> Subject: RE: [LAU] Study Finds New Pop Music Does All Sound the Same.
> From: ralf.mardorf@alice-dsl.net
> To: dj_kaza@hotmail.com
> CC: gnome@hawaii.rr.com; linux-audio-user@lists.linuxaudio.org
> Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2012 22:46:10 +0200
>
>
> > Is it not correct that Waldorf Schools in Germany have full state
> > funding/backing?
>
> Sorry, no, they've got nothing in common with state schools. And they
> also are far away from being perfect, but at least they are the lesser
> of the two evils.
>


This is the same in the UK (well always has been historically. As I mentioned my old school now has Academy Status (if I remember the name right) which is a fairly new government initiative I admit I don't know enough about. Yet to see if it improves the school or affects it to much in the wrong way.) Maybe it's more they're recognised over there, as here many don't offer much in the way of qualifications (GCSEs) and thus applying to a college which doesn't know about the system can be hard. Not so detrimental as we're talking A levels, rather than university, but it does sometimes seem weird saying you only did 3 GSCEs where I believe most people do more than 10 or something... I don't fel it ever affected me negatively with getting on with life though, either professionally or personally. In fact there definitely are a lot of positives!

Although the quoted price of schooling at one here is at the level of most private schools (a lot of money) they also offer many incentives, giving reductions for people donating their time as volunteers and I believe also some level of means testing if you're accepted. There was definitely quite a broad mixture of very poor background and quite posh families in my school. I guess that in itself goes towards the ethos of social schooling and learning to accept each person as their own individual.

I did read a snippet earlier in the Wikipedia article you linked to mentioning how rich parents will make sure to move to a richer school catchment area before their kids come of age so there must be some truth in what you say about the disproportionate balance of the system over there. The same is quite true here and probably most places but I obviously can't personally share comparisons.

Dale.