Steiner

Steiner schools – my initial reaction was of curmudgeonly old bugger ~ If schools aren’t going to instil a level of discipline and basic education then any new fangled “wishy-washy” approach isn’t going to help ~ and then all of a sudden I was off and pondering my own attitudes towards these things. The Steiner approach focuses equally on “standard” curriculum lessons and other more general areas to help give an more rounded education.

From the knowledge point of view I think it’s probably a good thing if kids are taught practical things over, say, calculus until they get to the point of specialising in preparation for college/university (or not). Looking back it would have stood me in better stead if I’d been educated in basic personal economics than be able to calculate the value of x if y equals 13 and z equals oranges (can you tell that numbers aren’t my strong point?).

However I think that respect and discipline go hand in hand and the Steiner approach brings out the hard-liner in me and I start thinking “well it didn’t do ME any harm” and then I’m off again, wondering how I got so old all of a sudden and the growing acceptance that I’m turning into my parents (which isn’t strictly true as, with them being teachers, I’m sure they’ve got a very specific point of view on this topic).