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<br />An Idea Ahead of its Time:
<br />Steiner’s Visionary Waldorf Schools
<br />Recent brain research shows
<br />what Rudolf Steiner, the Auathan
<br />philosopher and mystic, knew
<br />intuitively: Uic whole person must
<br />be touched by the educolional
<br />process. From tl^e very bc^'inning.
<br />when Steiner's Waldorf Schools
<br />began in Germany in 1919. he
<br />turned toward holistic methods.
<br />seekinK an archetypal inlcrcon-
<br />ncc ng ground for the teaching of
<br />0*^. icicnce and religion. Steiner
<br />liCtieved that a sense of individual
<br />totality, based on personal free*
<br />dom and unpossessive love, could
<br />enhance perception. Dy weaving
<br />these into teaching methods.
<br />Steiner hoped to create a seminal
<br />model of education so powerful
<br />that there would soon be no con
<br />tinuing need fur the prototype
<br />Waldorf Schools.
<br />How did these schools differ
<br />iTom others? Primarily in their
<br />emphasis on the arts and the
<br />inner life. Said Steiner simply:
<br />"Waldorf School Education is not
<br />a pedagogical system but an Art
<br />— the Art of awakening what is
<br />actually there within tlic humon
<br />being."
<br />Steiner understood the prob
<br />lems of our strong intellectual
<br />bias and of parental cxpecta-
<br />tiona of luccess in money, power
<br />ond social adoplation. To override
<br />such repressive pressures, he felt
<br />an overarching view was neces
<br />sary — one that took into account
<br />the purpose of man's develop
<br />ment Steiner had such a view: he
<br />called it Anthropoaophy and he
<br />slresaed the idea of growth and
<br />change, believing that a new kind
<br />of education could pave the way
<br />for man's next evolutionary stage.
<br />What makes Steiner's work
<br />valuable today? First of all. it
<br />asks the question, "What is a
<br />human being?" His answer,
<br />which includes reverence for life
<br />— se taught in every class —
<br />expreases the (rue connections
<br />between nature, person and
<br />society. It is dedicated to inner
<br />dcvelupmcnl. to the education of
<br />spiritual qualities, ego strength,
<br />differentiation, will, thinking,
<br />feeling, movement — and even
<br />breathing. For instance, in
<br />Steiner's curriculum, science is
<br />taught with a concern for human
<br />values; rcUaion ia not thu only
<br />r(»'ilc to our .sense of meaning and
<br />of belonging; art is n route that
<br />helps reveal nature's secrets. And
<br />individual school.s lake on the
<br />character of different creative
<br />personalities, free of institutional
<br />rigidity and state control.
<br />Steiner advised against a
<br />merely intellectual .school day,
<br />firmly believing in the seriousness
<br />of play: all main lessons have
<br />recreational aspects. Students
<br />document their ideas by writing
<br />and drawing in special notebooks.
<br />Art is taught not to make children
<br />into artists, but to expose them to
<br />the healing influence of color, to
<br />exercise their creative wills, and
<br />to counteract the tendency of our
<br />time to act the imagination opart
<br />from learning.
<br />Music is also tended as a bnniu
<br />component of learning. Life, said
<br />Steiner, is intrinsically musical.
<br />Interval, tone, polyphony — all
<br />affect our thinking and «»rdoring of
<br />experience. Thus in Waldorf e<lu-
<br />cation, music may be interwoven
<br />with botany, geometry, astronomy.
<br />Dance ia Inughl as a combination
<br />of sound, motion and lant>uat{c —
<br />and expressed in a unique form
<br />call eurhythmy. (As with most
<br />Waldorf lessons, this multiple-skill
<br />exercise appeors to synchronize
<br />several different sectors of the
<br />brnin.) Steiner also encouraged
<br />his teachers to include thu do*
<br />mcnls of humor and surprise.
<br />Sixty years after the first
<br />Waldorf School was established
<br />there still remains a need for this
<br />spcciol typo of education — and
<br />its whole systems approach U»
<br />human ciipohilitiew Keseurclu-rs
<br />as divcr.se as Howurri Gardner,
<br />Rcuven b'cucrstcin and Hob
<br />Samples arc now calling for
<br />multiple approaches the reach ini
<br />' the whole brain and echo Steiner
<br />comprehensive vision. Meanwhil
<br />our most imp<irtant social critic s
<br />are pointing to the kind of literal
<br />logical thinking which Steiner
<br />saw as one-sided, egoistic, and
<br />responsible for the most pressing
<br />problems of our time.
<br />M. C. Richards, a poet, potter
<br />and teacher trained in the Stcine
<br />methods asks. "If we arc all so
<br />smart and creative rnd highly
<br />cdocatud, why are our schools
<br />characterized by confusion, ill-
<br />will, violence and sterility?"
<br />Richards points to the rage thnt’^
<br />hied by our current authoritarian
<br />system.
<br />Archetypal psychologist Jame
<br />Hillman underscores Steiner’s
<br />emphasis on the arts and the
<br />i.magination ns u form of cultural
<br />tlicrnpy and a necessary aspect o
<br />sclf-heuling — and asks why thes
<br />arc the very things wc nre denied
<br />"Do we know whnl idea of the
<br />human undorlics the school.** to
<br />which our children arc sent?"
<br />Hillman cautions us against
<br />tacitly accepting the rational
<br />model — which blocks us from
<br />our full humanity. The whole .
<br />Steiner pre.scription — feeling,
<br />imagination, music, ort ond move
<br />ment — is necessary for a bal
<br />anced view of life. Otherwise we
<br />become trapped, says Hillman, by
<br />rational ny.slcma that lead to irra
<br />tional nets, from domestic violenct
<br />to global conflicL Through crea
<br />tivity, the unconscious can he pos
<br />itively channelled and expressed.
<br />Otherwise, warns Hillmun, we ore
<br />controlled by our own weapons:
<br />"Idoos wo don’t know wo have,
<br />have us."
<br />— Carolyn Reynolds W
<br />THETA^RYTOWN LETTl
<br />For further information contact;
<br />nTTnoT e* c'prT»Tr*o r*r>T t ,1 ^
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