utunga/Comment Removed

## Comment Removed
The following is the exact text of the comment removed by the listener
from their "Fairy Tale Fallout" piece about Steiner education.
( http://bit.ly/1rPJcJr )

It's not exactly shakespeare but it doesn't call names or act personally abusive.
What is the Listener's moderation policy?

I received emails thanking me for this comment from others so know that it was
visible. It now says "this comment is awaiting moderation" and no longer appears
on the site.

====

It's not true that there cannot be change at Waldorf schools. When this article
broke we were in the process of revamping our whole special character statement
so as to distance ourselves from Anthroposophy in general and put an emphasis
on the 100 year old tradition of teaching that is the Waldorf education. Unfortunately
this article does not help at all, because it adds a lot more heat and exaggeration
to an already combustible mess of rumours, innuendo and mis quoted facts. I'm not
suprised that Catherine Woulf got the date of the incidents at Titirangi Rudolf
school wrong. She doesn't appear to have bothered to do very much work on this report
because in fact she got a huge number of basic facts wrong - that could easily have
been checked. Just for example she reports that the roll was 140 when it was 157
as of March and July roll returns (which are available from the ministry).
She says that 'this is Hekia Parata country', when in fact Hekia Parata has not
one a single election in this electorate. There are a number of other easily checked
objective facts she just got plain wrong. This, to me, indicates that actually doing
proper work and checking her sources and facts wasn't going to get in the way of her
writing the story she wanted to write. She clearly interviewed many people that left
the school but didnt interview *any* of the parents that stayed at the school, nor
did she bother to visit the place in person or. in fact, bother to find out anything
that happened at the school since last year.

She also completely mischaracterizes the report from the ministry. At the start of the article she wrote:
"
Last month an official investigation commissioned by the Ministry of Education confirmed
that aspects of Steiner’s writings are not compatible with the Treaty of Waitangi or
New Zealand’s education system. In supporting documents, the investigator also notes
"more specific evidence of racism".

But the Ministry of Education statement - as reported in the dominion post - characterizes the report this way:
"
We treat any suggestion of racism in schools very seriously and
always take action to investigate if a complaint is made.

We initiated an independent investigation that found no evidence
of racist elements within the Te Ra Waldorf school curriculum or
in the delivery of the curriculum. We are satisfied that the
school is operating as it should be.
"

She also uses the word "more specific evidence of racism"
in quotes but actually that phrase doesn't appear anywhere in the report.

Finally, and this is the worst thing, she repeats about four things
that are essentially just 'urban myths' without qualification. Just
as an example she says that a "Pakistani girl was seated next to a
fair-haired, light-skinned child so she could "better evolve". But
as far as I can determine from asking around last year this is just
one of those things that someone heard from someone who heard it
from someone who heard it from someone. At no point is there a
first source who can report that they witnessed or even know someone
who witnessed this occuring at any Waldorf school. This doesn't mean
it's untrue but it has all the hallmarks of an urban myth (salacious,
easy to repeat, believable to some depending on their prejudices). It's
very much like the urban myth about Richard Gere having to visit a
hospital to have a Gerbil removed from his rectum. To people who were
already suspicious of the activities of gay people in big city it's
exactly the kind of thing they love to repeat, but in fact it is just made up.

As I say we can't know for sure if that is true or false, but it is
up to a reporter to find decent sources and confirm their facts before
they report them. Putting it in quotes as "Gray, for example, was
informed of a "shocking incident" at a kindergarten" is really just
not good enough.

The thing is, this story is messing with real lives and a real school here,
so maybe some attention to getting a fair balanced story and getting both sides,
and not just repeating rumours and innuendo might have allowed us to get at the
*real* issues here which are around parents not being listened to and the
question of the evolution consciousness (for example) and how exactly, if
at all that is affecting the curriculum at Te Ra.

And such a shame. Because there are many that had left Te Ra that really
appreciated an opportunity finally air their grievances. To quote someone else:

"this article is a monument to missed opportunity for everybody. People who
want serious debate about anthroposophy, about state-funding of integrated
schools, about faith-based education, about whether Waldorf is faith-based
education, about the racism implied, explicit, current or historic, who
have a stake in a clear account of a complex community dynamic - all should
be seriously disappointed. The article reads like a shabbily-written
recycled press release based on dodgy journalistic practice."