We are living in challenging times. Most of the news does not seem to be good news, from systematic oppression and racism to species extinction to climate change to income inequality, each step forward appears to be answered by a step or two back.
When I first became an educator, I did so for two reasons. First, I loved teaching, I loved the experience of creating environments where people can learn new things and have new insights about themselves, the world and each other. Second, and more important to this conversation I believed it was a way that I could help to change the world. I still believe that education, learning communities and sometimes schools can bring people together to transform their lives and to transform the world.
I was listening to 1A on NPR yesterday as I drove between meetings and the topic of the conversation was “The Smartphone Generation”. The guests were Jean Twenge, a Psychology Professor and author of the book: “IGen” and Adam Pletter a child psychologist. Adam was providing advice to parents and reminded the listeners that:
“We are raising young adults, not future children”
That statement, of course painfully obvious, is often antithetical to the experience of schooling for children and teenagers. If it is our hope that today’s children will transform the world, and we need to raise them to be young adults, not future children then we need to support educational experiences that foster the adulthood and the world that we desire.
The question becomes what type of world do we envision this transformation to create?
I know that there are many answers to this question and I cannot hope to explore nor understand them all, but I wanted to share part of my journey and one avenue that I have found to be successful.
I became familiar with Waldorf Education growing up in Western Massachusetts, home of the Hartsbrook Waldorf School. I did not attend, but at the time the school only went through 8th grade, they now have a successful high school as well. As a result students from the Hartsbrook School attended other high schools and I had the opportunity to meet many of them and became close friends with a couple in particular. I appreciated their creativity, the depth of their experience and their curiosity for new knowledge. I went away to college and eventually found myself in the M.Ed. program at Antioch New England in Keene New Hampshire. Antioch also has a Waldorf Teacher Training program and I learning more about the pedagogy and had the opportunity to visit the local Waldorf School.
After teaching in New Hampshire, my wife and I moved to Pittsburgh to be close to family when our daughter was born and when she reached school age, we decided to send her to the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh. I appreciated the protection of childhood, the developmental awareness, the inclusion of the arts, the honor and respect for the whole child and the welcoming and supportive community.
It was only after we had been there a couple of years that I came to understand a component of the history of Waldorf Education that helped me to understand how it might help to transform our children and our world. Gary Lamb, an author, teacher and administrator, gave a talk about the social mission of Waldorf Education. He shared a story about the first Waldorf School, which was founded at the conclusion of World War I. Emil Molt, who was the director of the Waldorf Astoria Cigarette Factory in Stuttgart Germany, spoke with philosopher and social reformer Rudolph Steiner after a lecture about his desire to start a school for the children of the factory.
Since hearing this lecture I have learned more about the depth of the conversation, but the initial question has always stayed with me, following this first modern war in which mechanization and science were used to inflict untold suffering:
How do we create a school where children will go and become young adults who will treat each other and the world with kindness, respect and reverence and will lead a world of freedom?
That genesis of the first Waldorf School spoke to me deeply as a parent, as an educator and as a human being.
There is more to Waldorf Education than that story, but that story was my entrance into commitment to the school and its mission. Waldorf Education is turning 100 and there is a video linked below and I would invite you to watch it. Do I believe that Waldorf Education is the only solution to our new challenges? No, there are many solutions, but this school movement has grown and outlasted many others with a spirit of love and freedom, so it is at least worth a look.
Be Well and Joyful-Randy
Here is a link to the 1A broadcast: http://the1a.org/shows/2017-08-31/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation
Here is a link to Gary Lamb’s Book, The Social Mission of Waldorf Education: https://www.waldorfpublications.org/products/copy-of-the-social-mission-of-waldorf-education-1
Here is a link to 100 Years of Waldorf Education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfec6eF4I_4&list=PLJiPFlsC4R4F-vCiLEKYTGEyO8t8TQMbW