Why are Steiner schools so controversial?
A Last week, Newsnight ran
a report on the 30 or so private Steiner schools that showed how different they
are from anything else. The schools are known for being playful and hippyish. But
we revealed the contents of two memos from the Department for Education (DfE)
on complaints about bullying in the private Steiner schools – also known as
Waldorf schools or Steiner Waldorf schools – and concerns about racism. The Steiner
Waldorf Schools Fellowship (SWSF)
responded by saying “Our schools do not tolerate racism” and “bullying is not
tolerated by our schools and all our schools have strong anti-bullying
policies”.
B Some people also tweeted
me to praise their Steiner education. As our report made clear, the
issues are not ubiquitous in Steiner
schools. None of the reports concerns any of the three, open state Steiner
schools. But Steiner schools could be susceptible to these problems. That is
because of the particular views of Rudolf Steiner, the intellectual father of
Steiner schools. The ideas are based in a belief in reincarnation. Or, for
example, the Steiner curriculum’s focused on a late start to learning is driven
by the pace at which souls incarnate.
C Steiner himself believed
illnesses in our current lives could be explained by problems in the previous
ones. And in overcoming illnesses with a root in a previous life, individuals
could gain “reinforced power” and improve their “karma”. That may help explain
the Steiner school attitude to vaccination. The Health Protection Agency used
to note that Steiner schools ought to be considered “unvaccinated
populations” for measles.
D The DfE memos report a
complaint that a teacher allowed violence among children for karmic reasons.
Steiner was, by any modern definition, a racist. He believed each race had a
geographical location where they should live – black people in Europe were “a nuisance”.
There was also a hierarchy in races; a soul with good karma could hope to be
reincarnated into a race which is higher up in the hierarchy. But some of the
ideas have polluted some Steiner schools. The SWSF was “horrified” by our
report on a training day at a private Steiner school, which had been triggered by a real issue around
racism. Four white teachers, asked to tick
a box giving their ethnicity, ticked every box.
E I am
not clear why Steiner Schools are not considered faith schools. It is
not clear whether all Steiner schools are more focused on improving children’s
life chances for this life or the next. Lots of Steiner schools, and the SWSF,
believe they have got past these problems with Steiner’s work. They have taken
something from his ideas without the problematic parts.
Adjusted
to (1)
ubiquitous – všudypřítomný
nuisance – nepřístojnost
trigger – spustit
tick – odškrtnout
1) Read the
article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1 Steiner
school students aren’t vaccinated
2 Reports
on Steiner Waldorf schools
3 Problems
with racism
4 Steiner
school affirm they have overcome the problems
5 The ideas
of Waldorf schools are based in a belief in reincarnation
2) Read the article and answer the questions.
1 What are
Steiner schools like?
2 Who was Rudolf
Steiner? What were his opinions?
3 What were
his controversial ideas?
4 How is the
idea of reincarnation included in curriculum?
5 How do Steiner Waldorf Schools describe themselves?
3) Explain
the following words and phrases.
1 strong
anti-bullying policies
2 praise
their Steiner education
3 measles
4 faith
schools
5 focused
on improving children’s life chances
4) Answer
the following questions.
What is Waldorf school? What is the program like? What
are other types of alternative education? What are their positives and
negatives? What is the difference between alternative and usual type of
education?
Video:
Tips, sources of information:
Source:
(1)
COOK,
Chris. Why are Steiner schools so controversial? BBC News [online].
2014 [cit. 2015-09-21]. Available at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/education-28646118
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