In my 10th grade year, I joined a Waldorf School, which others might know as a Steiner School. This educational system was created by Rudolf Steiner during the 1940s in Austria. He established his own rules and kind of developed his own religion for how and when kids should learn, as well as many other interesting ideals.
Here are my personal favorites that I got to experience:
– Having to say the morning verse every morning:
“I look into the world that lives within my being. The eternal spirit weaves in sunlight and the insolight of heights of world without, of death of soul. Within, I turn an earnest seeking to the spirit of all, to ask with strength and grace for learning and for work in me may live and grow.”
– Having to learn about the 12 senses—yes, 12!
– Learning about being a three-fold spirit: body, soul, and spirit—a subject that was taught in our science class.
– Additionally, there was a disturbingly strict dress code for children, where they weren’t allowed to wear any bright colors, logos or characters, distracting fabrics, or any pattern that is not floral or plaid, with some exceptions for stripes and polka dots, I believe.
The teaching environment was quite strange. I once had a teacher who genuinely believed that the Earth could hear and understand us. Therefore, we weren’t allowed to say anything negative about nature, and she would yell at students if they expressed any discontent about nature in any way, such as if you were upset about a rainy day; she would yell at you.
Comments
What was sex education like?
Can you list the 12 senses? I know there are more than 5 but 12 seems like a lot.
What do you think of the education you received?
Did it take a lot of time to unlearn everything they brainwashed you to believe?
Also, I forgot to mention that, as an add-on, we used to perform a dance called eurythmy, where we would dress in robes and spell out words with our hands and actions in rhythmic motions. You also often had to vocalize the sound that each letter would make while doing it.
Is Steiner considered a Christian Mystic? Because I used to follow some of that, the name is familiar, but I didn’t know the Waldorf school was associated.
The Stein or Steiner I used to read was way to far out there to found an accredited school….
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Who decided you would go there and why? Where were you living? Did you have internet access? How is your relationship with your parents? What does your future look like?
Did you have a favorite gnome?
All Waldorf schools in the United States are different – there’s no really strict “rules” they have to follow, although the teachers usually get special schooling to be a Waldorf teacher.
Many of them don’t go past 8th grade and are known more for nurturing young children. In our local Waldorf School a lot of the kids left after 5th grade, partly because the classes get smaller and smaller and partly because they start to think more about college prep.
I do think it’s a great environment for young kids as it teaches them things like preparing food, cleaning up, gardening, spending time in nature, integrating body and mind through play and crafts, etc.
In silicon valley lots of tech bros send their kids there because it encourages/requires no screen time (some schools are stricter than others).
Did you do a year in France?
My daughter was rejected from a Waldorf school last year. Sounds like we dodged a bullet. Do you have any positive takeaways from your Waldorf experience?
I’m just wondering if they taught Steiner Math:
https://youtu.be/msDuNZyYAIQ?si=Tjqo-Yl6rJYgEKD7
did your school also use the textbooks so old they still used the word “negroes” unironically? also what country was this in? my steiner experience wasnt that strict, though we still did the verse and the morning circle and the pentecost and the eurythmy and all that jazz.
My partner is a ski instructor and has several Waldorf kids for private lessons. He said compared to other super wealthy kids Waldorf kids are a joy to be around. They are well behaved, not entitled, interesting to talk to etc…. Is that your experience?
Did you learn how to draw geometric shapes? Were you taught anything about them for example that they were magical or a language?
I knew of a person who said that what he was taught. I’ve always wondered was it true.
Have you seen Bluey? Her school is supposedly based on one of those.. so I’m surprised to hear it called a cult.
I was a student at a Waldorf school in Brazil until last year – I did all my teaching there – and I never saw anything similar happening in any Waldorf. I am HORRIFIED by your report because there was no dress code or religion in all the years I attended. We had uniforms, of course, but it wasn’t extreme or a cult. (Funfac: I was a member of a cult at 17 but nothing related to school.
Are you well?
I entered the post with an “open mind” considering your title, but after your “personal favorites list” I have no doubt is either a cult, something akin to a cult, or a wannabe cult disguised as a school system.
But here’s the question then, with the intention of being an open minded question :
-Do you think you are in equal terms of being “socially adept”, in comparison to kids or just people who went to “regular” schooling systems?
I wouldn’t say Waldorf is “widely considered to be a cult”. It’s more of a framework of ideas about education. I went to a Waldorf school in the US from 1st to 8th grade and had a good experience. Sounds like your school had some weird people running it…
I always wanted to be a Waldorf teacher. I think it’s a lovely concept over all.
It was created in 1919, not in 1940, and not in Austria, but in Stuttgart, Germany
Most people who went to Steiner school that I talked to really liked it. Why do you think so mamy people liked the system, but you did not? I’m trying to keep an open mind.
Fellow Steiner/Waldorf survivor here.
Firstly I would urge anyone who thinks this is a legitimate educational movement rather than a cult to do some independent reading, as opposed to taking what the Waldorf movement says at face value.
Whilst the weird educational aspects have been touched on here already, I thought I’d share my experience of the more ‘cultish’ aspects of the time I spent at one of these ‘schools’.
I attended a major Waldorf school, the second largest in my country, for around five years. There was a strict zero-tolerance policy for anybody questioning, or even seeking alternative viewpoints to, the doctrine of Steiner. He was treated as an infallible prophet whose word was indisputable fact. For example, I was once sent out of the classroom for politely disagreeing when my teacher, in a science lesson, insisted that the sun revolved around the earth – because that was what Steiner said.
There was a sinister aspect to the controlling way the institution and associated group treated those perceived as ‘outsiders’ – for example, I knew a family who left the school over dissatisfaction with the abysmal quality of teaching who were then sent multiple anonymous threatening letters, warning them against saying anything bad about the school to others.
Steiner believed in a kind of reincarnation involving the ‘evolution’ of the spirit – people more accepting of his doctrine were regarded as having a ‘sprirt’ which had evolved and reached a higher plane of evolution than others. He also believed that many people had no ‘spirit’ at all and were merely empty vessels incapable of comprehending his ‘truth’. The teachers at my school clearly identified anyone not buying into their cult as one of these ‘empty vessels’ and treated them very differently from the children of devoted cult members.
There was a taboo against socialising with people who were not involved with the cult – they sought to cultivate a culture where all social contacts were entirely within the Waldorf group.
There is an overtly racist strain in Steiner’s worldview. Through friends outside of the school I knew a teacher who was not interested in the cult stuff but taught there for a while as a stop gap. After a few months she was taken into the staff-only library, told she was now ‘accepted’ and given a key to a ‘secret’ locked cupboard containing supposedly ‘more sophisticated writings’ by and on Steiner which the uninitiated could not be trusted to appreciate. This was essentially Third Reich-esque stuff about racial hierarchies, different qualities and characteristics of various ethnic groups, etc. There was a doctrine that the lighter one’s skin, the more ‘evolved’ one’s sprit was – therefore placing Caucasians at the peak of the hierarchy and Africans at the bottom.
The school had a terrible problem with safeguarding – they tolerated, and even encouraged, bullying and ostracism of children perceived as from outside the cult, and inappropriate relationships between staff and students were frequent and went unreported to authorities.
These ‘schools’ are essentially a front for a cult – they provide a source of funding (either through private fees from parents or state funding in some countries), employment for cult members as ‘teachers’ – with no requirement for any sort of qualification, and institutional legitimacy to a group who are dishonest in their motivations – they present their schools as places where children are nurtured and free to be individuals – the reality is a weird quasi-religious environment where providing education in the sense that normal schools do is of little interest – their main purpose is indoctrinating students into their bizarre worldview.
If anyone is interested in knowing more I recommend ‘Sun at Midnight’ by Geoffrey Ahern – an unbiased look at the beliefs and doctrine behind the movement.
Waldorf Watch is also an eye-opening read for those unacquainted with the reality of the Steiner/Waldorf cult.
There’s a Steiner school near me in Scotland that caters to disabled kids. It looks great from the outsiders perspective – all about nature and community. They call thenselves Camphill, rather than Steiner.
I want to ask if you’ve heard anything about Steiner attitudes or ethos towards disabled kids?
My son is severely autistic and will probably never be able live independently, so I’m curious about this school but wondering of it’s too good to be true.
Google AI says the local private school is Waldorf but their website talks a lot about Jiddu Krishnamurti (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti). Does that mean anything to you?
We have one of these schools in my hometown in NZ. The rumor used to be that there were no right angles at the school (for some teenage lore reason). Gotta ask if its true 🤣
I attended a Waldorf school from prek to the 2nd grade, and while the education style was more alternative, especially compared to public schools I attended later, it certainly did not feel particularly cult like. Do you think your school was different compared to mine, or that these cult-like things only occur later.
You joined kinda late. I’m the opposite of you. Went to one for 11 years, left after 9th grade
Im gonna start at a Steiner school in the Netherlands. That type of schooling is super popular in the Netherlands and they are scoring maybe a bit lower in the results than others but the personal development of those kids is of the chart! That’s what I find so cool about it. Not sure where you are located but here it’s not a cult. What makes it a cult where you are from?
How racist was the teaching?
Wow. I have a Waldorf school down the street from me and had no idea this is what was going on
I loved my waldorf education. I was there from kindergarten through 8th, and Im so thankful for it. Im thankful that I wasnt raised by a TV, and that I have a deep interest in history, poetry, and art. Im an actor and can memorize scripts faster than anyone I know, because of waldorf.
Im also really glad I had the good sense not to go to the Waldorf high school. I wanted new experiences and a taste of the “real world” so, much to my mothers dismay, I chose to go to public high school. The education was no better, thats for sure, but the integration into more pop culture and just more people, was so important as I aged.
After high school, I noticed that my friends who stayed at waldorf all the way through had such a hard time fitting in to new friend groups at college or work because they had been with the same 15 people their whole lives. They had never watched TV or listened to modern music and just could not adjust to a life outside Waldorf. Many of them are now waldorf teachers.
All that to say, I think it is fantastic for early education but after that, you also need to learn vital social skills that you jusy cannot get in such a cloistered environment.
Big Sean went to Waldorf
I work at a Steiner school in the Netherlands. Started out working in a regular high school, didn’t attend a Steiner school myself, so I had no previous experience with Steiner/Waldorf.
I’m surprised by all the negative stories in this thread! Sure, there are some colleagues who I’d consider to be ‘woowoo’, but for the most part everyone it plenty down to earth.
The way it’s done at my school is that we don’t teach the kids about antroposofy (the philosophy that Steiner created), but we use that to help shape the curriculum. One example would be that the kids are taught about earthquakes/vulcanoes when they’re about 15, because at that age/developmental stage there’s a lot going on inside of them, which then helps them connect better with the subject matter of the natural disasters 🤷♀️😂
I’m curious about government involvement with schools in other countries. I know Dutch Waldorf schools have to comply with most of the same rules as regular high schools do. The students go through the same final exams, as those are mandatory on a national level. So the education is solid.
And then students also get the benefits of the Waldorf principles. Lots of art education, personal attention from teachers, big focus on their development as a human being beyond just the school work.
> This educational system was created by Rudolf Steiner during the 1940s in Austria. He established his own rules and kind of developed his own religion for how and when kids should learn, as well as many other interesting ideals.
this, unfortunately, is just factually incorrect. instead of trying to correct you here, you can read up on it in wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_education
generally though, you’re conflating or confusing and an applied, holistic educational theory with a cult. it would be like calling montessori, reggio emilia, or froebel schools cults.
that said, with the number of such schools around the world (waldorf has something like 1,200 in 75 countries), you’re bound to get some that are particularly dogmatic or flakey and others that use the educational and childhood development ideas and concepts as guideposts for their curriculum.
Do you consider it to be a cult?
Hahaha I went to a Waldorf middle school for 2 years, a lot to make fun of but I still remember all the names of trees from botany class, love to watercolor, and still like knitting 😂