09-10-1990 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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OuBOlf VMLDORF CITY SCHOOL 927-0506 THE WALDORF APPROACH TO EDUCATION Rene M. Querido Our educational nethods today are very deeply influenced by the picture of Hian that we carry in our minds. Some views attempt to convince us that the human being is hardly more than an animal; others deal with the child as if he were merely a highly sophisticated machine. Waldorf education stresses the dignity and individuality of the growing child. Through Rudolf Stainerfs impulse, education becomes art, the curriculum being adapted to the various phases of the growing child's development from kindergarten to high school. Practice in. the classroom is based on the con viction that a truly wholistic pedagogy should encompass the education of hea^, hand and mind. The children in a Waldorf school are led during the seven or eight years of elementary education by the same class teacher who brings to them the wonders of nature, which later develop into the sciences, and the achievements of humanity through the march of time, which nourish and stimulate the unfolding of consciousness in the awakening human being. other teachers help in this process: music, eurythmy, handwork, gymnastics, foreign languages, etc. are taught from the early years; later woodwork, gardening, etc. a^e added. Zn the high school, specialists - through a balanced curriculum of the sciences and the humanities - bring to the students in a lively way a deeply integrating experience of the personality. Zn the years following puberty, the unfolding of true freedom on the basis of responsibility is the goal. In an age of growing specialization, the human being can perhaps only survive if in childhood the dormant forces of the fullness of his individuality have been awakened. The many Waldorf schools - tome 175 to-date* - all over the free world have arisen out of the burning needs of parents who harbor a real concern for the future of their children. The Waldorf School Movement was initiated by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), a universal humanist and scientist, who gave invaluable indications for the renewal of mankind - not only in education, but also in medicine, agriculture, the arts, and the sciences. The true meaning of education is "to bring forth* rather than *to put in*. Waldorf education is dedicatad towards the awakening of the faculties that lie within the child. Over and above preparing the student for life, our hope and concern is to contribute towards the unfolding of young people who out of themselves will find the strength to change what is harmful and unhealthy in our civilization. The true dignity of the human being is at stake. (Article from Program of the Marin Waldorf School Benefit Concert, Spring 1978) •about 350 in 1985.