Parent Experiences from Waldorf Watch

http://sites.google.com/site/waldorfwatch/our-experience

"Then there's the issue of pedophiles. They are everywhere and are by no means
peculiar to Waldorf schools. The problem at our school was that there were
several incidents and the teachers failed to obey the laws that protect children
from abuse."


"I continue to ponder why it all happened. How did I almost destroy my daughter
by choosing to send her to an apparently caring, art-based, beautiful small
private school? How could people who appeared to be good friends suddenly turn
on us and later forget we exist?"

"...There are those within the Anthroposophy/Waldorf movement who believe their
own public relations are less than forthright. There are some who feel as
frustrated at the deceptive marketing and misleading information as the parents
do who make the gut wrenching decision to pull children from their school. This
is not a decision parents take without much thought, sadness and trepidation. In
most cases, however, the decision simply must be made. Something is wrong. The
education the parents were sold was simply not the education their children
received. Beautiful, gentle, arts based, natural type of education has very
little in common with a spiritual movement based on the religious/occult
theories of one man and his followers."

"Unfortunately we experienced the school to be a highly religious sect with no
respect whatsoever for legal contracts, and with no continuing professional
development, and [no commitment] to what we regard to be social responsibility.
In very subtle ways, and with a mild and friendly smile, they assure you that
the children's education is in the best of hands. But, as time showed us, their
teacher-training consists exclusively of the spiritual fantasies of one single
man [i.e., Rudolf Steiner]. And having done teaching there ourselves, we found
their curriculum not comparable to what is required from the state, nor [is it
what they] claimed.

The Waldorf teachers claim that [during their lives before birth] children
choose their parents. This is not, as we believed, a lovely birthday fairy tale
to be told in the kindergarten, it is their religious belief. Literally. It took
a long time before we were able to understand why children clearly in need of
intervention by social services were not helped out of their miserable
situation, until we realized how the school neglected their legal responsibility
when other parents took action and reported directly to the authorities."