The vast majority are private schools, but Milwaukee, WI, has instituted a public Waldorf school as one of a series of experiments to try to improve student performance. Other school districts are exploring the idea, and NCSE members should be familiar with what may be in store for science education in this setting. The Waldorf approach includes some ideas that many educators would consider attractive. One teacher stays with a group of students for several years.
Students learn a foreign language in elementary school.
Creativity is given emphasis over rote learning. But if schools follow Steiner's views on science, education will suffer. Steiner believed that materialism was insufficient for the understanding of nature. Color is said to be the result of the conflict of light and darkness. Waldorf teachers are supposed to teach Steinerian evolution.