David Gilmour "Pink Floyd" wrote a damning indictment about waldorf after his kids attended, keep in mind this is not a gifted parent talking -
http://www.waldorfcritics.org/articles/TelegraphGilmour.htmlPersonally I looked very seriously into it as I had confused it for one of the schools that allows kids to learn at their own pace without a curriculum. Sadly no, more like children are expected to conform to aged behaviours in a non conformist manner, plus there seemed to be very strong overtones of religion/philosophical/pagan beliefs which is fine if that's what you're into - we aren't.
I really wanted to buy into it, had I had regular kids I prob would have enrolled them, but in my opinion they claim to work with the whole child but are quite happy to ignore a large part of that child's needs if it doesn't fit their ideals.
Exactly what we decided.
As for vaccines, can we start a diff thread for that? I have very strong beliefs as well and I am always interested in reading what others have to say on this topic but I don't want to hijack this thread.
I have to say that it IS related when one talks about certain kinds of alternative schooling-- and the problem is, as Val states, one of belief (which is largely irrational, and can be amply demonstrated to be so, in fact) versus rationality. Again, this is an issue which recurs for parents and gifted children on a fairly regular basis. This is just one more example.
Medical exemptions are different, which is why everyone else needs to be vaccinated: herd immunity protects the ones who are allergic to the components of the shot or who have another problem precluding vaccination.
THIS.
So, so, SO much.I know someone who lost a child to influenza. For real. He was nine years old.
Having loved and lived with more than one person who was seriously immunocompromised, I can also say for certain that some people don't
get to "choose" for themselves what their personal risk tolerance is on the subject of vaccine-preventable illnesses. The rest of us do it for them every time we go out in public.
You can guess how good the outcome is when someone is too ill to continue their chemotherapy regimen.
