A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute (2011)

I read this same article back then. When we were looking to relocate to San Francisco we toured that same exact school! Loved the school, but didn't love Silicon Valley that much and decided to move to Portland instead (the vegan scene + public transport wins over SF).

This school does actually have a more strict no-screens policy than other Waldorf schools (we toured many). They had a lovely campus and our kids are doing great at the Swallowtail Waldorf school here outside of Portland.

I like Waldorf because no matter where you move in the world there is usually a Waldorf school, and while they are all a bit different in their implementations, they share core values and I feel would make the children feel at home in a similar way.

What about assistive technologies, to help students with special needs? This statement (by a person the author interviewed, not the author) implies that technology can only get in the way. This is definitely not true in the case of literacy and numeracy.

> “writing is unfortunately like painting; for the creations of the painter have the attitude of life, and yet if you ask them a question they preserve a solemn silence. And the same may be said of speeches. You would imagine that they had intelligence, but if you want to know anything and put a question to one of them, the speaker always gives one unvarying answer. And when they have been once written down they are tumbled about anywhere among those who may or may not understand them, and know not to whom they should reply, to whom not: and, if they are maltreated or abused, they have no parent to protect them; and they cannot protect or defend themselves.”

—- Plato, on reading and writing.

And they think the performance is best explained by the school's eclectic education style and shunning of new tech?

Edit: Desnarked (it was worse before)

The simple fact that the parents and school reject what is well-understood science speaks volumes, in my opinion.