Pete K Declares War on Racism at Highland Hall Part 2

September 22, 2009,

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

This is the third letter I have issued regarding racism at HH Waldorf school. If you are hearing from me for the first time, the first two letters are available for viewing and comment at OpenWaldorf in the HH section and are posted there. OpenWaldorf is as good a place as any for posting this material. Comments are also welcome.

I received the following report from Board of Trustees president {name of board president}:

“I have inquired on more than one occasion regarding the teachings in the classroom, as well as interviewing teachers myself, as well as examining various classroom materials, and my own daughter's experiences. There is a standing request that I be informed of any materials or activity in the classroom that are found to contain anything racist. So far, I am happy to tell you that I have found no evidence that the school has ever taught anything racist.”

So what ARE they teaching our kids? How can it look like racism to some, but not to others? Is HH in denial about what they are teaching and if so, why? Or do they believe people won’t notice? I noticed. Now I’m asking you to notice too.

Let’s start with something that, on the surface, seems innocuous: the Greek Olympic Games. These happen in the 5th grade. To understand what is happening here and how these “games” set our children up to accept racism, we must start with an understanding of the temperaments. The temperaments are something ALL Waldorf teachers must learn about – it is part of Waldorf teacher training.

Steiner's role of the temperaments in children is described by master Waldorf teacher Rene Querido:

"The temperament is the meeting of the spiritual aspect of oneself, which one refers to as 'I', and the contributions of the father and mother. The temperament is the result of the blending of these two streams, the spirit and heredity."
(From "Waldorf Education - A Family Guide" - p. 60 The Role of Temperament in Understanding the Child by Rene Querido)

OK – so right off the bat, we see that heredity makes up half of the temperament in each child. Remember the part about the spiritual aspect of oneself, which one refers to as 'I' – this is part and parcel of why Anthroposophists don’t believe Steiner’s teachings are racist.

On page 62 of the above reference, there is a chart that puts the temperaments and their associated spiritual connections and characteristics in a nutshell.


Sanguine: Spring, Yellow, Superficial, Nerves, Air, Socially Aware, Caring.


Choleric: Summer, Red, Destructive, Dictator, Blood, Fire, Selfless Leader.


Melancholic: Fall, Mauve, Self-pitying, Bones, Earth, Considerate, Understanding.


Phlegmatic: Winter, Blue, Lazy, Glands, Water, Reliable, Faithful.

Note: I have added Steiner’s own depictions of the body SHAPE above each description. I took the pictures from OpenWaldorf.com. I believe it is important to note how both the body shape of the child and the heredity of the child contributes to this separation process.

Each child, according to Waldorf teacher training, fits one of these four categories more than any other. This category may determine where the child is seated in the classroom, or which musical instrument is recommended for the child, or which part in the play a child is given. It certainly reflects what the teacher expects from the child. Here's a good example of what I am talking about:

"If you put on a play, you should cast the characters according to the temperaments of your students. You might, for example, ask your cholerics to play Julius Caesar, and you might cast your sanguines as the messengers, since they would enjoy running in and out with the news. The melancholics love philosophical roles. ... The phlegmatics, on the other hand, like the parts where they can sit and think, removed from the central action of the play." (From "Waldorf Education - A Family Guide" - p. 65-66 The Role of Temperament in Understanding the Child by Rene Querido)

In the fifth grade, however, the temperaments are brought to full light in the pentathlon or Greek games. This event will usually involve children from neighboring schools competing in several events (it's usually seven events in my area, so pentathlon loses its meaning). The children are not separated by school – but by temperaments. Each temperament represents a different city-state in Greece, e.g. Red=Sparta, etc. So, from a curriculum point of view, Waldorf schools see some benefit in having, for example, all the "superficial" children compete against each other. All the "lazy" children compete together, as do all the "self-pitying" children and the "destructive dictators." They get their own colored uniforms or identifications – each associated with Steiner's colors. Choleric children get red, for example.

The children get to march around all day wearing a uniform that identifies them to their classmates perhaps as "lazy." Remember this is based at least partly on heredity and body shape. If the identification wasn't clear from the start, it is easy to see which children are lumped together at a glance. The obese children are all wearing blue. A child simply has to look at their uniform to see who they have been associated with. Often, classmates or siblings will tease children based on the color of their uniform. This can be distressing for some children. And for what? Why separate children by heredity and body shape in the first place?

That teachers/schools would make such a division of children based on some perceived temperament and then have this decision displayed to all the children is, in my opinion, a cruel thing to do to children. To divide children in games using heredity and body shape as a criteria, especially in the way described above, is hurtful nonsense; it is Anthroposophy at its worst. It divides and harms children in a very ugly and thoughtless way. Frankly, if a teacher or school thinks my child is lazy, or superficial, or dictatorial, or self-pitying, they should pretty much keep it out of my child's consciousness.

I don't think it is too much of a leap to discuss racism when referring to the above exercise. I’m not sure anyone at HH has thought through the implications of this display and how it relates to Steiner’s recurring message. Steiner believed humans were divided into races and that each race had its own unique characteristics. Some races were higher on the evolutionary ladder, others were lower, some were advancing, others were declining. For each of the races, just like for each of the temperaments, Steiner had both good and bad things to say. It was clear in Steiner’s writings, however, that some races were held in higher regard than others, with the white race being the most advanced and the “race of the future.”

“You see, when we really study science and history, we must conclude that if people become increasingly strong, they will also become increasingly stupid. If the blonds and blue-eyed people die out, the human race will become increasingly dense if men do not arrive at a form of intelligence that is independent of blondness. Blond hair actually bestows intelligence. . . .It is indeed true that the more the fair individuals die out the more will the instinctive wisdom of humans vanish.” (Steiner, 1922, Health and Illness: Volume I. Trans. Maria St. Goar. Spring Valley: Anthroposophic Press, 1981. p. 86)

Steiner viewed these types of things as matter-of-fact spiritual observations and saw nothing wrong in verbalizing his spiritual observations to Anthroposophists. I don't think he was intentional about promoting racism as such, but I DO believe, and his quotes here confirm, that he was a bit nervous about how this material would be received by the general public. I think this says a lot. He knew he was saying something people would find offensive, and he felt compelled to say it anyway because he believed from a spiritual point of view that it was true. This from someone who was so concerned about social reform but who had never met a black person. I don't believe it was a matter of Steiner having said something and having been misunderstood or misquoted. I believe it was a matter of Steiner saying something he believed to be true in exactly the way it has been interpreted.

That, of course, is why Anthroposophists have a hard time backing away from such statements. They believe them to be true — from a spiritual point of view — and want to continue believing them, quietly. The problem comes in when these ideas reinforce the unenlightened views of a group of people, Waldorf teachers to be specific, who are already comfortable assigning certain roles or holding certain expectations of certain children based on physical characteristics associated with their alleged temperaments. I suggest it is not too much of a stretch for them to expect intelligence from blond-haired children when Steiner specifically says that's what they should expect.

If it is HH’s intention to create Anthroposophists — and I believe it is — then softening the children up and preparing them to accept Steiner’s more difficult ideas takes a lot of time. The Greek Olympics are one way Steiner’s ideas are imprinted on the children.

More importantly, Steiner’s ideas about the races are imprinted on Waldorf teachers in exactly the same way as his ideas about the temperaments. Reading in the teacher training materials for Waldorf teachers, we find many disturbing references to the races and other wacky stuff. Every Waldorf teacher training institution including HH’s own Waldorf Institute of Southern California (WISC) uses Faculty Meetings with Rudolf Steiner as its “Bible.” It is a book that describes Steiner’s advice for the first Waldorf teachers, so it’s particularly significant in Waldorf teacher training. Let’s explore this book a little.

Physical traits meant a LOT to Steiner. For example, below he talks about “large and small-headed children,” the differences between them, and what Waldorf teachers should expect from these two different shapes of heads (p534):

“It is certainly a major deficiency that many educational systems pay no attention to such things as, for example, the external appearance of the children. You can stand in front of a school and see both large and small-headed children. We should treat those children with larger heads, in general, in the way I just presented. Those with small heads should not be treated that way, but in a way I will shortly describe. In those children with a physically oversized head, you will be able to find what I have just described as deficiencies, namely, lack of attention or a too-strongly developed phlegma. “

How FINAL were Steiner’s teachings? Below, a teacher confronted Steiner with her own observations that conflicted with Steiner’s about a child with “small-headedness” (p542):

A teacher: You spoke of flighty children having large heads. In my class, I have a very flighty child with a small head.
Dr. Steiner: A small head is connected with brooding and reflecting whereas large-headed children are more flighty. If that is not the case, your judgment is incorrect. A small-headed child who is very flighty has not been evaluated from the proper perspective. You can orient yourself with these things. You first need to look at the nature of the child from the proper perspective. Show me the child some time. It is possible to mistake a child’s brooding for superficiality. It is possible that the brooding is hidden behind a kind of superficiality. That is easily possible with children.

But did Steiner’s ideas have any merit? In Faculty Meetings, we see the school DOCTOR even challenging Steiner about the difficulty in differentiating large- and small-headedness in children. Notice how Steiner skips over the question (p633):

The school doctor: It is difficult to differentiate between large- and small-headed children.
Dr. Steiner: You will need to go more thoroughly into the reality of it. So many things are hidden. It sometimes happens that these things appear later with one child or another. I would now like to hear about the first grade. Are the children taking it up? We need to follow the psychology of this first grade. Every class has its own individuality. These two first grade classes are very interesting groups.

OK, let’s forget the head. Since we’re almost on the right page, how about the hands? Did Steiner give any indications of the child’s capacity for learning from the hands? (p634):

A teacher asks whether the tendency toward left-handedness should be broken.

Dr. Steiner: In general, yes. At the younger ages, approximately before the age of nine, you can accustom left-handed children to right-handedness at school. You should not do that only if it would have a damaging effect, which is very seldom the case. Children are not a sum of things, but exponentially complicated. If you attempt to create symmetry between the right and left with the children, and you exercise both hands in balance, that can lead to weak-mindedness later in life. The phenomenon of left-handedness is clearly karmic, and, in connection with karma, it is one of karmic weakness. I will give an example: People who overworked in their previous life, so that they did too much, not just physically or intellectually, but in general spiritually, within their soul or feeling, will enter the succeeding life with an intense weakness. That person will be unable to overcome the karmic weakness in the lower human being. (The part of the human being that results from the life between death and a new birth is particularly concentrated in the lower human being, whereas the part that comes from the previous earthly life is concentrated more in the head.) So, what would otherwise be strongly developed becomes weak, and the left leg and left hand are relied upon as a crutch. The preference for the left hand results in the right side of the brain, instead of the left, being used in speech. If you give in to that too much, then that weakness may perhaps remain for a later, a third, earthly life. If you do not give in, then the weakness is brought into balance.


Please remember, this is all REQUIRED READING for Waldorf teachers.

So, Rudolf Steiner had some very interesting things to say about how the physical body reflects our disposition, our demeanor, and even our intelligence.

Here are a couple of disturbing passages from Faculty Meetings that are quickly becoming famous. Notice below how, when angry with the French (for deploying black soldiers in Germany), Steiner decided to take a jab at them by claiming the French are a “race” and suggesting it is reverting to a lower race. Remember, Steiner was saying these things to TEACHERS in the context of training them (p558).

“The French are also ruining what maintains their dead language, namely, their blood. The French are committing the terrible brutality of moving black people to Europe, but it works, in an even worse way, back on France. It has an enormous affect on the blood and the race and contributes considerably toward French decadence. The French as a race are reverting.”

On page 552 is a proposal to ask parents for permission to stop teaching French. Is anyone surprised that they don’t offer instruction in the French language at HH?

Here’s another famous quote… it is often shortened when reproduced, but I left the whole thing in for context. The idea of the spirit “I” in Steiner’s philosophy allows Steiner to make these types of observations (p649):

“That little girl L.K. in the first grade must have something really very wrong inside. There is not much we can do. Such cases are increasing in which children are born with a human form, but are not really human beings in relation to their highest I; instead, they are filled with beings that do not belong to the human class. Quite a number of people have been born since the [eighteen-]nineties without an I, that is, they are not reincarnated, but are human forms filled with a sort of natural demon. There are quite a large number of older people going around who are actually not human beings, but are only natural; they are human beings only in regard to their form. We cannot, however, create a school for demons.”

“Cosmic error is certainly not impossible. The relationships of individuals coming into earthly existence have long been determined. There are also generations in which individuals have no desire to come into earthly existence and be connected with physicality, or immediately leave at the very beginning. In such cases, other beings that are not quite suited step in. This is something that is now quite common, that human beings go around without an I; they are actually not human beings, but have only a human form. They are beings like nature spirits, which we do not recognize as such because they go around in a human form. They are also quite different from human beings in regard to everything spiritual. They can, for example, never remember such things as sentences; they have a memory only for words, not for sentences. The riddle of life is not so simple. When such a being dies, it returns to nature from which it came. The corpse decays, but there is no real dissolution of the etheric body, and the natural being returns to nature.”

“It is also possible that something like an automaton could occur. The entire human organism exists, and it might be possible to automate the brain and develop a kind of pseudomorality. I do not like to talk about such things since we have often been attacked even without them. Imagine what people would say if they heard that we say there are people who are not human beings. Nevertheless, these are facts. Our culture would not be in such a decline if people felt more strongly that a number of people are going around who, because they are completely ruthless, have become something that is not human, but instead are demons in human form.”

“Nevertheless, we do not want to shout that to the world. Our opposition is already large enough. Such things are really shocking to people. I caused enough shock when I needed to say that a very famous university professor, after a very short period between death and rebirth, was reincarnated as a black scientist. We do not want to shout such things out into the world.”

Above, Steiner catches himself talking about things that are not for ears outside of Waldorf faculty. We may think it ridiculous that a Waldorf teacher today might follow Steiner’s teachings about demons possessing children, but this is in the teacher training materials. If a teacher believes the notion of Steiner’s “I,” then such things as possessions of the body must also be believable to Steiner’s most devout followers.

It has been my experience that many Waldorf teachers take Steiner’s teachings very seriously and very literally. Steiner’s teachings about the temperaments are INTENDED to come through in the classroom and come to fruition in the Pentathlon/Greek Olympic games. Steiner’s teachings about the “spirit I” and the hierarchy of the races are part of the same body of knowledge that is REQUIRED READING in Waldorf teacher training , right beside the temperaments, in the SAME BOOK.

In Waldorf, the “spirit I” theme starts with the Rainbow Bridge story in Waldorf pre-school and runs through to the high school morning prayer, written by Steiner himself. The “spirit I” is the theme that permits the inclusion of racism in Waldorf. As a Waldorf teacher, one would have to suddenly put on the brakes when arriving at Steiner’s subtle racism. Unfortunately, it is difficult, if not impossible, for Waldorf teachers to see when to do this.

Remember, when we were kids, we used to play “which one does not belong?” Five out of the six statements are taken directly from Faculty Meetings with Rudolf Steiner.

“It is certainly a major deficiency that many educational systems pay no attention to such things as, for example, the external appearance of the children.”

“A small head is connected with brooding and reflecting whereas large-headed children are more flighty.”

“Such cases are increasing in which children are born with a human form, but are not really human beings in relation to their highest I; instead, they are filled with beings that do not belong to the human class.”

“In those children with a physically oversized head, you will be able to find what I have just described as deficiencies, namely, lack of attention or a too-strongly developed phlegma.”

“If the blonds and blue-eyed people die out, the human race will become increasingly dense if men do not arrive at a form of intelligence that is independent of blondness. Blond hair actually bestows intelligence…”

“The phenomenon of left-handedness is clearly karmic, and, in connection with karma, it is one of karmic weakness.”

“They are also quite different from human beings in regard to everything spiritual. They can, for example, never remember such things as sentences; they have a memory only for words, not for sentences.”


If Waldorf teachers are TRAINED to use these types of criteria for their interactions with children, where do they draw the line? Steiner said all these things. All of them are offensive or at least problematic for most educators. They are all part of Anthroposophy, part of the “knowledge” Waldorf teachers are supposed to study. Can we really trust that Waldorf teachers know the difference between what crosses the line to racism? IS there a line at all? They taught my child that blood types of Europeans are more evolved than blood types of Africans and Asians, which any mainstream biologist can tell you is incorrect. Does that cross the line?

Anthroposophy is in everything Waldorf. It is the substance that binds the curriculum. It isn’t taught; it is displayed for the children. Sometimes, those displays are ugly and rather obviously out of place, like the Greek Olympics. While claiming not to be an Anthroposophist, our Board of Trustees president, {name of board president}, does not see anything wrong with these examples I have given you. In fact, as he reported with confidence, he “found no evidence that the school has ever taught anything racist.” If this is the case, then Waldorf teachers are indeed doing their job well. The racism is in Anthroposophy, and Anthroposophy is in Waldorf. It’s in our kids now, too, in subtle ways they may not recognize.



Pete Karaiskos