Waldorf school philosophy: What are the pros and cons

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the pros above.

More cons:
-some schools allow bullying, saying that the bullied kid brings it on themself
-attracts parents who are overly into the aesthetics of Waldorf
-I live in an anthroposophical community for a summer, and a lot of the young adults complained that their education had been incredibly lacking

We saw one case of bullying in front of us during a tour. There was a girl of about 4 or 5 and she was literally behaving like a feral child and hitting another child and grabbing things. I asked if that was normal and the teacher said she was going through a process of “expressing herself”. It was appalling, the girl would have been taken out of the classroom immediately in a regular school.

Actually you’d be surprised what goes on in a public school. When a kid has a meltdown, the rest of the class actually has to leave.

They don't leave for just a "meltdown", they leave when a child is being aggressive or violent enough to endanger the rest of the kids. Presumably a kid like that would be on some sort of IEP or something, so it's not like it's ignored. Presumably.

Based on my kids' public ES kindergarten classroom, just because the kid has an IEP doesn't mean the issue is addressed. Multiple different kids shut down her whole class multiple times.

[Anonymous]

Getting an IEP takes a long time so if kids are acting out in kindergarten, it is very possible they might not get an IEP until the following year. The school has to collect tons of documentation and show attempts at different interventions.

[Anonymous]

The preschool philosophy is lovely — baking, puppet shows, nature, warmth.

Rudolf Steiner’s views included some ideas that are racist. Waldorf has tried to distance itself. In general, I would say one con is the ideological purism. It defines itself as against modernity to an extent that might be educationally counterproductive. It’s good to be open to learning new ways to look at things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Waldorf really bad for kids with LDs? I've heard the delayed reading (and extra training on hand strength) is actually helpful for those with dyslexia.

A kid showing language delays or actually being diagnosed with dyslexia needs to have this addressed as soon as possible. Waldorf and most public schools don’t address this appropriately.

+1

Also, not sure what hand strength has to do with dyslexia.

For whatever reason, kids with dyslexia also have low tone (which is actually different than hand strength) as well as dyspraxia. They go together like red hair & freckles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Getting an IEP takes a long time so if kids are acting out in kindergarten, it is very possible they might not get an IEP until the following year. The school has to collect tons of documentation and show attempts at different interventions.

The kid had an IEP and the class was disrupted and had to leave multiple times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wanted to love it and thought that I understood the philosophy but then when to the Washington Waldorf school open house and realized it was too out there for us. They have some weird take on religion/spiritual figures in literature that starts being taught at young ages and it just didn't work for our family. Investigate the actual curriculum and ask to see examples of work.

This this this. The teachers truly believe that gnomes are responsible for scientific principles.

Could you share more, please?

[Anonymous]

This article will tell you about gnomes. The author chose Waldorf anyway, but the teacher truly believe this and if you are choosing Waldorf you should know.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/274521/