Waldorf Problems

Welcome. This site consists of several essays I have written about the Austrian mystic, Rudolf Steiner; the bizarre religion he concocted, called Anthroposophy; and Anthroposophy's stalking horse, the Waldorf or Steiner school movement. The site also contains numerous links that will take you to other essays on the same topics at other Web sites.

 
My name is Roger Rawlings. I attended a Waldorf school for 11 years, from grade 2 through grade 12. My mother was the headmaster’s secretary at that school. Because I was present in the school for so many years, and because I occasionally questioned the headmaster, I gained some insight into the school’s secret, occult agenda. More to the point, in recent years I have studied approximately one zillion books, booklets, essays, etc., about Waldorf education and Anthroposophy (it feels like a zillion, anyway). Some of these texts were written by my old headmaster, but most were either written by Rudolf Steiner himself or they contain transcripts of lectures, meetings, and/or private discussions he conducted. The research I've done has confirmed some of my youthful suspicions about Waldorf schools, and it has opened new vistas of Anthroposophical nuttiness to my appalled mind.

 
If you become engrossed in the topics I discuss here, I suggest that you visit http://waldorfcritics.org. There, you will find numerous accounts that substantiate the criticisms I level at Steiner and his schools.

A few preliminary notes:

• Taken as a whole, my essays deal with the bulk of Steiner’s esoteric and educational doctrines. Subjecting those doctrines to rational evaluation, I find much to criticize. Steiner claimed to value rationality, but he also taught that real thinking does not occur in the brain — he championed clairvoyance, which he said becomes possible when one develops “organs of clairvoyance.” So Steiner began from a profoundly irrational position, which led him to irrational doctrines. To use a modern shorthand: Steiner’s teachings are an example of “garbage in, garbage out.”

• I quote Steiner extensively, but because he was long-winded, I have made excisions, clearly marked by ellipses (...). In all cases, I cite the source from which I quote, so you can easily check whether I have altered Steiner’s meaning. I haven’t. Steiner’s statements were often absurd, sometimes — unintentionally — hilarious, and occasionally quite hateful. I have no reason to distort anything he said: His own words are the best refutation of his claims to wisdom.

• My primary focus is on Waldorf schools. Many people find these schools attractive, at least initially. Waldorfs are generally small, cozy, attractive, and free of problems like physical bullying. However, any schools that abide by Steiner’s teachings are necessarily devoted to the occult, specifically Anthroposophy — although they often disguise this. Understanding what goes on in such schools requires peering beneath the surface. I’ve peered.

• In my work,I intentionally hop back and forth between past and present tense. Using only the past tense would diminish the continuing threat Steiner poses to Waldorf students. Steiner is dead, but his influence lives on: The danger is very much alive.

• Especially important passages crop up in more than one essay. If you come upon something you’ve read before, please just skip ahead.

• Please excuse any typos. I hope there aren’t many and that none materially affects the meaning of any passage. I’ll correct them all when I find them.