of children's holistic developmental needs, particularly to the Department for Employment and Education during their consultation on early years education for the national curriculum.
Steiner Books also published her Free to Learn and The Genius of Play.
The latter book is accompanied by a review quote -- well actually it may be a quote from the introduction, written by her -- by Mary Jane Drummonds, by the way. In the above mentioned newsletter, Jenkinson is described as a "Steiner specialist". She should be, having worked for the Steiner School Fellowship, where part of her work was to be "watchful" about government requirements. She seems familiar enough with the literature of waldorf educators and anthroposophists. Besides, she's not just a kindergarten teacher, she's a "Steiner Waldorf Kindergarten teacher".
Mary Jane Drummond has also been involved in Alliance for Childhood, as well as the editor of The Future of Childhood. In the book Early Education Transformed, she wrote a chapter on waldorf education in kindergarten. The involvement in Alliance for Childhood may seem a bit odd, though, because in the chapter of the latter book mentioned, she writes "I am not a Steiner educator, nor will ever be."
[Sorry, a slightly muddled post, but mr Dog is getting annoyed with me. He says he doesn't give a damn about Jenkinson and Drummond and the SWSF. He would support an Alliance for Puppyhood, though.]
steiner school, new zeeland (ht @thetismercurio)
http://www.titirangisteinermessenger.com/TSM/Welcome.html
This site aims to represent parents who are interested to know that there are unacceptable levels of bullying, harassment and uncontrolled aggression taking place at the Titirangi Steiner School. Those parents may have left, may be at the school or may be thinking of sending their children there.
It also aims to keep children safe, by bringing the safety issues into the public arena so that people will be properly informed. Some of what we will have to put up here is quite shocking and we wouldn’t have believed it if we had not experienced it ourselves.
...
As parents we were asked to watch our daughter being hit and accept it. Now the whole school community have all been asked to watch us being hit, and accept it.
the return of manu (via @lovelyhorse_)
Pfeiffer, The Task of the Archangel Michael:
The threefold social order of Rudolf Steiner is particularly a preparatory work to bring about a future incarnation of Manes. I once discussed with Rudolf Steiner the question of when would be the proper time for the application of etheric forces for technical uses. He said that this would be when the threefold order is established. He said that Manes could not find a suitable body yet, that all the forces he would be able to bring to an incarnation would be destroyed by modern education.
Therefore he said that Waldorf education needed first to come into being and that the threefold social order must also come into being. Therefore I would see it as our immediate task to bring about this threefold order first through thought and then through action, so that Manes can incarnate. By karma, Manes' incarnation would be due by the end of the century. Whether this will be possible I do not know, but if the threefold social order and Waldorf education were established he could incarnate. I see it as our task to make the preparations so that he can incarnate again.
Lievegoed, The Battle of the Soul:
Rudolf Steiner once said to Pfeiffer that he had started the Waldorf school and the threefold social order to make the incarnation of Manu and his helpers possible. Let us hope there are enough active anthroposophists to accomplish what Manu needs for his development. And let us hope anthroposophists will recognize him once he is here.
"i thought steiner education was education towards freedom, but whose freedom?"
8 year old girl going to a Steiner school -- mother wanted to homeschool but the child wanted to go to a school, so she was sent to a school which offered "the next best thing" to homeschooling:
... usually [she] loves school so much but lately something has changed and she is not herself. She is waking up each morning angry and resistant to going to school. She tells me she feels sick, or tired or some other excuse to stay home and this is not like her.
After school she is angry and tired and she is not sleeping well, in fact, she is angry a lot of the time lately.
This is exactly how I was. I was angry, didn't want to go, resisted, made excuses, and so forth.
So what’s troubling her? Well, it’s difficult to know exactly because I don’t think she even really understands (consciously) why she is feeling angry, but my intuition tells me that on a deeper level she is aware that there is injustice in her world and she doesn’t like it!
I believe it has more to do with the school setting than about injustices in the world. Having to endure a bad environment is certainly not conducive to good mood.
... She is a highly energetic and spirited little girl and she loves ‘doing’ things and being active. But that spiritedness is not proving to be a positive attribute within the classroom environment and it seems that she has received quite a lot of ‘punishment’ at school especially during this year.
[She] isnt hurting anyone, or being destructive or exhibiting any harmful behaviour, she is simply laughing too much. Yep, you heard me…laughing too much. mmmmm? I can understand that this could be distruptive in the class environment and annoying to our lovely teacher, but why is this amazing child being continually shamed and punished becasue she finds it difficult to contain and control her joy?
...
I see that she is struggling with the expectations and social intricacies of the school environment and I see that she is beginning to feel bad about herself and ashamed and I find it difficult to accept that this is in her best interest. I thought a Steiner education was education towards freedom, but whose freedom? I am beginning to feel weighed down by the expectations of this ideology. No tv, no computer, no intellectual activities, no plastic toys, no this, no that! Is this freedom? It is beginning to seem like a religion and I’m a sinner!
I wrote a comment over at the blog, and I'm reposting it here:
I can only say one thing: take your daughter away from the Steiner school. I feel so sad to think about how she was so eager to go to school -- rather than be home schooled (and I believe she was right, lots of children have a lot of fun in school!) -- and being treated in such a manner that she's probably losing confidence in this whole school thing. What bothers me is that she seems to be harrassed not only by the teacher (re the punishments) but also by her classmates. You should know that it is very common that waldorf/steiner teachers allow children to "punish" or reprimand one another. This means that the teacher won't intervene if your daughter is bullied or abused.What's more, they won't tell you about it either. I know of many children and families who've been through hell in waldorf/steiner schools -- all over the world (I'm in Sweden) -- and I'm pretty certain that these settings are often dysfunctional and sometimes harmful. (I spent 9 awful years in waldorf.)One central tenet of waldorf pedagogy is that the child should revere and show awe for the authority, ie the teacher. I would guess that your daughter's inability to properly do this makes her a target. I'm also sorry to have to say that waldorf/steiner education is not about freedom as we normally understand the term. What they refer to is the spritual side of things -- it's about evolving the soul (in order to reincarnate better). To do this, traditional freedom, as in deciding for ourselves what we believe, think, what we like to do, free reasoning, et cetera, is beside the point. These kinds of freedoms can even hinder the anthroposophical freedom. (Of course, this is the explanation for why apparent unfreedom -- forbidding modern technology/media -- can be reinterpreted as "freedom". But it is not freedom. I don't think your daughter will ever feel free in a waldorf/Steiner school. I never did, and many children who are a bit... well, odd in the sense of not always adjusting to the "average" or to the ideal of the school, they will never be free in such a school. (It is, to my mind, a shame that waldorf/Steiner school market themselves the way they do -- it is misleading, to say the least.) I can't really give you any really good advice -- except: leave as soon as you can! -- but I do hope you can find a school and a teacher that can built up your daughter's trust in school again. In a way I do think it is preferable if she has a good school experience as soon as possible -- I fear that staying home could make her remember the bad experiences in waldorf, and maybe feel bad about schools in general? Having had a bad waldorf/steiner school experience myself, I remember I was extremely distrustful the school setting. I had lost confidence in so many aspects of it: teachers, peers, my own abilities...waldorf school dress code
Oh, we must avoid that students accidentally learn to read by viewing other students' shirts...:
School clothing, including undershirts, is to be free of writing, numerals, graphics, camouflage or cartoons.
And then, the hair code:
Hair must be cut so it falls above the eyebrows... Hair dye is not allowed.
Read more on Great Barrington waldorf school's website.
Earrings may be no longer than two inches in length.
waldorf school media policy
Quotes from Great Barrington Waldorf school's media policy
http://rudolfsteinerschool.org/admissions/media-policy/
Thinking with clarity, focus, creativity, and flexibility will help meet any need of the future. Media works against these capacities.
Today we all know that electronic media are harmful to the healthy development of children, but we may think that careful selection of programs, watching with our children, or sitting with them while they “surf the web” makes it okay. Evidence to the contrary is overwhelming.
A child is driven to an inner disharmony by the effects of electronic media.
One of the worst possible effects electronic media may have is the eroding of the will.
Mass media breeds the mass human being, stamping on every child the same experience. We don’t allow our children to talk to strangers, yet through the media, we allow strangers into the minds and souls of our children every day.
Young people today…are growing up in a virtual wasteland for the soul, in an age where electronic simulation has all but supplanted direct and vital experience.
I'm not sure why this particular effect would worry waldorf school fans (waldorf usually promotes the blurring of such distinctions):
Young people are losing their sense of what is real and what is not, what is true and what is not…. Swimming in the murky waters of simulated uncertainties, young people can no longer trust their perceptions.
Remove almost everything fun:
One cornerstone of our media policy is the request to eliminate media exposure from the daily experience of the child. It is important to recall that the objective to eliminate media exposure in the daily life of the child applies to all students in our school...
In this policy, traditional electronic media includes listening to recorded music, radio and viewing television, videos and films. With respect to these, we strongly urge a media free environment for children in Early Childhood through and including Grade 4. For students in Grade 5 and up we strongly recommend limited exposure to recorded music during the week and only selected, supervised and limited exposure to television, videos and films on weekends only (i.e., not on school nights, which includes Sunday nights).
No cell phones unless special permission given, and even then:
When students are off campus, phones are to be used only as telephones, not for text messaging, Internet access, as cameras or gaming or audio devices.
On music/media players (mp3s etc)
We require that children in Early Childhood through grade 4 not be provided with such devices. ... We strongly recommend that children in grades 5 through 8 not be provided with such devices.
Computers:
We ask that students in early childhood through grade 5 abstain from all computer access, including the Internet. Teachers at GBRSS do not require students to do “Internet research” or use computers for any purpose. All research projects will be based on library research or sources provided directly by the teacher.
GBRSS strongly recommends that children in grades 6 through 8 refrain from Internet access and computer use. If they do access the Internet or use the computer, such access and use should be carefully monitored, for a specific purpose that is pre-approved by the parent, for limited time periods and never on school nights. ... At no time will the teachers at GBRSS require students to do “Internet research” or use computers for any purpose. All research projects will be based on library research or sources provided directly by the teacher.
No, of course, the "right" material should be provided by the teacher. To avoid influences that are not waldorf approved.
We strongly recommend that children in grades 6 through 8 also abstain from video games regardless of the device on which the games reside. In particular, students are requested to not access online game sites at any time ...
We ask that parents completely eliminate student access to all electronic social networking sites. These sites ... pose a significant and well-documented threat, not only to children’s safety, but to their ability to interact in socially healthy ways.
We ask that parents eliminate student use of all electronic communication such as email, instant messaging (in all its versions) and chat rooms. Among our goals is to cultivate aware, empathetic and genuine interpersonal skills among our children. These forms of communication permit users to engage in forms of communication and activities that are antithetical to these goals. Furthermore, experience shows that such use creates serious social problems in the culture of the classroom.
oh please... dr house reclaims childhood
Dr House reclaims childhood -- from an "arid and anxiety-creating culture" and soullessness and "ravages of crass materialism", et cetera -- through waldorf education:
"Anyone who has experienced the atmosphere in, and the quality of work done in, the Steiner schools cannot but be impressed by just what is possible in a schooling milieu that eschews mechanistic utilitarianism, privileges beauty and developmental appropriateness in learning, and strives for an educational experience which is balanced and holistic in the best sense of that term."
