Laura Ferris - truthfully LYING about Waldorf

http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/1006191/what-is-a-waldorf-preschool

"They were teaching them things, but in such a way that the kids didn't even know they were learning."

Pete Karaiskos SEPTEMBER 07, 2013 | 5:37 AM

My comment: Pete Karaiskos SEPTEMBER 02, 2013 | 7:17 AM I know Waldorf... I know Ms Ferris and Highland Hall quite well. "They were teaching them things, but in such a way that the kids didn't even know they were learning." This doesn't even begin to say it all! Waldorf is the missionary arm of Anthroposophy - something this article doesn't seem to mention. The "Waldorf method" IS teaching Anthroposophy to children covertly - so they don't realize they're learning it. And you know who else doesn't realize they're getting Anthroposophy? Parents! Parents buy into the "Waldorf" appearance, and admittedly, some Waldorf ideas sound great - like no computers in the classroom... until you realize the reasons for this have nothing to do with education and everything to do with Anthroposophy. The devil of all things mechanical is Ahriman. Children become "Ahrimanic" when they enjoy mechanical things or or (get this) too intellectual. If this sounds like a good system to you... if putting your child with people who can't be honest about why they do what they do sounds right... then Waldorf may be a good fit. Please read The Waldorf Review for the insights of parents who tried Waldorf only to find out what I have said is true.

Margaret Sachs SEPTEMBER 02, 2013 | 12:31 PM

Despite the fact that I like Laura Ferris as a person, I can't keep quiet about the fact that her article is a puff piece written by an Anthroposophist about Anthroposophy schools. When my husband and I enrolled our first child at Highland Hall, I was told Anthroposophy is not a religion and is neither in the curriculum nor in the classroom. So what a surprise I had when I was invited to join my second child's kindergarten birthday celebration to see my child as the centerpiece of a reincarnation ritual. Oh well, I thought, it's harmless, and I've always been open to the possibility of incarnation. We saw a lot of odd things over the many years our children were at Highland Hall, but there always seemed to be some sort of acceptable explanation for them. Parents who pulled their children out in anger over one thing or another were, I thought, failing to communicate properly with the Anthroposophists who run the school. Then, one of our children had a horrible experience that made us realize other parents who had left the school in anger probably had good reason for it and, if their experiences were anything like ours, a breakdown in communication with the Anthroposophical faculty was not the fault of those parents as I had previously thought. By then, the Internet was part of our lives. We went online and discovered that Rudolf Steiner was a crackpot occultist and not a scientist as was touted. He designed Waldorf schools to spread Anthroposophy and instructed Waldorf teachers to deceive parents about the role of Anthroposophy in the classroom. We learned the ridiculous occult reasons behind so much of what went on in the classrooms. We realized the real reason there were no textbooks. We realized what we perceived as weakness in the academics was no accident. We realized how many red flags we had ignored. We learned that huge numbers of people in other parts of the U.S. and in other countries shared experiences like ours and had discovered the deception of Waldorf PR.