waldorf steiner

[heninthemidden]

hi,

anyone had good experience of waldorf steiner education system?

Pardon?

I have read 'The Caged Virgin' and 'Infidel'. Glad that the Dispatches programme was also presented by a woman. Spent a lot of the time watching her face, eloquent enough.

I was struck by that infernal rocking.

This Steiner stuff is so medieval, isn't it? A curious mixture of Hieronymus Bosch, the Book of Revelation and the Grail Legend. With a bit of Buddhism for that extra-esoteric aftertaste. And all that gets in the way of any sensible conversation. Instead of something calm and rational like natural selection, they have Mme Blavatsky's Baboon.

You are worth it. But this life on this earth in this body will have to do, I'm afraid.

Seeing is believing.

God yes- that rocking...dd watched a bit too, she was rivetted- thought the 14 yr old he interviewed was in a trance.

Medieval is the word yes- from temperaments to ahriman, and guardians of the threshold.

Looking back throuh their class lesson books, the language in there is very old fashioned in style too- all that reverence and awe stuff.

Well, I could tell that the top was yellow, and also that the colour in the original picture was in fact green. I'm not sure what relevance this has to education.

Isenhart- are you the same person who contributes here? Just wondered, because it's a firly obscure and creepy seeming group, supposedly set up to observe peoplewho criticise steiner waldorf.

Muminscotland, my sentiments exactly - in fact, I'm wondering if some people here, knowingly or otherwise, have caught that anthro habit of grouping random words together to form a sentence that a non-anthro person couldn't possibly understand (while the other anthros nod sagely), and laughing at 'jokes' that leave lesser mortals scratching their heads in bewildered puzzlement.

Glad it's not just me - takes me right back to the Steiner parents' evenings.

It reminds me of the effect of small children saying something completely unconnected in the middle of a "boring" grown-up conversation - likely to put people off what they were actually discussing

You've got it in one!

lol amum

Something which really p's me off atm about steiner schools is the academy in Hereford received millions, and yet
things like this are happening all over the state sector in other areas.....

protests over steiner academy
"These closures will leave perfectly viable school buildings standing empty, so the villagers question whether £16m on a new building for 330 children is a sensible use of public money."

£16 million for curvy wooden spiritual buildings

Sounds a bit of a long-term strategic move, really. Supply and demand-you know?

Northern - thank you for posting your last links.

While the State funds the Royal Homeopathic Hospital we can't be surprised.

It's a scandal, yes. But everything you do raises consciousness of this nonsense and it's great you have the courage to do it.

Glad the runic Teutonic one seems to have evaporated. Very Hansel and Gretel (but without the sweeties)

Wilder- at least homeopaths are open about the idea behind their woo.

Do you think the placebo effect of homeopathy, which I entirely think is valid, can be applied to the placebo affect of anthroposophy?- " We don't care how it works, it may catch a few, so what's the problem?"

It wouldn't be quite such a scandal if Steiner schools were open about the role of anthroposophy and how it affects what goes on in the class rooms.
Why should children be exposed to these beliefs without parents being told what they signify?

The evaporated ones are buzzing away here
Curious how they turn up eh?
Still plugged into the matrix.....

You're not sure of the relevance that physiological adaptation has to education?

My e-mail address is [email protected]. Small 'i', which I think we've gone over before. This means that I "own" the isenhart7 yahoo address and wherever posts appear on yahoo from this address they are mine.

northern - can there be anything sensible left to say about homeopathy? The placebo effect is powerful, no doubt and the best account I've read of this is in Ben Goldacre's 2008 book "Bad Science'. He writes: '..while there may be a role for an ethical placebo, homeopaths, at least, have ably demonstrated that they have neither the maturity nor the professionalism to provide it.'

Sorry for that aside, everyone else!

To apply this in some way to Steiner education: when someone says 'Of course I don't believe in anthroposophy and it doesn't effect my family (we're far too rational) but I'm quite happy that the teachers believe in it and others are adversely effected by it because on the whole people have the right to their spiritual beliefs, however odd. And some people probably need it and benefit from it and anyway it isn't doing them any real harm, since it isn't real. (Goodness, I think that was me a few years ago)

This is rather like saying 'Of course I know homeopathy doesn't work but it's great that other people more credulous than me think it does, since that means there's a useful placebo effect that keeps them out of doctors' waiting rooms!' And many GPs would agree with you.

I think if Steiner schools were more transparent about their philosophy they would have few customers. I note a transcript of a 'circle meeting' at one school (on the web! Amazing!) in which one present asks: 'Do we have to mention Steiner? Or anthroposophy?'

Nontoxic: if you can fathom the last couple of messages I wish you would let us know. I see what you mean about random in words order.

volunteered at a school once. bunch of crackheads if you ask me.

Mmh, aren't many of the anthroposophical ideals rather fascist in flavour? I find it very worrying when someone starts talking about polluting bloodlines etc

Tattifer- I like Kate Rusby too. Wish I could post such an entertaining profile but I fear for my safety in this neck of the woods.

ickletickle: We used to get a veg. box from a biodynamic (Steiner) farmer. It got more and more wretched until all he brought was turnips. He told us he was sorry, everything was going wrong and put it down to all the LSD he took in the 70s. So you may well be on to something.

wilderduck I feel at a disadvantage - you've profiled me and I can't do the same investigations! Should I worry or just put it all down to experience

I think you sound really interesting and funny if that's any help! Don't worry, my reticence is nothing to do with you. Do you have experience of the subject of this thread? Or is your comment an observation from reading the above?

Experience, both first hand observations, second hand anecdotes and reading both these this thread and other more er, academic work!

You interest me strangely. Would that we could speak behind our hands (!) Can you talk about your own experience here?

I shall mention just one small anecdote - it was one of my first experiences of Steiner, years ago.

I was looking into sending my first daughter to a local Steiner school. I'd loved kindergarten when a child and wanted to follow through with something similar for her.

I remember being shocked and a strangely outraged (out of all proportion to the circumstances I admit) when looking round the school to find all the pictures the kids had done looked the same. Identical colours, identical designs. That sort of conformity frightened me.

I won't share much more - its too small a world!