The Spiritual Ground of Education
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THE SPIRITUAL GROUND OF EDUCATION [XV] THE FOUNDATIONS OF WALDORF EDUCATION RUDOLF STEINER THE SPIRITUAL GROUND OF EDUCATION Lectures presented in Oxford, England August 16–29, 1922 Anthroposophic Press Published by Anthroposophic Press 400 Main Street Great Barrington, MA 01230 www.steinerbooks.org Translated with permission from Rudolf Steiner’s Die geistig-seelischen Grundkräfte der Erziehungskunst (GA 305), copyright © 1991 Rudolf Steiner– Nachlassverwaltung. This revised edition copyright Anthroposophic Press © 2004 Publication of this work was made possible by a grant from THE WALDORF CURRICULUM FUND. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publishers, except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. ISBN 0-88010-513-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Steiner, Rudolf, 1861–1925. [Geistig-seelischen Grundkräfte der Erziehungskunst. English] The spiritual ground of education : lectures presented in Oxford, England, August 16-29, 1922 / Rudolf Steiner. p. cm. — (The foundations of Waldorf education ; 15) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-88010-513-5 (alk. paper) 1. Education — Philosophy. 2. Waldorf school of education. I. Title. II. Series. LB775.S7S73 2003 370'.1— dc21 2003006435 CONTENTS Introduction by Christopher Bamford vi 1. The Spiritual Ground of Education 1 August 16, 1922 2. The Perception of Soul and Spirit 15 August 17, 1922 3. The Spiritual Ground of Physical Education 28 August 18, 1922 4. The Art of Educating Young Children 43 August 19, 1922 5. The Art of Educating Older Boys and Girls 58 August 21, 1922 6. Teachers As Artists in Education 74 August 22, 1922 7. The Organization of the Waldorf School 88 August 23, 1922 8. Moral Teaching & Eurythmy in the Waldorf School 105 August 24, 1922 9. Teachers in the Waldorf School 121 August 25, 1922 The Foundations of Waldorf Education 136 Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures and Writings on Education 138 Index 141 Introduction Christopher Bamford THE SPIRITUAL GROUND OF EDUCATION is exceptional among Rudolf Steiner’s many lectures on Waldorf education for its breadth, depth, daring, and accessibility. Given in 1922 at Mansfield College, Oxford, England, the audience was one of the most prestigious that Steiner ever addressed. The occasion was a conference on “Spiritual Values in Education and Social Life.” About two hundred people attended. Dr. Millicent Mackenzie, then Professor of Education at Cardiff— a person for whom Steiner had the highest regard—was in the chair throughout the lectures. The Minister for Labor, Dr. H. A. L. Fisher presided. Other lecturers included celebrated names such as Gilbert Murray, the great classicist, A. Clutton Brock, the essayist, Professor Maxwell Garnett, and Edward Holmes. Nevertheless, despite this luminous company, the Oxford Chronicle reported that “The most prominent personality at the Congress is probably Dr. Rudolf Steiner.” Dr. Jacks, Principal of Manchester College, welcomed the conferees, and he, too, singled out Rudolf Steiner “whom he designated as the principal personality at the Congress.” The Chronicle reports: “Dr. Jacks said that the writings of Dr. Steiner impressed him as something extraordinarily stimulating and valuable.” Introduction vii Writing on August 21, a national daily, The Manchester Guardian, concurred: The entire congress finds its central point in the personality and teaching of Dr. Rudolf Steiner, and through this fact the audience is especially impressed. Many of those sharing in the conference—and these come, indeed, out of the most varied lands in the world—are already eager adherents of the teachings of Dr. Steiner. Others, who heard him for the first time, received a strong impression from his personality, and look forward with intense eagerness to the further development of his theory of education in the twelve following lectures. On August 31, after the conference was over, The Guardian reported: Dr. Rudolf Steiner’s lectures, for which we express our very special thanks, brought to us in a very vivid way an ideal of humanity in education. He spoke to us about teachers who, freely and unitedly, unrestricted by external prescriptions and regimentation, develop their education methods exclusively out of thorough knowledge of human nature. He spoke to us about the kind of knowledge needed by the teacher, a knowledge of the being of man and the world, which is at the same time scientific and also penetrates into the most intimate inner life, which is intuitive and artistic. In other words, Rudolf Steiner rose magnificently to the occasion. Clearly enthused by the opportunity to address so large and formidable a gathering, he was delighted to be able to bring conferees the good news of what was being done in Waldorf education. More generally, he also understood that the occasion was an opportunity to showcase for the British his anthroposophical “spiritual science,” of which the practice of viii THE S PIRI TUAL G ROUND OF E DUCATION Waldorf education was an important, even primary, application. This task was made easier by the natural pragmatism of the English audience, who, Steiner felt, could be spoken to directly, which he did every morning of the conference. In this setting, therefore, Steiner begins by stating immediately and without hesitation that Waldorf education and its curriculum is based entirely upon spiritual-scientific knowledge of the human being. Education is, as he says, “the primary area of life in which we must come to terms with the spirit.” We must understand the developing child as a whole human being—body, soul, and spirit. We learn that, in children, spirit is closer to the body than in adults. Physical nature is shaped by the spirit. All this must be taken into account. Spiritual understanding must guide the educational process. But this is not “esoteric” knowledge. As Steiner says, “Devoted, unprejudiced observation of life goes a long way to bringing about such understanding.” Steiner gives many instances of what this can provide. At the same time, he stresses repeatedly the importance of teachers who can teach with love as well as through art. Above all, he says, Waldorf education is a preparation for life. “This must be the ground for what we might call a spiritual-physiological pedagogy. We must have a feeling for brining living things to children— things that can continue with them into later life. What we foster in children often lives imperceptibly in the depths of the soul, and in later life it emerges.” In the second lecture, the audience having had difficulty with his use of the word “spiritual” (as in “spiritual cognition”), Steiner decided to deviate from his original plan and speak directly and openly about these things. What he has to say will be of great interest and usefulness to anyone who has had the same difficulty as the original audience. Spirit, he admits, is not directly perceptible anywhere. We see only its expression— above all and most clearly in children’s development, where Introduction ix “spiritual forces and soul essences are active in the formation of the brain and in shaping the whole organism.” He adds, “What we see are manifestations of life in a child; we perceive these with our senses. But it is spirit and soul that work through them from behind the veil of sense-perceptible things.” In other words: “Spirit is the reality of hidden depths.... Spirit is activity; it is always doing, it is always creative.” He then gives numerous examples of this activity and how to become aware of it. The third lecture unfolds the nature of the human being as a threefold organism. This, Steiner says, is a necessary precondition for understanding the Waldorf approach. Subsequent lectures deal with teaching younger and older children, which leads on to the whole question of education as an “art,” and teachers as “artists” in education. Following from this, Steiner reports on the actual organization of Waldorf schools and moral teaching and eurhythmy. Finally, he turns again to the teacher, the core of any pedagogy. Teachers must be exemplars of a way of life. They must be artistic and able to improvise, free of preconceptions and forever expecting the unexpected. They must be sensitive and receptive to the changes in human nature. And, above all: We need open minds, ready to receive new wisdom each day, and a disposition that can transform accumulated knowledge into a sense of potential that leaves the mind clear for the new. This keeps people healthy, fresh, and active. A heart that is open to changes in life—its unexpected and continuous freshness—must be a Waldorf teachers basic nature and mood. At the same time, the students must feel connected to their teachers. If not, something must be done. Steiner provides anecdotes and examples that show the importance of this. x THE S PIRI TUAL G ROUND OF E DUCATION All in all, The Spiritual Ground of Education is one of Steiner’s most exciting and revealing courses on education. THE SPIRITUAL GROUND OF EDUCATION August 16, 1922 First, I ask you to forgive me for being unable to speak to you in the language of this country, and because I am unpracticed, I must form things in the language I am able to use. Any problems this causes will, I trust, be rectified in the translation that follows. Second, allow me to say that I feel especially grateful to the distinguished committee that made it possible for me to hold these lectures here at Oxford. It is a special honor to be able to lecture in this venerable town, where I experienced the grandeur of ancient tradition twenty years ago. Now I am about to speak of a method of education that may, in a sense, be called new. These days, I would say that there are many who seek novelty simply for the sake of novelty.