Vol. 14, No. 5, 1997

Articles on Other Religious Topics

A group of concerned parents carried signs of protest as they picketed Oak Ridge Elementary School in Sacramento, California. Their critics described them as misguided and in opposition to an "acclaimed curriculum" ("Waldorf Hysteria," Sacramento News and Review, June 12, 1997, p. 13). The parents, and representatives from the secular group, People for Legal and Non-Sectarian Schools (PLANS), claimed the school's use of the controversial Waldorf curriculum brought religion into the public school classroom.

The disagreement intensified in July of this year, when the Sacramento City schools chief recommended that the Waldorf program remain at the school, and school board trustees voted unanimously to endorse the methodology ("Schools Chief Favors Waldorf," The Sacramento Bee, July 2, 1997, B1). This caused PLANS to begin preparation for a lawsuit against the school district. (TruthQuest Institute is finalizing a Brief of Amici Curiae (Friend of the Court) to accompany the lawsuit.) 

Sacramento is not the only battleground over Waldorf curriculum: San Diego, Milwaukee, Birmingham, Anchorage and other cities have had similar struggles. An estimated 40,000 children in Europe and America attend Waldorf schools (many times supported with public tax dollars). There are over 200 Waldorf schools in Germany alone, and related Rudolf Steiner Colleges in the U.S. and Canada. So why the controversy over an educational curriculum that is used by thousands of people from one of the fastest growing groups of independent private schools in the world? 

The root of this conflict centers on Waldorf's connection to Anthroposophy, a religion founded by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner early in the 20th century. Influenced by Theosophy, an occult religion from the same time period, Anthroposophy is a spiritual movement based upon the notion that there is an occult (hidden) spiritual world accessible via higher faculties of occult knowledge. Critics claim Anthroposophy is found in the controversial Waldorf curriculum.

Steiner & Anthroposophy

Anthroposophy is an eclectic blend of esoteric philosophy and mysticism forming a complex religious system which Steiner often referred to as "spiritual science." (An interesting side note: Transcendental Meditation founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi found greater success in the promotion of his Hindu meditation in the West after changing the name to The Science of Creative Intelligence). Steiner taught that humanity was created by a host of spiritual beings. Because of a loss of the knowledge of our true identity and the spiritual worlds, humanity experienced a "fall." Overcoming the result of the "fall" by gaining awareness of, and even access to, the spiritual worlds is possible through meditation. In fact, according to Anthroposophical teaching, one only becomes fully human through the use of Anthroposophical meditation techniques over a succession of many lifetimes (reincarnation). These techniques are supposed to enable the individual to experience the "supersensible" perception of spiritual worlds, or occult realities (Steiner, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment, 1904, pp. 5-6). 

Steiner's Anthroposophy taught that a capacity for conscious spiritual perception of these occult realities lies dormant within every human being, and can be awakened through exercises in concentration and meditation. The first step of this awakening is to intensify thinking, through disciplined inner intuitive and meditative processes (Ibid., p. 35; Anthony Storr, Feet of Clay: Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus, pp. 75-76). This teaching, coupled with Anthroposophy's acceptance of reincarnation, are important in light of Steiner's educational theories, wherein children advance through various spiritual stages. According to Steiner, the reincarnated spirit inhabiting the body of the child requires unique educational methods to properly prepare for the coming of the astral body through the child's spiritual evolution (Steiner, The Universal Human: Four Lectures Given between 1909 & 1916 in Munich and Berlin, 1990, p. 45).

Consistent with his Anthroposophical system, Steiner designed an educational method which its advocates claim is "responsive to the developmental phases in childhood and [the] nurturing of children's imaginations" ("Frequently Asked Questions About Waldorf Education"). Waldorf advocates have the noble goal of "impart[ing] meaning to [children's] lives" while educating the whole child, "head, heart and hands" (Ibid.). Serious problems are nonetheless evident. Non-traditional features of Waldorf education include a de-emphasis upon traditional academics. Reading is not taught until the second or third grade. There are no textbooks in the first through fifth grades. There is a mystical use of art and dance (called "eurythmy"), and a celebration of seasonal festivals to "connect humanity with the rhythms of nature and the cosmos" (Ibid.). In addition to these questionable elements two important considerations need to be addressed: the role of Waldorf teachers in promoting Waldorf education, and, whether Anthroposophy is promoted in public school curriculum. 

Many advocates of Waldorf education and schools claim that Anthroposophy is not taught in Waldorf schools or in Waldorf-based curriculum. Technically this is correct, but only with qualification. Anthroposophy is not taught explicitly as a total system of religion, but it does serve as a foundation for Waldorf educational theory and practice, and its teachings are implicit within Waldorf curriculum. 

According to Steiner, Anthroposophy is an essential foundation of the Waldorf educational philosophy, in which the teacher fosters a particular teacher-student relationship considered essential to the learning process. "The science of spirit teaches me how I stimulate a particular part of the soul that brings about a certain relationship between the educator and the child, which allows something to flow from the teacher directly to the innermost feeling-life of the child's soul" (Steiner, Education As an Art, 1970, p. 28). The understanding and development of this relationship is thus based in Anthroposophical "science of spirit" teaching.

It should be obvious, then, that application of the Waldorf program requires teachers who believe in the Anthroposophical philosophy upon which it is based. Steiner understood this well: "The Waldorf teacher holds the conviction that what he meets in the child from week to week, from year to year is the expression of a divine spiritual being that descends from purely spirit-soul existence [reincarnation] and evolves here in the physical-bodily existence between birth and death, uniting the line of heredity which gives it its physical-etheric nature from parents and ancestors" (Ibid., p. 23). 

This distinctly non-Christian but religious worldview thus becomes a qualifying factor for teachers in schools with Waldorf based curricula. In Sacramento's Oak Ridge Elementary School controversy, several teachers who could not accept the Anthroposophical doctrines in the Waldorf teacher training materials felt pressured to either quit or transfer to other schools (Sacramento Bee, May 16, 1997). When religious beliefs become hiring qualifications in schools funded by taxpayer dollars, serious constitutional and civil rights issues are raised.

Proponents of the Waldorf system may acknowledge that it requires teacher acceptance of certain Anthroposophical principles, but argue that does not mean the teacher will necessarily inculcate those beliefs in students any more than a Christian teacher would necessarily teach students to be Christians. This is an unfair and deceptive comparison. Considering the role of the Waldorf teacher in instructing children with the Waldorf curriculum, Anthroposophical writer Gilbert Childs notes: 

"Waldorf teachers must be Anthroposophists first and teachers second. it must never be forgotten - and one must be emphatic about this - that the whole of teaching matter and method in Steiner schools is aimed at developing within each child the [occult] consciousness that spirit permeates everything in the world" (Steiner Education in Theory and Practice, 1991, p. 166; emphasis mine). 

The whole purpose of all teaching in the Steiner/Waldorf schools is thus stated to be explicitly spiritual, i.e. religious. Contrary to the claims of Waldorf supporters, the role of the Waldorf teacher does promote Anthroposophy. Even if not taught or named explicitly, Anthroposophy undergirds and shapes all other teaching, even the manner of teaching, in the Waldorf program. If it did not, it simply would not be a Waldorf school: "The aim at the Waldorf School is to teach and educate according to the findings of the science of spirit" (Steiner, Education. p. 21; emphasis mine), i.e., Steiner's occult Anthroposophy.

No one can ignore the clear statements of the program's founder, quoted above, and claim to have made a thorough and unbiased examination of the Waldorf system, the Waldorf teachers' role in integrating Anthroposophical teaching into the life of the child through the teaching experience, or the issue of religion being taught at taxpayer expense in public schools having Waldorf curricula. 

The Anthroposophical foundation and teacher orientation of the Waldorf program led former Waldorf teacher M. C. Richards to state: "One could say that Waldorf education has a hidden agenda. Its curriculum is described in terms common to public schools in general: arithmetic, writing, reading...But in Steiner schools the dimensions of these subjects are threefold: they are artistic, cognitive and religious. Religion is not an affair for Sunday alone or for theologians and priests. It is a dimension applicable to all our experience" (Toward Wholeness: Rudolf Steiner Education in America, 1980, p. 164). 

It should cause one to wonder how many parents of children in Waldorf schools, or in schools with Waldorf curriculum, are aware of this "hidden agenda." Is it any wonder then that Dr. Geoffrey Ahern observed that "Anthroposophical 'Waldorf' education...can only really be understood if integrated with Steiner's [occult] cosmology" (Sun at Midnight: The Rudolf Steiner Movement and the Western Esoteric Tradition, 1984, p. 62). Waldorf educators cannot help but promote Anthroposophy at least implicitly, since Anthroposophy is foundational to Waldorf educational method and curriculum, and thoroughly permeates both its theory and practice. 

If Christian prayer is excluded by the courts from the public school as an unconstitutional intrusion of religion in the public school, surely occult based curriculum such as Waldorf education should be as well. Christian parents, at times with the cooperation of their secular counterparts, are encouraged to begin with the steps below in responding to Waldorf education.
 

1. Recognize and assert your rights as parents over the education of your children.
2. Educate teachers, principals and school board members about this problem program in a positive manner with well-researched documentation from organizations like Watchman Fellowship, TruthQuest Institute or PLANS.
3. Document the religious nature of Waldorf education, bringing it into conflict with the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution.
4. Draw attention to the lack of educational studies supporting Waldorf education. The positive testimonials of Waldorf students and parents have little merit. Ask for scientific studies supporting Waldorf theory and practice. Precious public tax dollars should not be squandered on programs with little or no scientific credibility.
5. In the face of resistance, organize and hold informational meetings among parents.
6. Consider taking your concerns to the local or state school board.
7. Consider appropriate legal action with legal counsel through organizations like The Rutherford Institute or the Christian Legal Society.