Green Acres, Waldorf, Oneness

[Anonymous]

Both Waldorf and Oneness have religious/spiritual ties that are out of the mainstream, some would even say cultish. You can do web searches on Theosophy/Rudolf Steiner and on Sri Chimnoy for Oneness to learn more. There is also a Waldorf critics website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The charter idea sounds interesting. It would be nice to have some charter Montessori schools. Does DC have any?

there is a bilingual montessori charter in dc for pre-k-2

[Anonymous]

I just went to the waldorfcritics.org site out of curiosity. Is this for real? Does Waldorf really teach mythology as history, incorrect scientific facts, assess kids on their karma, teach astrology, not allow black crayons, discourage reading before age 8 and more crazy stuff? Alternative teaching styles are one thing but this is something entirely different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just went to the waldorfcritics.org site out of curiosity. Is this for real? Does Waldorf really teach mythology as history, incorrect scientific facts, assess kids on their karma, teach astrology, not allow black crayons, discourage reading before age 8 and more crazy stuff? Alternative teaching styles are one thing but this is something entirely different.

Yes, much of that is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just went to the waldorfcritics.org site out of curiosity. Is this for real? Does Waldorf really teach mythology as history, incorrect scientific facts, assess kids on their karma, teach astrology, not allow black crayons, discourage reading before age 8 and more crazy stuff? Alternative teaching styles are one thing but this is something entirely different.

Yes, much of that is true.

No, much is not true. I have firsthand experience with many Waldorf kids and they are not cultish. I do not know one Waldorf school in an urbanized area that do this(DC and Philly areas are the ones with which I have experience). That's just ridiculous. They do not teach this way! It is awful to post a website such as that. It is obviously falsely incriminating. I could post a website for or against anything on this planet - but it doesn't make it TRUE!

Listen - with this post - every child is DIFFERENT. Is this big news? Not all of us are destined to be engineers or scientists! Some people actually grow up to be artists and writers! Just do what's RIGHT for your child. Don't apply to a school because it's trendy or the latest thing

[Anonymous]

Even if a small amount were true, I just can't believe that anyone would send their child to a school like this. Forget about the cultish aspect for a moment and whether the kids act strange or normal, it certainly appears to be a substandard eduaction disguised as alternative spiritual learning. Its fine for adults to jump into trends but we shouldn't sell our kids short diving into whatever the latest weird stuff happens to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even if a small amount were true, I just can't believe that anyone would send their child to a school like this. Forget about the cultish aspect for a moment and whether the kids act strange or normal, it certainly appears to be a substandard eduaction disguised as alternative spiritual learning. Its fine for adults to jump into trends but we shouldn't sell our kids short diving into whatever the latest weird stuff happens to be.

This post displays a fair amount of ignorance about Waldorf education apparently drawn from the Waldorf critics website. I had to laugh at you calling it "the latest weird stuff." PP, if you do some actual research, rather than reading that site, you'll find that most of the material posted on the site has been discredited. As far as a substandard education goes, the Waldorf homeschooled kid I know who's out of high school is now a student in the most prestigious architecture program on the West Coast. But certainly Waldorf is not for everyone. It's especially not for families who are into TV and immersion in consumer culture.

[Anonymous]

Yes, each child is different. However, each child should be given solid exposure to all academic areas so that he can choose later on what he wants to pursue as an adult. I can't tell you how many adults that I've met who have said that they would have loved to be an engineer or other type of science professional, but their high school was not strong in science. I fault Waldorf because there is no heavy emphasis on hard science, and the literature is very much culturally European.

[Anonymous]

OP, does anyone know much about the progressive schools (Green Acres and Lowell) and their outcome? I have heard that some kids can be a bit behind in reading or math, but the schools are unwilling to push too hard. Some have said that they can take the position of "it's when the child is ready".

[Anonymous]

On the Waldorf issue, search around there are several articles from major newspapers supporting some of the claims on the critics site. I'm shocked that some of these charters received federal funding. There seem to be legal battles in play to stop this.

[Anonymous]

PP, can you provide some links to the stories in major newspapers you mentioned? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

17:24 poster here. I should mention that I'm asking for links to recent stories because my understanding is that those lawsuits are approaching 10 years in the courts and that PLANS has lost numerous appeals. PLANS seems to be claiming that Waldorf is a satanic cult. If there are new developments in the suits, I'd be interested in learning about them.

[Anonymous]

OP It seems that there is a lot of controversy here. If we can look past the issue of religion, cults, and lawsuits for a moment, it would be nice. I by no means want to minimize any bad experiences families might have had, but I would like to focus on the educational aspects of these systems. I guess my question centers around how liberal a system can be while still getting good academic (and social) results.
I am quite liberal socially, but the thought of short changing my child in an education system that is too liberal is scary.
It does seem that there is something missing in the Waldorf system.

[clarabow]

Anonymous wrote:Both Waldorf and Oneness have religious/spiritual ties that are out of the mainstream, some would even say cultish. You can do web searches on Theosophy/Rudolf Steiner and on Sri Chimnoy for Oneness to learn more. There is also a Waldorf critics website.

Thanks for this -- I had thought Oneness looked interesting but will now be more guarded about it. Is the school open about its connection to Chimnoy?

As for the Waldorf debate, from my limited research and exposure through other families it seems some of the principles are quite wonderful and would be a good fit for some kids. The Theosophy stuff, however, is out there and at least one parent I've spoken with was alarmed to find her daughter's teachers doing a ritual prayer before class -- the teachers ushered her out of the classroom forthwith. We might try introducing some of the principles we like from Waldorf into how we play at home on weekends and in the evenings, but probably wouldn't do a Waldorf school (we're still eons from having to make real decisions on pre-school though).

Probably with any school I'd ask as many direct questions about these kinds of issues as I could. I personally wouldn't want prayer of any sort in my son's classroom environment. (Sadly this eliminates for us the Quaker schools too.) Meditation/quiet reflection time could be great (particularly since our son is a bundle of excess physical energy and could use the skill) but I'd want to make sure it was not code for prayer.

[Anonymous]

Sadly this eliminates for us the Quaker schools too

Really? Every meeting for worship I've ever been to was entirely the sort of silent meditation you say you wouldn't mind. Some people were moved to break the silence and speak, but there was certainly never any sort of leading-in-prayer activity.