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the history curriculum. Third, teachers may use racial criteria for treating students and
teachers differently. Consider the following consequences:
12. Much of the Steiner material that Waldorf teachers must study is from
lectures in which Steiner free-associated from topic to topic. Discussions of
his racial theory are scattered throughout his books. Some of the books that
are required reading for Waldorf teacher training include racist material, for
example, Knowledge of Higher Worlds, Theosophy, and Conferences with
Teachers. In any Waldorf school, public or private, these books, and many
more, will be used for reference by the teachers.
13. The Waldorf curriculum was designed by Steiner in a ―spiral‖ plan that cycles
the students repeatedly, with increasing detail, through what Steiner called
the ―evolution of consciousness,‖ the development of the mythical Aryan race
over time. The first cycle is the first and second grades. In the first grade,
fairy tales are used. These contain, according to Steiner, the unwritten ancient
wisdom of the Aryan race. In the second grade, the lives of saints are studied,
bringing the students into the Christian era.
The next cycle is the third and fourth grades. In this cycle the students are
immersed in what Steiner taught were the holy books of what he defined as
the two ―cultural streams‖ of humanity, Jewish and Aryan. In the third grade
they study Bible stories. In the Fourth grade they are immersed in Norse
mythology, believed by Germans of Steiner‘s time to be the ancient scriptures
of the Aryan race.
The third cycle is the fifth and sixth grades. In these grades the students are
taken through the sequence of the sub-races of the Aryan root race. Here is
how a group that proposed a Waldorf charter school to the school board in
Chico, California, described this part of the curriculum:
The fifth grade language arts curriculum follows the development of
human initiation and mythic consciousness from prehistoric times to
the times of western history. This progression starts with Vedic India
and the sense that all is illusion and needs to be renounced the
stories of ancient Persia deal with the polarities of light and darkness
and the human responsibility for the earth. The ancient Babylonian,
Chaldean and Egyptian myths present the beginning of human
consciousness being anchored in external culture, physical existence
and a declining knowledge of the spiritual worlds. In the ancient Greek
myths, the roles of glorious heroes and their faults leads into historical
biographies proper. (Blue Oak Charter School, 2000, p. 19)
This proposed public school curriculum is pure Anthroposophical theory. It‘s
usually covered up better than this. What could they have been thinking when
they wrote ―human initiation and mythic consciousness‖? Either the proposing
committee was so immersed in Anthroposophy that they didn‘t realize that
what they were writing was so revealing, or they figured the school board just
wouldn‘t notice. The sequence of ancient India, Persia,
Babylon/Chaldea/Egypt, Greece and Rome is straight from Theosophical root-
race theory. The ―development of consciousness,‖ according to
Anthroposophy, doesn‘t involve Africa, Asia, the Americas, or Oceania.
14. Waldorf teachers are trained to consider the past lives and racial backgrounds
of their students. The director of teacher training at Rudolf Steiner College,
the main West Coast Waldorf teacher training college, wrote:

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In learning to understand a child, it is important to consider—in
addition to hereditary factors, which include race, ethnic background,
and the biological strands supplied by father and mother—what the
soul has brought with it out of supersensible realms. If we deepen this
line of thought, we shall take into account not only the prenatal
―gesture,‖ but also the spiritual origins as they manifested themselves
in previous incarnations. In other words, just as we have applied
certain questions regarding our own spiritual origins, we should
without jumping to quick conclusions also consider to which spiritual
streams our students belonged. (Querido, 1995, p. 85)
When I asked teachers at my son‘s school about the racism that I found in books we sold at
the school, their answer was that ―some of Steiner is difficult.‖ Anthroposophists think that
they can‘t be racists since they don‘t hate anybody. They don‘t realize that teaching racial
stereotypes, and believing that different races have different ―tasks‖ in human evolution,
and ought to die out when those supposed tasks are done, is also racism.
Steiner taught that Africans represent a child-like stage of evolution. Consequently, Waldorf
teachers may treat African-American children and teachers as though they have different
potential than those of European ethnicity. One such incident is documented in a Waldorf
supporter‘s article about racism in Waldorf:
A white mother of a successful biracial (African American and white) child
loved her son‘s Waldorf school but had to work constantly against teachers
who would tell her of the evolutionary limits of Black children. (McDermott,
1996, p. 4)
An African-American Waldorf teacher who was the first black teacher hired by the New York
Steiner School (in 75 years!) is suing them for racial discrimination. The legal complaint is
available at: http://www.waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/charmainecomp.pdf.
Cult-Like Characteristics of Anthroposophy
I describe Anthroposophy as a ―cult-like religious sect.‖ In the U.S., the Waldorf teachers
are the majority of the devotees. The major recruiting effort is towards the parents.
Characteristics that make it cult-like include:
 Clinging to rejected knowledge (weird science)
 Teachers must commit to Anthroposophy for advancement to full status
 Secrecy: some core doctrinal material is not published, but only delivered orally.
Revelation of ―difficult‖ doctrine like the racial theory of history, and the role of
Lucifer, is guarded.
 Exclusivity: only anthroposophic knowledge of man leads to right education
 Closed system: almost all publications are from the group‘s own presses and
periodicals
 Jargon redefines common language so public statements can be deceptive without
being ―lies‖, e.g. ―child development.‖
 Separation: ―us vs. them‖ frequent put-downs of the outside world as being
―materialistic,‖ and public schools as being ―damaging.‖
 Criticism is suppressed: No critical dialogue means elaboration, but no development,
of theory. All writers refer back to Steiner.