The school does not appreciate an individual's spirit and personality.
Children are expected to act/draw/play in a very specific way. I
think especially boys fall so far behind in a Waldorf education. By the
time you pull your child out or they graduate, they will have so much
catching up to do. We wish we would have never found this school for
our children. As well, the communication of staff and teachers is
terrible.
I do not understand why there are not more critical
reviews of this school. It is beautiful from a distance. Inside, the
staff are horrible at communicating with parents, if there is even a
slight problem. It is a very passive/aggresive atmosphere. My children
got so terribly far behind academically. They were at least 2 years
behind in all areas. If you want your child to have friends, you will
need to be part of a clique of parents and 'play' on their terms. My
belief is that this school attracts many insecure parents and teachers,
who are working out their own issues. Very odd and uncomfortable
atmosphere, even though we were there for several years. I feel bad
that I sent my children to this school. I would not recommend it! I
think the school has so many problems.
Good school, but we felt like our child's individual needs
were overlooked in order to maintain the harmony of the whole. Our son
loves to perform and be a ham -- we had many conferences and were
frustrated that in the end his unique gifts could not be acknowledge as
any kind of asset -- simply a disruption to the whole.
8/6/2011
Keith J - St Paul, MN
8/6/2011
I felt like there was a lot of favoritism here. Minnesota Waldorf School only likes to work with certain students. It is hard to say who they like to work with , it is not about race or income, it seems to be more about academic performance. If you don't learn things in a quick enough manner they don't like you and don't want to deal with you.
When I was at a public or even charter school, as bad as they could be, I felt a sense of accountability for everyone regardless of race, religion, creed, and income.
With public schools, I feel like because they represent everyone in their district and their taxes all contribute to their service, there is an obligation to accommodate everyone in their schools and as a result you get more acceptance of differing academic performance, creed, religion, race, and income.
With private schools, I feel like they don't care as much about you. They get an attitude that they are not accountable for you because their revenue is probably protected by law, even if you are not satisfied with their service and want a refund of your tuition.
While I was at Minnesota Waldorf School from 2000-2001, I felt the management was very poor and the principle seemed weird. It was not a good fit for me. I didn't really believe in what they believed in. They believed in being heavily against technology, particularly television. Sorry, but I am a techie guy and going down their route turned out not to be a good fit for me. They also believe heavily in learning French and French was too hard form me to learn in as little of time as they gave me. Also, their instruction wasn't very effective for me. The people there talk like they have British accents and it is kind of cheesy.
I didn't care for for my experience there, but it wasn't all bad. It was a different kind of school and it was an experience to get a feel for a private school. Some of their programs were alright, but I ultimately didn't feel enough support and that is why I left after one year.