FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11/10/97
UNIVERSITY MUSEUM PROMOTES CULT SCHOOL
People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools (PLANS) will put up an informational picket line at the Berkeley Art Museum on Saturday November 15 at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM. PLANS wants to caution parents bringing their children to art workshops taught by a "Waldorf" teacher in conjunction with the university museum's exhibition of Rudolf Steiner's blackboard drawings. Waldorf schools were founded by Steiner in 1919.
PLANS alleges that Waldorf education is a missionary activity of Anthroposophy, the cult of Rudolf Steiner. Debra Snell, president of PLANS, said "This deceptive religious group is becoming more aggressive in their attempt to mainstream their message. Recently they have managed to sell their curriculum to several public school districts, utilizing tax money to support their religious activities."
"Parents may get the mistaken impression that Waldorf schools are art schools," Snell continued. "We want them to understand that Waldorf is primarily a religious system. Everything they do is based on Rudolf Steiner's bizarre world-view."
Dan Dugan, Secretary of PLANS, said "Art in Waldorf schools has nothing to do with creativity. In painting classes, students all paint the same subject in the same style, and they paint in that same style for eight years. The beautiful crayon and colored-pencil drawings seen in the children's lesson books are copied from the teachers drawings on the blackboard. Children are not permitted to work in black and white, or to make line drawings, until puberty."
PLANS is a coalition of former Waldorf parents, teachers, and others dedicated to informing the public about Waldorf education as viewed from outside the cult of Rudolf Steiner. For more information, contact Dan Dugan at (415) 821-9776 or Debra Snell at (916) 273-1005