Secondly, all students in Waldorf elementary schools from the beginning are required to write their own texts whereby they put into words and pictures their understanding of the main lessons. All the examples of these student-made books I’ve seen are beautifully well-crafted both in prose and in artwork and show an amazingly complete grasp of concepts.

Third, in a Waldorf elementary school, teachers stay with the same class from first through eighth grades, and twice a school year these teachers write out a careful, thoughtful evaluation of each student’s development in all aspects. By no means are children’s intellectual development ignored. I’d like to direct interested readers to Torin Finser’s book, “School as A Journey,” which describes his experience taking a class through the eight grades, and gives an inside view of the process of working with the children’s varying strengths and weaknesses.

As for Debra Snell’s story, I have great difficulty imagining that her child was in a typical Waldorf classroom and was unable to read by fifth grade  or that she did not notice her child’s illiteracy until then. It sounds suspicious, distorted and extremely atypical.

Juliana A. Haught,

Lawrence