Two of my three kids spent about two years in a Waldorf School. From a social point of view, it was wonderful. Academically? A disaster. Perhaps if they'd been there from the get go, but they hadn't, they'd been in mainstream education so as far as they were concerned, going to a Waldorf school was like one big extended holiday. (Let's face it, how many kids would choose to do homework if they knew there was no 'punishment' for not doing it?)
So, did I do the right thing in sending them there? I think so, if for no other reason - they were the only Palestinian kids in what, until then, had been a school for Israeli kids - than it allowed them to form their own opinions about Israelis and to appreciate that not all Israelis are the enemy. BUT, I do feel - and I think the guilt surrounding this will stay with me forever - that from an academic educational point of view (rather than a 'life' educational point of view) I did them a huge disservice.
*Sigh.* Yet one more thing to feel guilty about. Ugh.
Words
|