Waldorf realities

It is with great interest that we read Noemi Lopinto’s article on Waldorf schools [“Waiting for Waldorf,” Oct 10]. Nevertheless, we would like to rectify a few points.

In its essence, a Waldorf school is autonomous and self-managed. To us it seems difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile the words “Waldorf” and “public” in the context of the education milieu in Quebec. In addition, to best guide their teaching, teachers need latitude, something that conflicts with an affiliation to a union like the one we live with in Quebec.

In Waldorf pedagogy, students are not “encouraged” to learn at their own pace. It would be more appropriate just to say that a space is created so that the student develops at his or her own rhythm—something facilitated by the fact that teachers move up with their students from Grades 1 through 8.

It is equally false to say that students learn math by knitting and learn to count by putting nuts in bags. It would be more fair to say that the knitting allows the students to see things in three dimensions and that the manipulation of nuts is a concrete way of showing them how to count. Non-abstract learning is much better integrated, as the students learn through experience. When they’re interested and motivated, they take ownership of knowledge.

AWSNA is the association of Waldorf schools in North America. Rudolf Steiner School of Montreal is the only Waldorf school in Quebec recognized by this organization. The public schools in Chambly and Victoriaville are not recognized by AWSNA, while the school in Waterville obtained “developing school” status before it became a public, thus non-autonomous, institution. This designation may seem like nit-picking but it nevertheless gives a school the right to use the name “Waldorf” or “Rudolf Steiner,” both of which are protected under copyright law. Élan Waldorf members cannot claim to offer a Waldorf school to the Montreal community, and the use of these terms in their name and in their project description is a violation of this trademark.

The Rudolf Steiner School of Montreal has existed for 25 years. It gets no financial support from the Quebec government, and that’s what makes its tuition seem so high. Waldorf’s pedagogy has no pretensions of catering to the elite. On the contrary, the school makes great efforts to give financial assistance to families with trouble meeting tuition costs.

We hope that this information will help you more fairly inform the readers of your magazine.

» Geneviève Hogue, Administrator, Rudolf Steiner School of Montreal

Canines, critics
and criminals

I’ve been away and I’m just getting caught up on the local news. Here are some comments on recent stories:

Opening Jeanne-Mance Park to dogs is a terrible idea [“Jeanne-Mance Park going to the dogs,” Sept. 26]. Eric-Daniel Oudin says, “Dog runs are pretty shitty places, they’re very unpleasant and they’re a mess of disease.” And his solution is to turn the whole park into a dog run? I love dogs but I don’t trust their owners.

I was happy to read about Matthew Hays heckling Mr. Ebert [“When worlds collide,” Sept. 26]. I had a similar experience at our own World Film Festival where I told a rude American that if he didn’t like it here he should go back to the States. Typically, he responded with threatened violence.

I was also very interested to read about the Royal Bank rejecting customers they deemed objectionable [“Watch your politics, please, we’re bankers,” Sept. 12]. I had been thinking about something similar: if our society was serious about getting rid of organized crime, we could simply push the criminals out by refusing to do business with them. It’s no secret who the top mafia and gang members are, even if we’re unable to prosecute them in our courts due to a lack of evidence (and the strict rules governing how it’s collected). However, what if banks refused to give criminals bank accounts and credit cards, Bell refused to give them telephone service, gas stations refused to sell them gas, and stores to serve them? (Could we even get Hydro-Québec and the SAQ to join in?) What if criminals were unable to do business here?

» Benjamin Morgenstern

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