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RE: Steiner's belief that some children are demons (was Striving after
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baandje
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Jul 19, 2005 19:08 PDT
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Margaret: “I agree with your assessment above except that possibly I
attribute more responsibility for it to Anthroposophy than you do. I
believe it's Steiner's teachings about a hierarchichal spiritual system
that create the environment for the problems.”
Hi :-) Well, I agree the philosophy plays into it more than I maybe
suggested. And while I also agree the hierarchical spiritual system is
the cause of many problems in schools and the movement, I’m not clear
how that specifically ties into the issue of beliefs about and attitudes
towards children.
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Margaret: “LK appears to have been a learning disabled or mentally
handicapped child. Steiner taught that people like her are demons in
human form. Therefore you have the potential for Anthroposophists to
decide that someone's child is a demon rather than a real human being (a
scary prospect for the parents of any child with learning problems).”
I’d say you’re maybe jumping to conclusions here, both with regards to
the child and in particular with the comment “Steiner taught that people
like her are demons”. I’d suggest that whole lecture-episode (the
Steiner comments regarding the girl) is something most teachers would be
pretty embarrassed to ever have to speak to and discuss… as with a lot
of other odd things Steiner came out with. I know of no teachers – and I
worked with some pretty fanatical anthropops – who would have considered
any of their students ‘demons in a human form’. That’s just seems like
too weird a pedagogical belief, even for the ultra-followers within the
movement.
*
Margaret: “I don't believe that once they have made that judgment the
wellbeing of that child is going to be their primary concern.”
PK pointed out that teachers BELIEVE their decisions are based on what’s
best for the children, as much as it might not look that way at all to
the non-Steiner individual. And I agree with that. It’s got to do with a
difference in perspectives, obviously. Part of it certainly has to do
with a kind of Borg-like approach to assessing and evaluating things:
the collective is more important than the individual. And one sees this
in the curriculum: students all painting or drawing the same picture;
all creating the same main lesson book; etc.
I do agree that very often, those ‘collective’ decisions can and do
impact on other individuals in a negative way, and that teachers are
just as inclined to shrug their shoulders and ignore that dynamic and
reality, if and when it happens. And I believe the reason has to do with
teachers’ egos. They often have difficulty admitting they’ve perhaps
made a real mistake, and that in the process, real people were hurt.
It’s a bit dismal to reflect upon, but for all the spiritual work
teachers supposedly take part in, many have serious shortcomings when it
comes to putting that knowledge into practical – real-world – action.
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