Steiner education

[alloveragain]

Can anyone suggest an appropriate forum in which I could talk to someone about Steiner education? We have our concerns about it, but our children are still at a Steiner school.
Thanks

I am astonished - a steiner thread that is 3 months old and not yet deleted

I am glad you have decided the way you have I just hope you did not make your mind up after hearing the negative stories on MN as they reflect a particular point of view, balanced? I am not sure. written by people with a strong personal situation? yes I think so. The main thing is allways, that the children are happy.

After six years of concerns in the Steiner system, we formed our own opinions. But funnily enough they match the opinions of others here. Unfortunately it cost us many thousands of dollars to do so, through the court system. It was in no means a light decision. We are sure the children will be happier, but it is unfortunate they need to go through the unsettling process of changing schools. TheCaty, what are your experiences of Steiner schools?

A strong personal situation, what do you mean by that? I thought that would be idea of this forum? A forum for peoples experiences.

alloveragain
My own children have now between them 16 years of experience, they both love their school and I am very happy with their progress the increadible crafts they take home. The hunger for learning and living and just the sheer joy of hearing them every day sing songs they have learned. could not wish for more. I appriciate there are people with bad experiences but believe me it always takes two in those circumstances.
I know that in our school there has been parents that had psycological problems and they caused lots of damage to the school. I am not saying that applies to all but to some. It is hard to distinguish between parents who have real issues and good points and those posing.
I do know many grown ups having passed through steiner schools and now are lovely people so it ammazes me to hear people saying steiner schools are damaging their children. There are also parent out there that have had 4 or five school changes so no surprice they don't get on in Steiner Schools either.
I am sure as in any other professional situation there are teachers who make mistakes and unfortuate situations occur.
What court case did you have to spend thousands of dollars on?

Your experience is coloured by your state of mind. hope this answers your previous question, alloveragain

gueswork 1 detectrive 0

thecaty are you suggesting that the pedagogy of Steiner Waldorf education is a fantasy constructed by psychologically damaged parents?

I can assure you I am a real parent of real children who were at real Steiner schools in the UK. What do you mean by people 'posing'? Are you suggesting there's a conspiracy led by people incensed by the sheer wonder of anthroposophy & Waldorf education & intent on hiding its merits from the world? A world where mainstream education is 'toxic' & children suffer at the hands of their witless parents?

Or are you a kind of cyber-Steinerista Brand-protector generated automatically by google at the mention of the word 'gnome'?

Sadly Restless it would appear TheCaty has overindulged in a few too many Landmark/NVC/Constellation/Biography workshops so we won't be able to get a shred of sense out of him.

Barking oh well. He certainly adopts a unique epistemological position.

I'm so glad your situation is resolving alloveragain. I do hope the children settle and are happy. Ours never looked back once they'd left. They did have a lot of academic catching up though.

lol @ restlessnative-

"thecaty are you suggesting that the pedagogy of Steiner Waldorf education is a fantasy constructed by psychologically damaged parents?"

thecaty, when people find out about anthroposophy (with no help from the schools I might add), they're usually a bit shocked, and fairly outraged; hardly surprising, not many people would accept judgements made on their children by some weird occult spiritual laws which they haven't been told about......and you're trying to blame the parents? Sad.

It is all too easy to play the blame game isn't it? I am happy to take it. I just wonder where all these Steiner spoil sports are that you keep refering to, Barking. I mean here on this thread!.

I have stated clearly there are 'some' parents with a psychological problem. I have met at least two in my involement at our school. They left.... thank goodness!
alloveragain what was the court case/s you refer to.
restless, I am not sure why you seem to take what I say so personally.

Northern your sense of humor takes some beating some one told me you have been doing this for more than three years

TheCaty, it's deeply disturbing to see you laughing and winking over so many young children and families getting hurt.

So thecaty, you seem to be saying that those children who have had bad experiences at steiner, are those who have parents with psychological problems. Is that correct? If so, that sounds very typical of our epxerience of the Steiner attitude. Whenever there was a problem, it was the parents fault.
As my name suggests, I am doing it all over again. I have two grown children who attended mainstream schools. I saw the enjoyment and learning they experienced there. Sadly, my step children did not have the same experience at the steiner school they attended. I also saw the differences in parental involvement between the schools and the differences in reporting to parents (transparency). The court case? It was about whether the children should stay at the Steiner school they were attending or be transferred to another school.

Barking sorry I do not find what you are saying funny in the least, but it is your style for sure!

allover, sorry don't mean to be patronising but do you know the difference between 'some and 'all'?
Sorry to hear about the court case but it seems that you got what you had hoped for, for you and the children.

Thecaty, point taken, my apologies.
Just prior to that you said "I appriciate there are people with bad experiences but believe me it always takes two in those circumstances". That infers there is always fault by both parties. I do not agree. And I fail to believe that people on here would make up stories, or "pose".
Anyway, I've really had enough of this. I just wanted to advise prospective parents to thoroughly investigate Steiner education before they enrolled their children in the system. I do not believe they are not given all the necessary information from the schools to make an informed decision.

allover a mistake is made by a teacher or a school, say: that is then their fault. then there is a complaint... it is at this point where the most skill is needed by both parties, including the path they choose to resolve the complaint. If one party chooses the wrong path its up to the other party to respond appropriately. The ball is then in their court. Both have responsibility.
It is at this point where I feel that it takes two!
I think and hope that there is always choice in these situations. If there isn't then we have a problem!

Great post alloveragain, so well put. I agree - for us personally, the problems stem almost entirely from the school's failure to be upfront about the role of anthroposophy and the anthroposophic training the teachers receive (in some instances, this is the only training they do receive). imo, the faults with the schools aren't due to one or two bad teachers, or psychologically unbalanced parents, but the schools basis in a belief system which holds truth in clairvoyance, karma, reincarnation, medieval temperaments and the reality of spirit worlds.
If the teachers aren't open about their training in these things, and with parents, there is a total breakdown in trust.

thecaty - I suggest you stop listening to who ever told you things. I'll give you a little hint.. our children only left Steiner school two years ago.
You seem to "know" an awful lot which isn't true.

Are you going to say whether you are a Steiner school teacher btw? What would be your reason for not?

TheCaty, I think the word you are looking for is...

Accountability

thecaty, would you agree that in any resolving of problems, there needs to be trust, honesty, openness and mutual respect? That the problems have to be "seen" rather than ignored?
If these things aren't there, one is fumbling in the dark.

thecaty you refer to parents having a 'psychological problem' with the same scorn as a self-professed representative of the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship wrote on a public forum, earlier this year, that critics of Steiner education suffer from OCD. That's obsessive compulsive disorder, a serious and debilitating condition.

Of course you may mean that these families didn't agree with your interpretation of particular events or behaviour and that this was uncomfortable for your school. But there's a world of difference between people being angry or dissatisfied and pursuing a course of action with which we don't agree, and mental illness. And if there were mental health issues, you could treat those concerned with sensitivity and not write about it here.

alloveragain it's great that things have worked out well and you're right to reiterate your concerns. Good luck with the next stage.

The truth is, though I can't answer for other schools, I happely admit to many of your points restless, Northern, Barking, etc., including openness and acountability as being valid points. These are areas each school needs to work on and improve you are absolutely right.
But to say that Steiner Waldorf Schools have any thing to do with cults, beggars belief.
To blame the schools alone for what has happend to some families and implying those families have no responsiblities regarding their situations seems curious to put it mildly.
I cannot see any blogger here admitting they have also made mistakes, or could have handled a situation better could have reacted diffently.
I find that unsatisfactory,one sided and perhaps a bit disingenuous