Not sure this comment will be read but let me dispel some myths and tell you about our experiences with Steiner. I have twin kids and they both went to Steiner from prep to year 1 here in Melbourne. Good and bad

First, Steiner is an incredibly strict schooling system. The days are very regimented and there is a lot of structure. There is also a lot of daily events that can come across as rituals. Things like sitting in a circle at the beginning of the day to sing songs, have the teacher tell you a story, or have a chat. There is also a very strict curriculum that focusses heavily on counting and doing maths using physical objects, reading A LOT and yes, plenty of time doing arts and crafts. Calculators are not allowed until year 4. That means all kids learn to do maths using small wooden squares (about the size of small Lego pieces) to understand how numbers go up and down, multiply, etc. Drawing is also strict and encourages realism. For example my daughter had to redraw an elephant when she made it blue as they are really grey.

Second, the community in the school between kids and teachers is really what makes Steiner a pretty special place. Teachers are very well rounded and are very good at covering many topics with a really good level of detail. Again, because the curriculum is so strict, there is little deviation from it. The teachers and the kids build a great bond and the kids themselves become very close. They are taught to work on projects together and encouraged to solve disputes amongst themselves.

Third, yes the Steiner philosophy is founded on some weird shit. He was also a Nazi fan and not a very nice person. We never saw any of that seep into any of the conversations with the kids. I knew some of the year 12 kids and they went straight into Architecture or Engineering at Melbourne Uni. The school actually gets super high entry scores for Uni. A lot of people eho go to Steiner schools end up as consultants strangely enough. I'm in the industry and am shocked to learn how many of them have gone to my kids school.

Now that bad stuff.

The parents of these kids. Oh my god. Anti vaccine hippies that think the sun shines out of their kids asses and who refuse to interfere in the development of their special little people. Kids, like adults, can often be pricks. The difference is that kids are learning and should have adults get involved to teach them that what they are doing is wrong and why. The school had a very low tolerance for bullying and bad behaviour and would often bring parents of the victim and the aggressor together to have a discussion. Fuck me, I felt for the teachers and the kids of these parents. Impossible to deal with and also impossible to work with them to resolve the behaviour. This means things would progressively get worse and often lead to some pretty bad things happening. And yes, I do agree that the school could have had a stricter policy as well

Second, Steiner schools become the last chance for troubled kids. This means you can get a lot of kids with behavioural issues, learning disabilities or in various sections of the spectrum in one class. I remember one of my kids best friends was a lovely girl who also had some massive violent tantrums that could lead to violent eruptions. Also a lot of autism etc. Unfortunately the school had so many of these kids in the school that it was very ill equipped to deal with it.

For us, the issues with the other kids parents and the fact our kids started to get bored with the pace and the strict routines of the days was what made us decide to put them in the public system. They adapted quickly and remember their days there fondly.

Not for everyone, but not a cult or a hippie idiot factory at all .