June 11, 2000
$12000 Detention
I have noticed that the building at Fort Mason where I take my improv workshop classes is also home to the Waldorf High School. This campus on National Park land incorporates big, empty, white-wall rooms with cheap-ass posters of vacation spots and one room with a pink sheet on the door that says "Detention" and a list of the usual crimes that land a kid in detention.
It is that detention room that I can't figure. Why would a school built on the premises of individual spiritual growth and independent learning need a 1950's style detention room? This detention room has room for 30 students. The detention room for the students of my high school (population 1600) can only hold about 15 kids. I suspect that the Waldorf High School has about 100 students max.
The price tag for sending a kid to Waldorf High is 12,000 dollars. The teachers are not credentialed, but they have completed a 2 year Waldorf certification program (3 years if done on weekends).
The kicker is the Waldorf website. This is a monstrosity. Visit www.sfwaldorf.org. Perhaps I'm missing something, but where is there evidence that there are living, human kids at this school?