Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 98
Why Waldorf Programs are Unsuitable for Public Funding
Dan Dugan
Abstract
The author tells the story of his experience as a Waldorf school parent, and
his discovery that the school was a front for a cult-like sect called
Anthroposophy. Waldorf education appears to combine artistic and academic
learning and claims to be child-centered, but critical examination reveals that
it is devoted to promulgating the ideology of its founder, Austrian mystic
Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). Penetration of Waldorf philosophy into public
schools has raised legal issues of Establishment Clause violations and ethical
concerns about racism inherent in the system. The author illustrates his
discussion with examples from Waldorf and Anthroposophical publications.
Introduction: My Encounter with Anthroposophy
I enrolled my son in the San Francisco Waldorf School halfway through the sixth grade. I
was very impressed with the school. I liked very much the way art is integrated into the
curriculum in Waldorf. Drawing, calligraphy, music, dance, and drama aren‘t separate
subjects, but part of the regular lessons. Students hand-write and illustrate their own books
for every subject. Subjects are taught in blocks that last several weeks. When Roman
History is studied, for example, students will draw and paint Romans, write about them,
sing, dance, and act out plays about them.
One day while visiting the school, I browsed through some books by Rudolf Steiner that
they had for sale. I saw some very strange things about ―astral bodies‖ and ―root races.‖ I
asked my son‘s teacher whether these subjects were taught in the classroom. She assured
me that though the teachers studied Steiner, only Steiner‘s teaching methods were used in
the classroom, and Steiner‘s philosophy wasn‘t taught to the children. I learned later that
this is a standard disclaimer, and it is far from the truth. I should have known better, but I
was so in love with the façade of the school that I looked the other way.
Over the year and a half my son was in the school, I became increasingly disturbed about
three things:
1. Weird science. In a chemistry lesson, the teacher burned different substances and
the students drew and described the qualities of the flames, smoke, and ash. No
mention was made of oxidation or, for that matter, any chemistry at all. In a lesson
on the physics of light, they were taught that Newton was wrong about color and
Goethe was right. White light is a unity and cannot be divided into the colors of the
spectrum the colors are merely an artifact of the prism. I thought perhaps these
mistakes were due to the ignorance of particular teachers, but when I obtained
Waldorf curriculum guides, I discovered that the inadequate and erroneous science
was part of the Waldorf system.
2. Racism. I was shocked to pick up a Steiner book for sale at the school and read: ―If
the blonds and blue-eyed people die out, the human race will become increasingly
dense if men do not arrive at a form of intelligence that is independent of blondness‖
(Steiner, 1981, p. 86). Why would a school in San Francisco in 1988 be promoting

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 99
1920s German racism? They would, I thought, have to be some kind of cult to be so
out of touch with reality.
3. Quack medicine. An ―Anthroposophical physician‖ gave a lecture to the parents on
―Anthroposophical medicine.‖ It was classic quackery, claiming to be scientific but
ignoring science in favor of cult beliefs, namely, Steiner‘s seemingly authoritative
pronouncements. For example, Anthroposophical medicine doesn‘t believe in germ
theory, teaching instead that the real causes of infectious diseases are karmic or
spiritual, and that the presence of microorganisms is only a symptom.
I started speaking up at meetings and lectures about these problems. I requested a meeting
with the College of Teachers, the committee of senior teachers that ran the school. They
were ―too busy.‖ Instead, a committee of three teachers was delegated to give me an
ultimatum: ―You don‘t have to believe what we believe, but if you are going to talk about
your disagreements with the other parents, you will have to leave.‖ We left.
It was all a very strange experience for me, and I decided to express my concerns to the
other parents at the school by writing a couple of articles and distributing them to the
school address list. I wanted to be sure of what I was talking about, so I bought some
Steiner books, did research in the library, and attended more Anthroposophical lectures. As
I studied, I realized that the field was wide and deep, and what was really needed was a
book looking at it from outside.
For years I studied Anthroposophy and Waldorf, accumulating a large library of books and
periodicals. Just when I was at the point of telling myself that I shouldn‘t do research
forever, that it was time to get it down on paper, something new happened. Waldorf
education started to move into public schools. A Waldorf school opened in the public school
system in Milwaukee in 1991. Soon after, the charter school movement started up, and
Waldorf charters started opening. My studies took on urgency. I felt obligated to use what I
knew to oppose the use of public funds for this religious system that was violating the
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because no one knew what they were really
about.
Then the Internet appeared and changed everything. I was kicked out of the official Waldorf
discussion list for being critical and bringing up embarrassing topics. Not one to be silenced,
I started an alternative list called Waldorf-Critics. I co-wrote an article about Waldorf with
Judy Daar that was published in the Secular Humanist magazine Free Inquiry (Dugan &
Daar, 1994). I began to organize a ―Waldorf Critics Association.‖ At the same time, Debra
Snell had experienced a similar conflict with a Waldorf charter school in Nevada City,
California, and she had begun to organize ―Parents for Legal and Non-Sectarian Schools‖ to
close the school that she had helped found. We joined forces, and PLANS, People for Legal
and Nonsectarian Schools, was incorporated in 1997. PLANS operates a popular web site, a
public email discussion list, ―waldorf-critics,‖ and a private email support list, ―waldorf-
survivors-only.‖ In 1998, PLANS filed a federal lawsuit against two Northern California
school districts that operate a Waldorf magnet school and a Waldorf charter school, alleging
violation of the Establishment Clause.
The History of Anthroposophy
Anthroposophy is a cult-like religious sect following the teachings of Rudolf Steiner (1861-
1925). There is a thorough account of Steiner‘s life, first as a leader of Theosophy and then
as the head of his own sect, in Peter Washington‘s entertaining Madame Blavatsky‘s
Baboon: A History of the Mystics, Mediums, and Misfits Who Brought Spiritualism to America
(1995). Washington also covers the other popular gurus of the early 20th century, Besant,
Ouspensky, Gurdjieff, Krishnamurti, and more. I recommend it highly. Steiner was
appointed head of the German section of Theosophy by Annie Besant in 1902. He was a