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     Anonymous |
Lawsuit against Waldorf revived Critics say the public schools' teaching method is religious. By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 a.m. PST Monday, March 31, 2003 John Morse Waldorf School in south Sacramento and the Yuba River Charter School in Nevada City are once again targets in a legal battle that seeks to ban any public school in America from using Waldorf teaching methods. The group that filed the lawsuit against them contends that the Waldorf system cannot be separated from founder Rudolf Steiner's religious philosophy -- so the public Waldorf schools are sectarian and ineligible to receive taxpayer dollars. Debra Snell, president of People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools and a former Waldorf parent, said it boils down to a question of fairness. "If Catholic or Lutheran schools cannot be publicly funded, then neither can Waldorf, " she said. Her organization has filed a federal lawsuit in Sacramento contending that the public Waldorf schools violate the constitutional separation of church and state. --- The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Feb. 10 reinstated the lawsuit brought by People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools against the two school districts. It could go to trial this year. --- Nationally, there are at least two dozen public Waldorf schools. --- The ultimate goal of the lawsuit, Kendall said, is to end all public funding for Waldorf schools in the United States. "There is substantial evidence that they are continuing to violate the Constitution" by teaching the views of the Austrian philosopher, Kendall said. "From the beginning, our position has been that when you are using Waldorf methods, the teachings are so completely linked to the religion of anthroposophy that there is no way to separate it." According to the Dictionary of World Religions, anthroposophy was developed when Steiner tried to "develop a view of reality based on direct perception of the spirit world." Steiner had designed the program in 1919 for the children of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory employees, placing an emphasis on music, art and literature. The lessons were tailored to children's physical, emotional and spiritual growth. Robert T. Carroll, a professor in the philosophy department at Sacramento City College, said anthroposophy has a strong spiritual element but is more of a philosophy than a religion. Steiner believed teachers can teach directly to the spirit and "that we can learn to perceive directly by the spirit," Carroll said. Steiner also believed that children pass through three seven-year stages, and that education should be appropriate to the spirit for each stage, he said. Waldorf teaching methods differ from many public schools' curricula and have encountered criticism for not teaching children to read until they are older. Waldorf educators believe that not all children are developmentally ready to read by kindergarten. --- A common complaint against public Waldorf schools revolves around so-called "nature tables," which are spreads of natural articles such as leaves and bark that kindergarten children gather at Morse. They are arrayed on tables. Snell's organization argues that the tables are inherently spiritual because anthroposophy endows nature with spiritual meaning. Dugan contends the displays are pagan altars because some schools light a candle on the table and say a prayer to the sun. --- http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/6373622p-7326440c.html | ||
| life_with_a_monster (life_with_a_monster) New member Username: life_with_a_monster Post Number: 2 Registered: 5-2005 Posted From: 69.192.249.99 |
A teacher: Would it be a good thing to let the children speak a kind of morning prayer? Dr. Steiner: That is something that can be done. [...] You know, with these things the outer form is of the utmost importance. Never call the verse a 'prayer' but a 'school opening verse'. Do see to it that people do not hear the expression 'prayer' used by a teacher. This will go a long way towards overcoming the prejudice that this is an anthroposophical school. The biggest mistakes we make are with words. People will not get out of the habit of using words that are detrimental to us. [Steiner,1919, CT-1 p. 45] Anyone who can actually read through some of Stenier's 300 or so published works and still keep their objectivity, may in fact, see the signs of sociopathy therein. Waldorf education is completely based on Steiner's anthroposophical teachings (despite many instances of the schools minimizing his influence to the uninitiated). Kids may not be taught anthroposophical beliefs directly from the teachers, but they are immersed in it in every way during the school day, and the lifestyle Waldorf parents are urged to adopt to fit in to the Waldorf community. Steiner himself said that there could be no Waldorf education without him. The point is that Waldorf training is supposed to stay with the soul through multiple reincarnations. see [Steiner R "Universal Human", Traslated by Gilbert Church, Sabine Seiler, Christopher Bamford. (Anthroposophic press inc, 1990) ] Steiner, not having children of his own proposed his Waldorf educational system as a holistic, spiritual and child centered approach It is based on his divine spiritual insights to the "trueÓ nature of child development, and it's attendant stages of physical and spiritual integration. None of Steiner's work is based on scientific oberservations as we know them: his "Spiritual ScienceÓ is divined from his clairvoyant observance of universal truth, the "Akashic recordsÓ. He has teachings on Agriculture (bio-dynamic farming), Anthroposophical Medicine (the heart is not a pumpÓ), Architecture, Science (light cannot be broken down into component parts because it is a pure spirit), Economics (Three-fold social order), History/Evolution (we are descendants of beings from Atlantis, and animals represent cast-off human soul forces) and of course, Education (Waldorf). I don't know about you, but I'm weary of ANYONE who claims they have all the answers. I'll let the man speak for himself: "The girl L.K. in class 1...is one of those cases that are occurring more and more frequently where children are born and human forms exist which actually, with regard to the highest member the ego, are not human at all but are inhabited by beings who do not belong to the human race...They are very different from human beings where spiritual matters are concerned. For instance they can never memorize sentences, only words. I do not like speaking about these things, as there is considerable opposition about this. Just imagine what people would say if they heard that we are talking about human beings who are not human beings. Nevertheless these are facts. Furthermore, there would not be such a decline of culture if there were a strong enough feeling for the fact that some people, the ones who are particularly ruthless, are not human beings at all but demons in human form. "But do not let us broadcast this. There is enough opposition already. Things like this give people a terrible shock. People were frightfully shocked when I had to say that a quite famous university professor with a great reputation had had a very short period between death and re-birth and was a re-incarnated negro scientist. "But don't let us publicize these things." [Steiner, Rudolf. Conferences with the Teachers of the Waldorf School in Stuttgart 1923 to 1924: Volume Four: Being to the end of Dr. Steiner's visits to the School. (1924) Trans. Pauline Wehrle. Forest Row, U.K.: Steiner Schools Fellowship Publications, 1989 pp. 36-37.] The man's words (his indications) are gospel to the core of die-hard believers that run these schools. The teachers with most seniority have gone for Anthroposophical training, and view your child's needs through this perspective, so you had better be comfortable with that. In choosing a school for your children, always be sure to research beyond any glossy feel-good PR. Talk to satisfied parents AND unsatisfied parents as well, then use your OWN judgment. The Waldorf window dressing may be lovely, friendly and serene, but the "education of the children" is just the tip of a larger, often undisclosed agenda. I has been my experience that direct answers to questions regarding Steiner and Anthroposophy are artfully diverted. Caveat Emptor. http://www.openwaldorf.com/ (Message edited by life_with_a_monster on May 19, 2005) | ||
| powerofjoy2004 New member Username: powerofjoy2004 Post Number: 1 Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 72.134.51.224 |
My daughter has ADD and attended a Waldorf high school for one year. It was only afterwards that I came across Steiner's statement (at another Web site) about an apparently learning disabled child being a demon in human form. It sent chills through me because there was one teacher in particular at the Waldorf high school whose behavior toward my daughter made that school year a nightmare for her. Although teachers at my daughter's previous schools had liked her and spoken highly of her, I realized that it was quite possible that one Waldorf teacher and possibly others at the Waldorf high school had viewed my ADD child that way. I did not tell my daughter about it because I had no way of knowing if my suspicions were correct and she had suffered enough trauma already. It had been a long post-Waldorf road to recovery for her. Yesterday my daughter e-mailed me a link to the above post by life_with_a_monster. She said that Steiner's comment about demons in human form perfectly described how she felt some of her teachers at the Waldorf high school saw her. This all sounds so preposterous in this day and age. However, the May 20, 1996 edition of Glasgow's Daily Record published an article entitled "A girl branded a devil child by teachers is getting a school built for her." The newspaper story told how 12-year-old Simone Beaurain was booted out of the Camphill Rudolf Steiner School near Aberdeen after staff claimed she was possessed. The article said that the satanic slur devastated Simone, who was brain damaged at birth. Simone's mother said, "It has taken us months to recover from what Camphill did. They were wrong to call my child a monster." When I inquired at the school about Anthroposophy and its role in Waldorf education before enrolling, I was given answers that turned out not to be true. For example, I was told that Anthroposophy is not a religion. Yet if beliefs about demons in human form are not religious, what are they? Although it is my personal opinion that the academic education in Waldorf schools is poor, some of what they offer is very attractive. Had I known the teachers were followers of a guru whose teachings included such repugnant ideas, however, I would never have sent either of my children there. (Message edited by powerofjoy2004 on November 27, 2006) |
