More Waldorf Bullying

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/368640/a-safe-healthy-haven-waldorf-questio\
ners-concerns-thread/40

Hello~ I have recently enrolled my dd in the Sugar Pea program at a Waldorf
School. I had my ds enrolled for sweetpeas for a complete series of sessions a
couple years ago. Upon entering the building I immediately felt a sense of
comfort and desire to "belong" to this community. I delved a little into the
antroposohopy and attended some meetings based on this belief. Not enough, to
truly make me an expert I just skimmed the surface. Two experiences led me to
withdrawl my son from futhering his education there. 1. There was another child
in our class that continuously displayed VERY aggressive behavior. He would
lunge across tables and bite, grab toys, hit scream etc. He was never removed or
really even redirected and my son became so fearful that he would cringe when
this child came near him. The mother was so immeresed in the handwork or
whatever that she completely ignored his behavior. At one point it was almost
comical as the teacher goes about singing and this child literally keeps
antagonizing the other children to the point of tears. I did discuss this with
the teacher and she noted this has been a problem but kinda gave me the what are
you going to do attitude. We broke off our relationship with the school and I
happen to run into a friend whose children were enrolled and attending same
school. She told me they were thinking of leaving due to some issues and through
the conversation I learned it was because of a similar experience and it
happened to be with the same child. This is years later. I was amazed. She
seemed to feel that the reason nothing was done had to do with the childs
parents financial contribution to the school. The elephant under the rug. The
second reason was the anthroposphy~it just seemed a little sneaky the way ,
unless you ask or investigate about it it is never really mentioned yet it is
what the schools philosophy is based on. As was mentioned earlier, it is
definately not child led~ they are being molded to the Waldorf Way. In fact my
partner almost feels like it is cultish. While I feel SugarPeas and Sweetpeas
are harmless and the fact that I will be with our dd at all times helps, we
definately are not going to continue past that point, and if our experience is
anything less then enriching we will discontinue immediately. I am a BIG fan of
John Holt and upon reading his literature feel this is the direction for our
family. We have been looking into the Circle School or Homeschooling for dd.