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Introduction to
The Spirit of the Waldorf School
by Robert F. Lathe and Nancy K. Whittaker
"We thought this might be helpful for
anyone who would like to know more about
the historical context in which the Waldorf
School was founded."
Bob and Nancy
By the spring of 1919, nothing was left of what had been
called Germany and little remained of what had been Europe.
The dissolution of society had gone far beyond the fall of
governments, beyond the collapse of institutions, beyond the
blurring of social conventions and mores, beyond harsh
economic reality. This destruction bored into the hearts and
minds of each individual who walked the streets of a
devastated world. Despair replaced hope. Shame slouched
where pride once strode. Knowledge dissolved into
confusion. What had seemed a wellspring of ideas was
revealed as only cracked, barren earth. Everywhere lay the
rubble of old foundations.
The German people believed that its
Imperial structure, erected half a century
ago, would last for an unlimited time. In
August 1914, they felt that the immanent
catastrophe of war would prove this
structure invincible. Today, only its ruins are
left. After such an experience, retrospection
is in order, for this experience has proved
the opinions of half a century, especially the
dominant thoughts of the war years, to be
tragically erroneous.1
From all directions came not retrospection, but the struggle
for control. In large and small ways, thousands of people
engaged in an effort to replace the crumbled order with a
better world. The solutions tended in opposing directions and
ranged from military dictatorship to the creation of a "soviet"
in Bavaria. Ideology, not ideas, became the driving force of
social activity.
These polar efforts tore at the shreds of Germany. The
rancor of opposing opinions succeeded in claiming public
attention for a struggle that could hold no hope, regardless
of the outcome. Behind the din of diverging forces, human
beings cried out for a better society, but the clamor was so
loud it was all but impossible to hear a thoughtful response.
In July 1917, Rudolf Steiner had presented the German and
Austrian governments with a proposal detailing how the
principles of the Threefold Social Organism could be realized.
Within days after it reached the German palace, internal
political turmoil rendered any consideration of his ideas
impossible. The Austrian government likewise failed to
respond. Steiner turned to the German people. In public
lectures he pointed again and again to the need to go
beyond slogans and empty phrases, to fearlessly evaluate
the past and face the future with clear commitment. His "Call
to the German People and the Civilized World," was a deeply
considered plea for a new direction based upon an
unflinching evaluation of the past and a deep understanding
of human needs. These efforts notwithstanding, Steiner soon
realized that his ideas alone were insufficient to move a
society forward.
Rudolf Steiner was forced to ask why it was that no one
seemed to be able to hear what could be done to form a truly
new society, a truly human society. He concluded that no one
could hear him because the education people had been given
left them unable to consider, and therefore unable to work
with, anything not based in familiar routine. A window of
opportunity for social change was open. Germany was in a
state of chaos and the German people were searching for an
answer to the question of how to reorganize society. The
question was, how could a positive change be effected? The
needed social change could result from neither political
coercion nor revolutionary upheaval. A truly human society
can be the outcome only of the fully developed human
capacities of Thinking, Feeling and Willing. When Thinking is
developed, it becomes possible to clearly perceive present
circumstances and form accurate imaginations of positive
change. Rightly developed Feeling enables people to sense
how to unite these imaginations with the outer world. A
developed Will grants the possibility of transforming these
imaginations into deeds for the World. Only in this way can a
sound human society develop. Rudolf Steiner concluded that
truly human social change would not be possible until a
sufficient number of people had received an education that
undertook to develop complete human beings.
Emil Molt, Director of the Waldorf-Astoria Cigarette
Company and student of Rudolf Steiner, first had the desire
to be active in a reformation of German society during a
lecture given by Dr. Steiner in Switzerland in early November,
1918. Shortly thereafter, during a mid-November discussion
with some of the workers at the Waldorf-Astoria factory, he
resolved to create a school, though the school as yet had no
firm form. In a discussion with Rudolf Steiner in January,
1919, the latter mentioned that in order to achieve a real
social reformation, schools must be formed.
Three months later, following a lecture by Steiner to the
factory workers,2 the workers expressed a desire for a new
school, a desire which was, of course, immediately taken up
by Molt. Some weeks before, Molt had already begun
discussions with the Minister of Education concerning the
formation of a new unified school, discussions that were
tending in a positive direction. Two days after the meeting
with the factory workers, a first "teachers" meeting took
place with Steiner, Molt and two of the future Waldorf School
teachers (Stockmeyer and Hahn). Three weeks later, the
Minister of Education agreed to the new school. In particular,
it was agreed that the new school would meet the standards
set for public school students at the end of the third, sixth
and eighth grades. However, during these three periods,
what and how the students were to be taught was left to
the pedagogical leadership of the school. This agreement
allowed Rudolf Steiner, Emil Molt and others to begin the
formation of the Waldorf School.
The following weeks were filled with activity. Teachers
needed to be found. Buildings needed to be located and
renovated. The seminar for teachers was held. Finally, on
September 7, 1919, the Free Waldorf School opened amid
great festivities.
The Free Waldorf School was founded upon the impulse for
social change, upon the need to reform society into a
community which takes into account the true Being of
Humanity. Into the desire for reform were sown the life-giving
forces of the teacher's inner work and Rudolf Steiner's
spiritual insight. The goal of this education was that, through
living inner work guided by the insights of Rudolf Steiner, the
teachers would develop in the children such power of
thought, such depth of feeling, such strength of will that they
would emerge from their school years as full members of the
Human Community, able to meet and transform the world.
These six lectures and one essay are an exciting
presentation of the heart of this education. The first two
lectures introduce the goals and foundations of the Free
Waldorf School to members of the Stuttgart Anthroposophical
Society and invited Waldorf-Astoria officials. In Lecture Three,
"A Lecture for Parents," Steiner widens this introduction to
include parents of the incoming students. This lecture is
remarkable in its combined qualities of warmth, clarity, depth
and humor. Lectures Four and Five, given in Stuttgart and
Basel after the Free Waldorf School had opened, were
presented to the general public as part of a continued effort
to generate understanding and support for this new
education. The audience in Stuttgart must have received
what Dr. Steiner had to say with a particularly deep warmth,
for he closes this lecture with what begins as maxims of
seminal value, then takes wing as a mantric verse capable of
guiding us through the thin veil between matter and spirit.
The essay from The Social Future is a concise, slightly more
formal presentation directed toward a readership concerned
with social renewal.
Lecture Six deserves special mention. This lecture was
given in Basel to sixty public school teachers working there.
The eagerness of the audience and the fact that here Rudolf
Steiner was able to speak as a professional to other
professionals is evident on each page and in the way each
aspect of this work is considered. The penetrating depth of
the ensuing discussion session is further evidence of the
shared living enthusiasm held by both lecturer and audience.
As it happened, this lecture generated so much enthusiasm
that the public school teachers of Basel arranged for Steiner
to present a full cycle of pedagogical lectures in the spring of
1920, available in English as The Renewal of Education
Through the Science of the Spirit, Kolisko Archives, 1981. There
can be little doubt that what began as an introduction to the
role of spiritual science in pedagogical renewal became the
inspiration of new activity carried out by these teachers.
Throughout all these lectures, in simple, straightforward
language, filled with enthusiasm and hope for the future,
Rudolf Steiner clearly outlines the social impulse, the
foundation of inner work, and the intent to graduate young
men and women able to powerfully "put themselves into life."
We find it quite significant that despite the increasing
breadth of the successive audiences, Rudolf Steiner's
presentation of the role of spiritual science as fundamental to
the renewal of education remains uncompromised. From six
different perspectives, the heart of this education shines
forth. These lectures reveal the ground on which all else in
Waldorf education must stand and the necessary path to
walk. It is our hope that they will become a starting point for
those making first inquiries about Waldorf Education and
Anthroposophy as well as a fundamental resource for those
already involved in this work.
To read more about Waldorf Schooling or Rudolf Steiners Writings please visit Bob and Nancy's Bookstore
1 Rudolf Steiner, "Call to the German People and the Civilized
World," March, 1919. Found in Towards Social Renewal: Basic
Issues of the Social Question, Rudolf Steiner Press, London,
England, 1977. Translated by Frank Thomas Smith.
2 Rudolf Steiner, "Proletarische Forderungen und deren
künftige praktische Verwiklichung" (Proletarian Demands and
Their Future Practical Realization) in German, contained in
Neugestaltung des sozialen Organismus (Reorganization of the
Social Organism), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach Switzerland,
1983. (GA 330, 4/23/19) Not translated.
Reprinted with permission from www.bobnancy.com
© Robert F. Lathe and Nancy Parsons Whittaker
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