Anthropospohy and Ecofascism: January 2008 Archives
Continuing my commentary on the 37th paragraph of Peter Staudenmaier's Anthroposophy and Ecofascism.
Students in Waldorf schools hear fairy tales only in the first (and sometimes the second) grade. During that time, they do not read them; they hear them (and fairy tales are certainly not the only thing in the curriculum for those grades). After that the curriculum moves on to more challenging things. So Mr. Peter Staudenmaier's claim that fairy tales are a staple of the Waldorf curriculum is only true for Kindergarten and first grade. Usually by second grade the curriculum has the teacher telling stories of great men and women of history and their achievements, told in a manner appropriate for the age group.
Continuing my commentary on the 37th paragraph of Peter Staudenmaier's Anthroposophy and Ecofascism.
I would certainly like to discover the source of Peter Staudenmaier's hilarious understanding that jazz and popular music are considered to harbor demonic forces; as usual, he has no footnotes for that claim.This is a distressing trend for this article.
Continuing my commentary on the 37th paragraph of Peter Staudenmaier's Anthroposophy and Ecofascism.
I'm not sure I understand the accusation that there is “no jazz or popular music“ in Waldorf schools. Does Peter Staudenmaier mean that these subjects do not occur in the curriculum? Or does he mean to imply that there is some sort of blanket ban on such things anywhere on school grounds? As far as the curriculum goes, the music does generally lean towards folk and classical music, but that is the discretion of the individual class teachers and music subject teachers.* The music program varies depending on the size of the school and the talents of the teachers. Singing is required from Kindergarten onwards, in ever increasing complexity, and in larger Waldorf schools choral singing is introduced by the sixth grade. Every student participates. European Waldorf students are as interested in popular music as students anywhere in the world.
*As an aside, how many US public schools have jazz or popular music in the curriculum? How many US public schools have any music in the curriculum? I personally have included a section on the development of popular music in the 20th Century – with numerous recorded examples – in a 12th grade course on the history of the 20th Century that I teach at a Waldorf School. This fact alone disproves Peter Staudenmaier’s claim in its absolute formulation.
