Why is minority representation in the Waldorf movement so low?
With demographics (as I discussed in my last post) being to my mind the largest factor, there are still plenty of other reasons why minorities may or may not be attracted to Waldorf schools. In preparing and teaching my “Minorities and the American Experience” course I read through quite a few books on the sociology of race relations in late 20th and early 21st century America. One thing that several sources identified was that whites are as a whole comfortable with their status as the majority and culturally normative group, and therefore often don’t see the many ways in which they inadvertently offend members of other groups. Waldorf people like to think of themselves as the most progressive and open-minded bunch of people around, but they are just as susceptible to giving inadvertent offense as anyone.
Further, we live in a society pervaded by racism on many levels, and much of it unconscious. Inasmuch as people involved with Waldorf schools belong to the dominant white majority, they are generally susceptible to broader cultural influences from the society in which we all live. Put another way, things that are common in our society are probably fairly common in Waldorf schools as well. It is quite common for people today to believe that they harbor no animus towards members of any minority group, but careful sociological testing for unconscious biases continually reaffirms that whites consistently get favored treatment, both from other whites and from minority groups as well. This is something we all live with in modern American society; Waldorf people just as much as anyone else. For this reason members of minority groups may feel themselves no more welcome in Waldorf schools than anywhere else.
How much of a problem is this in actual fact? I’m afraid I don’t know, but it would be an interesting area to research. What are the experiences of minority parents and students in Waldorf schools and how do their perceptions of their status aligns with the perceptions of white parents, teachers, and administrators? In society at large a fairly wide “perception gap” exists between how minorities feel they’re treated and how whites feel they treat minorities. Such a gap probably exists in Waldorf schools as well. If it didn’t that would be remarkable. In any case, research on the issue is needed before we can know for sure one way or the other.
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