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RE: Striving after truth
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Pete Karaiskos
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Jul 17, 2005 10:20 PDT
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baandje wrote:
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PK wrote: “In the opinions of some of the teachers I've encountered, the
well-being of the student is secondary to Anthroposophical dogma or some
Anthroposophical lesson that must be learned or taught. Waldorf schools
aren't exactly famous for putting students first.”
*
Story: I was teaching eighth grade in California. In January, an
African-American lad joined the seventh grade class – the only
African-American student in the upper grades. (New kid, fresh from the
public school. Only African-American student on campus. He doesn’t know
anyone; doesn't have a clue as to what’s going on in this ‘alternative
school’. Got that?)
Now, the teacher thought it would be a lovely idea to get her class to
learn the Black-American national anthem, given the ‘exciting new
multi-ethnic circumstances’, plus the fact Martin Luther King Day was
approaching.
The way I found out about the song, is I noticed a couple of weeks into
January that the new lad was spending all his recess time sitting in the
classroom while his classmates were out playing. So I spoke with the
seventh grade teacher and inquired as to what was going on. She pulled
me aside: “Well, he won’t sing (that song) with the rest of us, and so
I’ve explained that until he does, he’ll be spending his recesses
inside.”
!!!!!! Yes, you did just read all that. Do not adjust your monitor.
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Wow! My jaw has dropped. Bravo to the young boy!
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So really, is this teacher placing Anthroposophical-Waldorf dogma above
the needs of the student? Or is this teacher simply completely clued out
and unfathomably insensitive? Wait... let me add ‘stupid’ to that list.
Anyway, that’s the point of departure with this whole dialogue IMO.
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Well, I think, both. The teacher was, of course, totally without a clue
about what she was doing in introducing the song and attempting to force
the child into singing it, but she *should* have gotten a clue when the
child wouldn't sing it in the first place. The Anthroposophical dogma
thing of breaking the child's spirit took over when she kept him in the
classroom during recess. What a horrible story.
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is mostly an issue of some very unintelligent and insensitive people,
who are allowed to stumble about unsupervised in the private confines of
some Waldorf classroom. They’re not bad people in the sense of injuring
others with intention. They simply have no idea what it is they’re
actually doing.
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That's cutting this particular teacher a lot of slack IMO. But I hear
and agree with what you are saying for the most part. I'm sure in this
teacher's mind, she was doing something wonderful.
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that. But the philosophy itself is not really the reason for this
behavior. It’s the unenlightened individual that’s casing the problems
and, in some very real cases, doing the damage.
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Yes, I agree with this too. Although Steiner, himself, pretty much
didn't have a clue in this area and the philosophy itself, while not the
reason for this particular behavior, is quite flawed with regard to
people of color. Maybe that's another topic.
Pete
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