INTRODUCTION
"The soul needs nourishment as
well as the body."
- Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf
Steiner's educational philosophy must be set within
the context of his main endeavor - to address the latent
possibilities in human beings of advancing beyond the
present-day accepted limits of cognition to an awakening,
by self-discipline and exercise, to a knowledge of the
spiritual worlds underlying outer existence - higher
worlds. His
method of work called upon each individual human being
to face and outgrow him/herself - so as to be the active
initiator of the future rather than someone who drifts
upon the tides of world events.
World
events make these very challenging times!
The threat of global warfare with weapons of
mass destruction, the economic and political unrest,
the increasing incidence of child abuse, callous and
violent crime, economic uncertainty in the wake of collapses
of huge companies, changes to family structures and
many more bring into our lives great insecurity and
anxiety - and even more so for young people.
Often adolescents particularly feel trapped and
helpless, if not wounded, in a world which defies their
natural idealism.
Children
enter our world with such trust and of course childhood
is the shaping of the instrument for the life of the
adult. For
adults to develop the strengths they need to live in
a way that builds up hope rather than distrust, Dr.
Steiner believed they needed as children to experience
a form of education which addressed the full measure
of a human being in will, feeling and thought - body,
soul and spirit.
Through a curriculum and methodology based on
his understanding of the stages of child development,
he believed that educators could help greatly in the
journey of discovery and self-discovery which leads
to conscious and responsible adulthood.
Too
often today education appears to concentrate on superficial
results and fails to support the hidden potential of
childhood. The
educational environment is often pressured, mechanized
and devoid of imagination and compassion - focusing
on memory rather than the development of understanding.
"An education which fails to feed
the deeper-living forces of childhood represents not
only the absence of a good but becomes a source of ill"
L.Francis Edmunds
Steiner
education is designed to be a health-giving education,
nurturing and balancing the human faculties of thinking,
feeling and will.
The
prime purpose of Steiner Education is to support and
educate children such that their own innate and unique
human qualities may come to greater fulfillment.
This is the task of the educator in each Steiner
school.
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