Nehaveigur

There are more than 1,000 Waldorf schools worldwide, and more than 2,000 Waldorf kindergartens. As a kid, I went to one of them and didn’t like it. Later, I went to Austrian public schools and preferred it. My experience isn’t universal: One of my sisters, who had done her whole schooling at Waldorf schools, recently told me she remembers her time there fondly.

The Waldorf approach to education is closely linked to anthroposophy, which like other esoteric movements emerged during a golden age for this kind of thing. Both my parents, but especially my father, were adherents. One result was that we didn’t have a TV and played with toys made from wood rather than plastic.

One reason for my dislike of anthroposophy is its esthetics. Its distinct architecture and artistic style doesn’t appeal to me. Malcolm Gladwell’s Revenge of the Tipping Point reminded me of another reason: Anthroposophy is skeptical and sometimes openly hostile towards a scientific worldview. As a result, Waldorf schools have very low vaccination rates. Looking at the history of anthroposophy, this isn’t too surprising, since its founders conceived it as a reaction to what they thought was an overly rationalist and materialist world.