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Re: [xmca] Rudolph Steiner



Hi Andy,

I asked a similar question recently here. Please see this reference:

Oberman, I. & Sloan, D. (2008). The Waldorf movement from european cradle to american crucible, 1919-2008. Edwin Mellen Press.
and the attached paper.

Attachment: Uhrmacher Uncommon Schooling.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document



As for their effectiveness, at least here in Chile, they seem to be very effective protecting children from early consumerism and early competitiveness, which seems to be the case in other parts of the world according to communications I got from this list, on and off-line.
Again in Chile: since their emphasis is not on traditional skill  
drilling, their effect on standardized measures of learning depends  
more on the capital background of the kids“parents and individual  
characteristics of the children they serve. My own kid goes to a  
school that adopts some Waldorf techniques, and I can attest that it  
works pretty well as regards the prevention of bullying, emotional  
development and emphasis on the human dimension of learning.
If you google them, you will find very emotional pro and anti-Waldorf  
advocates. I assume the positive or negative criticism of the Waldorf  
movement depends on how it has settled in different countries and  
schools. In the USA, there is a concern about how secular they really  
are, so it seems. My own school here in Chile is very secular,  
although the emphasis on fantasy can be judged by some as "religious".  
In my view, fantasy in early childhood is not a bad thing and may help  
foster an imaginative mind. Certainly, Waldorf schools seems to be  
mostly private and it biases their results. I am not aware of public  
Waldorf schools.
One of the things that I strongly value from a Waldorf education these  
days is that it protects kids from the overachievement mania that is  
plaguing elementary schools and preschool education worldwide because  
of the misuse of academic testing, a topic of concern for many in this  
list, and from pseudocientific applications of neuroscience. This  
attitude to a humane schooling has been as well advanced  by  
constructivist scholars as well such as David Elkind in the USA. I  
would love to find a school where the humane dimension of Waldorf  
schooling meets a pedagogy inspired in learning science and cultural  
psychology, but this is a non-existing link.
Best,

DP


On Jan 9, 2010, at 10:59 AM, Leif Strandberg wrote:

Hi,

I recommend reading of

Peter Staudenmaier (Vermont USA) Antroposofi och ekofascism (I only have the Swedish version, perhaps the English title is "Antrophosofy and Ekofascism"
We have a lot of Waldorf schools in Sweden, and there are some  
interesting  estetichal features in their pedagogy, But their  
philosophical backrground (Steiner) is not as "green" as they say -  
more of a brown nuance
Leif Strandberg


9 jan 2010 kl. 12.46 skrev Andy Blunden:

I have been researching Goethe and his scientific ideas, and after a long time I came across a book which tells in detail of how his ideas originated and explains them very clearly and convincingly. The point I am interested in of course is the Urphaenomen, a.k.a., unit of analysis, and as Goethe and Davydov both insist, a unit of analysis which is given to the senses.
The author of the book is *Rudolph Steiner*, the same Rudolph  
Steiner who started up Steiner Schools. I can get an idea of his  
life and work from Wikipedia and so on, and it certainly is way off  
the mainstream, if I could put it that way. However, I would  be  
interested in a brief response from xmca-ers on the success or  
otherwise of his schools.
Andy
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hegel Summer School
http://www.ethicalpolitics.org/seminars/hss10.htm
Hegel, Goethe and the Planet: 13 February 2010.

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David Preiss
 http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/



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