The problem with Waldorf education



As I am re-entering the world of Waldorf on the blogosphere, I found the usual Waldorf friends and foes websites. This got me thinking about why Waldorf education is education's best-kept secret and why there are such fierce battle-lines between felt fairies and plastic demons.

When I was a Waldorf teacher I wondered why there was little marketing, promoting (besides the once or twice a year Open House), and information on such a unique educational philosophy. I remember asking a couple of my teacher trainers about this. I guess they didn't feel as though that was the Waldorf way, they felt interested families should come to them. (This probably has to do with free will.)

Obviously, those who are proponents of Waldorf have had good experiences and those who negate it have had bad ones. So why do families have bad experiences with Waldorf?

The sweeping answer is this: Waldorf education lives in a bubble. When your educational philosophy is shrouded in mystery and esoteric writing it inevitably gets labeled a cult. When you are not interested in reaching out, and constantly reaching in, folks are going to make guess and assumptions. But as our global community gets smaller, it's important that we have compassion, get along, and understand one another.

The Waldorf bubble is aesthetically pleasing and peaceful, but a Waldorf school is going to have the same issues as any other school and like any school, if you are unable to handle those issues, folks are going to get mad.

If I say, the Waldorf faculty or community is unable to deal with reality, anybody who is in or has been part of Waldorf will laugh or at the very least smirk. A fairy tale world is fine for the children, but the adults can't carry on the same way. Education doesn't know what it's supposed to do anymore.

Waldorf is a religion, and as a result, there is controversy. But I truly believe, it's the lack of transparency, this bubble that Waldorf creates that is at the epicenter of it's problems.  There is no doubt there are some amazing ideas out there for educating our children. That's not the problem.

Waldorf needs to come out of the closet. It needs to go mainstream and I believe it still can keep it's "alternative-ness". This is not a dirty thing, it's an airing out of the laundry, and the way that the world is turning.

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