Would Waldorf Work?

Waldorf schools have a different approach to education. Teachers generally start with a 1^st grade class and loop with them through the 8^th grade. Classes have approximately 20 students and the class stays together for the duration of their Waldorf schooling. Many 8^th graders graduate alongside their 1^st grade classmates, with a teacher they’ve had for 8 years. It’s a small, tight-knit community. Students play violin, cello and flute; students take two languages and perform two major plays per year; classes fund-raise to pay for the two camping trips they take each year; art and Greek mythology are as important as math and science.

I support the standardized testing movement because I think it is putting pressure on teacher to produce results but on the other hand, there’s more to schools than just academic achievement. Building character and integrity into young people is equally important. Yet, typical schools all-but ignore the social-emotional development of their students. In professional development sessions we pay lip-service to social skills but few schools integrate these ideas into their educational philosophies and practices. We teach students what it “looks like” and “sounds like” to sit in a classroom. I think Waldorf offers a decent model for doing it right. I see three strengths of Waldorf schools: First, they provide incredible stability through the unstable years of early adolescence; second, the variety of content in the Waldorf class invests students (imagine the boredom of students who take nothing but the core subject areas for 12 years); and third, students build character and apply social skills in a variety of contexts. For example, students interact while producing a play, fundraising, and camping. These situations are much more transferable to students’ lives than the typical “sit and be quiet” classroom behavior.

These three strengths –stability, investment, and social skills– are what our students need the most and are prerequisites to meaningful learning. Rather than being singularly focused on test scores, we should build strong schools that support the students’ character development. Stability, investment and social skills will, in the long run, produce the test scores we so desperately want.