What are people's thoughts on Steiner Schools

[waxonwaxoff]

It never fails to shock me the the importance people feel of "fitting in with the crowd". Steiner schools are strongly based on child led learning. Therefor to say that children are not encouraged to read untill they are seven is not exactly true. A child that actively wanted to learn to read would be encouraged as part of the prinicple of thought. However it is strongly believed that formal teaching of reading should not start untill they are seven as this is when they have the concept of understanding it better. Not forgetting that our complicated language is one of the most difficult to learn. This is also inline with many other countries where children do not start full time education untill they are seven. Are country is one of the only countries were mainstream school has hardly changed since they were brought in to educate the poor. Whilst saying that steiner didnt work such and such you should also bear in mind how the low the success rate of mainstream school has become. Only last year it emerged that a good percentage of our 16 year olds were leaving school without being able to read and write simple phrases. This I find is appaling. Then there are the "exams" more and more employers are becoming disgruntled at people with all the right qualifications but dont have the freedom of thought to think for themselves what do do and use their oen initative. Our children are not taught to learn they are taught to memorise facts and pass exams. I also question the need to prepare our children for adulthood so quicky. Are we mad, most of us would give anything to have the freedom of childhood back,so why are we so quick to take it from our kids. It has also been shown that children even up to teenagers take in information in a more relaxed and informal setting. Been forced to sit in a chair and be dictated to will not make you take the information in any better infact more often then not quite the opposite. Then their are the children deemed a failure because mainstream school is not for them.It happens we are not all the same. I know some people like to think children all becoming clones with there 3 A to Cs in english,maths and science is the bee all and end all but personally I want more for my kids then that. Some children dont even make it to adulthood what a waste their life has been if that is all they have had. 9 -3 everyday sitting at a desk staring out of the window. Learning should be encouraged but it should most definatly be fun and exciting.

[Ouija]

The difference being that it's a level playing field with all kids starting from the same point and a small group not having to play catch up with the majority.

 

It's all very well encouraging self-expression and creativity, which is great, but some kids will not thrive in that environment, they will need clear structured tasks and boundaries. My view is that it could be detrimental for some.

 

But that's the thing. I don't think it necessarily is a level playing field. All the kids might start at around the same point in age but not according to ability. Not all children are ready to learn to read and write, for example, when they hit their 5th birthday (or at whatever point they begin formal education). Up until attending school nobody expects all children to develop at the same rate, so it makes sense that they aren't all going to be the same once they hit school age.

 

I know there are some that think that formal education begins to early in this country, before many children are ready. In some countries where this is delayed, they may start learning later, but they apparently pick up the ability quicker because they are more ready/able to learn. I do wonder if we might avoid some of the people who leave school unable or barely able to read and write if it wasn't taught so early? Because, for some children, once they fall behind they become disillusioned and give up/don't want to try.

 

Obviously some learn quicker than others, and some children are ready to learn reading/writing before they begin school. But that goes to show, surely, that children become ready at different ages and not just when they turn five?

[MrNM]

One of the key issues here is that foreign kids start school at 7 because they are normally born into strong family units and bought up within this environment beforehand with good parenting. Most of the kids in broken britain would have no real parenting in their single parent environment, be fed crisps and kebabs all day, and let to run wild and become delinquent! Society needs sorting out first before we think about raising the age at which we start to institutionalise children!

[waxonwaxoff]

One of the key issues here is that foreign kids start school at 7 because they are normally born into strong family units and bought up within this environment beforehand with good parenting. Most of the kids in broken britain would have no real parenting in their single parent environment, be fed crisps and kebabs all day, and let to run wild and become delinquent! Society needs sorting out first before we think about raising the age at which we start to institutionalise children!

 

There are broken families all over the world. The issue isnt that these are broken families its that the families are been brought up and raised by people who have come from a circle of failure. Their parents werent educated enough to help them and dont have faith in this system so this is passed on. They get so disgruntled at struggling to do it the standered way that they give up on any kind of learning entirely. The circle carries onto their children and so on. We need to be encouraging children that they are all potentially good at something.

[StarSparkle]

The Folk from the Faraway Tree was the best and the Secret Seven and the famous Five...

 

Loved all those, plus the 'Adventure' series "The Mountain of Adventure", "The Castle of Adventure", etc

 

I admit I'm fascinated by the concept of the Steiner schools - but as something that interests ME, and not as something I'd necessarily want to expose any children I had to.

 

My responsibility as a parent for providing my children with what I thought was best for them would have to come before what I would ideally prefer for them. For nursery education it sounds fantastic, but I would be concerned about them falling behind other kids academically before their lives had barely started.

 

I think for children from upper middle class/wealthy/showbusiness backgrounds it is probably an ideal indulgence - but if a child is going to have to make their own way in the world, I could see that sort of education being more of a hindrance than a help to them. Sorry as I am to say it.

 

StarSparkle

[Blondi]

Not to my knowledge, no. My point was that whilst some children will thrive in a more structured environment, some will thrive in a more artistic expressive environment (as is usually on offer in a steiner school). Yes a steiner education may be detrimental to some, but to others it may be very positive, likewise with "mainstream" schooling. One size doesn't fit all, I wish it did!

 

Some kids simply do not fit in well to conventional education and, all too often, there is no catering to them, other than by attempting to hammer a square peg into a round hole- if Steiner education provides an alternative to that, them, IMO, all the better.

 

I think for children from upper middle class/wealthy/showbusiness backgrounds it is probably an ideal indulgence - but if a child is going to have to make their own way in the world, I could see that sort of education being more of a hindrance than a help to them.

 

It can be demonstrated that different people - and children - have different learning styles. Traditional education is optimised to the ‘average’ child and there are those who would benefit from alternative methods to suit the way their own mind and curiosity is motivated.

 

However, if we wish to put a child through an alternative education and upbringing, where is the alternative, more expressive and less structured society that they will be able to enter as adults?

 

The purpose of education is to prepare children for their adult lives, preparing them to find their own way in life through their careers and social independence. Can such an alternative education really prepare them for a far-from-alternative society? Good point from Fraulein SS, by the way.

[Mathom]

Just to note, for those talking about countries where state schooling does not begin until 7, it's a bit of a red herring as they do tend to go to kindergarten from the age of 3 or so anyway. In France for example school does not start until you are 6 but you will likely have been in a kindergarten from 2 anyway.

 

In some countries they also have much longer and more intensive school days/weeks than we have - sometimes being in school between 8am and 4pm, even until 6pm for older students.

 

As for early schooling, it actually has huge benefits for kids from more disadvantaged backgrounds and can give them the leg up that they need.

[not wanted]

Err, perhaps I shouldn't have asked.

 

My friends are both very well educated up to M.A. level and beyond and they know their way around the education system but both of them are total and devout Atheists which is what got me wondering as I thought the schools were faith based.

I'm not going to be having kids due to a life style choice and I would be very happy if the little ***** were kept at school from 5 AM until about 10 PM 7 days a week and even longer in the summer.

Anyway thanks for your replies.

[Ouija]

they do tend to go to kindergarten from the age of 3 or so anyway. In France for example school does not start until you are 6 but you will likely have been in a kindergarten from 2 anyway.

 

Really? Is it compulsory attendance for those as well?

[hels1977]

However, if we wish to put a child through an alternative education and upbringing, where is the alternative, more expressive and less structured society that they will be able to enter as adults?

 

The purpose of education is to prepare children for their adult lives, preparing them to find their own way in life through their careers and social independence. Can such an alternative education really prepare them for a far-from-alternative society? Good point from Fraulein SS, by the way.

 

Of course it can. Society isn't structured, not every job requires you excel at academia (which is where the emphasis is placed in mainstream education). What do you think they teach / don't teach in "alternate" schools that means they won't be prepared for "society"?

 

How is society not alternative? There is no normal, society is what you make it - there are hundreds of thousands of people all making their way through life in various ways, it's alternative by the very definition.

 

In my opinion it is mainstream education that fails so many children every single year that is the primary culprit for not preparing the children that have been through the system. If you don't excel at academia or the 8-3 method of learning, you could be in for a pretty hard time at school. I think it's very important to have alternative methods of education such as steiner, various home schooling methods and others. Each child is different and has different needs, one size does not fit all and it never has done.