Holistic Education towards
Freedom
by Kathleen
Pearl
“Our
highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings
who are able of themselves to impart purpose and
direction to their lives.”
~ Rudolf Steiner
|
People
often ask me, “What is Waldorf education?” and “How is it
different?” On one occasion I was even asked, “Isn’t that the
school where the kids just do art, run wild and go to class only if
they want to?” The answer, as one of my teenagers would say, is a
definite: “Not!”
What
is Waldorf education?
In
1919, Austrian born philosopher and visionary Rudolf Steiner was
asked to found a school for the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory
workers’ children in
Stuttgart
,
Germany
.
Steiner put into practice
an approach to education that begins with deep insights into child
development. He asked: Who is this child? How does he or she
develop? Why (and to what) does he or she respond and react?
Waldorf
education has become one of the largest independent school systems,
with more than 850 schools worldwide.
Most Waldorf schools enroll children as early as kindergarten
and work with them through the eighth grade. Some Waldorf schools
also offer pre-school programs, high school classes, classes for expecting
parents, and adult classes in different subjects for the community
at large. The quality of education is well regarded, as
colleges accepting Waldorf graduates include Brown, Yale, Stanford,
Harvard, MIT and
Princeton
.
Waldorf
teachers engage in a rigorous training program that normally
requires two years of full-time post-graduate study, with
considerable time spent developing skills in music, painting, drama
and language. The first
year is oriented toward studying the philosophy of Steiner, while
the second year focuses on curriculum and practical teaching
experience.
How
is Waldorf education different?
The
uniqueness of the Waldorf curriculum focuses on how
children are taught. Specifically,
Waldorf education follows the patterns of child development,
including and incorporating the roles of the will and our abilities
to both feel and think. So, too, do the rhythms or cycles that
influence all of our developmental processes play an essential role.
Isn’t
that the school where the kids just do art and run wild?
From
birth to age seven, children are firmly rooted in the physical body
and in the development of will.
Learning and thinking at this age are not abstract, but occur
through imitation and movement.
Thus, the Waldorf kindergarten teacher creates an environment
worthy of imitation using warmth and rhythm, fairy tales and song,
and toys of natural materials, which leave the child with freedom of
imagination. The celebration of various festivals reflects the sense
of rhythm so important at this age.
Focusing on the rhythms of the day, the season and the year
helps to create a deep connection with this earth we live upon.
Around
the age of seven, children move from focusing on imitation and
movement to a life of feeling and imagination.
Academic subjects are thus taught using images, stories and
the subject’s relationship to the human being. Students draw and
write their own textbooks from the main lesson of the day, and
subjects are not taught as an end in themselves, but as an aid to
develop the child’s inner growth.
Daily
lessons are taught in a “block” of two to six weeks. For
instance, a block on ancient
Greece
in grade five would
include history and biography interwoven with legend and myths.
Perhaps painting, acting
out a play, and mask making would be part of the immersion
into this subject; long after the conceptual content of the lesson
has been forgotten, the artistic experience continues to live within
the child.
Throughout
the first eight years of school, children ideally journey with the
same teacher, growing and learning from each other socially.
Differences of belief and culture are appreciated and celebrated,
and the understanding that we are a group working together is
integral to learning. Because
so much of the learning involves interaction, there is the sense
that we don’t simply live for ourselves; rather, we work together
as we learn.
After
age fourteen, children begin to awaken their own independent
thought. The Waldorf
high school meets these changes with corresponding changes in
curriculum and structure. The
class teacher who has stayed with her students from grades 1 through
8, providing continuity and real insight into the child as she
grows, is replaced by specialist teachers, each an expert in his or
her field. The natural authority of the class teacher born of love
and respect is replaced by respect for the knowledge and experience
of the subject teachers. The
subject material of the elementary years now becomes a rich resource
available for the student’s newly emerging intellect.
A
typical school day may be structured with singing and flute playing,
the main lesson, languages, crafts, woodwork, clay, gardening, games
and orchestra. There is
a sense of order and attention to detail so that children and
teachers alike create an environment full of care and reverence for
the experience of being alive. This education instills a joy of
learning and promotes creativity, problem-solving, and critical
thinking in a cross-disciplinary fashion.
Although
Steiner gave many suggestions for teaching the curriculum, every
teacher brings his or her own “aliveness” to each subject and
communicates this to the students.
In this way, education becomes an art, an act of creativity
that renews the teacher as well as the students.
Uniting
head and hands and heart
Waldorf
education is in harmony with both the child’s nature and needs.
Waldorf students are educated in recognition of their own spirits
and in rhythm with their physical, mental and emotional development.
Their lessons are alive and interesting; they challenge and
stimulate the imagination. Most importantly, children are addressed
not as beings of head alone, but of hands and heart as well.
As
Rudolf Steiner once wrote, “Our highest endeavor must be to
develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart
purpose and direction to their lives.”
This is the true meaning of education: a freedom to be truly
content within and to be of real benefit to this world we share.
Kathleen
Pearl is a
Grade 2 teacher at Aurora Waldorf School of Alaska. For
more information call 333-9062 or visit the website: www.aurorawaldorf.org
