Abstract
In 1991, the first public Waldorf school was opened in the inner city of Milwaukee. Based on a week of observations by the authors, this article reports the significant achievements of the school. In classrooms, we observed mostly whole-class lessons well structured around the natural rhythms of body movement, language, and social interaction; most of the children were constantly engaged with the curriculum. Misbehavior was handled directly and lovingly. The children performed remarkably well on standardized tests. Faculty discussions on the nature of Waldorf education and its use in a racially charged and poor neighborhood were both heated and productive.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Almon, J. (1992). Educating for creative thinking: The Waldorf approach.ReVision 15: 71–78.
Angelou, M. (1990).I Shall Not Be Moved. New York: Bantam.
Baugh, J. (1983).Black Street Speech. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Bruno, J. (1995). Doing time-killing at school.The urban Review 27: 101–120.
Burton, L. (1996). Ethnographic insights on social context and adolescent development among inner-city, African American teens. In R. Jessor, A. Colby, and R. Shweder (eds.),Ethnography and Human Development. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Byers, P. (1992). The spiritual in the classroom.Holistic Education Review 5: 6–11.
Byers, P., and Byers, H. (1972). Nonverbal communication and the education of children. In C. Cazden, V. John, and D. Hymes (eds.),Functions of Language in the Classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.
Byers, P., Dillard, C., Easton, F., Henry, M., McDermott, R.P., Oberman, I., and Uhrmacher, B. (1996).Waldorf Education in an Inner-city Public School: The Urban Waldorf School of Milwaukee. Spring Valley, NY: Parker-Courtney Press.
Cuban, L. (1993).How Teachers Taught (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
Dantley, M. E. (1990). The ineffectiveness of effective schools leadership.Journal of Negro Education 59: 585–598.
Dillard, C. (1995). Threads of promise, threads of tension: The Urban Waldorf School and the African American child.Renewal (Fall-Winter: 37–40).
Easton, F. (1995).The Woldorf Impulse in Education: Schools as Communities That Educate the Whole Child by Integrating Artistic and Academic Work. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Eisner, E. W. (1991).The Enlightened Eye: Qualitative Inquiry and the Enhancement of Educational Practice. New York: Macmillam.
Erikson, E. (1968).Identity: Youth and Crisis. New York: Norton.
Fine, M. (1991).Framing Dropouts. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Fine, M. (ed.). (1994).Chartering Urban School Reform: Reflections on Public High Schools in the Midst of Change. New York: Teachers College Press.
Finser, T. (1994).School as Journey. Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press.
Franklin, J. H. (1993).The Color Line. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.
Gilmore, P. (1985). “Gimme room”: School resistance, attitude, and access to literacy.Journal of Education 167: 111–129.
Golden, J. (1995).Children, Stories, and Gender: A Feminist Poststructuralist Study. Unpublished dissertation. James Cook University, Townsville, Qld., Australia.
Goodwin, M. (1990).He-Said-She-Said. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.
Greene, M. (1988).The Dialectic of Freedom. New York: Teachers College Press.
Harwood, A. C. (1958).The Recovery of Man in Childhood. New York: Myrin Institute.
Henry, M. (1992). School rituals as educational contexts: Symbolizing the world, others, and self in Waldorf and college prep schools.International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 5: 295–309.
Henry, M. (1993).School Cultures: Universes of Meaning in Private Schools. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Kanpol, B., and Yeo, F. (1995). Inner-city realities: Democracy within difference, theory, and practice.The Urban Review 27: 77–91.
Kozol, J. (1991).Savage Inequalities. New York: Crown.
Liebow, E. (1967).Tally's Corner Boston: Little, Brown.
Massey, D., and Denton, N. (1993).American Apartheid: Segregation and the Meaning of the Underclass. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
McDermott, R. A. (ed.). (1982).The Essential Steiner. San Francisco: Macmillan.
McDermott, R. P. (1992). Waldorf education in America: A promise and its problems.ReVision 15: 82–90.
McDermott, R. P. (1996). Racism and Waldorf Education. Research bulletin of the Waldorf education research institute. Vol 1 (2): 00-00.
McDermott, R. P., and Varenne, H. (1995). Culture as disability.Anthropology and Education Quarterly 25: 324–348.
McLaughlin, M., Irby, M., and Langman, J. (1994).Urban Sanctuaries: Neighborhood Organizations in the Lives and Futures of Inter-City Youth. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Meier, D. (1994).The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem. Boston: Beacou Press.
Muxworthy Feige, D. (1988).Gregory Bateson and Waldorf Education: Gestures in the Dance. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Columbia University.
Noguera, P. (1995). Preventing and producing violence: A critical analysis of responses to school violence.Harvard Educational Review 65(2): 189–212.
Pratt, A. (1994). My three years at the Milwaukee Urban Waldorf Program.Renewal (Fall-Winter): 16–21.
Richards, M. C. (1980).Toward Wholeness: Rudolf Steiner Education in America. Middletown, CT, Wesleyan University Press.
Shuman, A. (1986).Storytelling Rights: The Uses of Oral and Written Texts by Urban Adolescents. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sloan, D. (1992). Imagination, education, and our postmodern possibilities.ReVision 14: 42–51.
Smith, D., Gilmore, P., Goldman, S. V., and McDermott, R. P. (1993). Failure's failure. In E. Jacob and C. Jordan (eds.),Minority Education (pp. 209–231). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Spock, M. (1985).Teaching as a Lively Art. Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press.
Stack, C. (1974).All Our Kin. New York: Harper Colophon.
Steiner, R. (1985).The Renewal of the Social Organism. Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press.
Taylor, D., and Dorsey-Gaines, C. (1988).Growing Up Literate: Learning from Inner-City Families. Portsmith, NH: Heinemann.
Tyack, D., and Cuban, L. (1995).Tinkering Toward Utopia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Uhrmacher, B. (1991).Waldorf Schools Marching Quietly Unheard. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford University.
Uhrmacher, B. (1993a). Coming to know the world through Waldorf education.Journal of Curriculum and Supervision 9: 87–104.
Uhrmacher, B. (1993b). Making contact: An exploration of focused attention between teacher and students.Curriculum Inquiry 23: 433–444.
Vincent, J. (1993). Framing the underclass.Critique of Anthropology 15: 215–230.
Wexler, P. (1994).Becoming Somebody. Philadelphia: Falmer Press.
Williams, L. (1994). Multiculturalism and Waldorf education: A call for an American curriculum.Renewal (Spring-Summer): 29–32.
Williams, R. (1959). Culture is ordinary. In N. MacKenzie (ed.),Conviction (pp. 74–92). New York: Monthly Review Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McDermott, R., Henry, M.E., Dillard, C. et al. Waldorf education in an inner-city public school. Urban Rev 28, 119–140 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02354381
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02354381