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My 9 year old niece is a gifted child that has great talent in the math/science subjects. Her mother is sending her to a Waldorf School next fall. I'm curious to hear about people's experiences at Waldorf Schools from the perspective of parents as well as students. Her father, my brother, is strongly against his daughter going to a Waldorf school. He is afraid his daughter will not get the gifted education she needs. I'm close to my brothers ex-wife and he has asked me to help him plead his case. I've done some reading online but would appreciate an insight forum members are able to share.
A specialist science teacher had told the sixth grade "the elements are earth, air, fire, and water." Dugan looked at several science lesson books, and found more bad news. "Planetary influences" were said to affect the growth of plants. In physiology, the body was said to be made up of "the nerve-sense system, the metabolic-muscular system, and the rhythmic system."
Steiner believed that materialism was insufficient for the understanding of nature. He believed that science needs to "go beyond" the empirical and consider vitalistic, unobservable forces, a perspective also common in 20th century New Age healing approaches. Anthroposophical medicine, similar to homeopathy but even less scientific, claims that disease is caused only secondarily by malfunctions of chemistry and biology, and primarily by a disturbance of the "vital essence." Anatomy and physiology a la Steiner are unrecognizable by modern scientists: the heart does not pump blood; there are 12 senses ("touch, life, movement, equilibrium, warmth, smell," etc.) corresponding to signs of the zodiac; there is a "rhythmic" system that mediates between the "nerve-sense" and "metabolic-muscular" systems. Physics and chemistry are just as bad: the "elements" are earth, air, fire, and water. The four "kingdoms of nature" are mineral, plant, animal and man. Color is said to be the result of the conflict of light and darkness. Typical geological stages are Post-Atlantis, Atlantis, Mid-Lemuria, and Lemuria.
We have a Waldorf school in my town that goes to the 8th grade. I work in the public high school that gets these students. They definitely are behind our public school students in regards to academics, especially the sciences and math. They also are not accustomed to the rigor of the classwork as well as the heavy homework load. Most eventually adjust but need to work extra hard to catch up.
Some Waldorf schools cling so closely to the founder's philosophy that they border on cults. Others are looser about it. It's not a magnet school for science and math-gifted kids. The mother may be thinking that because there's individual instruction, the child would make faster progress or would have tailor-made instruction, but that's not how it works.
Do your research! Waldorf students learn all subjects, including more arts education than any public school, but on a different time line. By the time they graduate, they are often better prepared for college than many public school kids. If you look at test scores: Waldorf versus public schools, the Waldorf students score lower throughout the lower grades but score higher in the middle school and high school years than public school students. And a higher percentage go to college than public school kids and lower drop-out rate.
Just google this stuff. It's out there! Not all Waldorf schools are equal..just like not all public schools are.... but there are some amazing ones out there. I just enrolled my daughter in a Waldorf school and she will begin 3rd grade there in the fall. We visited recently and when she saw that part of her daily routine would include painting, learning to play the violin, and practicing math through hands-on projects, often outdoors, by drawing a diagram of a structure and then actually having the chance to build it...she was overjoyed. For the first time in her life, school will be interesting and engaging. It's not all about benchmarks, timelines, competition, scores, homework, and the common core.
Do your research! Waldorf students learn all subjects, including more arts education than any public school, but on a different time line. By the time they graduate, they are often better prepared for college than many public school kids. If you look at test scores: Waldorf versus public schools, the Waldorf students score lower throughout the lower grades but score higher in the middle school and high school years than public school students. And a higher percentage go to college than public school kids and lower drop-out rate.
Just google this stuff. It's out there! Not all Waldorf schools are equal..just like not all public schools are.... but there are some amazing ones out there. I just enrolled my daughter in a Waldorf school and she will begin 3rd grade there in the fall. We visited recently and when she saw that part of her daily routine would include painting, learning to play the violin, and practicing math through hands-on projects, often outdoors, by drawing a diagram of a structure and then actually having the chance to build it...she was overjoyed. For the first time in her life, school will be interesting and engaging. It's not all about benchmarks, timelines, competition, scores, homework, and the common core.
I like the hands on concept of a Waldorf school and I think that there are very few parents or teachers that think that schools should be all about, "benchmarks, timelines, competition, scores, homework, and the common core." Schools should be about learning critical thinking skills and learning core subjects that are needed.
If you have a link to cite what you've just said, it would be better for your argument then saying, "Just google this stuff. It's out there!"
I spent 3 years in High School in a Waldorf School. I wouldn't recommend it for science. The weird philosophies bleed over into biology teaching, particularly. Art is incorporated into all of the instruction, even at the High School level. In the earlier years, reading and writing are discouraged.
My particular school had been taken over by extreme social conservatives who idolized Russia pre-revolution and the Orthodox Church of that time. Others were very conservative Catholics who advocated Church positions of an earlier age. They definitely seemed to wish that the Enlightenment had never happened. Critical thinking certainly wasn't their bag. Well, there was one math teacher who sort of flew under the radar, but there were other issues with him.
I think cultural conservatism in Waldorf Schools may be unusual. I suspect that the fear of the outcomes of rational scientific inquiry may not be.
Neither would I, unless you're prepared to supplement their education in these subjects.
Why do that when you're already paying for the Waldorf school. They're all private schools b/c the public system would never go along with their curriculum.
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Not exactly accurate!
