Curriculum of Rudolf Steiner for Waldorf schools

An attempt to summarize your instructions. A collection of notes for the benefit of the
different Waldorf Schools for:

E.A. Karl Stock Meyer.

Translated from the second edition 1965 by the kind permission of Mrs. Ana Stock Meyer
by R. Eve set-Zade.

These days, it is not enough to just think about the world. One needs to think about the
world in such a way that thought itself becomes imbued with a feeling
sensitive to the world. Because from outside such feeling, there grow the impulses for
reform, for working in great depth.

Anthroposophy wants us to achieve an understanding of the world that does not

it will remain in the abstract, but it will evoke a sense of what needs to be done and in this
It will become a foundation for pedagogy and for the art of teaching.
Rudolf Steiner (27).

Contents

Preface

Notes about the use of this book

Explanatory note for the English translation

Glossary

Bibliography

Notes on education and anthroposophy

Introduction

School and lessons in general

Different phases in the development of the curriculum.

Purposes and problems

Reevaluation in language lessons. Two currents in higher education. Later

education and teaching for learning. Those who leave school at 14 years old.

Shoe making
Anthroposophy for young people.
Introductory lessons for philosophers.
Exams for those leaving school and university training.
Career advice.

About the schedule

The curriculum added according to the subjects.

1.- Spanish (mother tongue)

2.- Art, aesthetics, and history of art.
3.- Language lessons.
4.- Stenographer.
5.- Mathematics.
6.- Surroundings of the Home.
7.- History.
8.- Geography.
9.- Surveying.
10.-Study of Nature.
11.- Physics and chemistry.
12.-Gardening.
13.-First Aid.
14.- Technology and lessons that prepare for life.
15.-Music.
16.- Eurythmy and Gymnastics.
17.-Painting, modeling, drawing.
18.-Handicrafts and Bookbinding.
19.-Professions.
20.-Lessons of free religion.
Notes regarding the different age groups.

The decoration of the classrooms.

Color of classrooms.
Classroom pictures.

PREFACE

The content of this book was given to the teachers of the Steiner schools to train them in
working from a living curriculum, given by Rudolf Steiner. Although the following volume was not
written by him, contains many indications, admonitions, advice on education and work of
classes, etc., what can be found scattered about their extensive works. This compilation of
its principles of education were made so that they can live more and more deeply
among the teachers who work in Steiner schools.

It is not my intention to preserve as dogma what was built between the years 1919 to 1924. Not.
It would be correct to alter the original 'Lehrplan' (the first curriculum published in 1919) because the
children of today have experienced great changes.

People embodied in the present age are forced to have different conceptions of the world.
Those born around 1919. However, one would greatly underestimate the teaching.
from Steiner if one believed that the impulse he called "The educational task of the 5th Post-Era
"Atlante" in the first lecture of his course "Study of Man" was already outdated.
generation after its premiere (beginning).
Considering that Steiner never tried to form a dogma, since, for him, respect for the
the freedom of the individual was of great importance, the attitude of a Steiner teacher could be one of a
reverence for the legacies of a great personality and along with colleagues who share this attitude
one would like to put into practice an ideal of human effort one can only hope
truth and blessing and that it would act vibrantly within the development and that it has worked
vividly towards the salvation of humanity. However, this will only happen if those
who feel called to nourish this impulse, also show some loyalty to their ideas, until
that in time they can recognize their correctness and effectiveness through the results.
This loyalty is easily broken unconsciously, resulting in one believing
that Steiner's purposes are quite impractical, while in reality one has not
I have fought hard enough to meet their demands.
The teacher of Steinerian teaching methods faces a double enigma; for a
On one side is the enigma of man himself and on the other side are the problems arising from the
various indications about true teaching. Both will have to be experienced by the
Professor, the first to awaken in wanting to understand the child's inner life and what follows.
making him desire to find the own nutrition of the soul for the child in the 5th post-Atlantean era.
This then leads us to a dual task: a more careful meditative study of the
Man and at the work of countless indications one can only give courage to people from one and
once again to persist in their efforts regarding the above, and much could be achieved in the
different schools (-12) only this task could be followed with relentless vigor. Towards the second
The author of this work wishes to make a contribution, having compiled the many
different notes and indications from Steiner so that the reader can experience directly
the problem arising from apparent agreements and even contradictions of the different
suggestions.
The way Steiner has expressed his ideas in education immediately calls to action the
professor outward from his own inner freedom, an approach that is
inseparably linked with the work in Steiner schools. Steiner's indications do not
They are never dogmatic; they always allow for free extension (scope) for the initiative of the teacher.
and they empower him to find his own answers to the various problems.

I owe a debt of gratitude to my friends from the first College of Teachers (+12) who have...
increased this book making available advice given to them, delivered personally by
Steiner and also to those colleagues who have given me the results of their own attempts to
create your lessons and courses. Special thanks are due to Dr. Erich Gabert and Dr. Karl Schubert,
whose notes from the teachers' meetings (Conferences) (+4) that Rudolf Steiner has made real
this job is possible.

But still, I appreciate the complete support of the Pedagogical Research Center of Friends.
of Rudolf Steiner Schools (the Pedagogical Research Institute at the Association of Free Waldorf Schools)
for this post.

The reproduction of the annotations in this publication has been approved by the executors of the
literary works of Rudolf Steiner in Dornach (Rudolf Steiner see G. Dornach).
E.A. Karl Stockmeyer.
Malsch, October, 1955.

Data in parentheses after instructions or in the text refer to the bibliography, for example
(23 or 24 conf.) or when with an asterisk for example (+4) to the glossary.

Figures and words placed in parentheses, for example (2).6.22) refer to the “Conferences” (+4)
that were compiled by Dr. Erich Gabert and Dr. Karl Schubert and published for work in the
Steiner Schools. They indicate the information of the meetings.
Parentheses found within annotations of R. Steiner suggest corrections, from another
unintelligible passages of the notes taken in shorthand.

Explanatory notes regarding the English translation.

Forms of notes from the conferences of Rudolf Steiner have been translated into English.
used in this book.
Guidelines for the teaching of Mathematics have been translated by R.A. Jarman and Eurhythmics and
Gymnastics by A.W. Mann.
German terms that have no parallel in English expressions are explained in the
Glossary.
Any instructions or explanations that are suggested and not authoritative have been
inserted in parentheses.
Finally, the reader is reminded that the word 'German' in the curriculum refers to the
mother tongue and not a foreign language.
Roland Everest-Zade.
 Heidelberg, December 1966.

GLOSSARY.

Numbered asterisks in parentheses, for example (+3), found in the text refer to
this Glossary.
+1 Regular. (Academic Aptitude Test).
Exam for those who leave secondary school consisting of a set of about ten subjects
taken after 9 years in a high school. Only this exam qualifies for admission to the
University (translated: school dropout exam)
+2 comprehensive school.
A school where Rudolf Steiner had to put his pedagogy into practice
Steiner wide) see+9.
+3 Gymnasium.
A secondary school that leads to university admission, based on the humanities with
Greek and Latin as mandatory subjects.
+3 to upper secondary school.
A secondary school that leads to university admission, with an emphasis on the Sciences.
Those schools have been modified since World War II.
+4 Conferences.
Meetings of teachers. The conferences noted in this book took place in the
first years of the Waldorf school (+10) under the guidance of Rudolf Steiner.
Stenographic notes are published under the title 'Conferences.'
+5 Cultural advice.
A group of people, chosen by Steiner, who aimed to influence cultural life in
Germany towards a more spiritual vision.
+6 Life Studies.
A study of all kinds of activities in life, such as agriculture, industry, commerce, and
transport, etc., whose purpose is to lead towards a social awareness of the world
lessons prepared for life.
+7 Social Studies.
Lessons given to children aged 6 to 9 years. In this subject, the teacher has to
interpret the surroundings of the child in an imaginative way. Farming, building a house and
Stories about plants and animals belong to this subject. (translated: surroundings of the home).
+8 Seminar.
A practical training course for teachers that was started by Rudolf Steiner in August
from 1919 (translated: Discussions with professors).
+9 Folk Pedagogy.
Rudolf Steiner's education program, free of commitments and appealing to all types of
pupils up to 18-19 years old (translated: Pedagogy or Public Education.(+2)
+10 Waldorf School.
The original Steiner school opened in 1919 (translated as Steiner Schools when the schools
sisters were opened later and are referred to.
+11 worldview education.
A study of subjects that will help towards a philosophy of life, towards a conception of
world. History, Geography, and the sciences form the core of this study.
+12 Teachers' College.
The name given to the body of teachers in a Steiner school. It was attempted that the teachers
they should work together without a director.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The works of Rudolf Steiner are indicated without the author's name.
Writings and lectures of Rudolf Steiner that are important for the understanding of his
art of education and its curriculum. The jobs given below are in the text with a number and a
restricted title. Where a translation is firmly available, the title is given in English.

1.- Goethe the scientist.

2.- An implicit theory of knowledge in the Goethean conception of the world.
Truth and science.
4.- Philosophy of freedom.
5.- Publications from the literary early works
6.-The education of the child.
6a.- The question of Anthroposophy.
7.-The Ternary Organism.
8.- Address of April 24, 1919.
9.- A social foundation of Primary and Secondary Education.
10.- The task of schools and the three-part social organism. Stuttgart June 19, 1919.
11.- Study of Man 14 Conferences. Stuttgart, August-September 1919.
12.- Methodology and Didactics, 14 Conferences, Stuttgart August-September 1919.
13.- Pedagogical colloquiums, 14 Conferences August-September 1919.
13a. Education as a social problem, 6 Conferences Dornach August 9-17, 1919.
14-15 The Waldorf School and its Spirit, 2 lectures Stuttgart 24y 31 August 1919.
16.- The curriculum presentations, Stuttgart September 6, 1919.
17.- Address at the opening of the Waldorf School. Stuttgart, September 7, 1919.
18.- Transcendent recognition and social pedagogical life force.
19. The pedagogical foundation of the Waldorf school.
20.- Course of Light. 10 Conferences Stuttgart December 23, 1919 - January 3, 1920. (First course
of Natural Sciences)
21.- Heat course. 14 Lectures Stuttgart March 1-14, 1920. (Second course of Sciences)
Natural
The peoples of the Earth. Stuttgart March 10, 1920.
22.- Linguistic course. 6 conferences, Stuttgart, December 26, 1919 - January 3, 1920.
23.- The renewal of pedagogical-didactic art, 14 conferences Basel April 20 - 11 of
May 1920.
24.- The education and teaching of the current world situation, Stuttgart, June 10
1920.
25.- Meditative Study of Man, 4 Conferences Stuttgart, September 15-22, 1920.
25. The relationship of the various natural science fields to astronomy, 18
Conferences, January 1-18, 1921.
26.- The structuring of teaching. 8 Conferences, Stuttgart, June 12-19, 1921.
27.- Healthy development of the physical as the foundation for the free evolution of the spiritual.
Geistgen.16 Conferences, Dornach, December 23, 1921 - January 7, 1922.
28. Educational issues in adulthood, 2 Conferences, Stuttgart June 21, 22, 1922.
29.- Spiritual Foundations of Education. 9 Lectures, Oxford, August 16-25, 1922.
30.- Intergenerational Intelligence (course for youth). 12 Conferences, Stuttgart, 3-15 1922.
31.- Art in the light of the wisdom of the Mysteries. 2 conferences Stuttgart, March 7-8, 1923.
Pedagogy, Art, and Morality conferences, Stuttgart, March 25-26, 1923.
34. - The pedagogical practice of aspects of spiritual science human knowledge.
Conferences, Donarch, April 15-21, 1923.
35.- Education and the spiritual life of our time. 14 Lectures August 5-17, 1923, Ilkey.
36.- Suggestions for the internal penetration of the teaching and educational profession. 3 lectures, Stuttgart, 15
October 16, 1923.
37.- The methodology of teaching and the living conditions of education 5 lectures, Stuttgart, 8-11
April 1924. (Methodology in teaching and Vital conditions of Education).
37. The Creation of the World and of Man. 3 lectures, Dornach, June 30, July 3-7, 1924.
38.- The roots of education. 5 Conferences, Bern April 13-17, 1924.
38. The Creation of the World and of Man. 3 lectures, Donarch, June 30, July 3-7, 1924.
39.- Human values in education. 10 Conferences, Arheim July 17-24, 1924.
40.- Nature based on human nature. 7 Conferences Torquay August 12-20, 1924.
41.- Conferences Dr. Rudolf Steiner with the teacher collegium of the Free Waldorf School.
42.-Curative education course.
Notes on education and anthroposophy.

1.- "The people who discern nowadays demand a type of education that is not only proposed
merely a delivery of knowledge, but aims to awaken abilities, an education
that not only sharpens the intellect, but rather works towards strengthening the life of the will.
The correctness of this attitude can hardly be doubted. However, one cannot train the
will and its underlying emotional life unless one develops an understanding of what it is
that awakens impulses in the soul and in the sphere of will. An error that is frequently
The fact today is not that too much knowledge is given to young people, but rather that one gives it to them.
knowledge that does not stimulate and develop real initiative in life. Anyone who believes in themselves
able to train the will without providing its own nutrition in education, is under a
illusion.
2.- Being clear on this point is the task of modern pedagogy. This clear vision can only be
the living result of every human being"(19).
3.- In a way, Spiritual Science makes one tend to forget the content at every moment.
spiritual of what has been absorbed
to dissolve it and recreate it always new. One does not possess Spiritual Science as something that can be
remembered... In this way, I have also tried to prepare the teachers of the Waldorf school of
so that they could enter their classrooms with a class of virgin soul, in order to face
a completely new situation, each time.
Being able to forget, and this after all is the other side of digesting internally, is what the
spiritual science deals with what one does; it is the result of a self-discipline earned through
Science and Spirituality.
4.- Humanity had a different task in the first post-Atlantean era, a different one from
new in the second and thus directly until our fifth post-Atlante stage. And it is a fact that
Humanity recognizes what needs to be achieved within a certain period of time.
After the true beginning of the era. Our present stage began in the middle of the 15th century.
Only today the recognition of what needs to be developed in the sphere
pedagogical in our time emerges to a certain extent from spiritual backgrounds. Until now
Educators have worked in the old way since the goals of the 4th Post-Atlantean epoch. If not
Importing how filled with goodwill they have been. A large quantity will depend on
about our attitude towards a new task, being able to understand that we have to
give education a new direction that is quite defined, not because it will be valid for everyone
times, but because it is appropriate for our time" (11).
5.- The question arising from those words is later illuminated by the following
words from the Ilkey course given in the year 1923. There at the August 7 conference, a study of
the development of education is given and the problems are elucidated that arise from the development of the
social life of Ancient Greece, through the Middle Ages to our own time. A number of
clarifying sentences have been chosen from this conference:
6.- "The thoughts of the Greeks about the education of the child run approximately as
I raise the child in the best possible way, if through my attitude, I preserve the strength of
growth, which the child has developed by the age of 7 as fresh and healthy as possible
possible; if I educate him in such a way that those forces that are there until the seventh year
they remain with him throughout his life until death itself. This was the great and powerful principle
from Greek education, this maxim meant: to ensure that the child in the man did not become
lost until his death (35)
We can only admire Greek education. However, it was based on
bring conditions, in ancient slavery, in the position of femininity in ancient times and
about the attitude towards spiritual truth and spirituality of those days. None of that
conditions prevail today, nor would they be considered worthy of the human race.
2.- "Humanity then developed a new consciousness that would not tolerate slavery and that tried
the respect for women's rights. At the same time, within the development of the individual, the child
in growth between the ages of 7 and 14, which is during a stage when there is not only development
physical, but rather the soul is being emancipated from the body the growing child not
I would already accept the continuous preservation of childhood forces, as it had been practiced.
previously
3.- "And so, during the Middle Ages, education was portrayed as a ship that could not stay afloat."
its own course in a storm, because it is extremely difficult to grasp the human soul. One can
to reach the body, one can exchange ideas about the spirit, but the soul of man is so
deeply hidden within the individual that is more difficult to delve into. But it was
entirely a matter of the human soul if one could find their own way to those
authorities, who safeguarded the traditions for him, if reverence could grow in such a way
that the word of the medieval priest was strong enough to anchor tradition within the
humanity. And it takes prudence in the soul to stimulate the memory in others without violating their
inner freedom instilling in them what one would like them to absorb" (ib) (p. 2).
For a long time during the development of man, those difficulties prevented him from
to find clear purposes in education and they brought about the period in which tradition and
memory had to be developed as one extremely difficult for educational ideas
Today we have reached a point in history when man demands certainty in
his purposes when he is no longer satisfied with uncertain grounds as was the case in the
Middle Ages. This research by a new foundation has resulted in numerous efforts.
for an educational reform, and from the recognition of this fact, the pedagogy of
the Waldorf Schools. It rests on the question: How can we educate if the soul of the student
Between the ages of 7 and 14, does he continue to rebel against attempts to preserve his childhood?
Externally, man has lost his confidence in tradition; inwardly he wants to become
a free agent who at every moment looks at life without prejudice.
But how can we educate, if apart from this issue, man has lost, as happens
Today, the ancient medieval relationship between tradition and memory? "Externally, man has lost
his belief in tradition, internally he wants to become a free agent who, in each
moment embrace life without prejudice
This is the specific question of the pedagogy of the 5th Post-Atlantean epoch, that Rudolf Steiner
he wanted to respond with a fact through the Waldorf school.

INTRODUCTION.

1.- The latest curriculum of Steiner schools, at least for the first 8 classes of the time.
the existing middle school was given to the Waldorf school in the so-called 3 'Conferences of the
Curriculum" given on September 6, 1919. Those conferences conclude the course of
pedagogical training given to the first group of teachers, which contains the 'Study of
Man
2.- It was elucidated and supplemented in numerous meetings of teachers (+4). When in autumn
in 1920 a ninth grade had to be added, Steiner provided a new curriculum which was
extended year by year (41).
3.- In spring 1923 (while the start of a new school year had been moved up to
Holy Week) for the first time a 12th grade class was opened. This class was the equivalent of the class
top in a gymnasium (+3) (upper class). The parents took it for granted that their children would take
his final exams of school (Abitur +1, academic aptitude test) at the same time as it
they would have done in a state school. Steiner wanted to please them, although he was forced to do
some serious commitments due to the demands of the official exam authorities. He does not
he felt happy about the situation and looked at the necessary commitment as a very substitute
insatsfactorio.
4.- In the spring of 1924, therefore, he decided to make a drastic change in the arrangements.
authorizing a new curriculum for 12th grade that was entirely based on its principles
pedagogical and would give the students the appropriate conclusion of their education, regardless of whether
they wanted to take the final exam or not from school. Moreover, he planned to prepare those
students who had passed through class 12 and were suitable candidates for the exam
in a preparatory class for the exam (Vorbereitungsklasse), just as he wanted it to be called. In
this class would teach them everything that the authorities demanded in the exams beyond what
that the curriculum of the Waldorf School had offered.
This 'Exam-l'rep-class' (exam preparatory class) was established for the first time only
after the death of Rudolf Steiner on March 30, 1925. Meanwhile, the exams of
The school finals had also been postponed by a year in the other German schools in the state.
in accordance with the laws of Schools of the Weimar constitution.
5.- Steiner tried to work systematically on writing the curriculum, which had only been given.
orally, but he was unable to carry out his intentions. Much of what he had planned
For Waldorf schools, it has remained a challenge. However, the curriculum with its fullness...
details exist and their author expressed how he wanted them to be interpreted.
6.- "We must approach this curriculum in such a way that we can recreate it, we
the same at any time; we must learn to read in children as they should be
taught in their 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th years of life, etc. (12 conf. 14).
Soon, after the death of Steiner Dr. Carolina von Heydebrand, with the help of several
colleagues, I resume the form and publish the curriculum according to Steiner's instructions. In
autumn of 1925
8.- An entire generation has passed since the first edition of Heydebrand. Meanwhile
many conferences and conference courses that Steiner has given during the last few years of his
life have generally become available. Subsequently, Dr. Erich Gabert and Dr. Karl
Schubert has collected all kinds of notes from the meetings of teachers ('Conferences')
In which Steiner was present. Those notes have become a valuable source of information.
which was only partially available to Carolina von Heydebrand when she compiled her version
of the curriculum. Therefore, it seems justified to review and extend Steiner's guidelines for the
curriculum.
1.- I would not agree with Steiner's education art to fix its fundamental principles of
a fixed scheme.
a) His educational work remains halfway between two poles, one of which
corresponds to evolutionary stages in the physical, mental, and spiritual development of the child and through
ages this changes only very gradually. b) The other polarity consists of the social background and
cultural in which children have their different characters and quite individual purposes.
c) Among them is the professor himself with his own personality, prior temperament.
training and life experience with their knowledge, ability, and worldview: and
finally among all these is the curriculum.

d) When it comes to his younger pupils, the curriculum should lean more towards the first pole,
towards the observation of the last stages of development and more towards the second cultural pole when
it is taught to teenagers, because the teenager must connect with the cultural situation of their
time in order to be able to play an active part in life. However, all of this must
stay alive. A fixed educational system would never address the problems of such processes
beings.
Thus a real curriculum should lead the educator's awareness towards certain needs,
but, nonetheless, it must allow for a complete scope of action for inventive interpretation of the
Professor. Because it is the enthusiasm that will be experienced when meeting the child, the creative stimulus.
born from this encounter with the child who may produce perhaps quite unique inspirations
just at the right moment, so that they would work as a blessing upon the child
because they were born from the full participation of the teacher, from complete freedom
spiritual and from the love for each pupil.
3.- Therefore, the curriculum itself should only be a collection of all the needs of the
students in their different stages of development, which the teacher of various age groups
should keep completely in mind. The curriculum could address those needs in two
paths: could indicate the subject to be covered and would give pedagogical guidelines.
Anything beyond this could only be an example of the conditions under which the
pupils live, vivified by the talents of the teacher. The world makes its demands and the teacher...
confronts them; finds them consciously considering them in their work
pedagogical as carefully and deliberately as an engineer has to consider the laws of
stability in their constructions.
However, no matter how much these demands may restrict the teacher, there must be
freedom for him to choose the content, its examples, and its practical methods in teaching.
4.- Steiner looked and considered that his curriculum corresponded to such external demands. But the
he also made many suggestions, partly due to the particular situation of a teacher but
that he also wanted to illustrate with examples how some of those demands could be
to confront them in practice because sometimes it is easier to illustrate a point through an example
concrete to explain it by a general definition.
5.- This, however, does not mean that the teacher in a Rudolf Steiner school can do whatever they want.
he pleased him. Steiner considered the essence of the curriculum as something strictly
mandatory. Just because he had been able to recognize the particular needs of each
stage in the child's development and then base his principles on them, he had to insist that
his instructions were faithfully carried out. A few very critical warnings of his
they test this. Thus, on May 10, 1922, after listening to a language professor declare
that he would not be able to complete the curricular demands:
6.- "The commitment had already been made in the curriculum (this refers to what was already added to the
curriculum to enable students to switch to public schools).
If we complete the tasks of the curriculum, we will also reach the necessary level for our
students of passing the exams. But not all the effort is being made to put our
curriculum in practice.
1.- The following phrases, spoken briefly before the above instruction regarding the
The curriculum of class XI must be understood in a similar way:
2.- "We will have to discuss the curriculum in detail, especially regarding this 11th class"
Because here the difficulties of achieving a practical technique in the classroom (for example, the ideas
pedagogical) (they must become experience and habit) really become apparent. With this
Technique, we simply need to prepare them enough for the exams.
3.- Subsequently, on June 21, 1922:
4.- "Something that does not belong here has appeared, mainly real negligence. Negligence has been
method within the school because it has allowed taking the easiest way.
Steiner was convinced that students in Waldorf schools could pass exams if he
curriculum given by the outside strictly applied by the teachers. However, there is a
tendency to omit the curriculum due to the exam work, while in reality this is a
excuse to not truly meet their pedagogical demands. Steiner, however, had.
with complete human and pedagogical dedication to this curriculum. In this way, we must
also understand the following phrases, spoken on April 28, 1922, in response to a complaint
of a language teacher that the students would not be able to enter a class of the ____________
6.- "This problem can only be solved if we fully work on our curriculum from
the beginning to the end. One cannot solve the problem with pupils from classes 4 or 5.
We must resolve it with the students who have been with us since class 1 onwards.
this case is our failure if we do not succeed. In the essential subjects, we must prepare.
our students enough for the exams.”(28.4.22)
7.- The thoughts mentioned above are expressed very clearly in the response of
Steiner on December 9, 1922, in response to a request from an optional shorthand teacher.
8.- "This is a shame. When do we start teaching this subject? In class 10."
I can't understand why they (the students) don't like it. Many things are being judged.
for us without realizing the fact that we have a different approach and a curriculum
different from other schools. Since I have been in classes more frequently, I can say that,
compared to other schools, we achieve good results if we apply what is called
generally Waldorf pedagogy. If the necessary results have not been achieved, we should
we should ask ourselves if somewhere quite unconsciously, we have failed to apply our
methods. I do not wish to be harsh, there is no need for a storm every time, but the methods of the
Waldorf schools are not being conducted in every class. Sometimes, there is a drop in a
The routine flows wherever our methods are applied, results have been obtained... Although
The standards of language classes vary, they are really doing a good job there. There is
good results in the lower classes, in what is usually called handwriting. In the classes of
arithmetic. I have the feeling that often the Waldorf methods are not being carried out
cabo.” (9.12.22)
9.- After those words, Steiner proceeded to clarify his instructions regarding the limitations,
as it can be read in the appropriate place.
10.-It is not my intention to give a comprehensive summary of Rudolf Steiner's educational art regarding
that an attempt would go beyond the scope of this study. Nevertheless, it seemed appropriate to include
indications that may be of practical value refreshing the memory of those already familiar
with the art of education from Steiner and encouraging the new reader to promote new thoughts
while at the same time, drawing his attention to the numerous lecture courses of
Steiner, especially the fundamental courses in Stuttgart of 1919 (11.12.13). A detailed
The study of those courses is essential for a deeper understanding of Rudolf's pedagogy.
Steiner. The plan for this curriculum study could still be based on the different subjects.
that are designed simultaneously in each class, or in one subject at a time, throughout the
different classes. In the first example, one is focusing on just one stage of development
of the child and one can see how each subject brings a contribution to the whole education of a
particular age. In the second case, one follows through the entire development of the child with each
new matter and one can experience how the child is being led by the particular
discipline of each subject. Both paths have advantages and each teacher has their own way of
to work. Therefore, it seems helpful to take both courses, first one according to the
subjects in detail and then the other following the different age groups in a more
condensed.
SCHOOLS AND LESSONS IN GENERAL
Different phases in the development of the Curriculum

1.-The following lines, written by Rudolf Steiner before the opening of the first Waldorf School,
show how its school image gradually took shape, how it developed and even changed,
ends up adapting it to external circumstances.
In 1898 in an essay titled 'Secondary Education and Public Life' (not yet translated) in a
Magazine for literature (5), he outlined a plan for future education:
3.- 'Primary schools have the enviable task of transforming young people into real people in the
I give more truth to the word____________________________________________________
in each person and what they must make appear in each child so that the pupil can
easily create their own humanity in a balanced integration. If the child will one day be a
A doctor or a shipbuilder is not concerned with the educator who teaches at the age of 6.
"The task is to make a complete human being." (Read Alexis Carrel) (written by the translator).
Regarding the task of secondary schools, he wrote:
5.- "The teacher of a 'Gymnasium' (Secondary Education) possibly cannot fix his
I work following a similar line of pedagogy... A real high school pedagogy would have
what to respond about the whole problem of what would need to be developed in the child between his 12 and
18 years.
6.- The continuum:
7.- "You have to weigh the needs of the individual man against those of practical life."
8.- About the "Abiturium(*1) he wrote:
9.- "Usually, young people enter higher education or a university at 19 years old. A
At that age, anyone who is later capable of producing good work as a chemist is capable.
to understand a fundamental text on chemistry. If one were to make the exam program of the
secondary education from a secondary school would serve a useful purpose, one would have
to prepare the candidate to a level where he could understand and progress methodically
with any scientific text that begins at the beginning.
10.- After referring again to the complete image of the man that he should be
purpose of the primary education teacher, the continuous:
11.- 'Colleges and universities should consider such an image of the nature of man.'
This is not at all their function, because they are an institution and their task is to act as such.
institution a true reflection of the cultural foundation of the times. As the student is
Adapting to college or university or to their social needs refers to their own matter.
12.- He concluded:
13.- "One can see how I visualize a College or University. As a microcosm, it should reflect
perfectly the cultural conditions of his time, and at the same time, it should offer the degree of
greater superiority of individual freedom. The student should have the possibility to absorb
as much as possible from the civilization and culture of their time: but no restrictive regulation
should accompany your progress.
This image of a future education allows for a blank slate for a subsequent expansion that
its author will carry out in life. Regarding the question of whether a Steiner school should be a school
ideological, for example, a Steiner school should be an ideological school, for example, a
school in which Anthroposophy should be taught directly, Steiner replied at a meeting
of representatives of the Bund for the threefold social organism (Movement for the
Institution of the Ternary Social Organism:
1.- "Above all, we should never open anthroposophical schools. Anthroposophists must
transform the methods and organization of the school, but never teach Anthroposophy directly.
We must be the first to understand the importance of spiritual freedom. Above all, we must
avoid the establishment of ideological schools.
2.- In response to a later question about whether feelings of insecurity and distrust would affect
The children, if they experienced that their teachers are teaching them from different and yet
opposing ideological foundations, he said:
3.- "Here a pedagogical factor comes in. If we educate children until they are 14 years old, all exactly
in the same mold and then we let them be lost in today's struggle for existence, the
we would turn everyone into neurotics. However, with the spiritual freedom (of the teachers) the
truth will reign in the school instead of hypocrisy and this will be the compensation. In education, it is
much less important than what religious lessons a child has attended than one facing the child
with an inner truth.
4.- After Emil Molt's decision to open the Waldorf School, Steiner outlined his first
curriculum on April 25, 1919 in the presence of Molt, Herbert, and mine. He recommended that the
sample of an Austrian 'Unterrealschule' (comparable to our Modern Schools)
Secondary schools) should be followed, taking pupils up to the age of 16. In Spanish (the language
maternal) the curriculum should lead to business correspondence: in History, the history
Around the home should be similar in form. Languages particularly English.
It had to be taught, and Mathematics and Physics, with a special emphasis on Mechanics: also
Natural History, drawing and especially Painting, Singing and Gymnastics had to be included. He made a
list of the number of lessons per subject and week, however, mention the periods of the class
mainly introduced later. I point out that the teaching of Latin was only a
tradition left over from the monastic schools of the Middle Ages and that Greek was of greater value. He said
that the "Gymnasium" was producing a mummified education which, without a doubt,
would disappear in the future, and that the teaching of Mechanics was more important than Latin.
5.- That school had to become the generally accepted school of the future. The two years that
they were getting lost since secondary education at this time, which consists of three years of
high school and twelve years of secondary education would be assigned to the courses
university students who would use them for general education before moving on to training
specialized. University internal exams would be simplified in such a way that the
final exams leading to degrees and full qualification would remain. Degrees, without
embargo, they would not ensure privileges since only the quality of the work and skill would matter in the
free competition of life.
6.- My notes, written from memory, immediately after the conversation ends
Here. I would like to add that those guidelines for the education of the future were made under the
assumption that the impetus for a ternary society would have become a reality during the
time in which the Waldorf School was established(*10)
On May 25 of the same year, Steiner did not provide a plan of the curriculum worked on in great detail.
based on the condition that there should be no more than 150 students in the school grouped into 8
classes. This was already known on April 25 and on the date that Steiner had advised us to put
Both classes at once. On May 25, I work on the curriculum that is based on 2.
classes at once, because it offers a penetration into the gradual development of the final curriculum. The
the following notes were written at that time.

BASIC
Before the age of 12 (6th-7th grade), all subjects had to be taught by the homeroom teacher.

Class 1 and 2
2.- Reading-analyzing ...from the whole world of letters (Cp. Look and Say Method in England)
writing-drawing-first steps in arithmetic-singing-music-eurythmy-languages-'adlibitum':1.-
English 2.-French (adlib.* according to the teacher's and pupils' capacity).
at choice, at will.
Class 3 and 4
3.- Reading - children becoming aware of grammar in language
Language form) appreciation of color (" etwns color handling) singing, music, and eurhythmics to be
continued - addition and subtraction (up to 100 in class 1) arithmetic tables by heart - free choice
of animals and plants.

Class 5 and 6
4.-Mechanical concepts derived from the study of a car, carriage-materials from the previous year to be
continued-animals and plants-basic concepts of meteorology and climatology (rain and brightness of
sun, appearance and position of stars, seasons) quite general concepts of geography-
arithmetic: proportions.

Class 7 and 8
5.- Summarize previous work - study of the native language aware of the structure of poems,
metric of verses, artistic forms in poetry to continue everything else.

Class 7
6.- The complete process from the wheat grain in the field to the finished product, bread.

Class 8
7.-Different trades - matters concerning plants (Pflanzen Betrefendes) something about meteorology-
Some geography - historical concepts; pre-Christian and post-Christian cultures, Indian cultures.
Persians, Egyptian-villages, Greco-Roman culture-geometric drawing leading to concepts in
geometry-commercial arithmetic, first introduction to accounting-drawing in perspective-a
simple introduction to algebra-astronomy leading to the Copernican system and later,
compare languages (e.g. Testa-head) - technical drawing, plans, maps - mathematics up to equations
conic sections, applied geometry, leveling-architecture-technical chemistry concepts-
commercial style - commercial language and accounting elements - classes of world conceptions
(*11) name of the book-Man: body, soul and spirit-descriptive geometry-first aid.
Much of the above is reminiscent of the conferences on Volks-plidagogik(*9) by
example, the topic of the cycle of a grain of wheat, the study of commerce, commercial arithmetic,
commercial language and the lessons about the philosophies of the world.
9.- Other points already contain later characteristics, such as the 'Look and Say Method' of
reading in classes 1 and 2, artistic forms in poetry, geometry developed from drawing, drawing
in perspective, technical drawing, plans, maps, applied geometry, architecture of
nivelación ,química técnica ,geometría descriptva ,primeros auxilios.
It is of particular interest to find that the proportions for class 5 and 6 are only mentioned.
In this place, thus being the only reference when the proportions should be entered.
11.- Around June 10, 1919, Steiner spoke to me about the structure of the curriculum and
about the new plan in which some subjects had to be rearranged again. During
three or four days a week that's what he said there had to be singing during the first lesson and in the
remaining days instead of that, drawing. (There were six school days a week) "In the Main class"
singing and Drawing". This had to be followed by, let's say, arithmetic, a subject taught in
periods, and then religion. The lessons could not start before 8 A.M. and had to
finish at 12 (noon). Higher classes had to have few lessons compared to the first class.
Afternoons had to be devoted to practical activities.

1.- At the third Primary Education conference (*9), held on June 1, 1919 for the first time
the periods of the main class are mentioned. In the conversations mentioned above
On June 10, Steiner included them in the daily lessons for the first time, but they were not yet.
activities should be done at the beginning of the morning sessions, like artistic activities.
first.
On July 15, 1919, Steiner gave me a list of subjects that were to be taught in the
periodos de clase principal : Alemán ,incluyendo lectura y escritura -Ingles -Frances -Matemátcas -
Geography -study of nature -History. Singing and Gymnastics, this is how it was thought at that time, they could
having been displaced after 14 years, in order to make time for others
activities.
3.-Here the two living languages are included in the main lesson periods, while
Later they had to be given separate lessons. Around July 4, 1919, Steiner
I affirm in a conversation that, since it had not been possible to establish the Movement of Order.
Social Ternary, the possibilities of reforming education should be used now.
A decisive change in circumstances became evident. It could no longer be the College.
Waldorf (*10) considered as part of the ternary social order, which should sustain it and
support it. It became clear that the School, as a seed of a spiritual life, would have to
fight for their own existence and knowledge within the general social foundation of children
post-war. This fact should be kept in mind when developing Waldorf Education.
it has been studied. And it was in this situation that the Waldorf School free (*) based on the curriculum of
Steiner was finally opened in the fall of 1919 (Compare Conference 12 and 13).
5.- Steiner gave an outline of the 'ideal' curriculum (for example, a curriculum free from commitment)
in the tenth conference of the Practical Course that has to do with the three small phases of
Child development between teething and puberty. This conference in particularly
instructive because it sheds light on fundamental principles and is, therefore, a good
Introduction to the foundations and purposes of the curriculum.
6.- In lecture 13 of the same course, Steiner talks about the commitment that one has to make.
to bring students in the lower classes to an acceptable level for the authorities
of the State.
7.- Finally, on September 6, 1919, and following the pedagogical courses given to the
teachers of the new school, Steiner gave the three Curricular Lectures (16). These lectures
which in their brief but concentrated form constitute the most important contribution.
Steiner more or less finalized his pedagogical purposes for the first eight years and these were
supplemented only in two ways: (a) through specific examples given by him in the
meetings of teachers, and through the extended program for the new classes of the school
superior.
When the Waldorf school was opened, Rudolf Steiner sent a memorandum to the Ministry of
Education in Württemberg, indicating up to which grade the Waldorf School was.
prepared to adjust your own curriculum in order to train your students to change to another
school. Here is a copy of your text:
9.- "Re: Curriculum."
10.- The teachers' society of the Waldorf School requests permission to use the available lesson.
during the first three years according to their own educational principles
On the other hand, he will strive to take his pupils to an entirely new level.
corresponding to that of a primary school at the end of the first three years. This intention has
that it should be carried out in such a way that a student of the 3rd grade wishing to transfer from the school
Waldorf, is able to enter a 4th grade of another primary school without difficulties.
4th, 5th, 6th grades of school, the arrangement of lessons and approach to subjects must be left
entirely free to the teachers of the Waldorf School. Upon completing the 6th year, the students have
that having reached the level of 6th grade in a primary school or that of a class in a school
secondary that corresponds to the age of 12. The same arrangement must be done again until
complete the eight years. Students have to meet the standards of secondary education,
so that they are able to change the class of the same age to any other school of
secondary education. The teachers' council asks for the freedom to teach their students only during
the terminal periods with the three deadlines mentioned above.

1.- From the beginning of school until completing 9th grade.

2.- From the 9th until completing the 12th.
3.- From the age of 12 until reaching the age limit of seniority.
At the end of these periods, the Waldorf school aims to achieve the same standards of achievement.
that any State College.
Steiner has spoken about this memorandum in several of his lectures, and more
in detail at the Easter Conference in Dornach in 1923.
And so, since our purposes are not based on fanaticism, but always on a reality
Something bad had to be done from the beginning, mainly a kind of commitment.
it had to be done.
From the beginning, a memorandum had to be drawn up in which I had to establish the
following points: in the first three classes, the children need to be taught, if possible, to
step by step, according to the needs of the developing child. At the same time, during
in those first three years, the teacher must keep in mind what is generally expected of the
children in other schools, so that after the third class a child can transfer to a
ordinary primary school. This must be for the teacher, I have to use this repetition, a
"A commitment that tends to go backwards." It is inevitable for a realist person to act this way. A
fans would act differently. Many difficulties will certainly arise from such
commitment and many teachers will enter much more easily to go straight towards their
purposes. Many need to be discussed in detail so that one can find
the appropriate path between the two purposes. Subsequently, my original memorandum stipulates
that when children have completed their twelve years, for example, when they have completed the class
6° you can again enter the appropriate class for your age group in any other school.
The reason for my choice of that particular year is based on the fact that man, as he has...
has been described here in the last few days, is at a special point of development at this age
particular. Again, the students must be able to switch to another school of their choice.
after the age of 14. Well, all of this works favorably in the first three classes. In this
first stage, you can achieve something in this way. It can also be achieved with great
number of problems until the age of 12. The real difficulties only start in the later years.
late. Because, although this happens almost unconsciously, from a faint feeling of
true development of man that has been preserved since ancient times, the time of
Tooth change is still considered the right time for the child to enter school.
4. In his course in Basel for teachers (23 conf.5), Steiner also spoke about his thus
called commitment; likewise in one of the teacher meetings in Stuttgart. After
after dealing with the content of your memorandum and after noting that the same principle
it could be extended to 18 years of age, he said in this meeting of teachers:

1.- "We must be concerned not only about talking about this purpose (of achieving
standards of state schools), but rather, using the largest possible economy of time.
in teaching, we truly achieve this purpose. One can really take others far.
pupils to reach this required level. Examine a pupil in the 'Obersecunda' (7th year in a
German Gymnasium (*3), equivalent to class 11 in a Steiner school) and make a concession for
everything he has forgotten, examine what he knows in history. You will find that our
pupils of the same age can have the same knowledge of history. Naturally, they do not.
we always cover our subjects, because sometimes the teachers are not in a position
to prepare their lessons properly. The lessons should be worked on even more.
carefully, then we could write the report (which has been discussed) well.
consciousness."(28.4.22)
2.- In the Oxford course, the 1919 memorandum is also mentioned. There Steiner concluded,
after calling the end of primary education a third stage:
The same will happen when the children, well the young, ladies and gentlemen, leave school at the end
to continue their education at a College or University. There, there should be complete freedom from
the time from puberty to the start of subsequent education. But the students should be
capable of gaining entry to any college or university, because the high school of Dornach
(Higher Education College or University) will not be recognized for a long time as an institution in the
which students can enter in order to gain generally recognized qualifications.

PURPOSES AND PROBLEMS

4.- A sketch of Steiner's hopes and plans for the future, which had to be
practices implemented in the Waldorf School, follows the continuation of this last section about the
development of the curriculum that was mainly dealing with the past.
First of all, I wanted to plan the modern languages program again; and
secondarily I wanted to introduce a partial current in the last classes of school with
special observation to the teaching of trades and crafts. Those two problems led him to
redesign the curriculum, which had to be an organic continuation of everything
main class periods that I had already introduced. Other problems were also
discussed, but they were left pending to be addressed at some future date. No
however,
These problems affected the considerations of the day. Here are some points of view from Steiner with
regarding the approach to the impressions of foreign languages and flowing into the school
higher (Secondary Education)

Reassessment of foreign language classes in high school.

6.- During the last meeting of first-year teachers, Steiner said something
unexpectedly
It's easier to deal with language lessons because here the subjects are not so fixed.
agreement with the classes (presumably referring to the material to be covered in each class). No
We should not adhere too strictly to the division into classes in language lessons.
This system has simply evolved; however, there is no need to fix it anyway.
language lessons strictly in accordance with the classes."( 24.7.20)
8.- After an observation about something completely different, Steiner continued:
9.- "In general, we can say that in language lessons it is easier to mix students.
older and younger, because younger ones will learn from the older ones and the older ones
they will progress having to drag the minors. It is possible to mix the ages.
10.- A year later, towards the end of the 2nd year at the Waldorf school, Steiner said after
listen to a report from a language teacher.

One can try to achieve something by dividing the students into groups. We could form groups of
pupils of similar knowledge and ability
2.- And after other observations, as if wanting to confirm and conclude his ideas on the
subject, continuous:
We will have to rethink the language lessons.
4.- Then the general guidelines regarding language teaching continued, which is not
necessary to be repeated here. However, it became clear that the language lessons had to
to be redefined.
5.- Some six months later, when asked what he thought about extra language classes
Steiner replied:
6.- "We should investigate if it would be feasible to give language lessons to select groups of students."
although to the usual classes.”(16.11.21)
7.-Again a year later, Steiner noted that the shortcomings of the students in the lessons
language skills would not improve by increasing the number of classes.
8.- The number of language classes has been reached because children are unable to
to focus properly. It would be necessary to allow them to decide which language to take.
It means that the students who wish to pass their 'Abitur' (Academic Aptitude Test) should
be limited to the lessons of Latin and Greek. They would have to eliminate other subjects. They must cut
with modern languages and they should give more space for action to Latin and Greek." (10/15/22)
9.- "The problem is that students of similar caliber are not grouped together. Would it really be
Is it impossible to regroup the children? Language teaching in classes has become a custom.
established. This is a terrible waste of our energy. Would it really be impossible to give lessons?
of languages into groups according to abilities and not in the usual classes? I think it would be possible to group
pupils according to skill, that one could teach in this way and nonetheless cover the
foundation of the Curriculum. I think that one could manage with the same number of classes to the
week framed by languages to be taught in groups according to abilities. In this way
would function.
10.- On October 28, 1922, the difficulties of the schedule, which had to remain fixed.
After the main classes, it was discussed in detail. Steiner's attempts to group students.
In the language lessons according to their abilities played a role in these deliberations
she also granted her desire to partially select the higher classes starting with the
Class 7, to train the most academic students to take an exam and be exempted from Latin and Greek.
those who would not need those subjects for their vocational training. An attempt was made.
The one about fitting those requirements within the schedule. When the Latin teacher asked if the
antiqua lessons should be taught in double periods immediately after the
main lessons, Steiner replied: "This is a good idea, especially if one adds a
a little color to the lessons teaching more of a formal job in the first period and using the
second period for readings. In this case, it is better to have a double period. Regarding the
Greek and Latin can only keep the languages functioning if one lets the pupils decide.
from a certain class upwards, if they wish to choose, French, or English or Greek and Latin ..... we must
to work with the aim of helping children pass exams (Abitur *1) (Aptitude test
Academic). This can only be achieved if we allow them to choose, in complete cooperation with the
parents, Greek and Latin, or French and English. Since we teach French and English from the
first class forward we can undoubtedly do something about moving to the bases
antiquities in those languages for the older pupils who are taking Greek and Latin, if so.
They desire. But we must accept this rearrangement of lessons.

1.- After a question about different subjects, I continued:

2.- "But since we started teaching languages from class 1 onwards, it would be sad if not
we were able to continue with those languages in higher classes with a minimum of time
for review, since they need Latin and Greek. We must manage somehow to
save time for this. We cannot continue this way until now.
3.- Finally, it was decided to allow the students in the higher classes who wanted to take exams in
Greek and Latin (which were mandatory subjects of the Abitur *1) only a few review lessons in
French to train them to focus on Greek and Latin, but they should have left English.
This arrangement was going to start in class 7.
A schedule was created for the lessons following the main class, which would make it possible for them to take place.
the lessons of ancient and modern languages during the first two periods after the
main lesson, so that student groups could be formed according to ability and
knowledge. Details of such schedule will be provided in the section that deals with it.
5.- When the plan above was being worked on, Steiner observed:
6.- "Now we can exchange pupils. But we must ensure that we retain the same
number of language lessons as before. Such a surgical operation cannot be
considered pedantically. We must carry two or three weak students who are incapable of
stay with your group.”(1b)
7.- However, this "surgical operation" was not carried out immediately after
Steiner just wanted to put it into practice "when he could be present for a few days."(1b)
8.- Steiner considered this new arrangement of modern language lessons and the flow in the classes.
higher ups as an important step in the history of the school and greeted this event with the
following words:
9.- This will cause a great change if we become aware of the current situation. We must have
clear the implications. This major change will have its effect even on the subjects of the main class.
even within the soul of the child. Children will understand that at least some subjects are
being applied seriously.
10.- I conclude:
11.-“We can alter the current grouping of classes in language lessons until we no longer
Pay attention to the new schedule. It might be a good thing if all of you showed an interest in it.
new schedule.
12.- The 'Great Change' was not the new schedule. It was the decision to reorganize the lessons.
modern languages and consequently the abandonment of the established division into language classes
modern and consequently the abandonment of the established division into language classes
taught by the same teacher; also the decision to channel the higher classes accordingly
to ancient and modern languages.
13.- At the next meeting of teachers on November 24, 1922, the new was checked.
schedule, based on the discussions of October 28. Steiner once again clarified the purposes of
grouping according to the ability in modern language lessons after a
objection that it was "irrational" to have so many language groups.
14.- "This attitude is the result of wanting to maintain the old arrangement of language teaching.
in classes. From a pedagogical point of view, this old arrangement does not need to be continued.
After the 4th class. I admit that up until the 4th class, the course teacher should give the lessons of
Languages to your class. Adhering to this practice after the 4th class is not necessary. (24.11.22)
15. The way for regrouping modern language lessons was definitely not
open. Meanwhile, a questionnaire given to the students of the upper class had shown that
only 4 or 5 students wanted the Abitur *1 humanistic (which included Greek and Latin), if they had to
leave English. Steiner, however, insisted that even such a small group should be given the opportunity
to take the 'Abitur' (*1). He still declared:

1.- I would even go so far as to say that we could use the first lessons of the day for Latn and
Greek, for those students who wish to take the exams in the classics. We would look...
in those lessons as main lessons and we could postpone science lessons for later
in the day.
2.- Later he said briefly:
3.- "From time to time it happens that a teacher is needed for a few students."(1b).
4.- So after many doubts among the teachers:
5.- "Those students who demand a humanities exam (for example, Latin and Greek) must
Stop English. If you are not prepared to do it this way, you should leave your exam. If we continue.
"teaching Greek, then we must see that those 4 or 5 can take their exam."
6.- A subsequent statement followed that is not quite clear:
7.- "Two things are involved: should we deprive our pupils of the possibility
of learning Greek? I don't care much about Latin. Should we exclude the students from the
possibility of giving Greek? (1b)
8.- His implication, however, is quite clear: Steiner believed that it is of utmost importance for
The Waldorf School offers its students the opportunity to take the 'Abitur' (*1) and also to learn and
to study the Greek language.
9.- The upper classes were arranged in the following way:
10.-"Let us approach it as follows: up to class 8 inclusive Greek: In the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th class
Latin and Greek will be mandatory subjects in the Waldorf School curriculum, but not
despite
We will allow certain students, whose parents do not want these languages, to be exempted from these two.
subjects. Channeling could begin with the 9th grade: either Greek or English. At this point,
we have to separate the lessons of Latin and Greek. I think we will return to the principles of the
Waldorf School of teaching Greek and Latin in 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, as well as the
modern languages, and that begin to be channeled only in the last classes. In this way, we must
take the children to the exam level.
11.- This established the specialization in higher classes. Later in other schools, Steiner
I adapt the examination demands by offering the choice of French or Greek area instead of
English or Greek.
12.-The other point, that of the reorganization of modern language lessons, was left in
reservation and was not discussed again for the following months. Only in 1923 did Steiner speak about
about it again after a complaint from a language teacher regarding the difficulties with
cover quite a lot of foundation, due to the presence of particularly weak students.
13.-"It might be desirable to establish the whole matter of languages separately and place the
new students who have not studied these two languages, together with the younger ones.
We should put such pupils in lower classes. The newcomers will simply have to
be part of the immediately previous language class.”(3.5.23)
14.-The reorganization of modern language lessons was not implemented after
everything. However, Steiner continued to favor it, but it was not discussed later. Like others
subjects was not directly involved in the problem and that it had not followed the
conversations with Steiner rather as an observer, I had the impression that not only
objective arguments, such as the difficulties of reforming the schedule, were upheld in
against their propositions. Personal aspects played their part, such as attachments to
the wards of whom the teachers would have lost under the new arrangements, affections that were
seen as karmic connections. All of this eventually led to a complete silencing of
plan to regroup language lessons when, in the summer of 1924, a new schedule was made for
English and French.

1.-In the reopening of schools, Steiner after the collapse of Nazi Germany was made
new attempts to overcome the resistance of the remodeling of language groups,
resistance of indolent hearts, but still without success. Nevertheless, we should not simply
set aside Steiner's serious purposes, which he persistently reiterated.
2.- Steiner's views on language teaching are the most clearly
illustrated in the previously cited phrases of 24.7.20 and 24.11.22. This shows that until the
Class 4, languages should be taught by the class teacher, if possible, and that after the
Class 4, they should be taught separately from the usual class system. These points of
view corresponds to the guidelines of Steiner's curriculum of 2.6.24, where it is suggested that the
classes 7th and 8th. Class 9th should be taught as a single unit, while class 9th
it should be taught as a unique unit, while class 10 should be grouped together with
the 11th and 12th grades.
3.- It wouldn't be too difficult to create a schedule in which the 5th and 6th classes and again the 7th classes
and 8th, they would share language lessons. One must understand that, due to this arrangement, each class would be
united for a year with the class above and the following year with the class below. Following this
the same two groups composed of young and older students would be gathered as
a class every two years, and this would enable each group to compare their own progress with that of the other
group. The other experience of such a plan, which also has a pedagogical aspect, would be the fact that
there would be approximately twice the number of students in the language lessons as
in language lessons just like in the main lessons. If there is a lack of space in the room
Classes would make this impractical; one would have to divide those large groups again.
which, after all, would only need the same number of teachers as the shape
conventional teaching of each class as a unit.
4.- The margin between the weaker students and the intelligent ones, on July 24, 1920, Steiner
I call a substitute arrangement, it would only become broader by putting classes together, but the work.
together with the elders and the minors which Steiner considered to be beneficial, could be
implemented especially in classes 5th to 8th. Therefore, classes from 1st to 4th would have lessons
language classes from 5th to 8th should be combined with an adjacent or higher class
inferior. Class 9 with its special task of grammar could focus on its work as a
simple unit; and in the higher classes, where an attempt is made to establish a contact with the folkloric soul and the
art from another nation, the emphasis on the more pedagogical side of serious teaching would be less
importance in any way.
5.- Considering that Steiner made such efforts to free the language from age groups.
and the different passages from the notes published in the meetings (the conferences) (*4) are
testimony of these facts, and that the latest fully addressed this topic and not even when the
curriculum for modern languages was being discussed on June 2, 1924
strongly suggest that this problem should be taken up again. It is for this reason that we
They made the previous suggestions. Subsequent education and training for the learning of the
they leave school at 14.
6.- In his conference about 'Comprehensive Steiner Education' () given in the summer of
1919, Steiner spoke about the education of more mature adolescents:
7.- "Only from the age of 14 can pupils be trained to form judgments. At that age
One can introduce what appeals to the powers of judgment. One can bring, for example, subjects.
related to a logical understanding of realities. You will see that if in the future places of
education, a carpenter (master carpenter) or mechanical engineering apprentice is
sharing the lessons with someone who is going to become a teacher, so something is
it will develop that, although being a form of specialized education, a kind of still remains
comprehensive school (unit school (*2)). In such a school, everything needed will be offered for the
life, and if it were not included, we would become involved in the social uprising of our
even more time from the reality we are in. Every teaching must contribute towards a more
complete knowledge of life. One will have to teach people aged 15 to 20, in a
a more reasonable and economical way, everything connected with agriculture, trades, industry, and commerce.
No one should be allowed to go through those years without having at least one idea.
of agriculture, trades, industry, and commerce. These subjects will have to be planned as
disciplines that are more essential than a lot of garbage that is being taught now.
Subsequently to this age, everything belonging to what I would like to call subjects
concerning a worldview perspective (Weltauschuungssache *11) should be introduced
now. This includes especially some knowledge of history and geography, everything that is
connected with the understanding of nature, so that man will learn to know the being
human in its relationship with the entire universe. Among people taught in this way, there will be some
that, urged by the social conditions of becoming a worker of the Spirit (Geisterarbeiter) will be
trained in special schools of spiritual science in all classes of fields. (9 conf. 1)
1.- This passage characterizes the purpose that must be understood by the Movement of the
Waldorf schools, let's say the creation of a school providing for pupils right up to the
college or university level (comprehensive school *2). In the early years after 1919 when the
Waldorf School was going through its early stages, achieving such purposes was not
still possible. But the importance of the unifying principle of all had been experienced.
education and had learned to view pedagogical questions within the context of the whole
social foundation. The teachers found it difficult to accept that nothing could still be done about some
money to live or that I had to start vocational training at the age of 14. Because
so, he repeatedly made the request to Steiner to incorporate within the Waldorf School a
post-education center to make possible those who leave school at 14 and have to
to learn a trade to remain within the education of the Waldorf School. Steiner answered such
requirement in the following way:
2.- "We would make the absurd mistake of putting children into training branches"
specialized. We cannot do this if we wish to remain true to our method
pedagogical. We can only support what helps the progress of man. If we wish
open centers for further education, we must do so in such a way that children are
they would benefit in their human education.
3.- Obviously, Steiner did not want to have anything to do with the established forms of classes.
mandatory evening schools or commercial colleges, nor with countless academies that trained
students for very different specialized businesses. He expressed his own image of such.
school in the following way :
4.- "We must decide what kind of school we want to create. No one can doubt that if(
professor) was called to a comprehensive school of further education, it was assumed that it was a school
that combined both the practical and humanistic aspects of education. Build something different
it wouldn't be our idea.
He wanted to combine vocational practical training with that of a high school.
(Gymnasium (*3)) in the sense of the Waldorf school. But at that moment, he did not see any.
possibility of achieving such a purpose within a Waldorf school, because the authorities of
schools and centers for learning would not concede a jot of their established forms of
training.

1.- "What is being lost is the possibility of educating children from the age of 15 onwards.
according to our curriculum. This has been previously established. The problem is therefore
"resolved for the moment." (ib)
2.- "This problem of using the space of time between the adult's instruction and the school is the most
sharp. If we could make the authorities recognize us, we would be absolutely
exceeded.
3.- Manifesting that nothing could be done within the established forms of instruction
vocational because "everything was sealed inside impermeable compartments" he nevertheless,
I believed that new attempts should be made.
4.- We should study the issue of how to create centers for further education that could
to become places of education in the sense of 'Volksplidagoglschen (9,9). The school must address
to push this idea through the authorities. We must gain a more official recognition for
the school.
5.- It is clear what Steiner meant by this last statement: to give young apprentices a
broad general education, just as it was being provided for children who aspired to a
more academic professions. They wanted to stop the exploitation of apprentices by the industry in order to
generating time for their broader education, apart from an economic motivation in the
learning for their trade. The purpose I wanted to achieve for them became clear from the
observations indicated above: "The most pressing issue is how to make use of time between the
primary school ("Volkschule") and the academy ("Hochschule").
He wanted to use the 4 or 5 years that are between the two schools in such a way that the learners who
they have been trained for their jobs, they would still have the possibility of attending a school or
University, besides receiving a broad general education at a Steiner school ('Hochschule').
The idea was to have Steiner schools that might possibly be alongside classes of traditional education.
Academically, there would be courses for apprentice students in which they would be trained for their
jobs apart from receiving a broader general education. In the first conference of
primary education (Volkplidagogic... Vortrlige) (*9), Steiner had already mentioned the need for
organize the schools.
6.- This new type of school never existed in Steiner's life. Only during the years of
reconstruction after the collapse of Nazi Germany, many educational centers were
open in industrial companies, in which those ideas were seriously considered. In the
Steiner schools today, the introduction of courses that prepare for life, and courses
technological advancements could be considered a beginning in this direction, but a whole
Instruction in trades and commerce cannot yet be provided. Because such an extension of the Waldorf School
it would only be possible if a sufficiently large number of such 'practical' pupils gave a
good financial basis, (Since this was written, training centers in arts and crafts have
they have been established in two or three schools, particularly in the Hibernia School in Wanda Eikel
in the Ruhr). Meanwhile, the Waldorf School must remain unbalanced because in reality
It cannot become a truly social unit. On the other hand, as long as we are not able to
to offer something that is truly worthwhile to the students of non-academic sports, we are
condemned to lose a very substantial number of pupils after 8th grade year after
year, because they have to engage in practical learning... They probably do not realize that
the loss that this signifies for their lives but even if they knew, they would have to
leave school prematurely in order to earn a living at an early age.
7.-Steiner recognizing this situation, arranged the curriculum in such a way that those who left
early (at around 14) they would at least take something in their lives which they did not
they could obtain from their vocational instructions. In their last educational course, they said:
8.-"We must also consider those children who have to leave school at puberty in the end.
during the Primary Education period, and therefore cannot participate in higher classes.
We must make it our purpose, when they reach that age they will have arrived at a perception of
a world that agrees with life itself through the content of our teaching. This
it can be done in a double way. on one hand, we can develop all our lessons of
science and history in such a way that by the end of their schooling, children have some
knowledge of the being of man and some idea of man's place in the world. Everything must
driving to a knowledge of man, reaching a measure of totality when children
they have reached the age of 13 or 14. So everything they have already learned will enable them to
to understand what laws, forces, and substances work within man himself, and how man is
related to everything that is of an emotional nature and how he is connected to the world of the spirit,
so that the child, naturally in his own way, will know how man is relating to
all the cosmos. We must strive for this to achieve it, on one hand.

On the other hand, we try to give the child an understanding of life. It is actually the case today in
a day that most people, especially those who grow up in the city, have no idea how
a substance, paper, for example, is made of. There are a large number of people who do not know
how the paper they write on or the material they are using is manufactured, nor if they use
leather shoes, how leather is prepared.
2.- 'Think about how many people exist today who drink beer and have no idea how it's made. This is
truly a monstrous state of affairs. Now we cannot of course carry out anything in
that address, but we can try to make our purpose regarding its feasibility.
give children some knowledge of the work done in the most varied trades, and see that they
they also learn how to do certain types of jobs that are done in real life.
SHOE MANUFACTURING

3-4.- Steiner continues: "I would have really liked to have a shoemaker as a teacher in school."
Waldorf if this had been possible. It could not be done because such a thing does not fit in his curriculum.
based on the requirements of the present day, but rather so that the children could truly
learning to make shoes, and knowing, not theoretically, but through their own work. I
It would have been very nice from the very beginning to have a shoemaker among the members of the school.
but it simply could not happen because one would have entered into conflicts with the
authorities, although in real life such expertise would enable people to avoid problems.
A small start in this direction was made at the Waldorf School in Stuttgart by a teacher
the boy had a very difficult class in his last class and Steiner advised that this boy should be
he should teach how to make shoes and that he should make a pair for himself. Another teacher,
therefore, he especially learned the art of making shoes and taught the child. However, this
it was the only case and should be considered more of a therapeutic measure.

ANTHROPOSOPHY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

6.- Estettulo can surprise the reader who has been repeatedly told that the Colleges
Steiner schools are not ideological schools, for example, that Anthroposophy does not have to be taught in.
them. Therefore, this section may only deal with material strictly outside the scope of the
school. This is written for the benefit of adolescents in the process of maturity who are approaching
to their teachers with questions because they have heard or known that the teacher is a
anthroposophist.
7.- Towards the end of the last teachers' meetings of the year 1923-1924, Steiner said
spontaneously
8.- "There is one more point to mention. It is something that is connected with all classes of
possibilities for the future development of our Anthroposophical Society. It is that in the future
Something will be developed in Dornach that must come together to advance our pedagogy.
mainly that courses should be given to the students of our 'Fortbildungsschule'.
(Higher Education Institute), so that a new Anthroposophical Group of young people can
develop. I have often mentioned that Anthroposophy is of course available for the
young adults, as one calls young men and women. I am talking about the class
of Anthroposophy that is appropriate for young people in their tough late puberty years. This
It should be taught in real classes.”(9.4.24)

INTRODUCTORY LESSONS IN PHILOSOPHY

1.- This introduction to philosophy is not part of the curriculum of the original Waldorf School. It was not
however, given that in the class he was preparing students for the exams. Steiner talked about
about it on several occasions. In their comprehensive education courses(*9), they said:
2.-"You see in the times when the Gymnasium (*3), which is a terrible specter with
regarding what is needed nowadays, it was the only place where one could be prepared to
higher education, when the model of the ancient monastery schools was still followed, the
which in their own times were not bad and still retained a quality that could be
characterized in the following way: The man absorbed something that took him to a
point of view within a general philosophy. An introduction to philosophy (Propedeutics)
Philosophy was one of the subjects in the curriculum of those schools. It is allowed to teach it only
during the last few years; and in most of the courses it happened that the content of the 2nd was taught
in the 1st year and vice versa... but in the end, there was something there. It was a remnant of something for which ancient
higher schools provided, so that, during the first years, the student was given the
the possibility of observing something from a general philosophy of the world, and only this would give him the right to
to specialize for a profession. Because it can be of no real use to anyone when studying a
profession, which has not gained the ability to form reasonable judgments about human matters.
3.-" Nowadays, it is considered unnecessary to teach man some logical and psychological concepts.
that correspond to the truth. No one can study higher spiritual life with advantages if they have not
has experienced the discipline of such logical and psychological ideas, if he has not earned for himself the
the right to follow such a path. All of this has been completely erased by cultural life and
spiritual that no longer wishes to look at man in his entirety. This recent cultural and spiritual life
wants to impose quite foreign impulses on man.
4.- This introductory course on philosophy was only mentioned during curricular meetings.
when discussions were held about the preparation of the 12th grade for exams.
5-6.-Steiner said: "One could introduce philosophy (Propedeutics) in the middle of the last year... It is better
that the students of the 12th grade be prepared for this exam during the first half of the year
that during the second half.
This philosophy course had to be given during the last half of the year that was less
certificate. Emphatically, Steiner refused exercises in logic as a means to school the training
of trials. In the Supplementary course he said: "It was not in any way an extravagance when it
he asked that all children should learn to knit, etc. In this hands-on activity, something is
builds and shapes in such a way that it actually considerably increases the power to form judgments.
This ability to make judgments is minimally aided if one has the pupils practice.
In logic, because those exercises are not entirely appropriate to increase the power of
to form judgments. If one teaches the pupil to unite subject and predicate, if one teaches him logic in this way, it does not
not only does it not contribute to their ability to form judgments, but it makes this activity
hardened. The pupil will become the kind of person who later in life can only judge.
schematically. If one does many of these thought exercises, it educates the mind of the
man to run on tram lines. Aside from this, such exercises provoke too much salt that
is deposited, so that the man arrives at these "pickled". Then he starts to sweat, it
One can observe well if we force children too much by making them reach conclusions.
logical.
1.- Here, exercises in logic are rejected, but not the introduction to philosophy.

FINAL SCHOOL EXAMS

2.- Steiner had already spoken about the end-of-term exams of the school and instruction
university student in her early years, as far back as 1898, and her observations have already been cited
in this book in the section on different phases in the development of the curriculum of the Steiner School.
3.- His observations on the same topic are somewhat drastic evaluations of the situation that
it finally led to a plan for preparing the students for their final exams in the class
13 that was added to class 12 of the Waldorf School.
4.- In his lectures on 'Comprehensive Steiner Education' (*9), Steiner spoke about the
demands made by a university instruction:
Naturally, anyone who cares about cultural life cannot expect or even desire that
specialization should be changed within universal dilettantism. However, it should be the
meta the organization of all education in such a way that the student always has the
possibility, in what I would like to call the lower levels of your consciousness, to connect the dots from
his area of specialization, which will connect him to the universal culture of humanity; this can
it can be achieved if at each institution of higher education a general course is given before it starts
specialization. If this is done, one should really examine how economically it could
teach specialized subjects based on such general education, for example, when one
teaches students who have been encouraged to develop their human potential.
6.- When, after its first year of existence, a new class 9 was opened like the first class.
from the higher education, Steiner warned about the dangers of state interference in matters of
exams, any negotiation that involves state assistance could bring. He said:
7.-There is no point in opening a class 9 unless we consider opening a university.
completely free at the same time... So we can be indifferent about his decision
regarding the examination procedure. What matters then is the problem of
recognition of our university. This is a problem that we cannot discuss in the
present. By then, the conditions will have changed so that one can (right?)
refuse the recognition of such university.”(29.7.20)
In the spring of 1923 during the Easter pedagogy course in Dornach, Steiner said
About the final exams of the school (Abitur*1) (Academic Aptitude Test):
9.- 'For a natural way of teaching and for a natural education, the only question can be:
Does man learn to make social contact in life, which is an essential requirement of the
human nature? Because after all, the people who ask questions on their papers
Exams are also human beings, although the style of these papers nowadays is incorrect.
But if one wishes to adapt the pedagogy of the Waldorf School to current social demands, one
he is forced to do things with which he cannot agree internally. Therefore, a
official upon inspecting our last class may well think: I cannot find here what
the ideal of Waldorf pedagogy aims to achieve. But I can assure you if really
we had to carry out our education which is to read in the nature of the child, especially
if we try to establish the appropriate connections with the different branches of practical life,
Then all our students would fail their exams. This is how things are currently.
34
A few days later, every detail of the complex of problems brought by the
first exam (Abitur*1) to be taken by the students of the Waldorf School, Steiner continued:
2.- "If we were successful in our school reports in being recognized (by the
Authorities) our students could well pursue a specialized study based on what they have
learned according to our curriculum. But the problem is that none of the subjects that
they have studied for their exam (Abitur) it is used for the study of a specialized subject.
You could build upon Kolisko's chemistry, the specialists will be shocked.
Regarding the lack of knowledge about chemical formulas but our students
they can learn them. What is more important is for one to have an understanding of the relationship
internal between the different substances and chemical reactions. These are the points I wanted
mention.
3.- After dealing with another question, continue:
4.-"Being able to carry out our own program assessments, which is our ultimate goal.
It will not be possible for a long time. This would have been possible with the help of the Cultural Council.
(*5), who died a natural death after a few weeks of meeting. It would be desirable
create the conditions in which many private schools (Realschulen) (3rd) and gymnasiums
private ones (*3) that exist in Austria. There were many gymnasiums linked to religious orders that
they were allowed to make their own test papers. There were private schools that were
allow recognized exam results. There are no such schools in Germany that I
What should be guaranteed to us is that an official inspector is present during the
exams that, however, our own teachers could organize. After all the
Inspector could not wait to grade the exams if they were held at the school.
Waldorf under the guidance of its teachers.
Around a year later when the first class 12 was about to take exams,
Steiner summarized the whole problem:
6.- "It was the desire of the majority of our parents that we should give our students the
possibility of continuing their education in academies or university. The desire comes from parents and
pupils at the same time. At the beginning, the pupils did not expect this to become a painful
subject and they were eager to take their exams. It is quite possible that they will, but not
We solve the problem by sending our students to other schools. The question is whether it is right.
resolve it in the way that we have found extremely problematic and that we have already
discarded. Now the question is whether we should consider a compromise instead of insisting on
follow our curriculum rigidly, instead of rejecting the allowance of a preparatory class
intensive to be part of the school. We have discarded this idea because we think it is not
pedagogical. Introduce an intensive preparation class or neglect our curriculum, that is the
question. I think it would be best not to send our students to other schools where they
they would have to pass some kind of entrance exam and carry out our curriculum up to the
Class 12 inclusive. So we could take a 13th year for exam preparation.
Let us assume, speaking only from a pedagogical point of view, that a child arrives at the
first grade between their sixth and seventh year, then they will pass through grade 12 between their
18 and 19 years old. This would be the correct time to change to an academy or university, no more.
Afternoon. Adding a year after school would demonstrate the same intelligence as that of the
state authorities who added another year to the medical study because they believed there is more
subjects to cover. Those things (adding an extra year for exam preparation)
could drive them crazy. Those students who do not wish to go to the academy or to university must
find their way in life without it. They will become useful people even without exams because they
they will earn what they need for life. Those who wish to pursue further education could well
to be for another year in order to become a little bit more stupid, I think one could consider
this thirteenth year as a year of 'drumming in it'. But it is up to us to see that the pupils
from their exams because we should not send him to another place. We must separate this class 13 from the
the rest of the Waldorf school would have to be increased due to this class 13. If we were to
employing trainers who work under the supervision of teachers could be done. I think that
it could be done.”(5.2.24)
1.- When the results of the first exams were known in the spring of 1924, in the
which 5 of the 9 students had been passed, Steiner said:
2.- "Overall, I find that the results of the exams have demonstrated in a
surprising way that all the things we have discussed here are valid for the future. For
It would be better if we could add this special class without bringing in foreign influence.
from the Waldorf School. It is unnecessary to say that what we have agreed will remain. We do not wish to undermine
that
However, the poor results seem to indicate that the pupils were unable to cope
adequately when they were left alone; they were too accustomed to working in
groups...... There wasn't too much time, but it seems that they were not taught to our
pupils to solve their problems... This seems to be the essence of what was wrong.
On April 29, Steiner spoke to the students of the newly opened second class about the
problems with taking exams, and the next day I report this conversation in the meeting of
teachers.
4.- "All the students in class 12, with the exception of only one, have declared that they do not
they believe it is important to take their exams at the end of this year, but possibly one more year
afternoon after the entire course at the Waldorf school and after a class preparation for the
exam. However, they do believe that this kind of preparation should be
given at the Waldorf School.”(30.4.24)
5.- This exam preparation was ultimately characterized by Steiner in the last meeting.
of teachers whom he attended at the Waldorf School in Stuttgart..............................................
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
6.- "This year (1924/1925) we will not consider an exam and we will carry out from the School.
Waldorf. We will not take an exam into account. But we will strive to offer the lessons.
particulars ourselves for the exam the following year. You have heard the lessons of
today. They show how much these young people depend on the Waldorf School. The students of the
Class 12 will not find at all if they were asked to take the exam this year. We cannot
to prevent the intensive course from becoming something unpleasant for them, but the children want to
the teachers and the school. We will not call the new class, 'class 13' but Preparation Class.
For the Abitur (*1) (Academic Aptitude Test). (3.9.24)
7.- This way of transitioning from the Waldorf School to an academy or university is still
generally accepted today. At the time of its introduction, it had a very beneficial effect.
that gave the possibility to carry out the work for 12 years without interference. Later, he adopted the
to fill the requirements of an official curriculum and exam papers, but these have to be
considered incompatible with the Spirit of the Steiner Schools.
Adaptations to the State College system will still be necessary today, but those should
to be limited to the acceptance of the 13th year of preparation, which would bring the number of years
schoolchildren to a level with those from State Schools (in Germany). This 13th year can be used
in order to prepare our students for a different kind of exam, which would not be
arguing with the pedagogy of the Steiner School, Steiner has made suggestions for such exams and
these were given at the beginning of this chapter in the notes of the 'Magazine for Literature' of
1898

CAREER ADVICE

1.- Steiner has said very little about this important point. On February 5, 1924
briefly before the first exam had to be taken and during the time of discussions
about the next one, he said:
One can only do this in special positions; generally speaking, one can hardly...
make decisions, although the school has little influence on career choices.
Different aspects of such a choice are not simple. Actually, the whole matter should happen in such a way.
a way that when an 18 or 19-year-old thinks that he should train for this or that.
profession, one accepts their desire and gives it...
This is a matter of great responsibility.

ABOUT THE SCHEDULE

A characteristic that distinguishes the schedule of the Steiner School is the introduction of periods of
the main class for a number of subjects, because with such an arrangement it is both possible and advantageous.
This means that each of these subjects, which belong to the most intellectual disciplines but
that do not include the languages, it is......during the first two and sometimes creates periods of the day for
about 4 weeks, after which it is replaced by another subject of the main lesson.
The history of this new schedule arrangement can be found in the section "Purposes and Problems".
under the subtitle 'Reconsideration of Foreign Language Lessons - Two Currents in the
secondary education. Here we will only mention that to begin with English and French
they were also subjects of main lesson. In the meeting that Steiner held on the 9th of
September 1919 for example. Immediately after the conferences were given to
the new meeting of teachers(*12), languages no longer belonged to the main lesson subjects
But they were part of the remaining schedule. It was recommended that they should be given.
during the morning sessions but they could be scheduled in the afternoon if necessary
necessary. The subjects of the main lesson were: German (including reading and
literature) mathematics, geography, natural state, history, physics, and chemistry. Later it was added
art courses were given shortly after the subjects taught in periods of something like four
week by week they came to be known as core subjects.
4.- "But the lessons will be given in such a way that the child's attention is focused for several
weeks on the same subject. At the end of the school year, there would be recapitation periods in which
Subjects taught earlier will be brought to mind again." (13 session 1)
6.- This plan was to be used in the subjects of the main classes that were to be given in
periods during the first three quarters of the year and in shifts during the last quarter. (8.9.19). This
It means that the subject of the main class had to be covered within three quarters of the year.
and that during the last quarter the teacher had to systematically repeat all the lessons
previously taken main ones.
7.- This has not been the practice in our schools, although Steiner never altered his views.
On the contrary, he spoke clearly about this plan in the Christmas Course for teachers:
8.- It goes without saying that when the end of the school year approaches, everything taught before during
The year will be brought anew to the soul of the child, and one can make this quite attractive.
And again in Oxford:

1.- "People can criticize the fact that our children are prone to forget what it was"
taught in main class periods, but this must be balanced by the economy of time
of classes and for the efficiency of the teachers. The main class subjects will only be
repeated during the last weeks of the school year, so that a recap of everything
year be doubt. In this way the child really grows within their subjects.
2.- The lessons after the daily main class were arranged in the following way
(taken from the notes):
In the first class, an English and French lesson could possibly be scheduled in the afternoon.
also in class 2 and 3; the same in class 4 (apparently every day except Wednesday and
Saturdays in the afternoon as well, two lessons each day except Wednesdays and Saturdays.
example 8 lessons per week, but if it were possible those lessons would have to be placed in the
Tomorrow, Greek in class 6 and 7. But since class 6 only 3 lessons of English and French to the
week, and an hour and a half of Greek and Latin. (Lesson and hour are the same word in German)
(hour) but the lessons usually do not last an hour. All language lessons
that being placed between recesses, lessons in manual techniques could be placed anywhere
place in the afternoons, music religion eurhythmics should be given from 2 p.m. onwards,
Latin (starting with class 4) Greek (starting with class 6) should be given after the
main lesson as in modern languages, or they could be scheduled in the afternoon. (9.9.19)
In the following years, the schedule became somewhat obscure and non-educational due to the necessity.
to divide large classes for certain subjects, such as languages, eurhythmics, and manual techniques.
5.- In Autumn of 1922, several meetings of teachers were dedicated to creating a new schedule.
and Steiner introduced this task with the following words:
6.- "The schedule has become quite impossible, although trying to apply methods based on the
knowledge of man and his development, we have managed to transform ourselves into the most
possible anti-pedagogical.
7.- In this meeting, the following principles were formulated for the schedule. They naturally
they have had to be considered as desirable guidelines that will need to be repeated time and again
to be adapted to the multiple needs of the circumstance:
8.- It is established that for the morning sessions there will be main lessons, Latin and
Greek (for students who want to take the Abitur*1) (Academic Aptitude Test), eurythmy and
singing. Then we would start the afternoons with choir practice and orchestral rehearsals. To those
that French and English should have those language classes while the others are.
having Latin and Greek, so that we keep the languages together. For the higher classes
(class 7 and above) one should see if the manual technique lessons could be placed in the
afternoons. Manual techniques and gymnastics should be postponed until the afternoons, especially in
the higher classes. In this way it would be possible to reach a reasonable schedule. The lessons of
gymnastics should be in the afternoons if possible. Gymnastics lessons are not considered as
a recreational class. Not in good sandwich maker those lessons among other lessons. Two classes
They can be taken together. I need to talk to the gym teacher about the method, I have only
given a few indications. But in gymnastics lessons, one can always have two.
large groups."(28.10.22)
9.- After this observation regarding the appropriate location for gymnastics, which will be discussed in
Detail in the chapter on eurhythmy and gymnastics, Steiner continued:
10.-"But there we have religion classes to think about it and also the lessons of
offices. Those lessons should be held in the afternoons…… Artistic offices can be given in
the afternoons.

1.- The place of trades in the schedule has already been discussed. When the trades teacher asked for more
time for your work with class 9, Steiner responded:
2.- "It is not possible to give more time for this subject. Contrary to the method of dividing into groups,
What is a pedagogical contradiction, would it be better if one concentrated the work in eight days?
full week often refers to eight days in German), so that one could work with
a group of pupils every day for eight days. It is very important for life that children feel
the pain of having to abandon certain subjects for a longer time. This feeling of being
Being torn from work is of definitive importance. Perhaps this is another case of having to work.
with our principle of contraction ...... perhaps it could be done in such a way that only 1/3 1/3 1/3 of
the class has lessons in trades (apparently it is meant that only 1/3 of the class at a time)
I should have those lessons for a week) The only subjects that don't suffer much from being
taught in a less concentrated form are the languages ... The main classes and lessons
of art suffer not only from a psychological point of view, but something becomes ruined, something
become truly ruined in human nature (16.11.21)
3.- At that time, the problem remained unsolved but the ……….
4.-"To begin with, the thing is this: one could consider the teaching of trades in periods, but it is
quite impossible to have such periods during the main lesson time. One should
consider whether it would be possible to leave the languages for a while in order to make time for such a period.
This would also bring a certain amount of relief for the teachers... One can do it for 15
days at a time regarding the language lessons, starting with class 9. One could do
this arrangement every 6 weeks and distribute it to the child.”(22.6.22)
5.- "However, a decision was not reached until October 28, 1922, when in response
In a later request for more time from the trades teacher, Steiner said:
6.- You will manage by practicing in periods. If the main class is given first, then the
Greek and Latin, to be followed by eurhythmics and singing. And in the afternoons the new subjects
mentioned (religion, manual labor, and shorthand) then one can reach an arrangement
satsfactorio.(28.10.22)
7.- Steiner considered these foundations of the schedule very seriously. He gave his reasons.
repeatedly. Thus in the first conference of his Supplementary Course he says.
8.-" We cannot give food to someone and then say: now you are satisfied. The
must be hungry again, must eat again. This must become a process
living, it must form a rhythm. Hunger must become a musical again, it must live in the
rhythm again. He must live in the rhythm in such a way that being thrown entirely upon it
should experience great tension, to be followed by relaxation. If you teach him/her
concepts of the stomach, the lungs, the liver create a certain arrangement within it, this arrives
to be relaxed through singing just as a man is balanced by eating, and in this way a
rhythm is established.
9.- After a description of the effect of eurhythmy and singing lessons on the supra man
sensible, one can read in lecture 3 of the same course.
 One can make excellent use of those facts in education. If one can fix, for
For example, I'm talking about an ideal situation, but the teachers could at least make an effort.
for moving toward such an ideal. If one could arrange for a eurhythmics class to move toward a
ideal.
If one wanted, they could arrange for an eurythmy class to be held one afternoon and then allow
to have its purely spiritual effect during the night, and the following day a lesson would be given
from gymnastics given in the way I described yesterday (2nd conference), then those lessons
they would permeate the body in such a way that the gymnastics lesson could have a giving effect
health. In this way one can achieve a lot by alternating eurhythmics and gymnastics. And again, I could
achieve a lot, if for example one let the children sing for a day and after they have done it
taken to the spiritual world during sleep whatever they have experienced in the lesson
in singing, the next day, if conditions permit, one will let them play instruments together
musicals, which involves both listening and being active. So what has been done in
The previous day will again be centered in an extremely active way through the class.
of the condensing process that takes place within the man when he is listening to music
instrumental. You see if one can achieve ideal conditions, one could work with
incommensurable advantages for the child's health by creating a schedule that is in sync with the
conditions of the child. In that subject, we wish to go much further. (26 conf.3)

1.- In the Dornach course of Christmas 1921/22, the importance of giving gymnastics at the place
correct in the schedule is the new thing………
2.- "It is absolutely correct that all teaching that appeals more directly to the head
it should be given during the morning sessions. Only when those lessons are finished,
Children are led to what is directed more towards the physical, if they have not already...
steam downloaded during the brief breaks between the morning lessons. And after that
this gymnastic instruction has taken place the child should not be taken to do work anymore
With my head, I indicated that this would have a destructive effect on the life forces (etheric).
Because while the children are practicing anything related to physics
corporal.....supraphysical forces are working on the child unconsciously, and the head no longer
is more capable of returning to work after having engaged in physical activities
corporeal. It is quite mistaken to believe that something positive has been achieved by inserting a lesson
of gymnastics, or even less than a complete lesson, among other lessons, only give to the
children a change of activity. The homogeneous nature of the morning and afternoon activities proves
to be of great benefit for the development of man.
3.- Regarding the principle of the place of religious lessons in the schedule, Steiner has already said:
4.- "Yes, after the children have written a business letter in the morning you find them
again in the afternoon to teach them religion, and if what has been set in motion in their
the subconscious through writing business letters is now having its effect, you are
fortunate because you yourselves have created the spirit that needs to be balanced by its pole
opposite.”(12 conf.12)
5.- In fact, it proved impossible to schedule religious classes in the afternoons because they were
taken by teachers sent by various communities and sects, who had to adjust their
lessons at the Waldorf school within its existing schedules.
6.- In the autumn of 1922, the following guidelines for the schedule were added: the lesson
The principal had to take place from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and in the higher classes from 8:00.
from 8 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. and for two days a week, and it was to be followed by language lessons.
From grade 9 onwards, English and Greek had to be taught simultaneously.
Immediately after the language lessons and even during the morning sessions, I sing.
and eurhythmics had to be taught. On the other hand, religion, gymnastics, manual work
(work) and trades (the last ones taught in higher classes) choral practice and
orchestra had to take place in the afternoons. (10.28.22, 12.22)
7.- Details such as the number of weekly lessons by subject or the usual lengths of
The main class periods are provided in the section that addresses the different subjects.

THE CURRICULUM ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE SUBJECTS

1.- Spanish (the mother tongue)

Spanish is the mother tongue:
English would take its place in an English school.
2.- Main classes throughout all classes; in classes 1-8 painting and drawing are part of the
main lessons.
Class 1 to 3, 14 weeks each
Class 4 to 5, 12 weeks each
Class 6 to 8, 10 weeks each
Class 9 to 12, 6 weeks each
3.- Before going into details of the curriculum, some of Steiner's observations will be cited.
The meaning extends beyond each individual class. However, any subject that,
although being part of the main classes of Spanish they belong to a separate subject, such
as painting, modeling, and drawing have been omitted here and will be found in the section of 'Painting'
Modeling and drawing.
4.- Instructions concerning counting and recounting stories, the translation of writing and
grammar, appreciation of style and descriptive writing, as well as indications regarding essays
written citations will be provided before the content of each individual class.

STORIES, TALES AND READING MATTERS FOR LOWER CLASSES

5.- In the first conference of Pedagogical Colloquiums after outlining a
introduction to the lessons that had to be taught in Steiner periods said:
6.- "Everything that has to be taught through the means of deciding (stories) belongs to this
main lesson). In the first school year, we will mainly tell fairy tales.
in the second year we will try to bring the life of animals to the child in the form of stories, we will go
from the fable to how animals live together in real life... I think it would be good if you
They will think about what kind of content you would choose for these story lessons.
You will have to choose material to tell stories and retell them which has to be
introduced to children from their 7th to their 14th year in a free and narrative style. It will be necessary to have
a certain stock of fairy tale material at your disposal. Later they will have to take care of it.
with the introduction of animal stories in connection with the fable. Then biblical tales
they are part of those lessons of storytelling, quite separate from religious classes.
6.- Scenes from ancient history should follow and then scenes from medieval history and
latest history. So you should be able to tell stories about the different
tribes highlighting the differences that arise from the conditions of the living natural environment;
Then the reciprocal relationships of the different tribes (probably meaning races), the
Indians, Chinese, Americans, showing their individual characteristics, in other words,
knowledge of nations. This is of particular importance for our present time.
7.- In a duplicated text for teachers, we found the following summary:
1.- A certain repertoire of fairy tales.
2.- Tales of the animal world introduced through fables.
3.- Biblical stories as part of general history.
4.- Scenes from ancient history.
5.- Scenes from medieval history.
6.- Scenes from contemporary history.
7.- Illustrated stories of tribal life.
 8.- Knowledge of nations (races).
1.- As far as I can remember of this summary. It was also written on the blackboard. Like
it was not published in Heydebrand's Curriculum, it probably remained
unknown to many teachers. One can easily count this list of storytelling material
to be merely an index that had no relation to the different ages. However, I am
Sure that the 8 topics, given in such precise form, are related to the first 8 classes.
The introductory sentence shows the unmistakable style of Rudolf Steiner.
3.- How seriously the volume took this choice of story material and how seriously he wanted it to be.
was taken by the teachers can be seen by the fact that it concluded the first session of
the "Discussions" on this topic and also started the curriculum conferences pointing out the
need to find appropriate material to tell and cut.
4.- "You see when we receive the children in class I, we must first of all try to
find the true material to tell and cut out stories. Through this storytelling of
fairies, of legends and also of realistic external events, and through the children recounting those
stories, we train the real way of speaking. We form the transition from the dialect to speaking.
polite. If we care about the child speaking correctly, we lay the foundations for
a correct style of writing."(16 conf.1)
5.- In the Basel course, Steiner emphasized the importance of the way in which stories are
retold and why those stories should be told and not read from texts.
6.-“If only you could understand, ladies and gentlemen, what an immense difference there is today between reading
just a fairy tale a boy and making one for you. However, many tales
of fairies that you can first read and then cut out for your children, they would not have the
same impact as stories created by yourselves, even if your own efforts are
the existing stories are quite inferior. It is this imaginative process of creating and this is what
I want to refer to a living element that will communicate and work on the child. These are the
imponderables.
7.- It has never been clarified how Steiner wanted the above story material to be appropriate.
inside the main class. I think he wanted the teachers to set aside a
special time during lessons, when artistic and educational treasures should be
offered to children without any compulsion to learn, purely for the inherent value
educational, so that children should learn to know the world in a way that
they could rejoice.
8.- This does not exclude the possibility of explaining that it was freely given if a child expressed the desire.
to understand more completely so that it was received in a more dreamlike manner
then it would become more aware.
LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR
9.- Before quoting Steiner's numerous indications about language and speech, we will begin
with a paragraph taken from the Basel course for teachers, which, although dealing with painting
of the child and drawing, despite everything belongs to our subject:
10.-"When I look at a child's drawing, no matter how primitive and schematic it may be,"
I find in each of them a combination of the child's external perception with a
experience of their own organic life. One can recognize in almost every line of those drawings
where the child has tried to copy something seen with the eye and what he has added from something coming from
from your inner feeling.”(23conf.6)
11.- The teacher continues with the teaching of the mother tongue and shows how this subject together
with the arithmetics, it forms the counterbalance of the forces awakened through an activity
artistic and musical.
12.-"If an inner experience of the organs is not nurtured between the ages of 6, 7, and 9, it results in a
unhealthy growth of the intellect. And this intellect is fundamentally speaking, the enemy
of true human intellectual life as well as social life. I am not trying to
advocating stupidity for humanity my dear friends - it is a matter of recognizing intellect
in its parasitic nature and learn to consider it as complete only when it arises from everything
human being and does not appear in a unilateral way. But nothing will be achieved in this direction unless
that artistic drawing and music education are simultaneously supported by other branches of the
education, especially through language and by teaching arithmetic.
Regarding language teaching, one must first learn to understand all the meaning.
from the teaching of language. I must say that the meaning really became clear to me
when I had the opportunity to observe what happened when the children who spoke dialect...
they sat together in school with other children who did not. It was only the observation and
training those children who spoke dialect, which proved to be so important and interesting.
Dialect -each dialect- has its own peculiarities. Proceed from what I can call the
intimate sentiment of the human being just like the internal experience of the organs,
although this has been largely curtailed by our present intellectualism. It is an experience
internal that really drags the whole human being into language. But in our so-called
There is no cultured language that has become so abstract, and there is no real connection between anyone.
internal experience and what is expressed externally in the real succession of sounds.

1.- After an observation about the inherent logic in languages, it continues:

2.-"There is a notable internal logic in certain primitive languages that then leads to
be much more abstract and simple as it becomes more civilized. And it is the same with the
dialect. In reality, there is much more internal logic in it than in our cultured language, and a
A large amount can be achieved when, for example, at the village school, one begins
directly from the dialect, because then one must speak dialect with the children and make an effort
to bring awareness to what is already unconsciously within the language - that in grammar.
Grammar should be taught in an essentially lively way, as lively as
reality that one begins with the presupposition that it is already there in its nature and whose connection
internal and plasticity the child feels. And then one is able to capture the attention of the child like how
what he carries out unconsciously can become conscious......
One can actually assume that the entirety of grammar is already inherent in the organism.
human, and if this presupposition comes alive in a serious way, my dear friends, a man
He will learn to tell himself: By bringing forth conscious knowledge of grammar from the
unconscious life at the right moment and in a living form, you are simply
working on bringing to light the ego consciousness of the child. And with this knowledge in their bones, if
I can use the expression, then around the age of 9, when the awareness of the ego
Normally, he wakes up properly, you elevate the unconscious to the conscious. So the
child will reach this turning point (Rubicon) in their development in the right way. Then one
work with those forces within the child that want to develop, not with the forces that are
imposed on him from the outside. And this way of teaching the language so that one begins with
the way the child speaks (namely, his dialect) and supports it through a lively exchange
among the children who speak the ordinary cultured language and those who speak dialect, measuring the
one with the other, not in an abstract way, but in a way of feeling, taking a
word or a phrase from the dialect and translating it into the other - working in this way in lessons of
language, one is introducing the artistic element that was given in the language lessons in
Drawing and music. One and a half hours of such language teaching makes you all........................
(23 conf.6)
4.- Although an attempt has been made to illustrate the essentials of language teaching to classes
in which dialect is spoken. I strongly recommended the reader not to enter satisfied with this
I only find it strange to study the Basel Course in its entirety.
5.- In the 9th conference of the same course, Steiner provides more details about language teaching.
showing this time how this subject can help the child to be more awake to their
terrestrial environments.
1.-“The purpose of learning and teaching grammar is essentially to stimulate the awakening of the child,
increase their awareness. In this way, we turn to inner forces that can be developed
around the age of nine in the sense I have characterized. We must make use of the
teaching language in order to make the child more broadly awake. We will be able to make
it is better if we make use of the dialect spoken by the pupils. Because, if they have only been taught to
child the ordinary cultured language, if he has learned this before the age of seven, then he reaches
it is extremely difficult to reach the unconscious forces in the child, because in a sense they
they have already been killed - unconsciously one, definitively natural relationship with the formation
language logic. So when we have children who speak dialect alongside those who do not
It is a good thing to relate our grammar teaching to what the children that
they speak dialect bring to the lessons.”(21 conf.9)
2.- Later in the same conference he says:
3.- "And since the dialect is more directly connected with the unconscious element, we can
build grammar and syntax using dialect as a base and then appealing more to the powers of
reasoning. However, if we only teach children who have been raised in an educated manner
a language, we should not expect this intellect to develop a kind of grammar that
act as a plumb line so that the child blindly follows the accusative or accusative case, or
making a new paragraph here or a comma there. Something different must appear now-if we
we have to teach children who have never lived with the dialect, we must introduce an element
Inside our grammar teaching, we must appeal to a feeling for the
different styles of language. The child brings a clear institute for language to school,
but we must try to develop this appreciation of style in language in the child until his ninth
year. However, we only achieve this if we work towards this feeling for this reason in a way
artstca (for example, not in an intellectual way). This can be done using the child's natural instinct to
follow authority, although such a method may be despised by educators who wish to end
with the notoriety of the professor. We can develop grammar and syntax if we make the child
take note of the differences between sentences expressing general statements, questions, or
exclamations - if we do it to him aware of the different inflections of the voice when one is
expressing in such different types of phrasing. We can demonstrate how a phrase is made in
a neutral object voice class, while an exclamation expresses certainty of
feeling. From this artistic element in the language, we can lead it to a grammar and
syntax.
4.-"Thus, if we use what children speak in dialects and what children whose language is book
the dialect brings us, if we use the first to develop the natural instinct for the language of
Man, the seconds to awaken the inner sense through style, then we will achieve what the
Language teaching can contribute to the child's development.
5.- In the 11th conference of the same course by Steiner, a requirement for an approach
Artistic grammar is considerably supplemented:
6.- "You all see anyone knows what a melody is and also what a phrase is. Without
embargo, very few people understand nowadays that a sentence consists of subject, predicate and
The object is actually a melody in the subconscious realm of man.
7.- In the same way that we can clarify what is experienced in the dream as a
increase and fading of feelings like a curve, rises to consciousness in clothing
of dream images, we also experience in the depths of our being the phrase
like something musical. Adapting to the world around us, we dress what we feel
musically inside with a plastic image.

The boy Write The exercise

SUBJECT PREDICATE OBJECT
1.- In the innermost being of man, a triad is experienced. It is really a triad that the
I experiment internally. In this statement, the triad works in this way: the first tone is
so to speak, directed at the child; the second to writing (the act of writing) and the third to exercise:
(23 conf.11)
2.- In conference 12 of the same course, another indication is given illustrating the importance of the
language hygiene.
It is precisely in childhood that the proper management of health has such immense importance for the body.
It is also of immense importance that one continuously thinks about the child learning to
speak in clear and whole tones and, as I have emphasized, to round off their language, that
learn to pronounce your complementary phrases, giving each syllable what it deserves. Because in the
For a human being, correct breathing depends on correct speaking. Indirectly, correct training
The organs of the human chest depend on proper speaking. It would be good to take a look for once.
to the statistics of chest diseases, which are today so devastating, from this
point of view. One should ask how much responsibility for tuberculosis today is due to
the fact that too little care was taken in school with a rhythmic and measured language and
above all that there was insufficient awareness on the part of the teacher regarding whether the child was
breathing completely and deeply. Language does not come from breathing - on the contrary, the
breathe - on the contrary, breathing must proceed from speech. It is speech that must be
correct - the feeling for the correct speech, for the length and brevity of the syllable then to the
breathing accommodates itself to it. It is a contradiction to believe that one must train oneself to breathe.
to reach the correct way of speaking.
4.- Soon after, in response to questions at a Steiner teachers' meeting, I indicated how the
I would explain the perfect tense. (In German, the imperfect tense conveys a quality of still being)
living in the past, still experiencing the past, while the perfect tense
indicates that some activity has been completed, has been finished.)
I would discuss with the children in various ways the parallels between what belongs to the past and what...
What is perfect? What is a perfect human being? A perfect table? Help the children to achieve that.
feel the connection between what is perfect or finished or completed and then talk about the
perfect time. Then I would use the imperfect tense, a tense that shows that one is in the
process of improvement.
If I had enough time nowadays, I would have read the story to the children at the perfect time.
Such a thing would bring life into the class. Naturally, one cannot change the pace in every sentence.
June 12, 2020
7.- Then he continues and here one finds Steiner as a true educator.
8.- And eurhythmia also brings life to the formative forces of the head. I would do many things,
as if we were saying between the lines. As I have already mentioned today, I can understand the
objection to separating parts from a whole. (However, providing) such things should be considered
as an ideal. For example, today I have felt tempted to treat your children like the 'hurtng
"toch", because this is a way in which one can expand their thoughts means (in
Dutch) the fast train.” This is the kind of thing I would do between lines with the kids.
9.- Before the observations about the perfect time were made (they discussed) the
different talents of children:
10 "Those who are clever heads, the well-endowed children in body will be good at eurhythmics."
One must try to balance this through conversations. If you talk to the children
this activity will distance you from the mind - this is if you say something that has been taken from the
external life and then they deepen it.

1.- After this, Steiner continued with his observations about perfect timing ...
2.- In conference 12 of the Dornach course of 1921/22, a significant passage about the
grammar teaching can be found." In our times there is a trend towards the
one finds quite good educational ideas that tend to be unilateral (due to
that they get angry in a fanatical way. We find an example of such attitude in
the teaching of language. The young child learns his mother tongue quite naturally and without
learn no grammar and this is evidently the right way to learn it. When the
a child reaches the school age and has to learn foreign languages he should also
do it this way without learning without any grammar. In a similar one, although more mature than that one in the
what learned to speak, his mother tongue.
3.- However, when the child reaches the turning point between the ages of 9 and 10, the child himself
development demand of grammar, which should not be given in a way that makes a vain show of
erudition (pedantic), because at this stage the child must find the transition to their development
from the ego. He must now learn to do everything more consciously than he has up until now.
Done. One therefore needs to introduce a thinking element into the teaching of
language with which the child is already familiar, although in a form of feeling. The now
needs to discover and recognize the rules in exercises that are stimulating, but never pedantic.
At this important point between the ages of 9 and 10, the child needs to engage with grammar in order to
to be able to express oneself with certainty, supported by the logic of grammar.
4.- "Because one must understand that two elements are always working together in language
an element of thought and an element of feeling."(27) combined the two elements in
the Steiner language continues:
5.- "But those two currents of elements of more thought and more feeling in the language
flow together... In modern languages much of this has become less flexible but in the
early stages of development always had an active formative element in languages that
let currents of thought and feeling mix freely.
6.- Before the age of 9, the child's relationship with language is one of complete feeling. However,
His self-awareness could not develop if we did not introduce him to a
the most thoughtful quality of language. It is therefore so important to bring this element of
thinking for the child through grammatical rules, taught in an appropriate way—especially with
regarding their mother tongue, but also with foreign languages, where the rules must be followed
in the awakening the learning of language and not vice versa.
7.- The following points now become relevant: between the 9th and 10th year, the child should have the
feeling that he has made a living connection with language, as I have already mentioned.
8.- In this way, the correct understanding of grammar could be instilled in the child. By the 12th
Year of age and this should now become the purpose the child should have developed a
feeling for the beauty of language, an aesthetic sense of language. Around 12 years old.
one should strive to learn to speak with what one might call a taste for beauty.
language. Only when this state has been reached, and continued until puberty, should the
pupil learn to express himself in such a way that he could convince someone of his own
opinion in other words, he should practice the dialectical element of language. The pupil should
only to experience this last element when he is approaching the age of leaving the
school

1.- We can summarize it as follows:

First, we must learn to appreciate the correctness, the truth, inherent in a
language then we must experience what the power of language can give about
whoever can speak it. Language teaching should be programmed in this way.
It is more important for the teacher to take care of such subjects himself than to be given one.
detailed curriculum. In this way, you will find the right material and the right time for
introduce it. Up to the age of the student of 9 and 10 years, he will address it in a sensitive and artistic way with
the formative part of the language that allows one to be taken seriously.
3.- "An active part, and from there, without neglecting that formative part, he will add the part
description of the language.
In the second of the two lectures given by Stuttgart in 1922, Steiner gives an example of how
look at the formation of sentences in a pictorial way and how children can practice such
It wouldn't be too difficult to present those subjects pictorially in a
language, if one thinks it is worth bringing pictorial elements into the lessons. Really one
should not miss any opportunity to show even to children aged 10, 12, and 11 years old
how sentences are formed, let's say a main clause, a relative clause, and a
conditional.
5.- The real grammar involved is not what matters most; it would merely be a means to reach a.
image. We should not miss the opportunity to give the child what one might call a
spatial image of a relative clause. Naturally, this can be done in the most
varied. Without wanting to theorize, one could represent a main clause as a large circle and the
relatively clause (phrase) like a small, perhaps an eccentric circle. The conditional clause, the
If it could now be ……………… by lines drawn towards the circle like rays indicating
the conditioning factors... It is truly necessary, after a proper concern for
own material, going back to those subjects again and again even with children aged 10, 11, and 12
age goes within the moral characteristic aspect of style made visible by images. This does not
it involves teaching syntax, because the pupil should grasp those subjects in a more intuitive way. One
you can really go far with this. For example, one can introduce a short story from the
point of view of the temperaments, having entirely prepared it in advance.
6.- One can speak not about the content, but about the style concerning a melancholic or
a furious style, quite apart from the content, even from the poetic content. I am...
referring to the construction of the (sentence). There is no need to dissect sentences this should be
avoided, but one should cultivate this transformation within the pictorial element showing the
moral quality and characteristics. One will find that it is possible to teach children aged 10,
11, 12, and 13 years in a stimulating way.
If one fights hard enough with the necessary preparation.
On December 9, 1922, a professor said that one could experience different degrees of reality.
building on the verb and how one would enter language very directly in this way. Steiner
he/she responded:
8.- "It is quite correct to begin with the verb, the preposition is also very lively. One should not
start with the noun. We will say more about this."(9.12.22)
9.- He seemingly wanted to provide further details, but this did not happen.
10. - The teaching of grammar also came up in the conversation when the question of the
school hygiene was discussed:
11.-"One can easily err against those subjects (school hygiene). For example
You may be making a mistake against the child's healthy condition if you use him.
to him for an hour for an hour in what is usually called grammar. If the children have to
to take care to distinguish between what one calls subject, object, attribute, subjunctive indicative, etc.
All the things in the streets only have a half-hearted interest (with half a heart) then they are
put in a state in which their breakfasts boil in their organisms completely uninfluenced
for their soul lives. So one is cultivating real stomach problems, for example,
enteric diseases *, in the child, although this may only be revealed some 15 to 20 years later
Afternoon. Enteric diseases are very often caused by grammar lessons. This
aspect is of the utmost importance and really the whole spirit that a teacher brings within them
lessons, through a mesh (network) of innumerable strings (threads), have a far-reaching effect on
the children.

1.-In the published report of the same meeting of teachers we found the following
passage about the teaching of grammar.
2.- The real language lessons of most language teachers here are better
that their grammar lessons. Above all. I find that the main stumbling block is that the
teachers do not know their own grammar. Do not feel offended; perhaps you can use the
Teachers' meetings to learn a little grammar yourselves... I find
terrible the way grammatical terms are used; (if I were a pupil). Myself
I would raise a revolt if I did not know why such things were being thrown at my head. The
The issue is that the teachers have not taken enough time to find a reasonable solution.
Grammatical knowledge can be acquired. (Only) then it stimulates the pupils. If I can
To speak frankly, the grammar lessons are so awful. All the subjects that you
it must be printed in books and must be burned. Something living must enter.
The pupils do not learn to experience what is a perfect tempo or a present tempo, while
What is essential for them is to experience it. The genius of language must live in the teacher.
(parenthesis in the original text in English.)
to the intestine
This also applies to Spanish classes. There too, the torture of indigestible terminology.
is being imposed on children.
3.- A brief and very beautiful summary of the character of language and the different aspects of it.
Language teaching can be found in the course in Torquay.
There, in the second half of conference 6, each language teacher can find a
small treasure which he is very advised to use. It seems impossible to take just a few
extracts: (40)
4.- To conclude this section of Steiner that covers the guidelines on how to teach the language.
maternal (insofar as they do not refer to a particular class). I will provide a perspective.
of grammatical steps for classes 1 and 7 as they have been formulated in the conferences of the
curriculum
CLASS 1 "Barely Mentioning It"
CLASS 2 "Forming concepts of the substantive and a verb with tenses... conversations about
the structure of sentences
CLASS 3" Conscious feeling...for short sounds, and long expanded sounds, etc. A
effective approach towards the articulation of language and towards the general configuration of language.
different parts of speech, and different parts of the sentence.
Structure of a sentence, punctuation.
4.- A clear idea of the times, of what is expressed by the change of forms of the verb...
Prepositions that govern cases (applies to German grammar ... Language modulation
plastically).
5.- Difference between passive voice and active voice... Indirect speech... Difference between writing one's own.
opinion and reporting the opinion of another person…Full score.
Experiment with verb tenses
They must be something living.
CLASS 6 "A feeling for the subjunctive... A strong feeling for the plasticity of language."
CLASS 7 'A sensitive appreciation of forms expressing desire, wonder, and surprise.'
After talking about how the teacher should approach their language lessons,
I would like to mention a passage in the 'Conferences' where Steiner criticizes the mistakes made in
such lessons.
The passage is too long to be quoted in full, but it should be considered by the
professor.
February 6, 2023

WRITING AND READING

1.- In his language conference of the Practical Course for teachers, Steiner spoke about learning.
how to write:
2.- When a man dedicates himself to writing, he is obviously assimilating something very strange to the
universe. But if we combine the written forms with the universal forms-f with the fish(
German and English )at least we lead the man to the world again.”(12 cont.10)
3.- Steiner dealt with the teaching of writing practically in every course of lectures that he...
God. He paid a lot of attention to this responsible task towards which he approached from a new angle.
angle every time and wherever I speak about it.
4.- In Conference 1 of the Practical Course for Teachers, he outlined the new way of teaching.
written for the first time.
5.- In 'discussions with teachers' he talks about drawing free forms that should precede
the introduction of writing. (13 Discussions 3 and 4)
6.- In the Practical Center at the beginning of the first lesson at school, it shows an exercise of
very simple drawing. In conference 5 of the same course, the introduction of writing is the main focus.
theme, with detailed instructions:
7.-"Let us now assume that you have pursued such exercises with pencil and color for
some time. It is an essential condition for well-founded teaching that a certain
Familiarity (intimacy, trust) with drawing should be developed before writing.
taught, so that writing is in a sense derived from drawing. And another condition is that
the reading of printed characters should only be developed from the reading of the
handwriting. We will then try to find the transition from drawing to
handwriting from reading handwritten text to reading printed text. I assume
that for this purpose you have been successful, (through) drawing given to the child, a certain
mastery of round and linear forms which he would need to write.
7.- So from this point we should look for the transition to what we have already
mentioned as the foundation of teaching in reading and writing... We assume
then the child is already able to master round and linear shapes with his small hands.
So you should try to indicate to the child (that there are written characters) (12 conf.5)
8.- It is clearly stated here that writing lessons should only begin when the
controlled drawing exercises of shapes with straight and curved lines ......In it
conference, after the example of the letter f, there follows a detailed description of lessons of
writing, which each Waldorf teacher should make use of for themselves.
9.- Writing is spoken again in the conference 10 of that course, as part of the plan for a
curriculum, and in conference 13 aba. there is an outline of what a first-grade teacher should
cover in writing and reading.
10.- In the Basel course, Steiner approaches the lessons anew from a perspective
quite different. In the 5th and 10th conference he develops what he calls the analyzing method
(compare with the "Look and Say Method" in England), in contrast to the usual methods
synthesize, for example: adding letters together to form words) and it is surprising to see with
What freedom modifies its own methods as they are expressed in the Stutgart courses,
thus giving a hint to anyone who wishes to hold on to those. Those observations conclude in
with the following statements:
12.-"How is it that in our time we have developed what I can call a
inclination towards atomism? It has occurred through the fact that in our days the analytical faculty,
it is too underdeveloped in children. If only the analytical activity of children, which
proceed by analysis from the finished image of the letters, outside developed, then the child,
he would be using this analytical ability at a time when he has a natural inclination to
do it this way, and it wouldn't take until the subsequent activity of thought uses it in ideas,
atomistic structures, etc. It is simply the unsatisfied impulse for analysis that gives wings to the
materialism... Therefore, at the Waldorf School, we do not start from the letters and
let's summarize in words, but we start first with the complete sentence;
Within the sentence we analyze the words and we analyze the letters, and finally we
we take the letters and analyze the sounds. Thus, we actually arrive at a true
interiority (verimerlichung). Because the child already knows the sentences (phrases) and the words, so to
In order to awaken their consciousness, we analyze those sentences and words.” (23 conf.10)

1.- As already mentioned, guidelines on teaching writing can be found

in practically every pedagogical course.
2.- In the Christmas course in Dornach, it shows how the consonant 'L' can be brought to the child
entirely from the movement.(27 conf.9)
3.- In the Supplementary Course, the learning of writing is described as a process that is in itself
the same foreign to the natural development of the spiritual, emotional, and physical being of the child from its pre-state
land until its earthly incarnation, a process that is linked to having a disturbing influence
dora unless directed, is the correct way.(26 conf.8)
4.- Conference 3 of the Oxford Course also contains passages that deal with writing (29).
5.- In the Holy Week conferences in Dornach we find the following
thought: "One must introduce reading and writing in such a way that the formative forces that
they have been active within the child until the age of 7 and are now becoming free from the
external activity of the soul, they really come to be active externally.”(34 conf.4)
6.- In the Ilkey course, the consonant 'S' is developed from movement. A special
The approach to the vowels is also present in this course. (35 conf.7)
7.- The Stuttgart course of 1924 also deals with the introduction of writing.
8.-"Now the point is that we should avoid having the 6 or 7-year-old learn to write as such.
how it is done today. What we have to do is bring the child something that is similar
(homologous) to what can flow from your true self, from the actions of your arms and fingers.
The letters are then brought into existence from our activity (37 conf. 2)
9.- The Bern Course emphasizes the importance of the fact that historically developed forms are
You miss the soul of the child, and then describe the new methods of written teaching.
10.- The Arheim course of 1924 looks at the teaching of writing from the perspective of
language development which with its theories of 'Wau-wau' and 'Bin-ban' offers starting points
for the introduction of vowels as well as consonants. (39 conf.3)
11.- The Torquay course of 1924 deals in great detail with the introduction of vowels as well
of consonants, thus becoming a summary of previous indications. (40 conf.2)
12.- May those multiple possibilities of introducing writing guide the teacher towards the truths.
Fundamentals. Then his own imagination will show him how to use those instructions for his
own good and for the benefit of their pupils.
Punctuation
13.- In a meeting of teachers on July 3, 1923, Steiner pointed out that the students in class 9
they were not using any punctuation marks. He then proceeded to give some very guidance
revelatory for teaching punctuation. Apparently, however, this guide was not provided
specifically for class 9. Steiner pointed out that during the meeting it was already time for that
class when starting to use punctuation marks.

1.-"Starting with the oldest forms of the German language, it is for example possible to show
In a rather fascinating way like the relative clause, as writing emerged.
gradually changes from the Gothic to the Latin. This relative clause can become the foundation
for the study of the use of commas. The students will apply commas quite differently if they are
show how each relative clause needs to be enclosed by commas. This relative clause can
becoming very interesting because it does not exist in the old German language. Nor is it used in dialects.
You can go back to the Song of the Nibelungs where the relative clause
first made its appearance, creating the need to introduce this form of logic in the
language. If you have shown how relative clauses should be set in commas, you can
explain the idea of a sentence to the children. Then they must learn that each sentence or phrase
needs to be separated from the next by a punctuation mark. The other subjects are not as
terribly important. So you show how thought is developed in the
language and so you come to the semicolon, which indicates a great incision. They are already using
final points (in class 9).
It's time for class 9 to start. One should be able to delve deeper from positives.
ways of language delving into the deeper meaning of punctuation marks. This
it should be especially stimulating and never become boring, children find
pure grammar is the most boring thing.
3.- When speaking or dictating, one must make it clear through the inflection of the voice how the sentences
they begin and end. This should be achieved not by dictating the punctuation, but by the
children's learning to distinguish the use of punctuation through listening to words
spoken. Dictating punctuation is a questionable matter. I would not dictate punctuation, but rather let it be heard.
the pupils.
4.- This is followed by indications about the artistic structure of the sentences (phrases), that
can be found in the right place and ends with the words:
5.- This can be done in such a way when they reach grade 9 and a certain feeling for
a complete sentence and it has been developed.”(ib)
Those words indicate that the understanding of the structure of the sentences, which is expressed
For punctuation marks, they should have been addressed before class 9. It is supposed that the
punctuation teaching begins in class ... and the program for the last classes offers so many
opportunities to familiarize children with the forms of language that by class 9 they
they must really have a certain feeling for the complete sentence

STYLE AND FIGURE - METRIC AND POETIC

7.- Steiner spoke about those topics for the first time when the program for class 10 was
discussed:
8.- "You should now begin, or continue, with a coherent presentation of what it is"
generally called metric and poetic based on what they have already learned in connection
with Jean Paul... our pupils will be well able to engage in those topics. The pedantic methods
for which these subjects are generally taught should be avoided.
This so-called metric and poetics must appear reasonable and should be treated in a manner
living, in connection with living poetry.
9.- When asked on the same day which textbook he would recommend for studying
Steiner metric context.
Each of them is also good or equally bad, Tóner Guscher (a textbook), which
it represents one of the worst methods because it strictly adheres to a sequence
Terminological. There are no good books on meter and poetry in German, Bartsch, Lachman, the song.
of the Nibelungs adapted into German by Simrock; the deal of adhering to the rules. I have given the
fundamental principles based on physiology in a conference called 'Between the Pulse Side'
And the breath," given in Dornach. If one adds the caesura, one can study the hexameter.
observing the side of the pulse and the breathing. It is not possible nowadays to go into the details about
of today's metric.

1.- It is clear how seriously Steiner took the task of bringing young people to an appreciation of a
This artistic style in language refers to a disciplinary case that was discussed on June 21, 1923.
The transition years are a difficult time for those children. One understands that something must
happen.
3.- There is too little vitality and momentum in the Spanish lessons of classes 8 and 9. The
The psyche of those children feels a loss (lack)... The interest of children should be awakened in
a stimulating form due to the structure of the sentences (phrases), due to the style of the sentences.
A feeling for the style of language should be developed through compositions. This
It should happen in their 12 years. I have pointed out appropriate points in the course about children who
they reach puberty (26) We should do descriptive writing, truffles, metaphors; there is
a total lack of those as far as I can observe. Nor will we ever be able to achieve that they do not
they have been the value of each word in the style. (sentence?). As something obvious, the kind of lessons in
The style and composition they are receiving in Spanish is such that they cannot mature.
properly. In class 9 b they still do not know what a phrase is... they have not developed a
feeling for writing in different styles. This should become part of the lessons of
Spanish. Those Spanish lessons are not what they should be and this is of immense importance.
for the development of children. They experience the change of voice mutation as much as it is in the
written language like spoken language. Children will develop internal defects if one does not
take note of this.”(21.6.23)
4.- In the upcoming meetings of teachers, which took place just 15 days later, Steiner
I speak again about the artistic treatment of language. Concluding a discussion about
scoring the shift to a more artistic approach to the problem.
It would be much nicer if something different could be done. It would be much nicer if one
I could construct sentences in such a way that each sentence occupies one line in the workbook. This is
possible in Old Castilian, but not in modern Castilian which has been modified according to
with the construction of the sentence in Latin.
6.- It is definitely possible to discuss the artistic structure of a sentence with children in a way
stimulant.
It is quite possible to evoke the feeling in them that it is a phrase, making them aware that
It is a phrase. One should ensure that children show a positive attitude towards learning.
how to construct sentences. The style of Herman Grimm could illustrate how language can be
used pictorially because he still writes appropriate phrases, while... nowadays you
they usually do not read sentences, but rather fragments of sentences. The sentences are quite mistreated.
class 9 b). This can be remedied in classes 9 if one develops a clear feeling in them.
For the complete sentence. There is something else in our resume that could help a great deal.
mainly a class of poetry. This is entirely missing here, it has never been.
taught. I have noticed that children do not know what a metaphor is. They should know.
metaphors, metonymy, and synecdoche (metonymy is a figure of rhetoric that consists of designating
a thing with the name of another, when both are gathered by some relationship), (synecdoche is
a figure of rhetoric that consists of taking a part, or the whole, for a part, or the matter of a
thing for the thing itself). Something wonderful can happen if one uses those themes. It was put in the
curriculum, but was never taught. This tropology is a great help in achieving that children
write good sentences. If they use pictorial language, they learn how to form good ones.
sentences.
One can take examples such as:
O water lily, your blooming swan, O swan your blooming water lily; then one can
ask them to explain what such a sentence means. In this way, through expressions
Metaphorically, they can gain a clear sense of the artistic integrity of a phrase.

1.- Steiner's reminder of what was included in the curriculum regarding oral instructions.
given on June 17, 1921 for class 10. The strange fact is that on June 17, 1921 the
he asked that the metric and the poetry be given in class 10, but on June 3, 1923, he suggested that
taught outside in class 9, then a year later in June 1924 when Steiner gave the
curriculum for modern languages, he asked for the rudiments of poetry and metrics of languages
modern were taught in class 8 and 'Some language aesthetics' in class 11. In my opinion the
the reason why he mentions bringing forward the metric and the poetry twice can only be
explained in the following way: the students of the first class 8 and those of the next class 8, the
the majority of those who had entered the Waldorf School after attending the schools
German states during the First World War did not bring with them the fundamental things.
necessary to study the subjects above. Due to this particular situation, it was evidently
It is only possible to introduce meter and poetry in class 10. This, however, means that one should...
teaching meter and poetry in 8th grade with ordinary students who entered the Waldorf School in these
first years, first in lessons in Spanish (for example, mother tongue) and then in the
foreign languages of which the 'rudiments' were supposed to be taught in class 8. In class 9
One should certainly continue in class 10, one should start and continue.
presentation somewhat coherent in what is generally called metrics and poetry” (p.40) (above)
During the next teachers' meeting, a teacher referred to those instructions,
asking how they should be understood.
3.-“ Metric has to do with the structure of the verse and the stanza, poetic with the different types of
lyric, epic, and dramatic poetry. This is what is called meter and poetics. So you
they continue with tropology and figuration. Illustrate those examples let the children use many
metaphors, etc. In the aesthetics of language, you draw attention to whether a language is rich in
vowels u (pronounced do) and o, or in i (pronounced e) and he (like 'a' in table). The students
they have quite a good vocabulary at the moment when you introduce this: you can
take examples from Spanish, French, or English and you can compare the different ones
languages. In this way you bring a feeling of how much more musical a language is:
in which it is full of o and u(o) that other languages use more e(a)e 1(e) like sounds. One
it tries to communicate an appreciation of how the aesthetic beauty of a language diminishes if it loses the
possibility of changes due to the inflections of different cases. Thus, the syntax of the language is
part of the aesthetics of language - whether it is plastic (mobile) or lyrical, if it offers the possibility to use
complicated interjections etc. This is quite different from metrics and poetry.
Aesthetics reveals the inherent beauty of a language.
4.- Immediately after, Steiner gave the answer to a riddle he had asked in a
from his lectures given in Ilkey in the summer of 1923(3 r.)Then he made an observation
about metric in French, which should perhaps be cited in the chapter about languages
foreigners but that is nonetheless also relevant in this context:
5.- 'Even if one understands little, Frances's metric is based on a sense of
a systematic classification, in the mathematics of language. Normally one is not aware
of this. In the metric of French, everything is estimated for rationality. This is duly
veiled and muted by rhetoric. It is audible reasoning. This is rhetoric (it can mean:
this has become rhetoric).” (19.6.24)
6.- On the same day, in response to a question, they followed this guidance regarding tropes and
settings.
Tropes and figures of speech contain the element of imagination. First, you find that
the largest part of poetry 99% of poetry is absolutely unpoetic. There remains the 1%. If
the poets whose works represent this 1% want to go beyond the physical plan, they
they need to express what looms over pictorial and figurative language through a medium
existing on an ordinary prose. How can one express the meaning of:
O purple water lily, your class in bloom, O swan, is your floating purple water lily?
7.- What those lines express is enclosed between two frames, and this 'something' cannot be expressed in
prose. It's the same with the figure of speech.
But it is also possible to adequately express what is metaphysical without resorting to images.
or figures of language, just as Goethe managed to do. He does not always need to express his
ideas in pictures or for you to experience what he wants to express. Goethe it
achievement, sometimes also Martn Greif, who achieved what one can call objective lyricism.
Sometimes Shakespeare also completely succeeded in the lyrical passages of his works.
dramatic.

1.- The following brief summary shows how the metrics and poetics and aesthetics of language
They must be distributed in the main lessons, starting with class 8.

CLASS 8 Spanish (and foreign languages) 'Rudiments' (2.6.24)

CLASS 9 Spanish - (history of art lessons related to paintings and

Sculptures
CLASS 10 Spanish - coherent representation of metrics and poetry (17.6.21)

CLASS 11 Art-Aesthetic Lessons of Language (June 21, 2022) and (June 19, 2024)

WRITING ESSAYS - FOUNDATIONS

2.- After discussing essay writing in their 10th lecture of the 'Practical Course'
Steiner gave some clear indications about the teaching of foreign languages that are
also relevant to the teaching of the mother tongue of the students.
3.- 'Having children write compositions in foreign languages, compositions that are not
related to life, is a real lack of meaning. The teacher should not go beyond establishing
tasks related to writing letters, business correspondence, and similar matters.
At most, the children could practice writing simple sentences about stories they have heard.
(12 conf.10)
4.- The lines above refer to foreign language lessons, but they are also
applicable to Spanish lessons. However, the following phrases certainly concern the
Spanish teachers, just like foreign language teachers.
5.- In primary education, we should practice recounting incidents that have occurred.
or of adventures that have rather had to give them compositions than to write. Free
compositions and not belonging to the lower classes. However, oral descriptions or events
of which the children have been witnesses, belong to primary education, because it is essential for the
Child learn how to report facts. Otherwise, he will not be able to play his own part.
within the social structure of humanity.
6.- This is followed by observations about the lack of skill in modern people of
to observe and inform exactly what they have witnessed. Steiner describes an attempt
psychological crime of obtaining testimonies in court to inform more adequately and continues:
We must ensure that our civilization develops in such a way that more trust is established.
put into testgos and for people to speak the truth more and more. But to achieve this purpose
we must begin with childhood. And for this reason it is important to let the children
practice how to inform what they have seen and heard rather than giving compositions to
to write. In this way, the habit of writing accurately, whether in ordinary life or in a court of law
law, will be instilled in children, so that they learn to respect the truth. Here
Also, the element of will should be considered more than intellect... Therefore we
we need to observe such details in education so that we ask the children, once they
they have learned to observe such details in education so that we ask the children,
once they have learned to write and particularly after the age of 12,
to write exactly about what they have been witnesses to rather than giving them free compositions that
in no case do they belong to this state of childhood.
1.- Here Steiner points out one of the consequences that result in a general social error of our
times, mainly the inability of the majority of people to speak the truth seriously
situations of life. The education of the past and present is to be criticized for its lack of truthfulness.
Education must change so that this social damage can be repaired. Anyone who does not
can truly report what they have experienced, it is not suitable to play their own
part of the civilization of its time.
2.- Towards the first year of the Waldorf school, in a conversation about eurhythmics lessons,
Steiner also spoke about essay writing:
It would be our task to speak freely to the children about the subjects they are studying.
and to aim more towards a general development of their life of thought and feeling. In the
math lessons one can ensure that the pupils understand the idea behind the
terms: 5; one enables the pupil to see that he has five less than what he needs to give to
their neighbors. They go into precise details in a conversation. Sometimes it is good to get lost from
main theme. You can notice that children will not become perfect in their writing of
too quick essays, but you will also understand that this is not a matter of great
importance. Those who are clever heads, the gifted-headed children, will write good
compositions - the well-endowed children will do well in eurhythmics. One must try to
balance this through conversations. If you talk to the children, this activity will
it will lead away from the head if you talk about something that has happened in external life, and
then they delve deeper.
4.- The business composition Steiner included in the curriculum as part of Spanish was
always a headache for the teachers. While discussing the program for class 10 and
in response to a question, Steiner referred to a previous complaint about improper work and
negligent that however was not directly connected with the school:
One must try to grasp the case in question and see the entire course of a business transaction, and
Then one must try to write a report about it. This is done better with an attitude.
criticism when trying to do it. Then try to examine what all this jargon is about and then try to
put it in decent Spanish.
6.- The teachers were asked to address any specific business situation and
transactions that were available to them in order to gain an understanding of a situation
Dada, which they had to clarify in Castilian Spanish. Steiner then continued:
7.- "Business composition: If in any business you need the judgment of a specialist
about something and you ask for an expert opinion, such a written opinion is an example of
business composition. They are not terribly serious if one makes a mistake (in one's attempt).
Those who can manage expertly better than anyone without prior experience. No
However, experts also make mistakes.
8.- Many faults were found in an example of such a business composition.
This is the result of superficiality, because one does not understand that these matters must be addressed in
an exact way one should only write the essential. Even a naive way of doing it is better
that a business jargon. This kind of thing doesn't need to terrorize them. One just needs to grasp it.
essential and put it in writing.
9.- When a teacher emphasized that the students of class 7 should have a sense of duty towards
his tasks for the Steiner house said:
One must ensure that children's curiosity is awakened when they need to
do homework for the house. If you establish the type of homework that would make them curious about the
results or answers that they have to find, then they will feel stimulated.
This is how I would do it. A sense of duty cannot be developed in the child before he
he can understand all the meaning and consequences of duty. Give him composition topics
such as these: "The steam engine, a testament to human strength - The steam engine, a
"test of human weakness." Let one topic follow another. I believe that in this way you all
They will create interest. One can arrange their own lesson in a way that will excite interest.
28.4.22
1.- As Steiner recommended, this kind of topic can often be assumed without doubt that he does not
He wished to restrict it merely to class 7. On the same day, he once again recommended this type of
A German teacher had informed that he was going to give his class an assignment.
about the character of Fausto Steiner responded:
2.- 'But surely this is beyond them: consider that not even Kuro Fischer has written well'
about that topic. I would choose topics that are more based on the observation of life such as the
previously mentioned (about the steam engine), or shall we say, "What is beautiful about the
Nature? And then, what is beautiful about the human soul? Choose the type of topics that
they force the children to concentrate while they are writing.
3.- A third question about essay writing was raised on the same day, should one
discuss a composition topic when it is already established? Steiner replied:
The topic should be built within the general context of the class and not treated as a
separated entity. A lot should be said about the topic. While they talked about
Jean Paul, you had many opportunities for fruitful subjects. Your topics pointed towards
too high
5.- Then a teacher asked:
How would you use the theme of friendship between Schiller and Goethe in a composition (in class 9)?
Steiner replied:
6.- "I would describe the scene of Goethe walking through Weimar to You Erfurt. Then I
I would ask the class to describe a walk with Goethe as concretely as possible. In this way
You can gather it all.
7.- During a discussion about some special tasks for the arrival of the new school in the
year 1923/1924, in which the first class 12 had to be opened, Steiner said that it is not enough
attention had been given to composition lessons:
8.-" It is essential for children to develop the habit of writing compositions in Spanish. One could
make use of the content of those lessons for such compositions” (25.5.23)
9.-When a teacher thought it would be necessary to say something to the children about the technique of
Steiner responded:
10.- "Let them learn from their mistakes. I would avoid any theoretical division in their work, which
it would only make them lose heart, especially if their compositions were poor.
11.- "In the course of Berna Steiner, he talks about the teacher who is capable of "reading" in Man:"
12.-"If he can read then, the educator will find in every child a book of the soul, the Children"
they can become a 'matter of reading the soul' for their teachers, even in quite a few classes
big. If this is the case then the professor will simply find from his inner touch that
Before the age of 9 or 10, the child does not differentiate between the world and their own self, and before this
he will not be able to write something in the form of composition from himself. The most that he
He can recount what he has heard from fairy tales or legends. It's only at 9 or 10.
years that you can gradually start to introduce the child to images and
thoughts that you can get them to write about their own books
thoughts and feelings.

1.- The inner structure of thought that a child needs before he can move on to trials.
writing is not present until the age of 12. He should not write essays before that time.
If he does it too early (I am saying this because a question was asked about
this) then it will be established not in this case as sclerosis of the soul, but rather rickets of the soul.
At a later age, the child's life will be internally weak and infected.
2.- In the 7th conference of the Torquay course, Steiner emphasized the need to appeal only to the system.
rhythmic in the child in primary school age. He said that by doing it this way one does not need it.
intellectual, but the pictorial approach sees what comes from the imagination. After a few
few explanatory words the continuous:
3.-"Now this fantasy should above all be the guiding principle in what are called compositions,
When the child has to write something about it and work on it for themselves.
What must be strictly avoided is allowing children to write a composition about
about something that you have not discussed with them in great detail so that the subject is
familiar to them. You yourselves, with the authority of the teacher and educator, should have first
talked about the subject with the children, so the child should produce his composition under the
influence of what you yourselves have said. Even when children are approaching the
puberty you should not stray from this principle. Even then the child should not write what
what the just one might think of writing; he should always feel that a certain mood has been
awakened in the course of having discussed the subject with his professor, and everything he writes in
Your essay must preserve this mode. Here again, it is 'vivacity' that must be the principle.
Guide. 'Liveliness' in the teacher must transfer to 'liveliness' in the children. (40 conf.7)

CURRICULAR INDICATIONS FOR EACH CLASS

4.- Class 1
The first thing we have to do when the children arrive at the first class
find suitable material to tell stories and make them remember them. Through
to tell and retell fairy tales and legends, as well as recounting real events,
developing real speech, we form a transition from dialect to cultured colloquial language
(colloquial=conversational or chatty). In our efforts to teach young children to speak
We are also laying the foundations for proper writing. Running
parallel to the practice of listening and retelling stories, we also introduced the
children to an inner experience of different shapes and contours. We let them draw
simple curved shapes and angular shapes, not with the intention of teaching them, but to help them familiarize themselves.
with the language of shapes. Apart from this drawing of shapes, we practice painting by applying a color
next to another in such a way that the child can experience the quality of color intervals
such as green next to red, red next to yellow. From this we lead to
write in the outlined form in previous conversations about teaching methods. It would be a
natural step to drive from the drawing of shapes to the Roman alphabet and later from the letters
Roman letters to Gothic letters (In Steiner's days, children in schools were taught two
alphabets for handwriting - the Gothic (the German script) and the Roman (the modern German)
Finally, we introduce printed letters, but only after the child has learned the shapes.
from the drawn letters and when he can read and write simple words. When introducing letters
companies, start again with the Roman alphabet before introducing the German printed type.
If we approach our task with common sense, we will empower the children.
During their first year, to write a few simple words or short phrases. One
it does not need to set a defined standard to be achieved during the first year, in truth this would be
quite mistaken. The purpose during the first year should be for the child to reach
get familiar with printed letters and that he can write a few simple words and sentences from
itself."(16 conf. 1)

MATERIAL FOR STORIES - FAIRY TALES

1.- Teachers are recommended to check Conference 13 of the Practical Course in order to
find out more about the standards to learn more about the standards that need to
to be achieved by the end of class 1.
2.- To teach poems, see the section in class 4.
CLASS 2

In the second year of school, the story of stories continues and the act of having them recount,
try to develop this further. The child will gradually be led to write what
it has been recounted to him. When he is able to do this, you can let him reproduce it.
quite a few small compositions, descriptions of what he has heard about animals,
plants, meadows, and forests in your vicinity. It is important not to touch on grammar in the first year
school, but in the second school year, one should let the child know what a noun is,
an adjective, and a verb. This should lead to a conversation about the fundamental
sentence construction.”(16 conf.1)
4.- On March 15, 1922, Steiner later elucidated the passage above, after a
The teacher complained that the grammatical points he was bringing to the children had
remained obscure.
5.- "It depends on how one does it. Under certain circumstances, it is not necessary to teach children the
grammatical terms noun and verb, but rather only start with their nature
Contrasting. A 7 and a half year old child will be able to distinguish between verb and noun.
This difference he will be able to appreciate. The terminology is not essential, but starting with
stories and then make a clear distinction between noun and verb. This can be grasped by the child at this age.
He/She must be able to grasp the difference between running or jumping and a name or some other noun.
It should be able to grasp this. Definitions should be especially avoided with children in the
lower classes."( 15.3.22)

MATERIAL FOR STORIES - STORIES OF THE ANIMAL WORLD

INTRODUCED THROUGH THE FABLE

6.- For the treatment of poems see the section of class 4.

CLASS 3

7.- The third year will essentially be a continuation of what has been done in the second, with
Regarding speaking, reading, writing, and much more. The ability to write about what is seen, about what
What is heard, reading will be increased. One will also, however, try to awaken in the child a
conscious feeling of short, long, elongated sounds, etc.
This feeling for diction and for language formation is something that can be useful.
treaty between the ages of 8 and 9, when one has the child in the third grade. The child is given
so an idea of the parts of language, the parts of a sentence, and the structure of the
sentences and also the union of a phrase through punctuation such as commas, periods, etc.
(16 conf.1 )

MATERIAL FOR STORIES - BIBLICAL STORIES AS PART OF ANCIENT HISTORY

CLASS 4

In the fourth year, the storytelling by the teacher and the recounting by the children continue.
While in the first two years the teacher has guided the child to experience rhythm, the
rhyme, and the rhythm of brief poems in an instant form, in grades 3 and 4 is a good thing
lead them to an appreciation of the form and internal beauty of the poems. When the children
they have learned to write simple stories and descriptions, and letter writing has been introduced
all lost positions.
1.- It is time for one to make an effort to give children a clear idea of verb tenses.
this way they will be given just the appropriate ideas for their stage of development (we are
talking about 9 and 10 year old children). A child must clearly understand that he cannot say
the man runs when he wants to say 'the man has run'; let him not confuse the tense,
imperfect with the perfect tense and let him acquire a feeling when he should say 'the'
man stands up "and" the man has stood up", and so with all the things that come to expression of
change of the verb form. We also try to stimulate an instinctive feeling for
the connection, let us say, of a preposition with the noun before which it is. We
we see that the child feels the difference between saying 'in one case' and 'in another'. Forming language
Plasticity is what we should practice in his mother tongue when he is close.
at 10 years old - a feeling for the plastic form of language.

MATERIAL FOR STORIES - SCENES FROM ANCIENT HISTORY

CLASS 5:

In the fifth school year, the teacher recaps and continues what he has encouraged in the fourth year.
At this point, he introduces the passive and active modes of the verb. Just at that moment, too,
We will ask the children not only to freely reproduce what they have seen and
heard, but if possible, express it in direct speech - as if it were put in quotes.
We try to give the child enough practice in distinguishing between giving their own opinions and
those of someone else. Later we showed him how to express in writing the marked
difference in style between reproducing one's own ideas and reporting other people's viewpoints.
In connection with this, one again tries to improve punctuation. The writing continues.
developing.(ib)

MATERIAL FOR STORIES - SCENES FROM MEDIEVAL HISTORY

CLASS 6

In the sixth school year, we naturally repeat and continue what we have been doing.
doing it in the fifth and we try to let the children experience the style of the way
subjunctive. We talk about those things, giving many examples, so that the child
learn to distinguish between what can be expressed as a direct statement and what needs
be expressed as a direct statement and what needs to be expressed in the subjunctive mood.
We give the child exercises in speaking where he can pay strict attention to that difference
and let's not allow anything to happen that is lacking with respect to the subjunctive.
For example, when the child should say 'I care that my little sister can learn to
to walk" we will never let her go" I am careful that my sister learns to walk ",of
so that a strong sense of plasticity of language can influence the feeling for it
language.
4.- At this time, letter writing takes the form of simple essays about business, in the
they deal with topics that are familiar to the child. One can refer back to what has already been
has been discussed about meadows and forests in class 3 and using information provided at that time as
a basis for simple business correspondence.
 MATERIAL OF TALES - SCENES FROM MORE RECENT HISTORY

CLASS 7 :

5.- In the seventh year of school, one will have to continue what has been done in sixth. One must
to try to develop in the child an appreciation for the plasticity of language, which can be
illustrated by the difference in style between a wish, a question, and surprise. The child should
to form sentences that truly sustain an inner relationship to the very form of the feeling itself.
This, however, should not be used, it has to be done or rather poorly using a poem.
existing in order to show how its author has formed a sentence expressing a wish. No,
You should directly focus on the issue by making the child express a desire quite clearly.
spontaneously and then helping him to wrap this desire within a personal sentence.
The same can be done with other feelings, such as marveling and being surprised. When
you compare the different sentences, you bring light, you demonstrate the formative power in the
language, whose conscious appreciation you should try to develop further later...

1.- What has been discovered in natural history will enable the child to characterize in essays,
let us speak of the wolf, the lion, the bee, and so on. Parallel with these themes of a
more general and more human character, practical business matters should be studied
especially at this time.
The teacher must strive to familiarize himself with matters of this kind and address such
ideas, (worked in an appropriate way) in the minds of the students.

MATERIAL OF STORIES - STORIES ABOUT DIFFERENT TRIBES

CLASS 8 :

In the eighth class, you will not have to provide the children with a comprehensive understanding for poems anymore.
long and prose; one to read with them something dramatic or epic. It should be given considering what I
I have said about all the explanations and interpretations preceding the reading, so that
The actual reading should always be the final climax of everything that has been constructed beforehand.
Especially in class 8, practical business correspondence should not be overlooked.
(ib)

MATERIAL ON STORIES-KNOWLEDGE OF DIFFERENT PEOPLES

4.- It should be noted that for foreign languages in class 8 'rudiments of poetry and meter'
of foreign languages
Therefore, metrics and poetics were also taken to that point in Spanish.
For details, see the section "Style and figurative-metric and poetic writing" in this chapter.
5.- Instructions given for the upper class, each of which can be found in the
"conferences" (meeting of teachers) are listed below.
CLASS 9:

6.- Instructions were given after the German teacher had informed that he had
taken from Goethe, Schiller, and Herder and that he had added individual reviews such as the Divine
Dante's Comedy:
7.-"Regarding literature, you should now try to take Jean Paul, particularly certain
passages from 'Aesthetics or an Introduction to Beauty'... But especially those passages that
they have to do with humor..." Then continue with Goethe's statements about Herman
Grimm. This may take 6 months. Without going into details, read and discuss separate chapters ...
Regarding language, I recommend that you not focus on grammar that shows off.
of vain wisdom during the first half of the year, but rather on Grimm's laws of sound-
substitution. Discuss it from its different aspects... Concerning essays, I would leave everything
belonging to grammar and syntax until you discuss corrections in class. I
I would recommend that you try to establish compositions with historical themes, in which
the students use the material that you yourselves have taught them during the last year courses
of history. Before establishing the composition, you will have to ask the old pupils.
to cover the topic orally due to the new ones."(22.9.20)
8.- Later in the same year, the English teacher of class 9 reported that he had read Julio
Cesar with his class and that the other had been much more appreciated, Steiner commented:
9.-"Could you not repeat the same topic in writing like a composition class?"
necessary for such a task that it should also be given in Spanish lessons so that the students
produce something in writing and truly express your thoughts. (15.11.20)

1.- He then addressed the Spanish teacher of the class.

2.- You do not assign them any kind of topics (for compositions it wouldn't matter if the content
First, it is repeated orally. As long as they bring their own written formulation.
3.- From class 9 onwards, Art lessons are taught side by side with the lessons.
from Spanish and it is worth noting what Steiner said about this arrangement:
It would be a good thing to balance the lessons of Art with History and the history of the lessons of
"literature."(24.4.23).The instruction of the Art teacher is equally applicable to the teacher of
Spanish.
As mentioned above, Steiner does not determine in which class the issue of treatment lies.
The art of language should be explored - therefore, all relevant indications given to the
Waldorf School has been added to the chapter on Spanish (the mother tongue) below the
separate heading:
Style and metric and poetic configuration.

On February 14, 1923, Steiner recounted how one should approach the song of the Nibelungs.
What matters is that you first introduce the children to the whole atmosphere of the Song.
of the Nibelungs, so that they can understand its historical context. Do this so
vividly as possible, in the way I tried to characterize Parsifal and Christianity.
That would be the era of mass migration. Make it truly alive and then read some samples of
passages.
First, prepare the foundation by providing an overview of the entire scene, not in a monotonous prose.
but rather, in an entertaining and pictorial way, and then read the passage. Above all, see in which
it's not really you who are reading, but the children also read, and after
having been provided by you preliminary images, they will not read in a flat manner and
monotonous. It is not possible for them to read in a boring way if you have given them a
good image in advance. Sometimes you may interrupt the reading to observe a
Interesting passage and discuss words of interest.
One can provoke glimpses from many words or sentence constructions that one can
shed light on the whole thing. If you do it this way, you will give the children a
sufficient introduction." (14.2.23) (The characterization mentioned above of Parsifal and Christianity
It can be found in the informed teachers' meetings (conferences 9.12.22).

CLASS 11:

1.- The program for class 11 was completed on June 21, 1922, after a new
the arrangement for the distribution of teachers of different subjects had been made during the day
previous. Steiner spoke about the German lessons.
2.-"For the 11th grade, the history of literature comes into question first and foremost. In our
discussions, we will connect what needs to be taught now with what has already been covered in the class
10. What have we taught? The song (The Song of the Nibelungs) of the
Nibelungs, Gudrun, metrics and poetry.
3.- Now we have to refer to what should be done in metrics and poetry in this class, to the
What I called yesterday the element of aesthetics when I talked about the art lessons for this class.
First, they must place literature in the forefront in such a way that they build a bridge from
the Song of the Nibelungs and Gudrun to the great literatures of the Middle Ages. To Parsifal,
Poor Enrique (Armored Heinrich) and such. Above all, try to create an image by
on top of all the work, so that the children know the legend of Parsifal, so that
look at the passages you read from the original version as examples seen from the
totality of the work.”(21.6.22)
4.- After this, the treatment of Parsifal in the religion classes was discussed, as well as
the history course that ran parallel to the art course. It was said that poetics, metrics and
appreciation of style should be given within the course of art, etc. This clearly shows that
the interpretation of the phrase about poetry in the text of the above program for class 11 is
correct. This phrase has a correct meaning only if read in the following way: 'Now
We have to refer to what should be done in metric and poetic in that class, what calls
Yesterday the aesthetic element (in the lessons on aesthetics).
5.- Steiner spoke in great detail about the legend of Parsifal on December 9, 1922 in the
meetings of informed teachers (conferences). On February 6, he also did a
important comment on this topic.

CLASS 12:

6.- On April 25, 1923, Steiner provided the curriculum for the first class. This class had to be
prepared for the exam that comes from the very beginning. Steiner showed that it should be
taught in that class if one were not forced to work exclusively for the exam.
Due to the difficult situation, he had already said the day before:
7.-"But in order not to compromise the exclusion of our own rights, I would think that it is
Correct if we were to indicate here what should be considered the curriculum of the class.
12 inches
8.- A large number of Goethe's literary works can be traced back to impressions.
pictorial. On the other hand, it can be traced back to musical impressions. This contact between the two
Different arts should be the basis of study for class 12.” (24.4.23)

1.- The following words from April 25, 1923 are also guiding lines for a program of
class 12, free without obligation:
2.- "It would be desirable, if at this age the students are approximately 18 years old they
they could gain a rounding of the historical artistic element and receive a spiritual basis in
literature, art history and history, however, to teach them 'Anthroposophical' dogma. We must
to make the attempt to bring the spiritual element into literature, art history, and history, not only
as part of the content, but in the way those subjects are addressed.
A year later, the decision was made to teach the new class 12 according to the
curriculum of the Steiner School and then add a special preparation class during the 13th
school year for those who wished to take the exam (see the section on the exam of
abandonment of school and university education). For this new class 12 were given the
next sketches:
Yesterday I indicated that, since the literature history program has not been in general, it would be
sufficient to give a brief study of the missing parts. On the other hand, a study must be given
complete history of German literature in relation to foreign works. One would have
to start with the largest works of ancient literature as part of this study the
old monumental literature. Start properly with the Gothic period, then go to the ancient
German period, taking all the development up to the song of the Nibelungs: take Gudrun
quickly in such a way that an impression of totality is gained - then the Middle Ages, then the
pre-classical period, the classical period, and the romantic period up to the present day. A general
view, but a view that allows the pupils to appreciate the contents, a perspective of
substances, so that it becomes evident what a person would need for their life if the
I want to know something about Walter von der Vogelweide, or Klopstock, or Logau, for example. I think that
this could be done in 5 to 6 hours.
5.- This should mainly be followed by a study of the current literature. This period
it should be discussed in more depth in this last class. I mean that, due to current literature,
A brief introduction should be given to the most notable literary workers of the years.
1850, 1860, and 1870 so that the final literary works can be studied in depth.
depth, so that young people can gain an entry into the jobs of
Nietzsche, Ibsen and also foreign authors like Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, etc., so that they
"They will leave school as educated people." (30.4.24)

ART, AESTHETICS AND ART HISTORY

6.- From class 9 to class 12 five to six weeks each in the main lesson.
The specific intentions underlying the art lessons that begin in classes are
perhaps more clearly explained by the words of the Course of Ilkey which are quoted below:
At a certain age, as I told you yesterday, the child must be guided from the knowledge of
plants and animals to which he does more with his faculties of the soul, to mineralogy, physics, and chemistry,
where great demands are made on their conceptual faculties and intellect, although it is very
it is important that those subjects are not taught too early. During that period of life
when we are conveying the idea of coincidence to the child and he learns about cause and effect in nature
It is essential to balance the inorganic, the lifeless elements in the study of nature leading it.
within the domain of art.
If we are going to introduce art to the child in the right way, it should not only be all our teaching.
art starts from the beginning, but art itself must play its own role in education.
You can see that the visual arts are cultivated, if only from the fact that the lessons of
Writing begins with a class in painting and drawing for children at a very young age. Modeling.
it is also cultivated as much as possible, although only from 9 to 10 years in one form
primitive. It has a wonderfully revitalizing effect on the child's physical vision and on the
internal quality of the soul in its view if, at the appropriate age, it begins to shape plastic forms
and figures. Thus, many people go through life without even noticing what is most significant in the
objects and events in their environment. In reality, we have to learn how to do this first.
that we can see and observe in the way it gives us our true position in the
world. And if the child has to learn to observe correctly, it is a good thing for him.
start to take care of modeling yourself as early as possible, guide what you have
seen and observed from his head and eyes in the movements of fingers and hands. In this way, not
we will only awaken the child's taste for the artistic around him in the arrangement of a piece maybe
and displeasure for the unartistic, but rather began to observe those things in the world, which
they must flow within the heart and soul of man."(35 conf.11)

1.- And after some observations about musical instruction, he concludes:

2.- "At the age when the child must understand that nature is governed by laws
abstract to be grasped by reason, when it must learn physics the union between cause and effect
in given cases, we must promote an understanding ...
human history, how this or that motif in art plays its part in a particular era. Only in
this shape those elements that a human would need for a round deployment of their
they will truly be stimulated. In this way, we can also develop the qualities
which, like those I demonstrated at tomorrow's conference, are essential in moral instruction.
(ib)
3.- In those art lessons, taught as a separate subject in the main lessons, the
generally, the artistic atmosphere of education reaches its climax and conclusion. In the early
For years, the child is allowed to live within a generally artistic atmosphere. Then,
Strengthened by this, the child has to find his way to a more intellectual job.
comprehensive. At the same time, their skills should mature during the last school years,
so that he is led to a complete appreciation of the arts and their historical development.
conf.3)
4.- The art lessons were given in their first concrete purposes only at the beginning of
third year of the Waldorf School on June 17, 1921, when the program for the new class 10
It was planned. On this occasion, Steiner said, addressing Max Wolfugel, the professor of trades:
5.- "Trade lessons now need to be conducted within a genuinely
artstco. You have already done this in modeling. Modeling can be alternated with painting for
those who have enough skill. Regarding those who enter class 10, we must
take into account your previous instructions in the Gymnasium (x3). However, we must move on.
more towards an artistic conception of life. We need something more than art, applied arts or
craft lessons, we need some kind of aesthetics and here Dr. Schwebsch could help.
to unite through aesthetics what belongs to the realm of writing and painting to what belongs to the
musical sphere. He has been greatly concerned with music in its broader context. In order to
introducing students to the aesthetics of music which should be taught in an elementary way
several colleagues would have to work together forming a class of subgroups, so that the
trades lessons could lead to applied arts and then to the musical sphere, but in such
The aesthetic side of music would be cultivated rather than its theoretical side. I think I can distinguish if
a table or a chair is beautiful or ugly. Don't let them think that a chair is beautiful only when its shape
it is pleasing to the eye. The beauty of the chair should be felt when one sits in it. In that
harmony works its beauty. Yesterday I spoke to you about the kinship of things when I told you
that the children should arrange the samples of their embroidery in the manual work lessons
In such a way that anyone watching them could sense which side will be opened.
I fully believe that the development of a refined artistic side will bring together the different branches.
of manual work and trades. This needs to be brought in a rather natural way, but in a
a way in which the pupils will grow more than their present weaknesses."(17.6.21)

1.- Here we reach a decisive point in the development of the idea of the Waldorf School. Steiner
he understood that in Erich Schwebsch, he had found the person he knew to be capable of
to build art lessons in the way he knew how to build art lessons
in the way he had wanted them to be. His instructions from above about the beauty of a
objects show that he wanted the concept of beauty freeing from mere eye and ear in order to spread it
also to the so-called lower senses (see Aeppli: The 12 senses), so that the forms
Plastics were not just a matter for the eyes, but for an entire experience in space.
This theme resonates again and again throughout Steiner's educational art.
2.- In the autumn of the same year, on September 11, 1921, Erich Schwebsch asked for more.
directions for your art lessons and Steiner's response can be seen not only as a
purpose for a particular class, but rather as a more general guide. It should be remembered that in
In that time, grades 11 and 12 did not yet exist, and besides grades 9 and 10, grade 8 was there.
also receiving art lessons during that year and the following year.
3.- "We should try to work with children between the ages of 14 and 16 to achieve in them the
development through practical and real examples, a sense of beauty, a sense of what it is
truly artistic. Let them experience the metamorphosis of beauty in different periods, the
Greek ideal of beauty, the Renaissance ideal of beauty. It is of special importance in this age.
young people that the students work specifically on what is usually taught in an abstract way.
Works on aesthetics such as those by von Vischer Carriero are mere skins. On the other hand,
It ennobles character at this age; children are given the opportunity to understand: What is beautiful?
What is sublime? What is comic? How is the comic expressed in music and how in poetry?
the child's soul cannot yet absorb more general concepts. Therefore, at this age one
I should ask them: What is the meaning of declaiming, of reciting? (11.9.21)
4.- This is followed by a subsequent indication about reciting and declaiming which can be
looked at the conferences.
5.- At the beginning of the following school year, Steiner said, when asked a question about
from the art lessons in class 8:
6.-"Take the motifs of Albrecht Durer as well as anything related to them musically by
Example Bach. Make the black and white lessons very lively.
7.- At this moment the fourth year of the Waldorf School was just starting. The class 8 a
Once again, he received art lessons, but there is no definitive program for art lessons.
On May 10, 1922, Steiner gave directions for class 11, and when Erich Schwebsch asked
for foundations for classes 8, 9, 10, 11, I replicate:
8.- "In class 8, take the motives of Albrecht Durer. I would like to think about what to take to
class 9."(10.5.22)

CLASS 9 :

On December 9, 1922, Erich Schwebsch asked how the periods of different courses
of art should be carried out. He reported that he was going to take class 9 and that in class 8
he had taken the motifs of Albrecht Durer for his black and white period. Steiner replied:
2.- "One can do this very well. Do you think that many objects in Durer's Melancholy
Are they mere attributes (added to the picture)? I think the difference between Dürer and Rembrandt.
consists in Rembrandt's view of the problem of light and darkness just as that of the
light and darkness (by excellence), while Durer wants to resolve ……………………………………………….
The light and darkness in as many objects as possible. The many objects in 'Melancholia' do not
They should be seen as attributes, rather than as objects reflecting light and casting shadows.
Like Durer, I see the problem more in this way: How does light appear if it is reflected by
different objects? With Rembrandt, the interaction of light and darkness in itself is the problem.
I think this is the difference, Rembrandt would not have solved the problem. From the 'Melancholy' in this
I would have solved it more abstractly. This way I think one can draw the lines very
distantly.
3.- Erich Schwebsch mentioned that he wanted to bring up the issue of art from the North and South in his course and
Finally, also the problem of Western and Eastern art, Steiner replied:
4.- In the lessons one can contrast the effect of light and darkness in the works of Rembrandt
to which he paints qualitatively, with the paintings of Southern art. In this way, one can
introducing the two currents. One can do this quite naturally if one shows how
Rembrandt, whose paintings are three-dimensional, solves the problem of light and darkness by resolving the
problem like a painter. If you contrast these two sculptures whose problem is entirely
One of space, you can lead to the study of sculpture. And perhaps it is better to unite as well.
this to the last French sculptors of classicism (whose art was based on the model
Greco-Roman). In the Rococo period, you must naturally choose good examples of this.
during this period you find the extreme sculptural counterpart in Rembrandt.
One can show in the works of the Rococo period how light and darkness have an effect.
completely different from that in the works of Rembrandt. One must always point out that the
Rococo art, even if it may not be appreciated as much as Baroque art by many people, represents
a high state in the development of art.
5.- When asked if certain periods in the history of art needed to be worked on, Steiner
context:
6.- "I should clarify how those stages (eras) find their expression differently in"
Different parts of the earth. It is interesting to show how the tempo of Durer the style in Holland.
it was quite different from Rembrandt's style: different times for different places.
7.- I would start first in class 9, only keeping this class in mind.
8.- On the other hand, I would work on the stages more and more clearly in that the students arrive at
to be older, so that when they give a summary in class 11 I would awaken in the pupils a
clear concept of different states.”(ib.)
9.- On April 24, 1923, Erich Schwebsch once again asked about plans showing successive
stages by art lessons. I explained that I was trying to connect with history and the history of literature
when teaching in class 9 the next morning. He wanted to show how the arts had had
its origin in mythology, Steiner replied:
It would be good to develop and combine art lessons with history and literature history.
Well, try to start with Germanic mythology but then take a break and maybe show
later the Germanic myths reappear as something aesthetic, although in a different form of
artistic development. It is absolutely possible to bring together Durero as an artist, with the way in the
What forms of Germanic mythology are expressed? We are dealing with 15-year-olds.
years old. One could prove that the ancient Teutons used to paint their gods in the same
the way Dürer painted his figures.

CLASS 10

1.- After the above instructions in class 9, Steiner then continued the subject of the class.
10, apparently referring to the professor's report of his classes.
2.- "Then in class 10 you would go to the lyrical poetic style of Goethe. The program is prepared to
through the preliminary work in class 9. This can remain, bring together in class 2 the
musical element and the poetic element.
3.- In those sentences, the purposes of Class 10 are mentioned for the first time. Soon
After Erich Schwebsch once again asked for directions regarding art lessons for the
class 10 mentioned the lyrical poetry of Goethe and tropology which he wanted to teach. Steiner
he/she replied:
4.-"It is a subject that could almost cover the entire Class 10. Of course, one can teach
tropology and figuration. One can give children a feeling for poetic forms. One must
tell them that Goethe was able to write a stanza only at the age of 40. Such things that
They can trigger reactions that can create a mode of resistance, one needs to observe them.
very carefully. It is quite possible to teach them. In art lessons, the subject matter is the
motive. One can adapt it according to the abilities of the students. (31.7.23)
It consists of using words with a different meaning from the one they usually have.
5.- Steiner gave the following information when he was asked about Art in class 11, which
it was being opened for the first time:
6.- "It would certainly be possible to teach and achieve good understanding in this class with a topic like
The position of art in the entire development of culture. Direct your attention to questions such as:
Why did music as we know it today develop comparatively late? What was it?
what the Greeks called music? etc. Such points.
So one naturally has to discuss in detail what was indicated today in German,
From a literary point of view: Why does landscape painting begin at a certain point in the
time? Especially such questions. Then Art and Religion.
A few weeks later, Steiner provided more information about the art program for the
class 11:
8.-What has been taught? Song of the Nibelungs, Gudrun, meter, poetry, meter and poetry.
What I called aesthetics in art lessons yesterday should be taught in art lessons.
June 21, 2022
9.- This shows that aesthetics in that class would be a part of Art and not of German (Spanish) like
previously metric and poetic, has been.
10.- The observation: What did I call aesthetics in the Art lessons yesterday? It refers to the
first of the two lectures given to Waldorf teachers in 1922, the study of which would make a
understanding as deeply as possible.
11.- On the same day, the following instructions were given for class 11 'Poetics, metrics and
study of study will have to be part of aesthetics and art for class 11, for which one needs
not to limit the style to literary style. It could also be extended to cover other arts, music, and
sculpture. For the last third, I would use Gotfried Semper's definition of style and would show
Through that work, how one can bring other style characteristics to children. (21.6.22)

On February 6, 1923, Erich Schwebsch reported that in class 10 he had developed the
the theme of how "The Wife of Messina" Schiller wanted to gain a musical affection through
the word and how in his ninth symphony Beethoven had moved towards the word through the
text of the chorus and that Richard Wagner had experienced this deeply. Steiner replied and his
words should be seen as an educational purpose for class 11.
It will be especially important to place this relationship between Schiller and Beethoven right in the center.
Children of that age will be able to experience this more deeply.
If you make this observation a class of dramatic center - such as the choir of Bride of Messina
Schiller, then you will have better success regarding Parsifal.
3.- A later indication for the class 11 program is contained in the brief summary of the 24.
of April 1923, which has been cited in connection with class 10.
4.- 'Combining the musical element and the poetic element.' (24.4.23)

CLASS 9-11: (SUMMARY)

5.- Finally, at the teachers' meeting on April 29, 1924, a brief synopsis was given.
in the lessons (an art program for each class):
6.- "In class 9 selections of Art in painting. Class 10 classical poetry. Class 10 the reciprocal relationship"
between music and poetry and music were continuously developing beneath the surface.

CLASS 12:

7.- Steiner first spoke about art in class 12 on April 25, 1923, during anxious
discussions about the first examination which at that time had to be taken in class 12.
The teaching of Art in classes 9 and 10 had been discussed and Erich Schwebsch had proposed something.
under the shadow of the upcoming examination work to artistically address the curriculum
German, mainly literature starting from the year 1740. Steiner agreed and said the
following words (already mentioned in the chapter about teaching German);
But in order not to compromise on the exclusion of our own rights I would think
The correct way to act is as follows: A large number of Goethe's literary works
can be traced back to pictorial prints. On the other hand, a large number of works
romanticism can be traced back to musical impressions. Take this point of contact between the
different arts.”(24.4.23)
The next day, the exam program for class 12 was discussed in detail and Steiner it
it would be desirable if right at this age around 18 years
age the pupils achieve a rounding of the historical artistic element and if they received a
spiritual foundation in literature, history of art and history, however, being taught the
Anthroposophical dogma
10.- We must make the effort to bring the spiritual element into literature,
art history, and history, not only as part of the content, but rather in the way that
those subjects are addressed.
11.- This is a draft of what a future school's curriculum could be.
Steiner, a curriculum based solely on pedagogical considerations, something that does not seem to be a
possible practice today.

1.-Towards the end of the same teachers' meeting, when a teacher asked about a lesson.
more of English and French for class 12, Steiner said with a deep look.
I would like to do all kinds of things, it is outrageous that the students in class 12 are not
can give an introductory course in architecture."(ib.)
3.- Then addressing the teacher who had asked for more lesson time, he continued in
a comforting voice:
4.-"If we all help, it will be possible."(ib)
Almost a year later, when a 12th class was planned, and after the
experience of the first examination Steiner said: referring to class 12:
6.- "Elements of architecture. Architecture must be included. When architecture and construction
They are taught in class 12 discussions about different styles of construction.
also be included.”(29.4.24)
7.- On the same day, Steiner added further instructions regarding the teaching of Art in class.
12, which could be a guide for the lessons on the construction style.
Here the aesthetic order of Hegel is extremely important: Symbolic Art, Classical Art, and Art
Romantic. Symbolic art is the oldest; it is the art of revelation. Classical art expresses itself.
same in external forms which Romantic art deepens again in Greek art
all three classes are represented, although the first is somewhat overlooked. During
In more recent times, we find classical art prevailing and symbolic art scarce.
8.- The work of arriving here about aesthetics is interesting even in its details, it is actually a
Classic work on aesthetics. This for the 12th grade. Symbolic art reveals its fundamental character in
Egyptian art. There the other two classes are quite rudimentary. In Greek art, the classic lines.
are fully developed but the 'before' and the 'after' are left aside. The art more
recent is classic and romantic, just as shown by Hegel. The most recent art is actually
always romantic.”(29.4.24)
9.- After a brief recap of the program already given in connection with class 11 Steiner
he said:
10.- 'In class 12, work towards what I have outlined. Otherwise, what has already been done
so far it's pretty good.
11.-The first sentence refers to the indications about the architecture and about the order of
Hegel, the second confirms the purposes of the other classes.
12.-The next day, after the students of the new class 12 had agreed to
take your examination after a year of special preparation, the curriculum for a class
"pure" was fixed. Here is the excerpt about art:
13.- "For art and aesthetics lessons, the divisions of symbolic, classical, and romantic art have
They have already been given. Now there is the possibility of not only addressing aesthetics in this way. Egypt: art
symbolic; Greece classical art; what follows is romantic art; but the arts themselves can be
arranged in the same manner: Architecture, symbolic art; sculpture, classical art; and painting.
music and poetry the romantic arts. One can look at the arts themselves in this way. This indicates
an internal structure (for the lessons) (30.4.24)
14.- A little further ahead, a summary of the same meeting Steiner concluded, even about the
Subject of class 12: 'Aesthetics of architecture. The beginnings of architecture from a point of
aesthetic view: one should go far enough for young people to gain a concrete
idea of how a house is built. Construction materials, roof construction, views
as part of the aesthetic

THE SUMMARY OF ERICH SCHWEBSCH OF STEINER'S INDICATIONS FOR TEACHING

ART

1.- Prepare activities that involve the entire group.

2.- The activity must be one for all (tongue twister case)
3.- Not so much speech
4.-Own theatrical activities where they are involved
5.- More dynamic

1.-
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
of beauty to the students. When this is done, one should try to relate the development of the
arts to the full development of the different civilizations and see how the concept of beauty has
changed throughout the different style periods. At the age when the child must understand
that nature is governed by abstract laws to be grasped by reason, when it should
learning physics the union between cause and effect in given cases, we must promote in
understanding of art as a necessary counterbalance. The child must understand how the
Various arts have developed in different periods of human history, like this or that.
motive in art plays its part in a particular time.
2.-This passage from the Ilkey course heads the summary of Schwebsch, then outlines the
purposes for each class, based on their extensive experience. After the closing
from the Waldorf school in 1938 he made his notes available to me:

CLASS 9:

3.- The development of painting and sculpture from ancient times to approximately
Rembrandt is presented in the simplest way possible by selecting great works by artists.
southerners and northerners. The pupils should gain a concrete idea of beauty through the
contemplation of important examples of work; an appreciation of the art itself is the
develop the metamorphosis of beauty etc. In that way, following the development of style from the
from Giotto's paintings to those of Rembrandt, the 'students can observe quite objectively the
solution to the problems of the soul that they themselves are experiencing in their unique way
state of development.

CLASS 10:
4.- The teaching of Art now deals with the artistic-aesthetic facts in the field of poetry.
You must take ownership of poetic language through speech. Practical diction exercises.
they are given as a preparation towards this objective. In this way, a feeling for the elements
poetic skills can be developed. Connecting this to the experience of rhythms gained in the lessons
eurhythmics previews are now made conscious of the foundations of metrics including
configuration and tropology. In this context, the style of Goethe's lyrical poetry offers examples
especially appropriate.

CLASS 11:

5.- The teaching of art again takes the theme of the previous children, but in a form
entirely new.
Now it strives to show how in the last of the elements of German spiritual life it will flow.
together the sculptural pictorial elements, with the musical-poetic elements. In this
the development of music is characterized as the determining influence in life
recent spiritual.

CLASS 12:

6.- Starting with construction and its development, the art lessons must awaken the
understanding of architectural elements, their great forms and styles throughout history
of civilization. This is followed by a synopsis of the entire artistic field, which reveals,
example, the natural division of the arts and their development within three states of symbolic art,
classic, and romantic.

LANGUAGE LESSONS

7.- In his second lecture of the Practical Course for Teachers, Steiner describes the foundations of the
language teaching at the Waldorf School which was about to be opened. In this
The conference speaks about language as a joint action of antipathy and sympathy within the
life of feeling, and how to accompany this process within the engineering of thinking.

1.- He follows this thought within the elements of language as the joint action of vowels and
consonants. In this way, it outlines in a few sentences the meaning of a new
linguistics that looks at language as a means through which man reveals so much and shapes his
relation to the cosmos. This linguistic interpretation was mentioned by Steiner on April 25th
1919 in a conversation within a restricted circle (referring to the beginning of this book) where he
I call it 'Study of the Origin of Words.' In the Psychological course (22) this new philology based
In spiritual science, it is subsequently developed. It represents the foundation of speech education.
in the Steiner Schools.
2.- Guide for the practical teaching of foreign languages was given by Steiner in conference 9
from the Practical Course for Teachers (12), where he kept in mind the fact that in the school that
It was going to be open, one would have dealt with students who had or had not already been taught.
languages through various methods and that had already reached different standards.
This conference contains important information about teaching and its purposes.
regarding old or modern languages, which Steiner never altered later. Despite the
anxieties of teachers who felt unable to adequately cover the base
he clung to his first cries, whose achievements he considered essential for successful teaching
of language. The presence of new admitted children, who had not learned languages through the
listening and speaking and that they were consequently hindering their own progress, was a source of
it would be a concern in Steiner.
In the aforementioned meetings of teachers, questions emerged right from this.
complication, are treated time and again. In those early days the 'language problems
They seem to have taken more time for discussion than almost any other subject.
3.- In the curriculum conferences (10), no detailed information is provided for teaching.
modern languages in different classes. Much can be found in the conferences (4) and
also in the pedagogical courses held abroad.
4.- In this chapter, general information for all age groups will be cited first, to be
Followed by instructions for each separate class.
Finally, a summary of the curriculum for the agreed modern languages during the
meeting of June 2, 1924 will be given for each class in turn; information regarding the
Greek and Latin will be appreciated in a separate section.
5.- The entire ninth conference of the Practical Course for teachers must head this section.
because it contains all the essential principles. However, as this course is intended to be
easily available from any Steiner school teacher, only a brief passage will be quoted
from this conference, because in it we find perhaps the most challenging demand that
Steiner speaks about the language teacher in a Steiner School:
6.-"You will achieve a great deal simply by remembering that through all the so-called
the teaching of foreign languages the greatest waste of time lies in translation, since the
foreign language and in the translation to the native language. Much more should be read (in the language
foreign), and the pupils must express their own thoughts more quickly in the language
foreigner."(12 conf.9)
7.- In one of the first meetings of teachers with Steiner, the following question was raised: Was it
correctly prevent reading and writing in the foreign language so that the students would learn
the language verbally, only if a class had already learned to write? Steiner's brief response was:
8.- 'If in foreign languages introduce reading and writing as late as possible. This is very
important."(25.9.19)
Much of importance can be found in the Basel course of 1920 regarding development.
of speech in the formative years.

1.-"The secret of the development of human speech is really hidden from scientific thought."
natural today, of all contemporary science so that it is not known what it is
exactly the same way as the first teeth are received through a kind of
inheritance from parents, thus speech is received through a kind of external influence from the environment
environment, through the principle of imitation, which now, however, becomes a principle
organic.
During the early years of life, one learns to speak from the immediate environment, but
this speech that is learned and spoken by the child until their 5th or 6th year of age is related to
the entire human being in the same way that baby teeth are. What man
he really possesses in his speech after he has reached puberty, after he is 14 or 15
years of age what he speaks, what is in action is when he speaks it is acquired a second time,
Again acquired and won by man, it is exactly the same shape as the second.
tooth. In the development of the girl lies more within the inner life, but it is still there. Because
These forces work differently in the child's larynx, this is also shown itself.
externally. That is a manifestation of what is happening during those important years
from school in the entire human being, not only in the human physical body and in the human soul, but
that in the body-soul, soul-body, continuously, from year to year and from month to month in connection with
things related to internal acquisition give what man has earned externally as
early speech in childhood from its development.
3.- Those sentences are just the beginning of a long explanation that can be read in the
appropriate place, because excerpts from books can never do justice to the entire reading.
4.- Steiner answered a question posed to him at a teachers' meeting in the following way:
The earlier you teach the language, the easier and better it is learned.
pure will be the pronunciation. The gift of learning languages decreases as age increases,
after the age of 7. It is very good to speak in unison, because language is a social medium. It is
it's also easier to speak in chorus than alone.
6.- But six weeks later he also said:
7.-"In language lessons, there is a great difference between speaking in chorus and speaking alone."
All the children will speak in chorus, but they cannot do it individually. One
I should make use of this. We will address it when we discuss practice in teaching. One
children should repeat in singles what has been discussed in chorus by the class. There is no doubt
from which this base for learning languages is.
8.- After a remark about the students' attitude towards the language lesson, Steiner
he said:
4th Grade
They learn better from reading books. Finding a path in a coherent reading book is
a great help. Memorizing is only a help. Take the material one phrase at a time. With
the young one always speaks first.

1.- In the Christmas course of Dornach from 1921-1922, the following passage can be found
About learning foreign languages: 'The rest of the morning is devoted to more free subjects...'
And above all, foreign languages play the most important part. Because they have
What enters the lives of children in a truly practical way, they are taught correctly.
from the entrance to school at the age of six or seven years. Foreign languages are introduced in
so that children can really grow in them. The medium of the mother tongue is by it
so much introduced when learning a foreign language. Naturally, one must
consider when not forming your own lessons that the children in the classes are older
of what they were when they were learning a foreign language.
Naturally, one must consider when not forming their own lessons that children.
However, children should grow up in foreign languages in such a way that they do not translate.
internally when they try to express something in the new language. This method of translating
should be completely avoided. The new language should be taught leading to the
children to him directly, so that they first learn to speak and later to translate, with
So that the last thing should always be tested desirable in particular cases. One really finds
that, by avoiding the usual teaching of grammar, etc., something can be achieved, which the children
"absorbed in a living form."(27)
2.- After the program for class 11 was planned in the spring of 1922, Steiner again
I speak quite spontaneously about language teaching:
3.- "What matters is that you present your language lessons in the form of dialogues. Dr.
Schwebsch has repeatedly assured the little ones in class 1 that he cannot understand a
word in German (his mother tongue). You can use your reading books as a basis,
but involve them in the conversation. Don't be the only ones having the conversation, but let them speak.
Talk as much as possible to the children. This is something that children cannot do yet.
You should think about how you can get them to talk. They must
finding the opportunity to talk about what they have read. This is particularly
important because it is in the upper classes that the lessons are still behind. The classes
lower grades are much better in foreign languages; this is achieved more in lower classes
easily. It is in the higher classes that the teachers have failed.”(21.6.22)
4.- After a few observations about foreign reading books, during which
"The Origins of Contemporary France" by Taine was praised as a good reading book,
Steiner continued:
5.- "Something that doesn't belong here is negligence (sloppiness). However, negligence has been
introduced because one has allowed oneself to take the easiest form. What matters is
understand that: children speak in unison -although this in itself is not very good it is not proof
that they know their subject, because they are driven by a group spirit.... Always
address the matter directly so that the word is one, immediately to the point in
Question .... In order to establish certain figures of speech, it is good to connect it with learning poems.
In order to make a union with such a poem, it is good to memorize it. When one has taken two,
or three, four of such poems one can return to them again later, in order to practice the
pronunciation. All this has been previously discussed. This way of letting children learn
poems have led to negligence. This has happened because, on one hand, in this school the
languages have been left in the background. Because they have to be given as a
side-line the teachers are already tired when they are teaching languages - over and over again
Many teachers evade their own preparation because they understand this situation.
They use the time to prepare other classes. In this time to prepare other classes.
It is quite good to make use of an artificial and stereotyped support. The situation forces me to do so.
reprimands. Preparation of language lessons cannot be as it should be. We
We must make efforts to bring from our methods what can yield real results. Otherwise
In fact, we will end up in our language teaching producing
worse results with our best methods than the cleaner results that are being
carried out by merely good methods. Calamity could easily occur that
because we make such poor use of our best methods we cannot bear the
competition with other schools."(21.6.22)

1.- Summarizing once what was said above, the continuous: '...I am absolutely clear that with
a sensitive management of the current lesson time one can reach the ideal situation where
we can save the children from their tedious tasks. But it is not always interesting (in the
lessons). In a certain way, we lack teaching techniques. I believe that
we have to modify our tasks. (ib) Steiner extended this decision to modify the
tasks, which was originally caused by the omissions of the teachers, to other subjects
also. Details can be found in the 'Conferences' (ib). However, it should not be forgotten.
that this new attitude towards tasks was provoked by the lack of skill of the teachers.
One should therefore not see it as a kind of relief for the teacher, but after each
lesson in which it seems necessary to determine tasks, one must understand that they have not fulfilled
still with expectations from the pupils. The lessons must become so interesting that there is no
need for children to do tedious chores at home.
2.- The next day Steiner talked about the pictorial example of language:
If one gathers an image of what has been analyzed then the whole is restored from
new. Under all circumstances one must work towards the creation of images. The main
What it means to analyze in the form of an image. Too often the former student of a 'Gymnasium'
(3) He holds in mind the concept of man when he hears the word homo. This is really nonsense.
The image is missing: The man is the soul that advances from the racial stream of
generations - homo is the human figure as it rises above its physical environments, so that
One can say: Man incarnates in man. It is the same as Adam. How much does the soul lose if one
I did not obtain the images. This, I think, should be achieved in the Latn."(22.6.22)
A few examples were given from the Hungarian language and then Steiner concluded the
discussion with the words:
5.-"No lesson should pass without the children experiencing something pictorial."
On the same day, Steiner took up the question of the pictorial element in the lessons again.
language. This afternoon is also inextricably intertwined within the entire conference that
it cannot be quoted without harming it. I can only strongly recommend the reader to study that
conference.(28.conf.2)
7.- The need to offer the students of the upper class a lesson in either English or Greek led to
for other considerations:
8.-" Regarding modern languages; the effects for which the two foreign languages (for
example, English and French) have to do with being neutralized if the same teaching methods
they are used. When learning French, the child's head experiences a process of death, and
When one learns English, their metabolism is not stimulated. The real difficulty is and this to me
there is a problem when we exclude certain pupils from learning English, and this is
Naturally from a social point of view, this should happen. But we can no longer offer it.
English sea and ancient languages. But right in their present state of development those two
(modern) languages offset the effects of each one in an unbalanced way....For
example if you think about today's French lessons from Mr. Boy nowadays he has
revealed something extremely important to his students: the French language is gradually
dropping the consonant, S. one would have pronounced "Aisne as "Air" originally one would have
heard the S.
In the English language, many final syllables are on their way to disappearing and only a modest few
S can be heard at the end of many words. The balancing effect of the two languages is more
complete for pupils between nine and ten years old, if one applies the same methods in each
Language. Before that age, it is good to teach a little bit of French as late as possible.
On the other hand, when teaching English in the 11 and 12 years, it is good to draw attention to something.
theoretical in language, to some grammatical or syntactic point.
9.-When asked if one could start with the verb in language lessons for
(novices) Steiner replied:

1.-"Quite correct, start with the verb. The preposition is also very lively. To begin
With the noun, it is a mistaken method. Let us elaborate on this point...
Especially about what is taken away from the verb when it becomes a noun. When the verb is
transformed into a noun (eat-food) one vowel is excluded and this is a move towards the
world of consonants, a journey to become more external.”(9.12.22)
2.- A few important statements, taken from the discussion of February 6, 1923
about school hygiene, and added although they have been cited in the chapter about
German (in the section 'Language and Grammar') because they are of equal concern for the
foreign language teacher.
3.- "You may be sinning against the child's healthy constitution if you occupy them for an hour in
what is generally called grammar. If children need to learn to distinguish between what
It's called subject, object, attribute, indicative, subjunctive, etc. All those things in which they...
they have a shared interest - then the child himself, quite uninfluenced by his soul's life.
In this way, one is cultivating real stomach problems, such as hysterical illnesses.
They are often triggered by grammar lessons.
4.-The following statements were made at the same teachers' meeting:
Sometimes I just can't understand how children can be kept still.
if one talks to them about adverbs and subjunctives because, because this is really something that does not
It may be of interest to a normal child. The best that can happen is that children
behave well for the sake of the teacher... the other day I visited a lesson where they talked about the
present tense and the imperfect. How could children use it unless this happens
in the Latin lesson...?
5.-I am not saying that grammatical terms should be disregarded, but they should be used.
in a way that made sense for the children... Above all, I find that the
The main problem is that teachers do not know their own grammar... The way it
The grammatical terms used are quite abominable. (If I were a student) it would be a disaster.
I don't understand why such things are thrown at my head. The issue is that the
teachers have not taken the sufficient time to acquire a reasonable amount of
grammatical knowledge. (Only then does it stimulate the students).
The grammar lessons are not horrible, to speak frankly. Everything that appears printed in
books must be burned, something alive must enter…students are unable to experience what
it is a perfect time or a present time, however, it is essential that they
experiments
The genius of language must live in the teacher. This can equally be applied to the lessons of
German…(ib)
6.- Steiner's response to Professor Karutz's request to remove French from the curriculum is
a valuable key to understanding their attitude towards language teaching.
Unfortunately, it cannot be fully reproduced in this context.
7.- In the conferences on the curriculum of the year 1019, Steiner graduated the teaching of grammar.
(see chapter “German: program for the different classes”). When a teacher asked him;
if the teaching of grammar in foreign languages could be graduated in a similar way
he/she responded:
8.-After this first introduction, one can connect what has been learned in their own
language with the foreign language; perhaps to show how the same spirit is expressed
differently in another language. It is totally possible to make comparisons. As you fit
Grammar is not taught before the ages of 9 and 10. During the first one
develop language lessons entirely from speech and from the feeling of the word
so that children learn to speak from the heart.
At this stage, there is no clear demarcation line between the 9th and 10th year - this stage, which does not
It is punctual, otherwise it has a wide margin at this stage where grammar begins to be introduced.
The teaching of grammar is related to the development of the self. It is not that one asks oneself:
How the forces of the self develop through the teaching of grammar, because grammar
In the sites, this effect. It is not necessary to fix periods of grammar practice with this.
purpose in mind. Grammar is not introduced earlier; rather, it is about developing the
grammar from the essence of the language.”(19.6.24)

At the Torquay Steiner course, the teaching of the language is approached in a different way.
Some paragraphs will be quoted, but it is strongly recommended to study the complete course:
2.- For language teaching, it is especially important to consider this period between 9 and 10.
years.
3.- Before this moment is reached, the teaching of the language should not be in any
circumstance of an intellectual nature this means that it should not include either grammar or syntax.
Until the age of 9 or 10, the child should learn to speak the foreign language in the same way.
way he acquires any other habit. It is only when he learns to differentiate himself from his
environment when he can start examining what he reproduces in his language.
It is only now that one can start to talk about nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.…not before,
Before that moment, the child should simply talk and keep talking. We have a
good opportunity to carry this out at the Waldorf school, because as soon as the child...
At the beginning of their school life, they learn two foreign languages in addition to their own language.
maternal.
5.- The boy arrives at school and begins his main class periods as I have already described:
Have the class mainly in the early part of the morning and then directly afterwards.
the little ones have a lesson that for German children is either English or French.
Until the moment I described, we dismiss the fact of a 9 and 10 year old.
mesa por ejemplo se llametsch en Alemán y table en Ingles , que comer es essen en Alemán y eat
in English; we relate each language not with the words of the other language, but directly with
the objects.
The child learns to call ceiling, the sky, lamp the lamp, the chair by their names either in French
or in English. In this way, between the ages of 7 to 9 years, we should not give importance to
the translation, this is using the word of one language for the word of another language, but the children
they learn to speak in a foreign language by connecting their words with external objects,
in this way the child does not need to know or rather does not need to think the fact that when he says
"Table" in English is called "mesa" in Spanish; this does not concern him at all. This does not apply to him.
It happens to children because they have not been taught to compare the language in any sense. 6.
In this way, the child learns each language from the element where the language originates, the
element of feeling. (p.63)
7.- After this passage, observations were made about the origin of the language coming from the
human sentiment: about the archetypal human language - observations regarding the
comparison of languages and their limited, but nonetheless important role in education, and also
Instructions on the teaching of grammar.
8.- During the same course, Steiner answered a question about foreign languages in the
Waldorf school in the following way:

1.-"We have introduced French and English at the Waldorf school, because in French a lot
It can be gained from within that cannot be learned from any other language, a
certain feeling for the rhetoric that has its value. And in English it is taught because it is a language
of the world and become more and more.
The reader has been repeatedly advised to deepen their understanding of the passages.
cited studying the conferences and courses in their entirety. I would like to emphasize this once again.
the need to study the complete works. It is really fundamental for education.
foreign languages have an appropriate framework of the whole being of the language that will permeate and vivify
all the teaching of the language.
3.- Instructions for each class are given below and also the final curriculum for languages.
modern data in June 1924 (conference 4).

FRANCE IN ENGLISH

Class 1 to 5: lessons for each language per week

Class 6 to 8: lessons each for each language per week
Class 9 to 12: lessons for each language per week

Class 1:

4.- Asking if the children in class 1 wouldn't have too many lessons through the introduction
of languages Steiner responded:
5.-"It is better to stop the language lessons in the first two classes if the children become
tired... If they get tired, it will be better to give the little ones only two lessons a day in
total.
6.- This apparently does not mean that language teaching should be set aside in the
two first classes, but it would only be omitted if the children show signs of marked behavior
fatigue.

Class 3:
7.- When asked if one should allow third grade children to write in the languages
foreigners Steiner replied:
They can start writing brief and easy sentences (phrases) that express a simple
thought.”(26.5.21)

Class 1 to 3:
(From the curriculum of June 2, 1924)
9.-"Generally speaking, children should already be learning languages in class 1
The lessons have to be given in such a way that the children learn the new language through
speaking. They should avoid using their mother tongue when learning new words or
phrases. One should ensure that children immediately connect words or phrases with the
objects. This means that one does not teach the word through its Spanish counterpart (in the
The text says German because it is the mother tongue) but one remains entirely within the
new language. This should be carried out especially during the first three years.
During this stage, grammar should be completely left out.
When trying something bigger, one should not pay attention to the children learning a verse or
poem entirely through sounds, and if they only have a vague idea of their exact
meaning.
In extreme cases, it may happen that a child learns 4, 6, or 8 lines of which he only remembers
like sounds. Under certain circumstances, this way of learning, which is followed by a
subsequent understanding through memory can contribute to a large amount towards the eventual
language mastery. In the first three years, poetry is definitely preferable to prose.

CLASS 4 :

1.- "This should make it clear that during the first three years all lessons should have a
similar character."(2.6.24)
Now it wouldn't be good to postpone the introduction of grammar any longer. However, it shouldn't be
introduced through rule memorization, but by making use of the existing vocabulary.
In this way, one should ultimately formulate grammatical rules by deduction. Once such
rules have been deduced one should insist that children really remember them. One should not
to fall into the extreme of thinking that children should not learn rules at all:
Once the rules have been discovered and recognized, they should be memorized.
entirely.
3.- Remembering rules is part of ego development between the ages of 9 and 10. Ego development can
to be strengthened by the children who make (grab) grammatical rules. Then one can move.
to prose, which should be used as little as possible in the first three years.
Starting with class 4, one can choose a topic that is introduced first and where the
Grammatical learning goes hand in hand with the abstraction of content.
Only for this stage, prose should be used. Abstract grammatical rules of 'poetry' would be
treating poetry very pedantically.
But it is absolutely possible to treat prose in this way. One can also gradually
move towards a translation class (compare with the instructions for class 5 and 6).
4.-Of course, efforts have been made to follow those lines. But it has happened over time in
Time again that a teacher took the 'dictionary approach', that he resorted to the
German word before giving the foreign word. This may be more convenient for the
professor, but follow the idea in language teaching today where the reciprocal relationship of the
languages are treated in such a way that a true feeling for the foreign language does not
it can grow.
Now this (translation) would have to start in class 4. In class 4 we would have to
limit ourselves in general to inflections of words.
Class 6:

5.- In response to a question about whether there would be a printed reading book in class 6 Steiner
he said:
One should choose a relatively long story. One should find a story, a
novel, something substantial, nothing superficial. Would it be possible to read something like a historical story by Mignet?
Here the students would learn a lot."(26.5.21)

Classes 5 and 6:

7.-In class 5 syntax; in class 6 continue with syntax, taking its more complicated forms.
8.- Running parallel to grammar teaching, one should always have a reading book.
9.- Translations from Spanish to foreign languages should not really be practiced.
(compare with class 4).
10.-Short and brief compositions should be written.
11.-Children should only be asked to make free translations by saying it again in the
foreign language what the teacher has said in the Spanish language. Translation should be
treated in this way until grade 6.
In any case, longer translations from Spanish to the foreign language must be
avoided.
12.-The subject of reading materials should be freely discussed. Just take
humorous stories.
With jovial inner participation, the teacher should talk about all kinds of things that are
related to the customs, habits, and conditions of the soul of the people who speak the language
foreigner. In other words, the study of national customs should be brought in a
humorous form within the lessons of classes 5 and 6. From class 5 onwards, it should
to pay attention to the peculiarities of expression.

1.- So, starting with lesson 5, one should weave the richness into the lessons.
proverbs and idiomatic phrases from foreign languages.
2.- Describe a situation that can be characterized by a proverb in the mother tongue and
demonstrate how this same situation is expressed quite differently by the proverb
foreigner.(2.6.24)

Class 7:

3.- To the question of whether it was possible to read parts of an English book in class 7, Steiner replied:
4.-"Maybe this is possible after all... How could one fix reading 'A Christmas Carol'?"
It is the most instructive if each child has the book so that one can call different pupils to.
front to read to others in a free and easy way, so they read together
carefully."(23.3.21)
5.- When Steiner was asked what the 7th grade should read in French, he replied:
6.- “Read the fables of La Fontaine.” (17.6.21)
The professor for whose class 7 'A Christmas Carol' had been recommended found the book.
too difficult for his class and asked if he shouldn't use a textbook. Steiner replied:
7.- "I have nothing against the use of textbooks. All textbooks are very
poor. The class then does not have a common link. Try to find an appropriate textbook.
and show it when I come back.
About Dickens: I cannot admit that it's too difficult. In class 7 one can read it. You
He can choose a passage in prose for himself. It has only been mentioned as an example (Dickens).
September 11, 2021
8.-When a teacher said 'I have finished the fables of La Fontaine' with class 7, some of them
questionable moralizations 'Steiner replied':
One tells a joke about it. One should take it as a fable. Surely one
One can also provoke misunderstandings using a necessary sense of humor.
different source. What matters is that one enters into the spirit of the story. If you have
Finished La Fontaine, you could choose passages from great works in prose.
One could possibly take Mignet with those children.
10.- A teacher asked, 'Should one read 'The Tempest' after 'A Christmas Carol?' Another
The professor said, 'I have read The Tempest in class with the roles divided.' Steiner replied:
11.- "This is exactly the right kind of problem. The children know the plot, they don’t learn anything."
new about it, but perhaps this is the best way to introduce them to the spirit of the language.
12.-In response to another question from a teacher. Would you recommend the use of short stories??
Steiner replied:
13.-"They would be suitable for pupils aged 13 to 14 years. This is what I mean when I
I suggested Mignet. One must choose characteristic stories.
An English teacher found 'A Christmas Carol by Dickens too difficult for the 8th grade.
Steiner said:

1.-"You can be sure that it is possible to read this Dickens book with children who hardly
Do you know anything about English at all? You can use this book best as a foundation for what
they can learn. Tell them how it goes. Wouldn't it be best to tell the children the story first and
then choose passages that are especially suitable for discussion, passages that are less
Difficult? It must be possible to overcome the difficulties. Just for those who know nothing,
this story is the most appropriate.
2.- Asking if using Jules Verne as a reading subject for the 8th grade, Steiner said:
3.- "I do not object to your use of Jules Verne in that you treat him in such a way that the
the child's imagination does not run rampant

CLASS 7 AND 8 :

(From the curriculum of June 2, 1924)

4.- "When planning the program for class 7, we must keep in mind that a great
proportion of students will leave school after class 8. In classes 7 and 8 one should put the
main emphasis on the reading subject and on observing the character of the language through
study of phrases. children should find what is typical of life and the activities of people
whose language they are learning. The printed text should be the basis, but the practice, and
through recounting, children should practice expressing themselves in the foreign language
Translations should only be done occasionally. On the other hand, one should ask the
children retell what has been read, even dramatic parts. Do not choose lyrical or epic passages,
but dramatic passages to recount (in the foreign language) in their own words.
In class 8, the rudiments of poetry and the metrics of the foreign language should be taught.
And in those last two classes, a brief summary of the history of literature of the foreign language.
it should be dice.
And in those last two classes, a brief summary of the history of foreign language literature.
should continue.”(2.6.24)

CLASS 9:

Responding to a question, Steiner said:

I should try to give importance to the element of recitation at that age so that they
They will learn even better to master the language. Clarify the meaning of the idioms contained.
in the recitation and use them in another context."(22.9.20)
Regarding the history of literature, I will make a few remarks about Shakespeare.
while reading the text or... while dealing with one thing or another, and let the children become familiarized
with some appropriate facts, actually the whole history of literature that you need
for the children.

CLASS 9:

(of the curriculum of June 2 of the year 1924)

5.- Here a grammar review class would be essential but done in a humorous way.
Choose humorous examples all the time. By giving such examples, one can cover the grammar.
Enter. At the same time, obviously read stimulating material with this class.

CLASS 10:

1.- When the French program for the first class 10 was set, Steiner said:
2.- "Literature, culture. I should start with the latest times and work backwards through the periods.
older. I would revert the order. (17.6.21)
3.-Then (after answering a question about ancient languages) he returned to French:
One could read 'El Cid'. One should train them to start understanding classical French poetry.
Take Moliere later. And I would prefer it if you didn't rush from one to the next.
you like to take everything. The Cid. Throughout the year we can find the
next reading book.”(17.6.21)

1.- Regarding English, Steiner said on the same day, after a teacher had reported that
he had taken the entire previous history during the last year:
2.- "This should be continued. Then find out if the children are able to write a few
phrases about the subject by themselves as their independent work ... One overloads the students
If one does not work economically. Therefore, one must avoid wasting time.
dealing with some subjects as if time were limited. It has become evident that some
teachers do not consider this aspect of time.
3.-To the observation of the French teacher that some students in class 10 had asked about
a partition (of the class) and he wanted to know if to choose a story Steiner replied:
One could choose a different reading book. One should cover the entire reading book even
if they only read a little. Do you have any suggestions? I think it would be good to have something.
brief that could be finished in those two and a half months. I don’t know if it would be better to read something.
biographical in such a class, there is a nice little book: "The life of Moliere" (17.1.23)
5. - After an observation about the readers of Latn, an English teacher reported that he
had finished "The Tempest" and that he had taken excerpts from "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage".
Steiner replied: "I would prefer to take something in its entirety. The choice in English is not easy. So
Soon as one has heard beyond Shakespeare, matters become difficult.
It is possible to read Maccauly in class 10, but it entirely depends on how this is done.
This is the age when children get used to characterizing in a rather broad and easy style.
On the other hand, I think it would be acceptable to read Carlyle and Emerson in grades 11 and 12. One should
recommend Walter Scott solo for private reading. Emerson and Carlyle are suitable for reading.
in class. The biographical characterizations, for example, in Luther's biography, are very useful in
the 15 years old. The style of Emerson has short sentences.
6.- When Steiner was asked if Poincaré was an appropriate reading material in French for
class 10 Steiner said:
7.-"It is still a strange, dangerous subject. In principle, you can do something of this kind, but
not with Poincaré, because there are many false representations in it. On the other hand, for those
what they are reading should not be something that apparently shifts from what is usually done in the
life and then returns to him what you have in "The Coming Race" by Bulwer Lytton. There is a
collection of French essays brought by Hachete and there are essays by the other Poincaré
mathematician; in the second part there is also something about technical thinking. This is something
that can be well used.”(18.12.23)

CLASS 11:

9.- In the opening of class 11 on June 20, 1922, the professor, looking back over the year
He reported that he had read 'The Tempest'. Steiner said:
10.- I recommend you not to leave the work, but to have a conversation about it with your
class tomorrow. It doesn't matter if the students know a great deal about it or just a little.
They talk about what they know in such a way that they feel competent.
answer, and thus guide them along. In French one could use the same technique. They must read
Prose. Don't think that H. Taire is impossible "Origins" (The Origins of Contemporary France).
Also writings expressing a philosophy of life are appropriate such as "Voyage in
Italy (June 20, 2022)

1.- A note cited above made on January 17, 1923 about English lessons in
class 10 also refers to class 11.
2.- In response to a question about English in class 11 in which 'Warren Hastings' for
Macaula had been read, Steiner said:
In addition to English lyrical prose, it should be read in the lyrical ballads of the poets of the College.
Lake.
Then chapters of Emerson with his disjointed, aphoristic style, (aphorism = brief sentence and
doctrinal) let us mention the chapter about Shakespeare and Goethe. You should
to clarify that it is aphoristic and not aphoristic. This should be discussed. Their writing method
consists of deploying a library in your room and then walking inside, now reading, now
writing a sentence. He used his library as a stimulant and this is the reason why
You will notice mental leaps in your writings. Nietzsche had the habit of drawing rings.
around keywords in their copies which he proceeded to enumerate. This is all that is
needs to say about lyrics and Emerson (12.18.23) (page 69, line 16 from top to bottom)

CLASSES 11 12:

4.- About the question of English prose for class 12 according to Carlyle 'Heroes and Hero Worship and
After studying the 'Athenaeum', Steiner said:
5.- "The Athenaeum is a magazine that has been reviewed in a truly practical manner. You
they should not be handed over to the pupils, but rather select individual articles. It should be
also considered for class 11. In Germany, we no longer have such a magazine well.
edited."(April 25, 2023)

Class 12:
6.-After a suggestion about a reading subject in French for class 10, Steoiner
he spoke about class 12:
7.-"In English one could take Mackenzie's 'Humanism' for class 12" (18.12.23)
8.- When the curriculum for the 12th grade at the Waldorf school was planned on April 30, 1924, he said:
9.- "Regarding languages, it would be better to manifest the purposes, mainly that the
Students should gain an appreciation of the current English and French literature (April 30, 2024)

CLASSES 10, 11 AND 12:

(from the curriculum of June 1924+4)

10.-"In class 10, take the metrics of language. In class 11, we must introduce literature.
drama side by side with some prose and aesthetics of language. Poetry should be expanded into
class 12 where lyrical and epic poetry should also be included. And here we must introduce
subject that is related to the conditions of the present day. Also, some knowledge of
Modern foreign literature must be proposed (2.6.24)

Concluding instructions regarding the curriculum of June 2, 1924

11.- "This could be the curriculum design that we wish to follow in the future. Don't let
to have the students start reading their text without first familiarizing them with it
Entire content. In class 5 or 4 you can start with the grammatical elements.
As much as possible, drop off the kids for practical conversation; there is still the following to be done.
said regarding grammar in classes 7 and 8. Look for a longer passage than you.
they want to read. Have children familiarize themselves with it in a humorous way, so
dramatically as possible, and then read the excerpt.

1.- We have, over the years, made small additions to what was said before.
early; in principle it should remain as it is. Written work only from the stages
outlined in the different courses.” (2.6.24)
2.-Regarding the last sentence, see lecture 10 of the Practical Course (12).
3.- An instructional passage about the subject of reading for English lessons in the three classes.
main can be found in the 'Conferences of June 19, 1924'.(+4)
4.- Observing the place of the lessons within the curriculum, the reader is advised to read the
section "Purposes and Problems" under the heading.
Revisiting foreign language lessons flowing in higher education. The points of
Steiner's view on how these subjects can be taught in cross-sections will be
found here.

LATIN AND GREEK

From classes 5 to 9, four lessons grouped for both languages in each class. All the
students capable of learning those two ancient languages as well as the two modern languages
They have to attend those classes. The decision about possible exemptions has to be made by the
school in cooperation with parents. Starting from class 9, the students have to choose whether
to take the two modern languages apart from Latin or the two ancient languages more French. Since
Now moving forward, there will be three lessons per week for each of the languages.
ancient.
Steiner did not provide any detailed instruction about Latin and Greek for each separate class.
but in the curriculum conferences of 1919 (ib) he recommended that the Gymnasium program
classic (+3) should be followed.
Regarding the practical side of teaching, however, there are many essential indications that
the teacher earns a correct framework on how to approach ancient languages.
The following is an excerpt from the 'Social Base' (+9)
The ancient Greeks and Romans were able to acquire a contemporary education which
he united them with his own personal life. In our present times, there is nothing that unites us.
to us, to our totally different ways of life, during most of our years of
education formats. In truth, many people who enter leadership positions today have
acquired the same education as the ancient Greeks and Romans, and this causes them to be
torn from the life of their own times also like this, during their education they
they absorb the most unprofitable spiritual substance.
We have reached a point in the development of humanity and only a few people realize that
account for this when it is absolutely unnecessary for our relationship to the classical times
receive a classical education. Because what humanity needs to learn from it has already been
absorbed by our education for a long time and in a way that we can do the
reap its benefits without having to live for many years in an atmosphere which has come to
It is strange to us. Our knowledge of the ancients, Greeks and Romans is none.
perfect way, although great improvements have truly been made later on, but this is
more a matter for specialists and has nothing to do with general social education. What
we need to absorb classic themes in our education has reached a
conclusion through the spiritual activity of the past. It exists and is available without us having to
What to learn, neither Greek nor Latin. It is no longer essential to speak those classical languages and in many ways.
their knowledge is of small value.

1.-In the conference of the Practical Course for teachers, which mainly addresses the problem
how a Steiner school can adapt its ideal schedule to the practical conditions it has
what to face. The following passage can be found about Latin and Greek:
Now let us suppose that the child has learned Latin or Greek. I try to make the
Children not only speak Latin and Greek but also listen to each other as well as listen to others.
systematically when one speaks Latin, another Greek. And I try to make the distinction that exists
between the nature of languages, Greek and Latin lived vividly for them. I would not need
to do this in the ordinary course of teaching, because this understanding would result from itself in the
ideal schedule. But we need it with the children from the outside, because the child must
sentr, that when he speaks Greek he really speaks with the larynx, and the chest, but when the
Language speaks Latin; there is something of the entire being accompanied by the sound of language.
Similar observations continue regarding French and English.
3.-In the 1919 curriculum conferences, we find guiding lines for the ordinary.
teaching of ancient languages at the Waldorf School:
4.- "When the children are in the fourth grade, we include Latin for them in the program."
While we start English and French with children as soon as they enter school,
Although in a rather simple way, we converse Latin with them in the fourth class. The
children listen to start and play as soon as they can. As soon as
this has been developed a bit they repeat short pieces.
5.- The beginning is made from listening and speaking, trying through the spoken word, the
to reach the stage that is usually set for the first year.
6. Those Latin lessons will be conducted as indicated in the Practical course, and carried out,
so that by the eighth class the standard of the 'Terta' is reached.”(16 conf. 1)
7.- It should be noted here that in 1919 the regulations for elementary courses issued by the
The Weimar Constitution was no longer in operation. Through those regulations our class 4
It was made to correspond with the 4th year; the 5th year corresponds with the 'Sixth' (first year in the
Gymnasium (+3) (the 6th year in the 'Quinta' etc. for the 8th year of the Waldorf School corresponded to the
Underterta (for example, the fourth year in high school).
8.- After a few words about modern languages, we arrive at the following
passage about Greek lessons:
9.- "In class 6 we leave it open for those who wish to start with the elements of
Greek. Here too we follow the guidelines given in the Study courses and we
we strive to use shape drawing once again for the construction of Greek letters. And
It will be extremely beneficial for those who will now learn Greek to repeat with another.
alphabet what they did from the beginning when they arrived at writing through the
drawing of shapes.
10.-In the third conference on Steiner curricula, he once again gave details about teaching
ancient languages
11.- "In class 4 we introduced Latin and in class 6 Greek as optional subjects. For
avoid putting too much effort into the students' learning by learning those two languages
we need to balance your schedule, and this is quite doable (to do) (feasible) because
A large amount of grammar taught in Latin and Greek can replace German grammar.
Other adjustments can also be made. We will apply the same teaching methods.
(as is the case with 3 modern languages) but we can use the curriculum (from the
state schools) with the exception of what I pointed out this morning (ib), because their curriculum is still
it comes from the most fertile pedagogical periods of the Middle Ages. There is still much more in it.
value for the teaching of Greek and Latin. State schools still carry the ancient traditions.
which is quite a reasonable thing to do. The old textbooks, on the other hand, are no longer
more appropriate. One should abandon the somewhat silly rules to memorize the ones that appear a
little children's books to the modern generation, especially in their German translations. On the other
The methods of state schools are not that bad.

1.-What is here called an exception (with the exception of what is already indicated this week)
it apparently refers to the observation made during the morning of September 6, 1919.
2.- "One should certainly start by speaking the language to the students first and then
trying to achieve through listening what is necessary to be learned.
This is then the exception to the other accepted rules that could not be in ancient languages.
generally follow the curriculum of state schools. Because this curriculum is based
about learning through writing and not through speaking and listening.

INDICATIONS OF THE 'CONFERENCES' AND CONFERENCES (in chronological order)

4.-At the teachers' meeting on November 15, 1920, Steiner spoke about the methods and the
curriculum for ancient languages in State Schools, comparing them with the situation in
the Waldorf School:
5.- "Our students must reach a level that will enable them to transfer to other schools. When
we have worked on our methods properly, our students should be capable
to take their place in other schools. However, our methods have not yet been established
sufficiently. I believe that once this problem is resolved, you will achieve this goal.
The problem is that the children go beyond you every four or five minutes in the lessons.
The classic Austrian schools were model institutions. Their curriculum was truly the best.
imaginable if only people could admit it. (15.11.20)
Steiner thought it very important that the students of the Waldorf School should be given the
opportunity to learn ancient languages and that at least some classical students should
emerges from among them. This becomes especially evident when reading the response that the
I told the professor who had mentioned the low attendance in the classes being taught.
classics:
Even if you only have one pupil, if there is only one, he must be taught. Nothing else can be done.
what must be done."(16.6.21)
On June 17, 1921, when the curriculum for the first Class 10 was created, Steiner said:
We should give as much Latin and Greek as we can. We do not need to be like
the Gymnasium with its strictly defined methods. That is nonsensical.
You should attribute more importance to Latin and Greek, somewhat less than to the languages.
modern. Go as far as possible in the lower classes that you do not need to spend.
too much time later. We really have the task with our students to make them
I believe it is a good subject to take. I can't understand why there aren't more children that
They want to learn it. In the higher classes, it's better to have more hours for Latin.
In September 1921, Steiner orally outlined to the specialist professor Dr. Maria Roschl the
fundamental curriculum for ancient languages. Those guidelines, memorized by Dr. Roschl are
cited at the end of this chapter.
On March 15, 1922, Steiner answered the question of whether Greek and Latin would be taught.
"simultaneously from the beginning." It would be correct, ideally, to take Greek earlier and only.
start Latin two years later. But it would be difficult to carry this out practically.

1.- We should really have to leave out something else in order to have Greek and this.
we are reluctant (unwilling) to do. Our curriculum is arranged accordingly
with the development of the pupil. But this problem is due to external conditions. What I have
explained at the conference (apparently refers to the representation of Eurhythmia in Stuttgart the
13.3.22) it could be helpful for a step-by-step understanding of the Greek language. I have found
the entire evolution of language to an imagination on the contrary K, spoke of inspiration and
institution. People seem to be aware of never listening exactly anymore. Such
things need very careful consideration. You must gradually develop a
feeling about what I have put before you. It can be used well when taught.
Greek. Latin is of lesser importance because it does not evoke the corresponding feelings in the
same way."(15.3.22)
2.- After these strange instructions, a professor asked how one should select
pupils for those lessons Steiner replied:
As for us only having isolated schools, we are not capable of
to do something about this. Only if our schools expand would we be able to do
we ourselves the selection according to the qualities and characteristics of the child. If we
we must have some influence on the subsequent course of their life. Only 33% participate now, still
too little to influence our curriculum. Every subject that we have (in
our curriculum ) is necessary, so nothing can be omitted ( even by those who are taking
ancient languages)."(ib)
On April 28, 1922, Steiner said in response to a question about the translation of languages
ancient
5.- "Since those are not living languages, the students can make translations." (28.4.22)
6.- When the curriculum was being planned for 11th grade, Steiner said about languages
ancient
7.- 'Latin and Greek in class 11 while the reading matter is being discussed with the pupils, we
we must also teach them an appreciation of different styles as well as something about
grammar, then compare Greek syntax with Latin syntax. Weave an understanding within it.
of etymology.
In ancient languages, you must pay more attention to the etymology of words. Livy (no
it will do so (the dictionary shows the meaning of this word)
Choose any appropriate reading material in Greek.
On November 24, 1922, it was finally decided that in the future there should be partial
saturation starting with class 9; students entering for the Abitur (P/AA) should have Latin,
Greek, and French, and the current of modern languages should have French, English, and Latin
(11.24.22) see section 'Revisiting language lessons - flowing in higher education' and
the section about "Curriculum Development".
9.-On June 2, 1924, after the curriculum for modern languages was established, Steiner gave
also the prospect of a more detailed curriculum for Latin and Greek:
10.- "Now that the teaching of classical languages holds a special place with us, it must
I should also have a special resume. I should work on an exact resume and bring it to you.
It has come into existence by degrees.
11.-This indication clearly shows that due to the experience gained in teaching
ancient languages Steiner is necessary after all to leave the original curriculum of the
Gymnasium.” (+3) Unfortunately, he was not able to fulfill his intention of giving a new
program for ancient languages.
12.-The latest information about the teaching of ancient languages is taken from the Course of
Torquay, August 1924, in which Rudolf Steiner answered questions about whether Greek and Latin.
they should also be taught using the 'direct method' without translation from the language to the
another

1.- "In this regard, a special exception must be made regarding Latin and Greek. It is not
it is necessary to connect those directly with practical life because they are no more alive, and we are not
we have them with us only as dead languages. Now Greek and Latin (because Greek should
really precede Latin in teaching) can only be taught when children are a bit older
of age, and therefore the translation method for those languages is in a way, totally
justified.
It is not our business to have to converse in Latin and Greek, but our purpose is
understand the ancient authors. We use those languages first and foremost for the
translation purposes (40 questions and answers).

Guidelines for the teaching of Latin and Greek (Sept. 1921)

3.-Summary of a written conversation remembered by Dr. Maria Roschl.

4.- "The purpose is the mastery of Greek and Latin to the extent that after class 12 the
students of the Waldorf School are able to pass exams in those languages.
5.-The students who have decided to take those two languages must consider them as
main subjects and since they are probably under a lot of pressure in school
Superiors must occasionally be prepared to give up some other lessons such as these.
such as handicrafts, or other similar objects, if this should prove inevitable.
Greek should not be taught as a separate subject, but it should be worked with
the lessons of Latn.
7.- Concerning the real teaching; the pupils must be instructed in three stages of four.
lessons per week (see below).
8.- First stage: A practical contact must be made with the foreign language, the pupil.
You have to become familiar with grammar forms and their peculiarities through reading.
easy reading books.
9.- Second Stage: Elevating those similar characteristics of language within the sphere of the
awareness; conversations about grammar.
Third stage: Deep penetration into the spirit of the language. (virtue)
10.- During the special lessons, attention should be paid to the psychology of language.
(head-head-head; foot-foot; virtusTugerd)
11.- Beyond, during the practice of grammar such forms as 'I swin, I have swan' should be
avoided because they contain an element of little truth the child saying them may still not
be able to swim. When such exercises inevitably have to be done their fictitious nature
I should first make it clear that, by appealing to the imagination, for example:
Let's imagine that all of us here were able to swim: how would we say it (in
Greek or Latin): I have swum? Let us imagine a garden with flower beds; like it
we would say: Is the rose blooming?
Only texts by real Greek or Latin authors should be used as reading material.
no practical courses whose foreign language text has been composed by the publishers.
However, not only classical authors must be used, but also especially in the
higher states, medieval and later prose and lyrical style writers, such as
Erasmus of Rotterdam, Jakob Balde and others.
3.-When I asked the Dr. if instruction in Latin and Greek was still entirely desirable the
context. Regarding Latn, Roman influence is now firmly interwoven within
our spiritual life that one could not protect oneself from its harmful effects merely
remaining ignorant of Latin languages, but only assimilating them in the correct way
to understand it. It was then desirable that some pupils should learn Latin. Learning
Greek was important on one hand because one was able to gain concepts through it.
language in which the language itself could no longer provide for example the word 'idea', which was
now being used in a quite different and wrong way. Only through an intimate
knowledge of the Greek language one could gain a true feeling for the exact
meaning of idea (stem: vio early Greek-video……viz) the concept that can be even internally
seen. It was, therefore, particularly desirable for the students to be able to learn this
language.

1.-Note from Dr. Roschl

For the transition period, Steiner found it correct to increase the number of lessons and introduce
courses for beginners and private extra lessons.
2.-The conclusive indications are notes by a classical languages teacher, Verene Gildemeister,
after his introductory conversation with Steiner. The fact of this conversation is
unfortunately did not meet.
3.- "In the long conversation with Rudolf Steiner that he granted me before I committed myself as
Ancient languages professor, he said among other things, that he would let me choose freely.
If I were to teach syntax systematically, or if I classified grammatical points as I...
appear, when a reading book was being studied, so that the students could
understand your text. By principle, he wanted me to start immediately with a foreign language,
never with the German and I completely condemn exercises specially prepared in German or
texts to be used in translations to the foreign language.
On the other hand, he was entirely in agreement with the idea of leaving advanced pupils who already
they had lived within the language itself, occasionally translating original German texts
Greek simple prose to Latin. This is of course very interesting but a job.
interesting for the students and demands great capacity and mastery of Latin from the teacher. For the
Dr. Steiner said that I could follow the methods of the Gymnasium (+3) (p. 75 middle)

SHORTHAND

In classes 9 and 10, two periods, one week each.

First of all, I would like to recommend to the reader the relevant passage about shorthand that
he is at the 10th conference of the Practical Course for Teachers. There Steiner speaks of the
unimaginable picture of a stereographer sitting at the feet of a venerable dart in the ancient
Greece at the end to take in 'Stenographer' the bardic song of Homer (12 conf.10)
5.- When making the schedule for class 10 in the early summer language and after
(pleading) to argue for great economy in the teaching time, Steiner said:
Other questions arise. If we add shorthand to our curriculum, we
we must start it now...
We must ask ourselves if we need to spend two more hours on the
week in the 10th grade class, in order to study shorthand, and what a system. It would truly have been good if
The shorthand writer would never have been discovered. Now that it is here, we cannot dispense with it any longer.
with it, with the phone. Gabelsberger. Two hours of shorthand. A few months later,
after the first experience of shorthand teaching that had become available
Steiner said:
6.- "People should learn shorthand as if they were sleeping without any
special concentration. That shorthand is learned in its entirety is really vandalism, the
height of Arrianism; it would therefore be ideal to learn as if one were asleep. But since this
It cannot be, it is more important to learn without any concentration for this, because it lacks.
Shorthand is a cultural nonsense.
When the question arose, her shorthand should become compulsory (mandatory).
Steiner said: "There are many reasons to make it mandatory. It's something that should really only be
start in class 10.
We will make an alteration and have a weekly lesson in the afternoon. It is actually
quite good for children to learn shorthand
On December 9, 1922, during a discussion about the reintroduced timetable, when
The teachers asked which shorthand should become an optional subject. Steiner said:
It's a shame. When do we start classes? In class 10, I can't understand why they don't.
they must have loved him.
Many things are judged too critically so that we forget the difference.
among us methods and curriculum and those of other schools.
Unfortunately, I was not able to observe your method. How do you explain shorthand to
the pupils?
7.-When the teacher replied that he had given his ………a conversation about history
from the stenographer before the introduction of the vowels, Steiner replied:
You will considerably stimulate the students by ………………...…. at the same time that you
sounds. This is a way to overcome difficulties. What do you mean by: To the
Students don't like it?
9.-When a teacher reported an observation of a student that there was no need to
learning shorthand, because she was only interested in artistic aspects, Steiner replied:
The two sides are complementary.
The question: What does this subject serve for me? It shouldn't at all. Our attitude should lead to
pupil: Look, if you want ... at all. Our attitude leads to the pupil: Look, if you want to a
Artist, then, you need all other kinds of skills that will help you in your work.
You must understand that one cannot just be an artist, because one needs to be able to do everything.
of other things as well, even if they are not directly connected to the ..............................
Once there was a poet named Hamerling who argued that he possibly had not been able to do
his work without his stenographer.

11.-We must arrange our education in such a way that an observation by a teacher
immediately produce effect. This is something we must achieve. We begin
stenographer in class. For this reason, the pupils must be sufficiently mature to
understand the situation so that they ask the question: What is the use that it will have?
material for me?
12.-When the teacher mentioned that some pupils had already learned the Stoize-Schrey
(system) Steiner said:
This is really different. That could lead to giving special lessons if there are enough.
children who want to learn Stoize-Schrey.”(9.12.22)
14.-When the language schedule was discussed on June 2, 1924, Steiner answered a question.
about the difficulties caused by the newly readmitted pupils who had not been
previously taught shorthand.
15.- "Then there was no alternative, but to allow shorthand lessons to become"
optional. However, we ourselves consider it something that our students must
learn.
16.-Let's assume that a student enters class 11 where he has been taught in all his previous classes.
natural history by a Catholic, and who refuses to be taught natural history by anyone else who
it doesn't do it from a Catholic base. We should not change (count out of obligation) to such
pupil of lessons in natural history.

1.-In shorthand, we teach the best system and make it a mandatory subject because
The present time is a necessary part of education. I do not think that we are
leaving. In the only ........ that has an inner reality. All the other systems are .....................
We should consider whether to introduce this subject in earlier classes.
(3.6.24)
2.- As far as we know, it is Steiner's last observation about teaching.
stenographer. According to her wishes, the stenographer was introduced later in class 9 just as
it was mentioned at the beginning of the chapter.

MATHEMATICS

1st to 5th grade of school, 12 weeks

6th to 8th grade of school 10 weeks
9th to 12th grade of school 8 weeks

MAIN CLASSES

3.- Furthermore, from the 6th year of the school onwards within the structure of the main lesson
every week, it is 1 hour of repetition and practice, but only when a subject different from
Mathematics is being taught in primary classes.
4.- In the first conference of the Practical Course, Steiner shows where the arithmetic lesson and
mathematics in the entire context of education and there then he develops the introduction to the 4
rules. These guidelines are somewhat more developed in conference 4 of, Discussions with
teachers. In both places he significantly emphasizes his theory of knowledge
(end of chapter 12 on Intellect and Reason). It was important for the professor of the class of
A lower school could bring such things as addiction before children from addition and things.
corresponding to the other rules based on a philosophically trained consciousness in
the professor wanted it to be known that those beginnings of arithmetic thought should
to be valued correctly from the beginning through the understanding of their meaning for the
own development of the child within the world. This does not mean bringing the theory of knowledge before
the child, but rather means that, instead of doing more elegant arithmetic in the sense of
Those indications, the duty carries (part, sustain) the teacher toward the spirit should be remembered.
in the first steps in education. Considering its extraordinary importance, I will cite the whole of
the corresponding passages in Steiner's philosophical works.
5.- "Kant decides that the propositions of mathematics and pure natural sciences are a priori as
valid synthetic judgments. (this was the subject of the previous deliberations in the book) He takes,
for example, the proportion 7+5= 12 In 7+5 the sum 12, Kant concludes, is in no way
contained the attention. It must go beyond 7 and 5 calls on my sensory observation, then I
I find the concept 12. My sensory observation makes it necessary that the proportion 7+5 will be
accepted. But the objects of experience must be approached through the medium of my
sensory observations, thus combining themselves with their principles. If the experience has
To be possible in its entirety, such propositions must be true. Upon an observation
This entire structure of Kant's thought fails to maintain itself. It is impossible.
that I have no guide in the subject concept that directs me to the concept-predicate. Because both
Concepts are achieved by my intellect and that constitute a unity in themselves.
1.- No one should be allowed to be deceived at this point. The mathematical unit that lies at the base of
this number is not primary. The primary thing in the magnitude (is the matter we are dealing with)
that in a certain number certain repetitions of unit. I must assume a magnitude when I speak
of a unit. The unit is an image created by our intellect that separates it from a totality.
just as it separates effect from cause, substances from their attributes, etc. When I think of 7+5, I
I actually hold 12 mathematical units in my mind, just not immediately, but in
two parts. If I think of the group of mathematical units all at once, this is absolutely the
same thing. I express this identity in the judgment 7+5=12 "(2)
2.- This is what the teacher has to carry within himself, along with the children when he wishes
approaching arithmetic, in which he develops addition from the concept of sum, etc.
He then knows that he allows the concept of addition to become an experience for the children.
dividing the specific number into several groups. The reader can read the details in the
indicated places, where they are sometimes contained within a larger context.
Although we must be careful, especially in the Course of the Seminar (13) that the
The presentation is ruined by several stereographic errors. An attempt to interpret
therefore, it will be added at the end of the paragraph about the 'first school year' the following
Steiner's indications shed light on everything regarding the teaching of mathematics.
3.-In the 1919 conferences on 'Volkspädagogik (pedagogy in elementary school, primary,
basic) we reach a point where we are correctly guided within the medium of
problem of mathematics teaching.
4. - "I have often said, as long as we choose the right age, we can lead people.
young in 3 or 4 hours from the start of geometry, the straight line and the angle, to the theorem of
Pythagoras (known once again as the bridge of Asse). And you should have seen when
I tried to do this, what tremendous joy the people had when the Pythagorean theorem...
quickly became clear to them as a result of 3 to 4 hours of teaching! But
Think for a moment about the garbage that often happens nowadays teaching before people.
Learn this theorem! The matter in which you have spent a tremendous amount of effort.
spiritual, and that is reflected in life itself. It flows forward above all of life.
One can feel that this is risky. One can also feel called to testify with due
care what is really necessary from the structure of elementary geometry in order to lead to
Pythagorean theorem. Because there lies in the words of the conferences of ........... the beginning of
a complete reconstruction of geometry.
Light is shed on the geometry lesson from a different important direction in 6th.
conference of the Course for teachers in Basel (1920). The observations made there are
attempted to bring in the child a concrete experience of space with the whole body. Steiner says
there
7.- "In the Waldorf school, the teacher should not be satisfied when the children can draw.
a circle-our children must learn to feel the circle, the triangle, the square. They must
draw the circle in such a way that they have roundness in their feelings. They must learn this way.
to draw the triangle in such a way that they feel the emergence (of emerging) of the angularity, that
The feeling permeates the entire linear development right from the beginning. A child has to learn.
of us what is a curve, what is vertical, but not only from its observation, but
following it internally with his arm, with his hand. That should also be done as a
foundation for the lesson of writing. No child should learn from us how to write a
"p" without first having had an experience of a vertical and a curve, should not be just that
the child reaches an externally directed abstract perception of the vertical and the curve, but instead
it should have a way of observation softened by feeling, an experience tempered by
the feeling of things.”(23 conf. 6)
As a first introduction to arithmetic, Steiner provides a very significant perspective on the
same Basel course in 1920, which should be placed before the other observations regarding the
introduction to arithmetic.
1.- There is always an urgency in the soul to proceed from unity to multiplicity (its
parts). It is precisely because people take so little importance of this that they also have so
small understanding of what human freedom is the soul reality. If the activity of the soul
humanity would have to be exclusively synthetic if man were to be in such a relationship with it
external world that only he could synthesize, form concepts of types and species and also
he could regulate his life in such a way that he would become capable of striving as much as possible.
I would adjust according to concepts - which is certainly one of the main activities of
man - then the man could truly have difficulty speaking of freedom. Because the way in
which we proceed is actually usually prescribed for us by external nature.
Above all, our external activity is in analytical activity in the soul, and this activity
Analytics brings our ability to develop freedom directly in the pure life of ideation.
(23 conf.10)
2.-In the same lecture course, Steiner discusses the 'problem of how one can carry
geometry from a static side to a living one.
3.- "That which is geometric can truly be felt by someone who has had some experience"
of geometry as something that should gradually be taken from a state of stillness to a
very general nature when we say that the sum of the angles of a triangle is 180°. This is
The case with each triangle, isn't it? But we can imagine for ourselves.
Each triangle...? It would be (p.79) however good to bring before our children a concept endowed
of triangle movement, the one that is always indeed always a special one, an individual one, but
to tell them: here I have a line-then I develop the matter so far that at some
this is how I divide the angle 180° into three parts for the child. I can do this in countless ways.
ways. Every time I divide this angle into 3 parts I can pass to the triangle demonstrating
the boy like the angel that is here:

Now it appears here / apparently there is a missing observation regarding the effect of the original line that
You have to draw a parallel line h that cuts lines a and b, dividing the angle of 180°.
I will obtain such a triangle using this method. Starting from 3 angles like in a fan.
lying side by side. I can figure countless triangles that have, evidently, the
characteristic of having an angle sum of 180°, because they appear by dividing the angle
sum 180°.
4.- This is how it is good to call in the child the thought image of the triangle that it really is without
inner movement, so that one never achieves the thought-image of a triangle in
status, but rather the movement, which can also be sharp, like one or
rectangle because at no time did I reach (grab, limp) the mental picture of a triangle in
movement. Just think how transparent the theory of the triangle would become, the whole theory,
starting from the inside moves, and then developing the metric of the triangle.
We could very well use this as a support if we built the child its own.
feeling for space, a concrete, a true feeling for space. When we have
using the concept of movement for the flat figure in this way, the entire spiritual configuration
then the child receives mobility in such a way that I can easily pass to that element of
perspective - when one body passes in front of another or behind another. This passage in front and behind
it can be the first state called to a corresponding feeling for the space.” (23 xonf.13)
A few pages later, Steiner explains the connection of the feeling for space with this.
movement game
Let us take a look at those child's drawings. Children under 7, 8, or even 9 years old really do not...
they have arrived at what we could call a true feeling for space. This comes More
Late, when the other force gradually finds its way into the child's development.
Until the age of 7, it works on the child's organization, which later becomes the power of
thought; until puberty, the will works on the organization of the child, which then
(as I told you) it is retained and really shows itself in the child's change of voice,
being loaded within the body. It is this will that is adapted to develop within itself
same feeling for space. (23 lecture 13).
A few pages later, Steiner explains the connection of the feeling for space with that
movement game. Let us look at those drawings of the child. Children younger than seven,
eight or even nine years have actually not obtained what we could call a true
feeling for space. That comes later, when the other force gradually finds its
path within the child's development up to seven years where it works on the organization of the child
What later becomes the power of thought, up to puberty the will works on the
organization of the child what is later then (as I said) repressed, contained, and in
reality shows the change of coz in the child, when thrown inside the body. It is this will
the one that is adapted to develop within itself the feeling for space, in 'games of
movement," through observing what happens when shadow-frames appear, primarily
through all this the will is developed and man achieves a much better understanding
of the things that through an intellectual approach even if it is playful intellect
infantile, the one who expresses himself on the surface and wants to be communicative.
An excerpt from the small course of 1922 in Stuttgart can be repeated at this point:
5.- "After fourteen or fifteen years, one must take every opportunity to seek connections"
with the things presented more pictorially than in previous years. Let's suppose that in
mathematics we are striving towards the understanding of Carnot's theorem in
trigonometry (the law of cosine), which we described yesterday. Now it is of an extraordinary and great
benefit when one lets go of the opportunity by going through every detail with the children, with
every relationship that can be present in itself between Casano's theorem and the ordinary
Pythagorean theorem, so that the judgment is directly stimulated as a
The metamorphosis of the Pythagorean theorem is before one, the Carnot theorem.
Thus, remembering what was taught pictorially in previous years can be maintained in
mind just like in math as a religion class, in truth in all subjects. The
what has been pictorially taught in previous years must always come to the aid of one.
this that stimulates the power of judgment.
6.-In the Oxford course in 1922 it provides an important passage about the introduction to the lessons
of arithmetic.
A child is capable of absorbing the elements of arithmetic at a quite young age.
early. But particularly in arithmetic we observe how easily a
Intellectual element can be given to the child too early. It arises in human nature;
mathematical operations are not strange in a subsequent (future) civilization. But it is
It is exceedingly important that the child should be introduced to arithmetic and mathematics.
in the correct way. And that it can really only be judged by someone who is qualified to do so.
observe all human life from a certain spiritual point of view.
There are two things that in logic seem to be moved away from each other; arithmetic with the principles.
morals, because there seems to be no obvious logical connection between them. But it is apparent to one
that looks at the matter not logically, but vividly, so that the child has a correct introduction
In arithmetic, one will have a quite different feeling of moral responsibility in life.
afternoon of the child who does not have it. The following may seem extremely paradoxical to you,
but since I am speaking in reality and not about common illusions in our age, I will not have
fear of seeming paradoxical, because at this age the truth often seems paradoxical. If the
men have known how to permeate the soul with mathematics in the true form, during those past times
Years we should not have had Bolshevism in Eastern Europe (29 conf. 5) And after
a brief description of the foundation of numbers in the parts of a whole and the introduction of
concept of sum through division into parts as one pleases Steiner continues:
"In this way, we achieve that the child enters into life with the ability to understand a whole.
it does not always proceed from the minimum to the maximum and it has an extraordinary influence
about the life of a child's soul. When a child has acquired the habit of adding things
together we obtain a disposition that tends to be eager (desirous) yearning. Proceeding from the
tone to the parts and treating, of the multiplication similarly, the child has less tendency to the
acquisitiveness (the action of acquiring), better understood as developing what, in the Platonic sense, the
the most notable sentdo in the world. It can be called consideration, moderation: and moral tastes
they are intimately connected with the ways in which one has learned to deal with the number a
At first glance, there seems to be no logical correction between the treatment of numbers and ideas.
morals, moral impulses, so little in truth that one would only look at things from the point
From an intellectual standpoint, one can well laugh when talking about it. It may seem absurd to you.
A year later, at the Dornach course in 1923, Steiner spoke once again about the
awareness of space
4.- "Today in our abstract intellectual age, people have the idea that the three dimensions
Something like that flutters in the air. Those are really three mutually related lines that are
heavy as going towards infinity, you may gradually be supposed to win through
what, through abstraction, but it is not something we experience. Rather, the three
dimensions become an experience-more in the unconscious when the child learns to take oneself
from the rare condition of crawling, in which he loses his balance wherever he is, and regains it
balance with the world. There you have the three dimensions present in a real form.
We cannot draw three lines in space, but there is one line that coincides with the axis.
erect of the body. This is something we test when we are lying down and
asleep and we are not inside our body. This line also reveals itself as a
the most important characteristic distinguishing us from the animal, which has its spine parallel to the
Earth, while we have it upright (straight up).
The second dimension is what we achieve when we stretch our arms outwards.
The third dimension is the one that goes from front to back and vice versa... Man experiences what he
describe in geometric figures in itself, but only at that age where there is still a lot of
unconscious, a state of half-sleep. Later it rises and appears abstract.
5.-Now in the change of teeth precisely that thing is consolidated which gives man a
inner support about oneself. Between the ages when the child stands up straight by himself and
when experiencing an inner hardening (change of teeth), the child tests the geometry and
the drawing unconsciously on his own body. Then it becomes animated.
It becomes animated alongside the time of tooth change and we have, on one side, some logical physical aspects,
we have built something hard within us, better, in our own elongated skeleton
like a sediment - just as when we send a solution, sediment can appear
making the remaining part clearer - and when a sediment appears - just like when we find
a solution can develop a sediment making the remaining part clearer - and on the other hand
we have the element of the soul that has remained behind and has come to be geometry, drawing, etc.
We see characteristics of the soul flowing out of man. And just think that an interest
in man is what stimulates.
There is a reference to the time to start arithmetic classes in the tenth conference of the course.
Practice. It follows immediately a notable explanation like the art class and the classes of
writing should be the beginning of work at school.
Because you see, arithmetic should be started a little later. This can be adjusted.
agreement with external needs just as there is no marked point for the development of life
of man. Thus, man should start something later with arithmetic (12 conf.10).

CLASS 1:

In the 1919 curriculum conferences, the work of the first school year is not expressly mentioned.
divided from that second school year. There is, however, a place in the fourth colloquium that here is
includes, its beginning due to its general importance. It can help separate the work from its two
years.
It is especially important not to work in a monothematic way, not doing nothing, but to add.
for 6 months, etc., but where possible one should take the four arithmetic operations
quickly one after another and then practice them. This is not how we teach mathematics according to the
ordinary curriculum, but we will take the four operations at once and we will take care
that through practice the four operations are mastered at the same time. You
you will find this way of doing things very economical." (13, discussion 1st) Now follows the
instructions given in the second part of the curriculum conferences.

CLASS 1:

6.- "The ordinary method describes, dealing with numbers up to 100 in the first year. One can
get used to this because it is of very little importance even when one counts in the first
class, as long as one keeps to simple counting. The main thing is that as long as
you use figures.............you pursue the kind of recognition that I have indicated: addition
developed first from addition, subtraction from the remainder, multiplication from the product and
division from the quotient, that is to say the exact opposite of the usual procedure. Only afterwards
By having shown that 5 is 3 and 2 one shows the opposite, through addition (of the species
ordinary), comes after the partition of the sum into parts, subtraction (of the species
ordinary) after one has asked. "From what minuendo should I take something in order to
leave a particular remainder?”. As already mentioned, it is taken for granted that one does this with the
simplest numbers in the first year of school, if one goes up to 95 or 100 or 105 it is immaterial
(intrascendent). So, nevertheless, as soon as the child has gone through the change of
teeth one starts directly to teach the tables, and for that subject one + one up to 6 or 7
years. You achieve in the child the memorization, multiplication, and addition tables as soon as
it is possible, as soon as the child has had the principle explained, just like multiplication
simpler as it has been demonstrated. This means, then, that as soon as possible
bring the idea of multiplication to the child, you give him the task of learning the tables of
memory."(16 conf.2)
7.-Up to this point, this passage apparently refers to the first school year, when learning of
the four rules and the tables are required: the four rules 'all at once' and the tables of
memory as soon as possible bring the concept of multiplication to the child. What follows next
Forward in our passage in the curriculum conferences apparently refers to the 2nd year.
school

CLASS 2:

1. "Then you continue with those calculation methods for a larger range of numbers."
You all try to guide the pupil to solve simple problems without any writing, solely in his
head, and so on. That can be read in the indicated place. (16 conf.2). But counting
obviously belongs to the first school year, too, although it is not mentioned here. We
we read about it in the Christmas course of 1921/22 for teachers in Dornach.
The child is actually suited for arithmetic without much difficulty by the time they reach it.
school age. It is only a matter of having to go within the inner needs of the
organization of the child. In this regard, the child has an inclination towards rhythm, beat, a
attachment in the feeling of a harmonizing element...... Of course, the child must learn to
to count...... In the course of civilization, we have gradually come to the point of dealing with
this work with numbers in a certain synthetic way: we have a unit, a
second, a third unit and counting it, in the additive element, we strive to bring
the one to the other so that then as far as it concerns, regarding our count, the one lies
about the other. The child does not confront us with an inner understanding for this approach, such
as we can see it for ourselves. In this way, it is fundamentally human.
the counting process has not been developed once again. At all costs the counting
It starts from the unit; but the 2 was not an external repetition of the unit, but rather it was
inherent to it. The 1 gives the 2 and the 2 is contained in the 1. The 1 divided gives the 3 and the 3 are
contents in 1. When people began to write 'one' (in modern times no longer
the 'one') they did not take a step out of the unit upon reaching 2 or 3. BUT THE UNIT EMBRACES
EVERYTHING AND THE NUMBERS ARE ORGANIC MEMBERS OF THE UNIT.
Then it was demonstrated there how you can obtain the numbers from a simple
separation. That can be read in the place indicated for everything that is extraordinary.
instructs when found through variations of the procedure indicated in Stuttgart, the
which shows how much more sphere of action is given by the methods of Steiner, which he offers, to the
Professor. Drawing as a preliminary step towards geometry can be measured later under the 4th.
school year.

A SUMMARY INTERPRETATION OF ARITHMETIC FOR CLASS 1

1.- By dividing an observable tone into 2, 3, 4, and more equal parts, you lead to the
child to the first coming to understand the being of the number, and from there on you
Let them count on their fingers. Right after all, the four rules are introduced.
simultaneously if possible and to begin with it are practiced with a small compass of
numbers. You start from a real quantity of given things (sum) and divide them in front
of the children exactly in smaller amounts, like smaller real amounts
(ADDITIONS).
UNDERSTANDING the quantitative identity of both conditions, the child UNDERSTANDS addition.
It starts from a real objective amount like the MINUEND, and from the quite similar amount.
of the REST that still remains lying before the children after removing a part. The question
from what has been taken in order to leave just that remainder causes in children to grasp what is most transient,
the SUBTRACTION, and with it the SUBTRACTION.
You start from an objective real quantity as the MINUEND, and from the quantity
quite similar to the rest causes in children to understand that it is more transient, the
SUBTRACTING, AND WITH THE SUBTRACTION.
3.- Start with something real and simple, (Multiplying) and with something variable and equally real (the product) and
Let the children find the multiplier that is more transient. This way they learn to understand the
multiplication.
4.-You start from a real amount to be divided (Dividend) and from the part
equally real (quotient) and let the children find the number that divides, the Divisor.
5.-You start from the actual amount to be divided (Dividend) and from the measure
really equal the number of conceived parts (Quotient) and let the child find the measure or
part. In those two tasks, you let the child experience Division in both ways, dividing or
cutting and measuring or distributing (sharing).

1.- After constructing such introductory exercises, in which you proceed as long as
Whatever it is, because from things ready to provide and manageable, allowing for search,
find the most transient and abstract you go to the usual arithmetic classes with them
numerous concrete calls.
2.-The following compilation has been made to give the teacher a perspective:

1.-Addition: Is the total sum= that is seen+ what supplement? How much supplement needs to be added to
What is seen in such a way that this total sum is achieved?
40=30 + ?
40=30 + 10
2.-Subtraction: Difference = minuend What is the subtrahend? How much does the (subtrahend) have to be
taken from the minuendo so that just this remainder is left?
10=20- ?
10 = 20 - 10
3.-Multiplication: Product = multiplier x What multiplier? How many times (multiplier)
Should you multiply this multiplicand so that this product appears alongside?
56 = 7 x ¿?
56 = 7 x 8
4.-Division: a) dividend or cutting! Part = dividend + what number of parts? In how many
parts? (divider) you must divide this dividend so that exactly this size is obtained or
part?
20=40: ¿?
20=40: 2
b) measuring or distributing Measure or number of parts = dividend + what size or part? With what
measure or part you should measure (measure in steps, compare) this dividend like this to obtain just
is this a measure or a number of parts?
80=40+40
3.-In the introduction to arithmetic, one can also refer to the Dornach Course of 1921/22, to the
Ilkey course of 1923 and particularly the Torquay course of 1924.

CLASS 2:

4.-The lectures on the curriculum are immediately after the passages on this.
the class." So you had those ...... for counting for a wide range of numbers.
You .............details to the student to solve simple problems without any writing, only in their
head. You first try to develop abstract numbers in connection with peas.
(beans, lentils, small stones, etc.) But do not lose sight of the counting with concrete numbers.
also(1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,) (16 conf. 2)
5.- Drawing and geometry may be viewed later under the 4th school year, it is shown there
Detail how to take care of the development of internal spatial perception in class 2 and 3.
example, the feeling for symmetry and similar things.
CLASS 3:

6.- The conferences on the curriculum say:

In class 3, everything that has to do with more complicated numbers will continue.
stages applied to certain simple things, in practical life, and the four continued rules as for
class 2."(ib)
You can also compare this with the Torquay Course 1924, conference 7.
It has become common in Class 3 to start with written arithmetic, but you can compare.
this with what I said in class 2. Drawing and geometry can be looked at later. You all
They may also refer to the Torquay course 1924 conference 7.

CLASS 4:

In class 4, what has been covered in the early school years will continue. But we
Now we must go over fractions and particularly decimal fractions.
2.-In the matter of dealing with decimal fractions, you should particularly refer to the course.
from Basel 1920 conference 14.

GEOMETRY

1.-As far as geometry is concerned, a difficulty arises. In the 10th conference of

Course............, Steiner says the following in particular connection with this state of life between the 9 and
12 years.
You see in this state of human life we can continue with Geometry.
To the drawing, of course we can develop from the triangle, the square, the circle and the
line. This is, we develop the real forms in drawing, by drawing them and saying: 'This is
a triangle, this is a square. But the relationships between the shapes, is only introduced close to
the nine years (12, conf.10)
At the end of the aforementioned conference, he says: "Geometry offers you an extraordinary
Good example of how to combine the object of the class with the subject matter of Geometry itself.
same." (ib) A proof of the Pythagorean theorem is then prepared a fully
made based on observation; first in the special case of Isosceles, triangle of angle
straightforward but can be developed in such a way that it can also be applied to any
Triangle given with a right angle. Therefore, Steiner says: 'This is a lesson object. But there is'
certain value and I have often tested it - if you want to give the nine-year-old an idea
visual of the Pythagorean theorem, constructing the entire theorem directly from the parts
separated from the square on the hypotenuse. And as a teacher, you understand what it is
Taking place in the geometry class, you can teach the child a maximum of seven or eight.
hours all the necessary geometry, to introduce a class on the Pythagorean theorem, the
famous Pons Asinorum. You will proceed with tremendous economy if you demonstrate the
first yields of geometry graphically in this way, you will save a lot
you will save something very important for the child - what prevents
a disturbing effect on teaching - and this is; you keep it away from the possibility of
to form abstract thoughts in order to grasp (understand) the Pythagorean theorem. Instead of
this should be left to form concrete thoughts and go from the simplest to the compound.
Another reference to the Pythagorean theorem occurs in the Study of Man, conference 14 by another
part says in the Curriculum conferences for the class.
3.- "Now I should draw your attention to the fact that until the sixth grade (6th year of school)
we have taken geometric shapes circle-triangle from the drawing, when we
We were drawing in the early years for writing lessons.
includes the 6th year - this continues from a comparison with the instructions in the same Conferences
about Curriculum, related to drawing and painting. Because a purpose is not the same if it is
given fairly defined for 6th grade the same”). Then we gradually make the transition of
employ drawing in writing for the development of more complicated forms for their own value
drawing them for the sake of drawing. Also doing painting. We guide the drawing lessons and
painting inside this sphere in class 4 a. In drawing, we learn what a circle is, what it is a
eclipse, etc. This is taught in the drawing lesson. You always take this further.
driving to plastic forms, using clay, if you have it, otherwise clay to bring
sensitivity and a fine feeling for form.
4.-What has been taught in this form in drawing is now taken in the lessons of
mathematics. What the children have acquired is now incorporated into geometry. Only now one
begin to explain what a triangle, a circle, a square, etc., are geometrically. For the
Thus, the spatial conception of these shapes is brought from drawing, and in class 6, the child learns
the geometric conceptions of the shapes to which he previously made a drawing.
For this, it will be seen that we absorb something different in the element of drawing" (16 conference 2) There
There seems to be a contradiction between the previous notes of the Practical course regarding the approach.
to the geometric by the drawing." Around nine years old "it was talked about, and in the notes above since the
conferences on curriculum, in which the entry with geometric concepts within what has
"has been learned from the drawing" in the sixth class was spoken. The explanation is found.
referring to other places: first of all to the 13th conference of the Basel course for
teachers in 1920. After a discussion about the need for living concepts
we found: “This which is geometric can really be felt by one who has experienced some
geometry experience as something that should be gradually elevated (raised), from a
"state of rest to one of liveliness." (23 conf.13)
5.-Then it shows how the triangle angle sum theorem can be used
to awaken" a mental picture of the triangle which is actually an inner movement.....And
then he says: 'We could very well use this as support, if we then want to
build for the child a correct feeling for a space, a concrete one, a true one
feeling for space .... The same thing is necessary when we want to judge relationships of
a being with another in space, when we want to penetrate their inner beings, and if we have
completely understood this, then we are led to develop in the child the sense of
the space using the play of movement itself, allowing the child to run certain
figures.............
It is especially important that we now proceed from this observation stage.
in the retention of what we have observed. Especially for the development of the sense of
space... it has great significance if I allow shadows of various curved bodies to fall over various
curved surfaces and then I try to awaken an understanding of the special configuration of the
shadow. One can definitely assert.
If a child is in a position to learn (to grasp, to seize) because a sphere casts a shadow
under certain conditions - something that the child can already understand from the age of nine.
Because of this, one should look into the development of the feeling for space over the years.
school-related as something important (23, conf.13)
6.-Here a difficult task is indicated, understanding space for a quite young age.
What can naturally be the case is not a matter of deductive proof of the axioms in the way.
Eudiana, rather it is an understanding developing from the feeling for space.
7.-You find something different in the so-called Christmas Course of Dornach from 1921-22 in
the conference 12. After talking about the inner division of lifespan between change
of teeth and puberty and the need to adapt the lesson according to this division, Steiner said:
8.- "It is more important that the teacher, the educator, find their own path within such
things, rather than receiving a prepared resume with goals to achieve. In truth, in this way
He will do the right thing for every period of life. Through Art and artistic presentation.
Until the 9th and 10th year, he will allow the descriptive element to approach the element that forms shapes.
in which the human being itself takes part - without thereby underestimating (neglecting the element
what makes shapes. (27. conf.12)

1.-There then follow rulings on other matters (issues) that should be addressed at this
age and then the thread returns to the division of the choice according to the descriptive elements and
what shapes do.
2.- 'With the approaching of 12 years, now the formative element can be added there and
descriptive of the explanatory element, taking into account causes and effects, through which it is the
unfolded intellect. The child first grows between the ages of 11 and 12. Now something must spread like this
same throughout this period, mainly the presentation of the mathematical in its realms most
different, appropriately suited to the child's age. The presentation of mathematics to the child of
what is arithmetic and geometric is something that generates quite specific difficulties for the
instruction because it is really true (p. 87), that things of a mathematical nature
taught before the 9th year in a simple way must first be fully approximated
from the artistic element.
Here too, in all places we must present the child with mathematical and geometric concepts.
to the child artistically here we will once again pass the descriptions of shapes between nine and
ten years. Because when we approach things properly, the child can understand a lot.
number before the 9th year and then throughout their entire school life about one more change
increasingly complicated understanding.
The child should only learn to observe triangles and angles, quadrilaterals, etc. In their form.
descriptive; and above all, only around the age of twelve should we really start to test
things.” (27) We read in the Ilkley course at the 9th conference.
Arithmetic and Geometry, in fact all of mathematics, occupies a unique position in education.
and after describing the suprasensible members of the human being and the forms
special lessons that work on different aspects of the child's being, we read
subsequently: "Thus, on one hand, the study of the kingdom of plants and the rudiments of the
The writing that I spoke about yesterday affects the physical and etheric bodies - I will talk about the
history later. On the other hand, everything that is learned from the relationship of man to the kingdom
animal affects the astral body and organization of the self, those upper limbs that come out of the
physical and etheric bodies during sleep (to sleep). But the remarkable thing is that arithmetic and geometry
They work on both the etheric-physical and the astral and Ego. Regarding their role in arithmetic education.
Geometry is really like a chameleon because of its true nature; they are related.
to every part of the human being. While the lessons from the animal and plant kingdoms are
related, arithmetic and geometry should be given at a defined age, they must be
taught throughout the entire childhood period, although naturally in a form appropriate to
the characteristics of different periods of life.
And after writing during the dream to what has been worked on in the lesson, we read.
During sleep, however, our body of formative forces continues everything that has
received as arithmetic and the similar. We ourselves are no longer within the physical bodies
and ethereal beings - but suprasensibly they continue calculating and drawing geometric figures
perfecting them. If we are aware of this fact and plan our teaching of
agreement with the great vivification that can appear in the being of the child. Achieving this in geometry, for
For example, we should not take abstractions and formulas as our starting point.
intellectuals who are considered the correct fundamental work.
We must start with inner perception, not exterior, upon awakening, in the child a strong sense
of symmetry with triangles and something similar. Even in the case of younger children, we can
start doing this (ib)

1.- So there are indications for an appropriate drawing exercise similar to those of the
discussions with teachers and Steiner later talks about how they work afterwards
During sleep, we finally read.
It is possible to assist the continuous activity of the ethereal body during sleep if instead of
start geometry with triangles and something similar, when the intellectual element is already in
evidence we begin by transferring a concrete conception of space.
In the last educational course that Steiner gave (in Torquay 1924) we read about the
construction of the geometry lesson and this is followed by those observations about the theorem
of Pythagoras.
4.- “The Pythagorean theorem shows us what we can really build.
our geometry in such a way that we can form everything that culminates in the theorem of
Pythagoras: the square on the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of
the squares over the other two sides. It is truly wonderful if this really originates in the
mind.
5.- After presenting adequate evidence, the same can be found in the discussions.
with teachers, and after subsequent speeches about how one is always and again astonished
for new aspects of (which is essentially recommended for the reader to read) the matter is
completed with the following sentences: "With children of eleven and twelve years old you can bring the
geometry really to the point when they explain the Pythagorean theorem by comparing areas:
and the children will be filled with joy and enthusiasm when they have understood it.
Now they want to do it again and again especially if they are allowed to
to tell it. There would only be a few good-for-nothing intellectuals who would remember it slightly well.
they will always succeed in doing it. Most normal children will always recount it while doing
corrections until they find how it should be done. But this is quite off
Agreement with the wonder of the Pythagorean theorem, and one must evade this wonder or remain.
in the."(40, conf.5)

SUMMARY

1.- It must be noted that arithmetic and geometry must be taken seriously through
the whole life of the child in school life - formed anew in time according to
the states of development of the last (35) (of the child)
2.-Due to the crucial development points that occur at the ages of nine and eleven, it appears
a division of geometric and mathematical instruction, which can be characterized as
creating artistic form
3.- The actual construction of geometry according to the proof procedure is in place.
true after the ages of eleven and twelve (16 and 17)
4.-Previously, however, the children should have already been intensively occupied with shapes and
geometric figures and thus becoming familiar with them. This engagement with flat shapes and
spatial elements that can be represented in drawing go through two states, that of "doing
artistic form" (until the age of nine) and that of descriptive observation (until the age of eleven or
twelve)(27)
In the first state-apart from the preparatory exercises leading to handwriting-the
Exercises on symmetry are taken by giving artistic tasks to the children; in the 2nd state we go
about the usual geometric shapes and at the same time to the ruler and compass.
We should take into account here that Steiner required mineralogy-using forms
geometric shapes to be taken in class 6.
1.-In the Practical course, the transition from 'drawing artistic forms' to the observation stage.
descriptive is already done around the age of nine, while at the Lehrplan conferences
(from the study program) and in the Dornach group 1921/22, descriptive geometry only
starts during the 9th year.
2.- From all these indications we can deduce the following goals for teaching
elementary geometry.

CLASS 1: GOALS FOR TEACHING GEOMETRY

3.-Drawing for the cause of handwriting.

CLASS 2 AND 3:

4.-Drawing simpler and more complicated shapes for their own sake (for their own reason), and
without any dependency on perceptible objects, through the education of spatial awareness, and its
quality of creative form (symmetry and something similar).

CLASS 4 AND 5:

5.-Achieve knowledge of geometric figures through drawing, grasping (from the verb to grasp) their
interrelations through description for example (), square, (), circle (), or eclipse () up to the
Pythagorean theorem, at least as far as it refers to the Right Angled Isosceles theorem

CLASS 6 TO 8:

6.-That which has been dealt with so far through drawing and description now has to be
understood (grasped) by testing things geometrically. At the same time simple
projection and shadow drawing are taught in the drawing lesson which has become more
independent.
There are really, apart from the drawing for the manuscript, teaching stages where each
they are a whole in themselves.

STAGE 1:
Before the age of nine, the drawing of free artistic forms (symmetry, deviation from symmetry,
intensification and elaboration), independent of perceptible objects, is nourished by drawing, painting
and modeling.

STAGE 2: At the age of nine, the first real teaching of geometry begins, which covers
the usual geometric figures and reveals their interrelationships, but at the same time have that
to remain purely within the realm of inner perception. Its goal is the theorem of
Pythagoras.
STAGE 3: Only now, starting in the 11th or 12th year, will one lead through the precise method of
build mathematical knowledge and therefore the knowledge acquired so far through
observations will have to be worked through again from the beginning
principles. Steiner also considered the state when a child learns through observation.
to be true geometry. This is demonstrated by its defense of pictorial verification of
Pythagorean theorem already in the time between the years nine and eleven or twelve. This form of development,
Geometry is obviously significant in the Practical Course according to which geometry
It properly begins after the 9th year of age.
But the conferences of the Curriculum means the strict demand for proof in geometry when
they describe it as the knowledge that children have acquired from the drawing element
it should start to be understood geometrically in class 6. That's why this apparent
the contradiction between the two sources (the Practical Course and the Curricular Conferences) is resolved, and
The form is open again for the subsequent treatment of class goals.

CLASS 4:

1.-Geometry-An attempt at a formulation (after having been carried out, in the three
first school years, and drawing and modeling purely for the sake (the exception) of shapes
in themselves and without reference to perceptible objects, one begins in the fourth class at the latest
with the drawing of elemental geometric shapes and teaches their relationships, finding purely
through observation.

CLASS 5:

2.-The Curriculum conferences say:

We will then proceed further in class with the teaching of fractions and
decimals and bring before the child everything that influences the ability to move freely in the
counting (to count), with numbers, whether they are integers or fractions or expressed in decimals.
3. In geometry, the description of geometric shapes through observation will be taken further and
it will become more advanced.

CLASS 6:

4.-The Curriculum Conferences say:

So in class 6 we go from the calculation of interest and percentages, discount and simple
exchange and there establish a calculation formula, as I have indicated,
5.- This can be compared more specifically with the Course for the Seminar (13) where it is
explained how the transition is made from interest calculation to working with letters in formula.
6.- (In geometry, a beginning must be made - in the study of what has been followed through under the
heading of the 4th class - building (doing) tests - regarding as long as it is a
understanding of congruent triangles and their applications. In this way, those concepts that
Children make their own in the years leading up through geometric drawing that must be used.
Enlightened and extended and particularly to be introduced to the concept of curve.
7.- About the commercial arithmetic that has to be started in class 6, we read the following: in the
Conference 14 of the Practical Course:
8.- "And the true power of discernment, the rational understanding, the intellect of the human being over the
who can be trusted, belongs to the last school period. For this reason, we use precisely
the 12th year. years in the life of the child, when he is gravitating towards the direction of power
discernment, because merging this power of judgment in the activities even partially
alerted by the instinct, but already heavily overloaded with discernment power. Those are,
so to speak, the twilight instincts of the soul, which must be overcome by the power of judgment.
In this state, it must be remembered that man has a moment for gain (profit, benefit, income)
interest), for usury (utility, benefit), for the principle of discount, etc., which appeals to the
instincts. But we must ensure to impose the power of discernment very
strongly about this and consequently we must use this state of development by studying the
existing relationships between calculation and the circulation of goods and finances, this is to make
calculations in percentages, interest, discount etc., (12 conf. 14)

CLASS 7: The curricular conferences say:

9.- "Then in class 7 we tried to teach numbers rising to powers and obtaining
roots, also what is called counting with positive numbers (greater than zero) and numbers
negatives (less than zero). And above all, we try to bring them to what is called
the theory of equations in relation to general application to practical life." (16) for this the
supplement for the 14th conference on Discussions with professors can be drafted.
1.-In geometry, the following is proposed - the construction through proof should be carried out
later, let’s say through the treatment of the quadrilateral and the polygon. In this way the
The concept of the exact geometric locus is encouraged further, because it concerns the liberation of
geometric figures from their rigidity and enriching them with movement.

CLASS 8:

2.- The curricular conferences say:

3.- "Then in class 8 we will further develop what is connected later on.
with the theory of equations and we take the children as far away as we can, relating it to
calculations of lengths and areas of figures and surfaces, and the theory of loci, as we at least
we strive to see yesterday.
4.- Regarding the treatment of loci (What is loci?) we can also consult the index of the
discussions with teachers (13) and also the conferences. (22.9.20)
The geometric aspect has already been fully considered in the Conferences, but
It should be noted in which connections that also calculate (on, by) on simple surfaces
Calculations on solids should also be made. Subsequently, the concept of locus can be
now applied to the following curves: ellipses, hyperbolas, Cassini ovals, and Apollonian circles.
Here we could also consult the teachers' Discussions (13).
Subsequently raising any kind of number to a power and finding its (root) should be
I also practice equations with more than one variable.
It is clear that from the results of mathematics education until now, it is still true.
say that many classroom teachers do not have a sufficiently strong relationship with Mathematics
to be able to meet the demands required by Steiner. This is especially true in
the case of geometry - the measure of land is strange to many in the first place - in their own days
They didn’t put much effort into it in school. And now something quite different to put themselves in their place.
In truth, there are two replacements to begin with, drawings of figures that need to be transformed and
They must be obtained purely from the inner being without support from objects.
external or perceivable events; and then one has to move to those geometric figures
What are abstract truths and one must master their characteristics, the nature of the laws of
its transformations, purely from observation, and then (with that) work with such aids
mechanics like ruler and compass and then finally one still has to pursue one's own
geometry with proofs.
7.- There lies an eminently important task, that of concretely developing this,
completely new way of approaching geometry incidentally Steiner expressed himself
Same about the question of one's own geometry book on February 14, 1923, in the lectures.

CLASS 9:

From grade 9 onwards, the position of the Geometry Lesson is quite different. Because
this lesson rests in the hands of the mathematicians and he always finds again that the
elementary geometry on which they have to build is completely strange to the children
What the teacher takes from classes. In the original opening of a 9th class, on the 22nd of
September, 1920 Steiner asked the mathematics professor how he had dealt with
numbers raised to powers and finding their roots, particularly the squaring (squared) and
cubing (raising to the 2nd and 3rd power), of particular numbers and the extraction of roots
squares () and cube roots () in what had previously been in class 8. Then he indicated:
It is not important for things to be done in the way they are required later, but
rather certain forms of thought that are indicated. This peculiarity in the way of
thought practiced in cubing (raising to the 3rd power, for example: 5x5=5 =125), raising
squared (for example 4x4=4=16) and finding roots (for example: 4=2), (25=5), (64=8) where
one abstracts, so to speak, where the concreteness (the concrete) of numbers is and unites the numbers
in a new way, it groups them together in a different way - leads so
deeply within the being of the number, it is so formative for thought itself, that
We really should do it. Then, practice in arithmetic will be necessary, for example.
I would definitely consider it good if you were to work with the children such things as the
practical calculations of volumes. Here is an example: suppose that a jar is conical
cylindrical and containing a certain amount of H2O: how large is the amount of H2O if the base
Does it have a diameter that is half of the top?

1.- "Then I would add to that the study of approaches so that children acquire
such concepts, I would start from the way the 'Niveller Dioptre' is used - this kind of thing
It can take place here all the time, and the work of average values coming from everywhere.
classes of similar practical problems, for example, weighing with pharmacy scales.
In addition, consider what is involved in more advanced calculations related to exchange systems.
As for geometry, you must have proceeded with your calculations in the
cubic volumes of the bodies. I would then advise you to take the first
elements of descriptive geometry.
2.-N.B. The Dioptric Level is a simple study instrument using a spirit level.
(spirit of wine or other types of liquors to mark), with all, such instruments are necessary
take several readings and then calculate their arithmetic mean (average). In the case of
pharmaceutical scales there is a well-known formula:

True = geometric mean value of the weights obtained by alternating the functions of the two
Weight scale casseroles.

3.- On the occasion of the formulation of the Curriculum for class 10 a year later, a few things
they were also said about what is important for class 9. The teacher had described as
he had dealt with what had been rightly indicated for Class 9 and Steiner commented:
4.- "You can introduce the concept of II. When you introduce the concept II, then no
It can be a matter of obtaining theories about decimals. They can achieve knowing the values.
numerical from II to so many decimal places.
5.- As a result of the professor's response to the question about which curves were familiar to
the children - the ellipse, hyperbola, and parabola as geometric places that had been taken in Class 8
Steiner said:
6.- "It may happen that children manage to learn the first elements of plane trigonometry. I
I think we could initially have that as a task. Then comes Geometry.
Description.
7.-And after the teacher had described how the children understood the idea of maps
interpenetrating and also of the point of intersection of a line and a plane, Steiner said:

1.- "Perhaps that is not necessary. You should really find a way that your method that
Start with orthogonal projection, point, line so that they grasp the idea of the plane, not the plane itself.
like a triangle.
Until this point, what has been followed through is clearly related to class 9, where
the task in the realm of Descriptive Geometry is intended to be something more advanced than in the
previous year (1920) but also easier than what had formed his lessons for the professor in
class 9.

CLASS 10:

3.-Immediately after the last quoted words, Steiner said the following, which is
obviously more related to Class 10:
4.- "The theory of planes and the intersection of two planes must be added to the treatment of planes"
as a plan. And also the first elements of Projective Geometry enter there, right?
All of you bring the children the concept of duality.
You only need to teach the most basic things.
5.-Since the professor had then referred to the fact that one also needs logarithms
for trigonometry, Steiner said (this was just before the opening of Class 1, 10) - obviously
in reference back to class 9:

More about Class 9

6.- Have you not yet taken the concept of logarithms? Naturally, that must be done in
the math lessons. That belongs to everything. You just need to manage to know the
basic concepts: sine, cosine, tangent. A couple of theorems that can be considered in their
own merits - so that you start to understand: Cos A + Sin A = 1
And to understand it as pictorially as possible."(17.6.21)
7.-The teacher gathered what Steiner wanted to have logarithms already in Class 9 and asked.
Regarding that, Steiner replied:
8.- "It's quite enough if you get as far as logarithms that they can carry out simple
logarithmic calculations. (17.6.21)
The last indication clearly applies to the 9th school year.

MORE ABOUT CLASS 10

10.-During the school year at the beginning of which those indications for the lessons of
mathematics was given. Steiner said more about class 10:
11.- "If they achieve the first fundamentals of Projective Geometry of yours as much as the
principle of Duality in perspective, in such a way that children are 'perplexed and amazed' and if
you become interested in any of the figures in the new dissertation by Dr. Baravalle, then
you have done everything you should have done."(11.9.21)

CLASS 11:

12.-On the occasion of the formation of the first Class 11 in 1922, the following purpose was given
for math lessons.
13.- In mathematics, we should strive for the most advanced treatment possible.
Trigonometry and Analytical Geometry. In Descriptive Geometry we should go so far that
The children understand and can draw the curve of the intersection of a cone with a cylinder.
June 21, 2022
This advice took on a special color a year later when Steiner responded to a question
from the mathematics teacher regarding the Algebra curriculum.
2.- "I made my suggestions in such a way that I said that the mathematical material should be taken
as long as an understanding of the Carrot theorem (the landlord's law) and its application is
obtained. Saying this, the entire curriculum is indicated. A large amount of algebra is
contained in it - necessarily so - the theory of series, etc. We can actually
to stick to this curriculum, so that we can give problems to the child,
solving what they have to master of the Carrot theorem in all directions." (1923)
A third formulation in the curriculum for class 11 was given on April 30, 1924.
4.-Sections and interpretations, shadow constructions, Diophantine equations, geometry
analytic, both when they are conic sections. In class 11 one should take the functions more
internally, so that one has within oneself the principle-rat and the sine and cosine.
One is supposed to set off from the geometric perspective in this case.
5.- The last sentence may seem rather meaningless. It was said because Steiner had spoken.
about the goals of Class 12 immediately before and doing things this way had indicated in
against the beginning, of differential calculus from geometric considerations. Therefore, the
I explicitly emphasize here in the treatment of trigonometry that one should point out from
geometric considerations.

CLASS 12:
6.-For Class 12, Steiner also provided the math curriculum twice-in 1923 for the
the only class that took their exams immediately after the 12th class and in 1924 for the
12th grade classes, later than those that had a year of preparation for the exams after the
class 12. The difference between these two curricula is not marked anywhere like in the
mathematics. Shouldn't our goal now be to inquire how that I
metan were sought in 1923 with the state's curriculum in mind, but rather as Steiner
the ideal goal of a pure Class 12 in the Waldorf School shines and runs along a
sustained
7.-It would certainly be desirable that at this age-they are around 18 years old-the students
They should gain a mature understanding of the historical and artistic aspects and should already take what in
spiritual without teaching them anthroposophical dogma - in literature, the history of art and history.
April 24, 2023
8.-Intrinsic value goals were indicated for various subjects through examples, the
the correct way, and truly the correct spiritual way, in which this was done was not repeated
on the occasion of the second treatment of the curriculum for the 12th class given in 1924. The following
It was given for mathematics in particular.
9.- "For example, it is quite impossible to develop the theory of space as I indicated it in the
recent course for teachers in Dornach (1923), with the three dimensions down-up-right-
left-in front-and behind. Due to this a deplorable state of affairs undoubtedly
it comes when the propagation of anthroposophical truths is mainly concerned. Because
You see, nowadays there is absolutely no public interest in such things, for which in the
there should be public interest.
10.- Consider discussing the following; everything about the nature of will works.
three-dimensionally within the sphere of the earth, everything of a nature of the center does not work
two-dimensionally, so that we are always
obliged when we are transitioning in the emotional realm from the domain of will to that of
To project the 3rd dimension not onto a plane but in a planar direction, which
thus corresponds to front-back.
In this connection, we should note that, although we can reduce it on the
symmetry plan in the human being we should not merely do this, we should not
we can allow being confined to that. The phenomenon is bidimensional everywhere.
thought leads us into mono-dimensionality. In this way, the matter becomes
Very clear. Now I can ask you, how can one present such things at a conference?
Nowadays, even if they are basic things? Nowadays, there is no possibility of making them plausible.
a hearing, there is simply no public interest in such things."(25.4.23)

1.-The curriculum for the class had taken its lessons from the Waldorf School curriculum since
What was Class 7 and had subsequently learned about complex numbers up to the theorem
of Mojare, and also about identities and the theory of combinations. Steiner said about this
subject:
2.- "The true lessons as they were given last year in Class 12 have proven
that we simply cannot do things that way. Doing things that way (such
as the required P.A.A. of what things were done for class 12), it is quite terrible for the soul
human. It is necessary to take spherical trigonometry and the elements of analytical geometry.
space in a way as clear as possible.
So take Cavalier's perspective in Descriptive Geometry. Students must achieve the
about to be able to represent a complicated house in Cavalier perspective and also the
inside the house. Algebra is necessary to take the first steps of Integral calculus and
Differential. It is not necessary to go as far as Maximum or Minimum. That already belongs to the
University. They should work properly through the concept of differential and integral.
April 30, 2024
3.-Amplifying those indications the continuous:
You should emphasize the importance of developing spherical trigonometry and its
applications to Astronomy and Geodesy in a way that is quite convenient for the age, so that
they come to be understood comprehensively. The analytical geometry of space should be
developed in such a way as to make clear how geometric shapes can be expressed in equations.
I would not delay here in letting the lessons culminate, for example, in understanding what kind of curve.
or rather the surface is expressed by: X 2/3 + Y 2/3 + 2/3 = A which gives an astroid-shaped.
as far as possible a general character is included. Above all, to make transparent equations of
so that one acquires a feeling for how the essence of things is actually contained
in them. Conversely, we should especially encourage the following: I draw a curve
about the blackboard or I describe a curve or surface in space and without pausing for a moment
we should know the equation that is applied, so that we have a sense
by the equation. I do not consider what is good for a general mathematical education when the calculation
differential and integral this derived from geometric considerations - they should rather be
derivatives of quotients. I would point out from differential calculations 1 and from.
SY
SX
6.-I would refer to what I eat as a quotient and would only develop the differential quotient by increasing it.
numerator and denominator even smaller, achieving it purely from the number.
I would not point out from this continuity issue - by that means you do not acquire any
concept of differential quotients.
7.-If you show from series and then only at the end pass the tangent problem in
geometry for example from the secant to the tangent, if the entire differential quotient is understood
purely, from the numerical point of view, numerical calculation, and only proceed to what it is
geometric, the student will gain the penetration that what is geometric is only an illustration of what
What is arithmetic? Then you get the integral as the opposite. Then you
they obtain the possibility of not pointing out from the idea that arithmetic (or calculation) is an incorporation
of geometry, but geometry is an illustration for arithmetic. One should observe this
principle more generally; for example, not to look at positive and negative numbers as
being things in themselves; one must consider the number of series as follows:
5-1, 5-2, -5-3, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6...... now I have not obtained enough, because one is missing for me
And I write it like this-1. You then remain in the realm of number. The negative number is the
quantity that is not present, the deficiency of the minuend. Much more inner activity. In this
one way to awaken abilities in students that are much more real
"that when one derives everything solely from geometry." (30.4.24)

1.-To a question from a professor about when to start spherical trigonometry you
It must go through trigonometry to develop the concept of the sphere qualitatively, without
Immediately start calculating. Instead of drawing on the plan, you should draw on the
globe, so that they obtain the concept of a spherical triangle, the concept of the triangle
lying on the sphere. You must make that graph for the children - which in this case the sum of the
angles are not equal to 180° but are greater.
You really need to teach this concept, the triangle on the sphere with curved boundaries.
This is just a conclusion to this; you all continue calculating. In this trigonometry calculation, there is the
interpretation of the sphere. I would prefer not to observe the sphere from its center, but rather from its
curved surface, so that you can immediately move on to a general discussion about
curvature, for example, and how the corresponding figure to a spherical triangle on the globe
It would appear over a rotation paraboloid that is not closed on both sides, but is
open. Do not start from the center, but from the curvature of the surface, another
In this way, you will not be able to deal with other bodies. You must think for yourself in
the surface. You must, so to speak, build the thought for yourself what is it that
experiment when I point from a triangle, what corresponds to a spherical triangle, about
an ellipsoid? Then let the students realize this connection as subjects are
when you apply the ordinary Pythagorean theorem to the spherical triangle. You cannot
consider squares, naturally.
Those things contribute to a general education, whereas otherwise you only...
they develop the intellect.
3.- Permutations and combinations have already been covered (the teacher had already covered the theory of
combinations in Class 11). If there is time, take the first elements of Probability, by
example, the probable lifespan of a human being.”(30.4.24)
4.- About Cavalier's perspective, there is a later indication on June 2, 1924.
5.- The realistic thing is the Cavalier perspective. All possibilities should be taken to
a Cavalier perspective. Architectural work is what the perspective is suitable for.
I would just prefer that you practice construction design along with the real drawing.
made with a ruler and compass.
6.- SURROUNDINGS OF THE HOME

1.- Classes 1 to 3, ten weeks each, Main class.

2.-In the tenth conference of the Dornach Christmas course for teachers 1921/22 the
The following passages have been found to deal with environments or surroundings of the home (7),
from which the study of nature, history, and geography is developed after class 4
3.- "When one is called to educate children of this age, one needs artistic sensitivity to
imbue with life everything that is brought before the children. The teacher must revitalize himself, he must be
able to let plants speak, to allow animals to act morally
animals. The teacher must be able to transform everything into a fairy tale, a fable within
of a living substance. But here we need to consider an important point (27
conf.10).
4.- And then teach how not to teach, Steiner continues:
5.- "Ideally, after very careful preparation, because this kind of teaching
special demand preparation, the teacher should be in a position to create from their
own sources conversations between different plants, so that the story of the rose and the lilac or
the conversation between the sun and the moon reaches the child directly from individual imagination
of the teacher. Why should it be this way? I would like to respond with a living example: If one
tell the children what one has read in the books, the effect of one's own words is connected to being
the thing about a dry person, even if one is full of life outside the classroom. (27 conf.10).
Through the action of the unforeseen, the very words of a person would reach those who
it is withered, covered not by living skin, but by patches.
......On the other hand, what has been invented by oneself is still imbued with life-giving forces.
life that acts on the child. It has a complete effect on children if the teacher who has created
this story-and such a task is by no means an easy one-goes to her lessons in the morning with steps
that reveal their desire to bring history into their classes. In reality, their history remains
incomplete until the radiantly happy faces of their children draw their own conclusion.
6.-Until the end of the nine years, everything the child learns about plants, animals and
minerals, about the sun and the moon, mountains and rivers, should be restored in this form, because
the child is still connected with his environment, world and child, child and world are a unity
during those years.

GUIDELINES FOR INDIVIDUAL CLASSES

7.-These have been taken from the curricular conferences, in which the lessons about
surroundings of the home come immediately after the passages about reading and writing:

CLASS 1:

8.- What has just been described should be added to what can stimulate the child to reflection,
you explain to him what lies nearby, at hand, and this will later be brought back to him fixed
in an organized manner like Geography and Natural History. Those subjects are brought closely
To his understanding, uniting them with familiar things to him - plants, animals, configuration of the
land, mountains, and rivers. – This is called in school 'Study of the Surroundings of the Home',
knowledge of the places where he/she lives. But the point is that we carry out a certain
awaken in the child right in this first year of his school life, an awakening regarding his environment
environment, so that he connects himself with it. (16 conf.1)

CLASS 2:

9.- Regarding a description of the environments, one should continue with those that have
has started in class 1."(ib)

CLASS 3:

1.- "Now you see that the material you have gathered through the descriptions of the environment
environment, you use in a free way to form your lessons on occupations
practices. The child around 9 in the 3rd can very well gain an idea through such a lesson. I
I can only give examples of preparing argonasa as it is used in construction.
a house. The boy can also have an idea of how to fertilize and how to plow: as they are the
rye and wheat. Shortly, in a free way, you let the child enter your means.
environments in terms of him being able to understand it.
With the entry to class 4, this study of the surroundings of the home leads to history.
geography, natural studies, and later chemistry.

surroundings of the home 3.- natural study 4.- Physics and Chemistry

HISTORY

3.-Starting with class 1, 6 weeks of main class a year.

4.- In his practical course of 19... Steiner spoke about the meaning of history lessons.
future
5.- "I will only touch on history insofar as it is more than stories, after the child has
reaching his 12 years. At this point, he begins to take an internal interest in the great
historical connections (the child's soul begins to show more interest). This will be quite
especially important in the future, because it will become more and more necessary to educate people in a
understanding of historical connections, where until now they had never reached a real one
conception of history. They have been more than just members of an economic system of
State whose demands and interests they have followed as if they were machines. It has been
sufficiently considered knowing a few petty anecdotes about rulers and
warriors, and the data of battles and famous people.
A special subject of teaching in the FUTURE will have to be the development of motivation
humanity towards culture. But education will then have to include the study of impulses
historical, ......................................................and those will have to be timed (calculated) in the
curriculum to respond at the appropriate moment in the child's development.” (12 conf. 8)
7.-During the previous days, the crusades were chosen as an example to show how it should be.
treated the history in that sense (13). In the fourteenth in the Discussion session with Teachers,
Steiner recommends two English works as a basis for the teaching of history.
civilization, see Buck's "History of Civilization" and the "History of the Age of Enlightenment"
Lecky.
In the Basel course of 1920, Steiner also showed how History should be taught, and about
Everything, as one should connect with what is still living and working in the present time.
as a consequence of the historical development period that has been studied.
8.- "If we introduce children to Greek History in an abstract way, even if they already
they have entered the Gymnasium (+3), we are only regressing them quite a bit
abstractly at an early age; they do not understand the reason for the presence of this
Greek age. On the other hand, they will see the point immediately if they are shown that, in the
In the midst of our present daily life, there are still immediate living forces in action that
they have their roots in the Greek ages. We must first of all leave this for the
children. We may have already found an opportunity to prepare for this
understanding through teaching or other subjects. In any case, when we
we teach history we must begin with those factors that are still influencing our
present times.
9.-Then Steiner continued speaking about Greek History:
10.- "We have inherited all our universal concepts from Greek civilization."
Certain artistic experiences that are still active in our emotional life today, we...
we have received purely as a legacy of Greek civilization.

1.-He then made this clear through the basics of our cognition and through
our artistic experiences, showing how in everything the Greeks had contributed
As 'treasures of life, nothing Christian can still be found.'
2.- How to portray historical figures during the first stage of education before the major change
In the 12 years, it is described particularly, graphically in the Supplementary course.
3.- "Suppose you are telling a child about Julius Caesar in this way—not only
painting it, but also modeling it, in imagination - then, he goes to a class in works
manuals immediately after you will be sure that the scissors better than what he would have
done without Julius Caesar (26).
4.-In his second lecture of the same course, the following passage can also be found,
showing how historical characteristics or events can be described in an imaginative way.
5.- "This will mean that when you are teaching history, you will need to collect and
bring to the game all its statements temperamentally in imbue the lessons with strong interest
personal. The child will have plenty of time in life later to objectivize. To make our
entirely objective teaching when we are telling children, for example, about
Brutus and Julius Caesar restraining themselves, showing any emotion in the image we present.
Of those two important characters, it is teaching history poorly. We must be there with
our heart. It is not necessary to get wildly excited and furious about the
situation, but we would show quite openly where we are moved to
sympathy or antipathy, and show in such a way that the children are excited to feel for them
the same as what we have felt.
 Yes, above all matters of this kind - history, geography, geology - what should be presented before the
children with real feeling. Geology, for example, becomes quite fascinating when the teacher
read Goethe's treatise on granite, read it entirely, entering it with soul and heart. The
you will find there proof of how, through the entry into the world of nature not
not only in thought, but with all of his being, man is brought into a relationship
Human with is father first, the sacred grain of ancient note. Or other things can be.
approximately in the same way.”(26)
6.- In the 14th session of the 'Discussions', it was demonstrated how to give children a concrete idea of
the historical conditions of the times in their history lessons. This point is once again
taken in the Supplementary Course of 1921 at conference 3.
7.- "The history lesson works in a quite different way. History has to be with
time; and if we want to teach it correctly, we must give due
consideration of the element time in it. We will be failing to do this if we
we only give images in our lessons. Let’s say I were to tell a child about
Charlemagne almost as if he were the child's grandfather, who is still living. I would be taking that
child out of the way. If I talk to him about Charlemagne, I must see that he understands how
Charlemagne is distantly out of reach from us in time. I could bring him home, for example,
saying: Imagine you are here, holding your father's hand. The child can imagine that.
So I must ensure that he understands that his father is much older than he is.
And now I say to you: Imagine that your father is giving to his father, and that he is holding his hand
from the grandfather of the father. I then open, leading the child back about 60 years. And now I
I can get the child to think even further back and consider a series of, let us say, 30.
ancestors one after another, and explain that the thirtieth could have been Charlemagne. In this
The boy forms a feeling of distance in time. He should never have isolated himself.
facts presented to him; the history lesson should always create a sense of distance in the
time. This is important.

1.-And then, when discussing the different eras, we must point out the characteristic traits of
each one. Our entire purpose must be to let history live mainly in concepts of
time. This will work powerfully on them; they will be stirred and stimulated in their inner being.
(26)
2.- After this passage, there are some indications about the effects of an approach.
wrong for the teaching of history about the later life of the pupils.
3.- A little earlier in the same course, Steiner talks about the real teaching of history in
the lesson:
4.- "When I am teaching history, I will be careful not to present the facts before the children."
not in a purely external way, but to bring to light my skill and ingenuity and adapt the lesson
once more to the child's life process; and this time in the following way; first I state the facts
The naked facts, which take place in space and time. By doing this I am once again
crying-extending hands-over the entire being of the child. Just as the experiments of physics,
the boy is once again in the need to imagine everything in space. And this is correct. He must
to have a picture (an image) of what I tell him, he must see it in the spirit, see it spread before
it as a continuous whole, and he must also imagine it in time.
5.-When I have done this, I will try to add some elements, details concerning the
characters or events in my narration in this way I will maintain the attention of the children
about the facts, but I am simply narrating. I am describing. I have, you
Come, I've gone through these two states again, the first state making demands about everything.
the being of the child, and the second appealing to his rhythmic system. Now the lesson is finished and the child
you are fired.
6.-The next morning the boy comes to me again, bringing once more to his head the
spiritual photographs of the lesson from the previous day. I will be finding it in the correct form if
Now I continue to suggest discussions that may come from the content of yesterday's lesson.
We can, for example, consider together whether Mithridates, or let us say Alcibiades,
it could be seen as a respectable character or not. You see, I must provide narration and
description on the first day and then the next day I must lead the children to reflect and
to form their own opinions. Through this method, I will be able to act through the three members of being.
ternary humans work together and intertwine with each other in the right way.
7.-An example of this type can give you some idea of what you can achieve if you
they were in a position to adapt the entirety of their teaching to the child's living conditions.
(ib)
In the XI conference of the Christmas course of 1921/22, which is especially a help for
the understanding of the child's thought development, Steiner says this about the lessons
after the 12th, year:
9.- "We are now only at the point where the human being is placed within the
world as a serfsico with the attributes of dynamics and mechanics and as such, with the experience
equivalent. And only now is the possibility offered to approach the human being with what it is
also the simplest element in physics and chemistry, with the laws of chemistry, of dynamics, to the
which lithology is subject to the knowledge of minerals. If real mineralogy,
dynamics, physics, chemistry, are brought to the human being in the face of this, one is unconsciously-
working detrimentally within human nature. On the other hand, the understanding of
the so-called historical connections, from a historical study, the understanding of the impulses
dominant in history, in social development, is only the opposite pole of the understanding of what
is connected with logic, with mineralogy. Because of this, the child will only be mature
Quite when he is approaching 12 years old. The nature of historical ideas, the impulses
that run their course through the life of history, which work within social forms,
those - although of course they are something quite different - are nonetheless the skeleton in the
historical sphere, while the flesh, the muscles are the living people with their biographies, and the
immediate, concrete historical facts. Therefore, it is the treatment of history, which is
also introduced between the ages of 10 and 12, we go around the subjects that
we conjure isolated images that can give warmth to feelings, to which the
sentiments, can aspire; biographies, characteristic individual events - not the course of
abstract impulses. They come to the child when he has reached 12 years of age, where now the...
which is conditioned by the fact that man is in the external world, and one can also
learn to understand what grips an individual as a historical impulse from
out.

1.- Right at the beginning of the first of the two Stuttgart conferences of 1922, the transition that
takes place in the young person between class 9 and class 10 is described, the transition from
knowledge to cognition (from knowledge to understanding) and the teaching of history is used
to illustrate it:
2.- Let us assume, in order to clarify this point, what happens to us when we talk about Julio.
Cesar with the children. Later on, we will strive to describe his actions, perhaps
also the tribes through which the passage; we will try to describe how it was
a writer, how vibrant and characteristic his style was, etc. If we talk about Julius Caesar
after class 10 we talk about the underlying intentions of their actions;
We can point out one or the other events in the life of Caesar that may have happened.
differently and why I didn't take a different course. when we describe other scenes
we will try to consider favorable or unfavorable circumstances. Speaking about
Goethe, for example - after having primarily given children under class 10 images of
his life and work, we will now try to talk about him in such a way that we
We will consider his creative work, its character changed after the year 1790.
In this new state of children's lives, we will strive to describe their desire.
vehement for Italy, while we have simply described before, the
experiences of his youth and in the same way, what he experimented later. In short
we will try to bring more and more causal and similar relationships. As mentioned in
previous courses, one indirectly suggests such causal links already before the age of 12, but
From this state about the inner necessity due to causality, it must above all be carried out.
(Steiner refers to the transition age of class 10). If one does not recognize this, the varied
Negligence can result within children. One must understand that the human soul has.
many needs defined for each stage of development, and if one gives the child something inappropriate, the
will react especially unfavorably if one does not make a clear distinction between the former and
the later (referring to time). If one continues the same teaching methods from class 10
without changing its character, then the child's soul will react in an unfavorable way.
(28 conf.1)
3.-The topic of the transition from class 9 to class 10 is developed further but only one
The sentence will be indicated here to indicate the general direction of Steiner's indications:
4.- "It is important to understand that when a child reaches puberty it is essential
to awaken a lively interest in the external world.
5.-What follows after this statement is so relevant to all other subjects that it seems
It is correct to indicate it in the section addressing more general aspects of teaching. It will be found
under: "The arrangement of the curriculum according to different ages" (this section has not been

The true essence of history teaching is brought to light with particular clarity in the Course
of Holy Week in 1923. After some indications about the first appearance of this
need by chance in the 12th year the following lines are found, about the
teaching of history
On the other hand, by the time children are approaching their 12 years, they can really
start to grasp historical connections. Before that age, you must provide them with images.
of isolated human situations which either bring about pleasure through their goodness,
truth, and so on, or displace through the opposite qualities. History must also
to be related to the life of feeling, to sympathy and antipathy.
They give children complete images of events and personalities, but pictures that are
kept mobile and alive in the way I have indicated (With pairs what has been said a few
pages further on in the same conference 34 about pictorial teaching). On the other hand,
casual connections between what happened in an earlier period and in a later period,
in history can only be brought to children at the first glimpse of the astral body 'moving towards
"back" (which was also discussed in the conference, which increases in strength in the approach to
around 12 years old, the child begins to enter that period of
retrospection and this is the time when one can introduce the concept of cause and effect in
History. If attention is directed first to this union between cause and effect, and to its inherent judgment
intellectual, something is introduced that is harmful to the later development of the child." (34) A
total exhibition, of the teaching of history can be found in the Ilkley course in the
conference held on August 14, the study of which would be helpful for any teacher of
history, particularly for secondary education teachers.

CURRICULAR GUIDELINES FOR INDIVIDUAL CLASSES

Those for middle school are based on the 'Conferences' (+ 4).

Class 4:

In class 4 a transition will be made from those lessons (Steiner refers to the lessons about
surroundings of the home), towards the first presentation of local history, introduced in a free and
simple way.
The children can, for example, be told how it happened that wine was cultivated in their surroundings.
Of the home, if this were to be the case, or how the growth of the fruits would come to be established,
how that industry was built, and similar matters.” (16 conf.1)

CLASS 5:

In the fifth class, every effort will be made to start with historical realities, and
Right at this time in the fifth class, there should be no hesitation in getting the children to grasp.
Ideas from the cultures of the Greek and Eastern peoples.
The aversion to look back into ancient times has only grown in man.
current days, and he does not have the ability to apply the correct ideas to what he sees when he looks at it
backward. A child between 10 and 11 years old can do this very well, which is if one continuously
it awakens his feelings in doing it to him awake of all that it can give to him the
understanding for the Easterners and Greeks.
Appropriate stories for reading and storytelling: 'Scenes from Medieval History.'

CLASS 6:

1.-Historical periods of the Greeks and the Romans and the effects of Roman and Greek History
until the beginnings of the 15th century, they form the content of the 6th year. (ib)
(Appropriate stories for reading and tales 'scenes of later history)
2.-At a meeting of teachers that took place a few weeks later after the
At the beginning of the term, Steiner was asked to talk about the teaching of Greek History and
Roman. Since your response is important, both regarding the program and the
class 6 is also like the teaching style, it is reproduced in its entirety. When it was
asked whether one should omit the Persian Wars in order to gain more time for history
from Greek culture he said:
The Persian wars can be addressed in such a way that they become part of History.
of culture. It is possible to treat ancient wars from a cultural-historical aspect. Already
that then wars have become more and more negative. One can look at wars
"Persas as a symptom of cultural history." (25.9.19)
4.-The teachers then asked if the domestic policy of the Greeks was of lesser importance.
importance and Steiner answered:
5.- "They are important in the way money came to be used."
6.- When asked if one could briefly deal with the different constitutions, he said:
7.- "Yes, but you must describe the spirit of the constitution of Lycurgus, for example, the
difference between the ways of life of Athens and Sparta.
8.- When it was mentioned that the constitution of the Roman government was described.
extensively in textbooks I replicate:
9.- 'In textbooks this treaty is detailed and often quite wrong. The Romans do not
They knew the constitution, but they memorized not only the Twelve Tables of the law, but also
also a large number of law books. You will obtain a false picture of the constitution
Romana, if you don't show the children that the Roman was a man of law and that this was not
known. This is established in textbooks in a very boring way, but regarding
In the Roman constitution, you must awaken the image that every Roman was a fanatic of the
law and he could count on the laws on his fingers, the twelve Tables of the law were taught as they are
"taught the multiplication tables in our time." (25.9.19)

CLASS 7:

10.-In the seventh class, the main thing will be to make the lesson truly understandable for the children.
life that humanity developed in the 15th century and describe European and Extra-European conditions
until the beginning of the 17th century. This is the entire important period on which much care
It must be bestowed. It is even of greater importance than the periods that follow.
Appropriate stories for reading and narration: 'Stories about different tribes.'

CLASS 8:

11.- In the 8th grade, one tries to bring history up to the present times, giving great
consideration of cultural history.
12.- Most of what makes up the content of history today will only be mentioned in
pass. It is much more important for the child to learn like the steam engine or the loom
mechanics transformed the world so that he should learn about incidental alteration.
from the telegram of Emser.
Much of what is still found in our history books is of little value for the
the education of the child and even Charlemagne and similar historical figures should be treated without much,
too many details.

1.- "What I told you yesterday about helping children to experience historical time"
Quite specifically (see discussion session 14) it should be applied consistently and with real
Delight. Subsequent recommendations for the class 8 program were made by Steiner on the 23rd.
March 1921.
2.- "It is of great educational value to read the first chapters of Schiller's 'The War of the
30 years. Much of this content in them that penetrates right into our times.
(Appropriate reading and storytelling material: 'Knowledge of Different Peoples')
4.- I would like to conclude the guidelines for the high school curriculum.
(Elementary school classes) with some indication given by Steiner referring to the situation in autumn.
1919, when the school was being opened, because it can be helpful in similar situations
today.
5.- In almost every class you will have to start from the beginning. You must
simply limit your teaching as much as you find necessary. For example,
you are required to start at the beginning of the eighth year, so you must only
take a little, but nevertheless try to provide a complete picture of the entire evolution of the
humanity, only in an abbreviated form. In the eighth school year you would have to go through
of all the history of the world as we understand it.

CLASS 9:
6.- The transition of the history of teaching from middle school to upper class is marked
by a surprising statement made by Steiner on September 22, 1920, after the
opening of the first class 9, when the history teacher gave information about how he had
treaty to carry out the curriculum in his class which had rather a mixed background. He reported
how he had based his teaching on Buckle's History of Civilization, and how he had
treatise to shed light on our present times.
Steiner replied:
7.- "Now I would like to recommend that you do not continue, but rather work through the whole
period once again, basing the preparation on a more spiritual approach and then
I took "The History of Modern Civilization" by Lecky.
8.-The indications from Steiner on November 15, 1920, which were given especially for the
Class 9 makes the above quote clearer.
9.- "The point would be to deal with the history of the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, at least in the 9th grade."
Perhaps you could do it this way. Since class 9 hasn't done it, it will be necessary now.
deal with those centuries. In this relationship, the important thing will be to strive to give their students a
Understanding of the present - they are already 15 years old. You could take your topics as they do.
data is given in the chapter for each century of Herner Grimm, the 19th century as a convergence of
national histories. I want to discuss the themes for the last four centuries as your guiding motive
They should really be covered in both classes. You would be able to take it in different.
ways; in class 8 more in the form of narration (of telling) in the ninth going deeper into
the ideas of the last centuries.
10.-You should make it your goal to bring guiding ideas to children in large quantity.
Material can be found in my conference cycles that can be expanded upon in a
simple way by obtaining literature from other sources. (15.11.20)

On April 24, 1923, Steiner was asked what the teacher should focus on next.
that they (the pupils) had been taught history in class 8 primarily through
descriptive information and biographies.
According to our curriculum, children in classes 8 and 9 should obtain an image of
the internal historical motives, the main characteristics. They should see how the 15th centuries
And XVI bring an expansion of the horizon of man, geographically and astronomically like those
effects are shown in history. So in the 16th and 17th centuries the transition from the social
ancient to the new political associations takes place; in the 17th and 18th centuries the effect of a point
from a more illuminated perspective of historical life; and in the 19th century the mixing of peoples and everything
what this implies. Those centuries provide the opportunity to present the facts that belong to those
points of view. As a preparation for the teacher, it would be extremely good if you
could you imagine what kind of story would have come from Schiller's History of the
Thirty Years' War would have continued to our days. For Central Europe the brief
Essays written by Treitschke are very good. There you will find all the necessary threads.
April 24, 2023
2.- The following program from class 10 was given twice on June 17, 1921, and on the 24th of
April 1923.

CLASS 10:

3.-Regarding the teaching of history in class 10, it is essential to be well prepared. In the class
Tenth, you will go back to historical times and from there through the fall of Freedom
from Greece, arranged in the following manner: ancient times of India, times of Persia.
Chaldean Egyptian time, Greek time, until the fall of Greek freedom, until the Battle of
Cheronea 338.
This was confirmed at the beginning of the school year 1921/22. Two years later, after
listen to a report from the history teacher regarding Eastern History and German literature
high media Steiner said:
5. - "They would have to agree with each other. Even if you hate historical documents"
(at a conference, the professor had mocked historical documents), we
we should start from them as a foundation. We would have to take an affirmation
old history as a foundation and then bring our view forward as history. Could you
do not take, for example, Heeren, as a foundation. It would also be good to seek help in er
Roteck-él is somewhat outdated and has a certain foundation. So it would be a good thing to relate this to its
lessons on an artistic style. Young people could receive a great amount of lasting value.
if you read with them certain chapters of Johannes Müller's '24 Books of Universal History'. Esotene
historical text almost like Tacitus. Those attempts to start from the whole have always been made
and they must be renewed from our point of view."(24.4.23)
6.-Steiner then told the history teacher not to spend too much time on the foundation.
geological of its historical scenes.
7.- "If you go back too much into geology, you are in danger of taking the basement,"
leaving out the upstairs and taking the second floor, while you must begin
with a historical motif that can be established by Geology - the migrations of nations and
its dependence on territories of laterra. For this subject you can use one of the
public lectures given in Stuttgart: 'The Peoples of the Earth' You cannot use it
directly in the class - it was given for old illuminated Stuttgarters you must adapt it for
young people. If you start your preparation immediately then you should take something like
Heerer, Roteck, or Johannes Müller. It is of course not correct to transform history merely.
within a story of religion - this would be the task of the religion teacher.
After a teacher had asked again where he should start, Steiner said,
elaborating the last passage: "You have specified that you wish to start from the
dependency on earth-climate, zones, earth formations, and building its history on this
foundation. Dependence on mounted and planned, but historically not geographically, and thus
dealing with a defined town at a defined time. But the facts must be correct.
April 24, 2023

CLASS 11:

Steiner placed great importance on bringing together German and History in class 11, as it can be.
to be seen in all the following indications. The main task of those historical literary lessons
It's Parsifal and Poor Henry. The spherical side of this theme is passing to the art and lessons of
history as a basis for the historical foundation that is unnecessary to say that you should be taken
before the literary approach. When the first class 11 was opened before the approach
literary and the German program was created for this class on July 21, 1922, Steiner spoke
the following words, which should be considered as part of the curriculum: So it is a
It is a good thing if the historical element of this period is addressed at the same time, but at this age you
make deductions for the present, linking it to the present time and showing the years that
figures of modern history are like those of the past, especially those that are
different but should be similar. In this way, bring within all the subject something in the
nature to form judgments. Children should mainly understand that the entire structure of
The 19th century has emerged from the previous centuries.
4.-This union of literature with history was not really understood by the teachers at first and
A year later, Steiner answered a question about German and History in the new class.
11 with the following words:
5.- "You have recently had a literature review class. You cannot leave everything
for class 12. Because you do not continue with it. You could cover everything that belongs to the
literature in a few paragraphs. In the teaching of history, however, it is assumed that you
Take the thread again. For the time when there is no history of humanity to be given to you.
It should try to follow some historical threads. Class 10 ends with the Battle of Chaeonea, in class.
11 you must work on the history of the Middle Ages. You will not succeed in training the
young people to gain an understanding of Parsifal, if you do not provide them with a picture of the
historical foundation.
6.-Properly speaking, the historical ............. should come first. Nowadays, you talked about
Friedrich Barbarossa. You are taking the History of the Middle Ages. It is still mentioned in the curriculum.
that these historical, literary matters should be part of a historical tableau. There is also
the literary themes that form a counterpart to history. There is a lot of historical material addressed in
this period.”(3.7.23)
7.- Those instructions from 1922 and 1923 together form the program for class 11, the instructions
found under the German also belong to him.

CLASS 12:

8.-When dealing with history in class 12 we must go back to the words of Steiner.
from April 25, 1923, which have already been mentioned prior to the indications for
German and Art lessons. They can be found under geography. On the same day, Steiner gave
to the first class 12 of your history program.
9.- I have told you this, that you should know how to think in accordance with the principles of
Waldorf school, if you have to deal with young people, 18 years old. Young people of 18 years old.
should be brought to understand historical eras in a lively way, including becoming
young of humanity, that would have a considerable influence on humanity. In the times
Older people used to experience their own soul development until sixty years, and today their
Waking up only reaches 27 years old. This is a universal characteristic that should be understood.
before a professional study is taken at the University. It should belong to an education
general and would have an countless beneficial influence on the inner life.

1.-This was said in view of the task of preparing a class 12 for examination within a year,
Therefore, the use of the conditional 'This should belong to general education. Steiner spoke a
Later about the real tasks of this unique class 12 of 1923/24, when he was
asking to recommend a history book. What he said there is of great importance and can
been placed within the chapter on general observations. Up to this present day
belongs to those purposes of the College that had not yet been realized.
2.- "History lessons in the last class are usually a review class. This is also
the case with us. Would it not be possible to train children to remember everything that they have
learned through the introduction of written notes so that a textbook would be
necessary?
3.-You see, it is most important to select the economy that needs to be known the most.
for the pupils. I remember with great joy how throughout all the classes we did not have
geometry texts because the essentials were summarized in dictation. If a student writes his
Your own textbook will greatly help you to know its content. It is obvious that if the children
they have to learn to select the essentials they will not be able to do it. If those essentials were
Summarized in a living form, it would be possible to outline what children need to know.
4.-Exam requirements do not need 50-60 written pages. It is obvious that not yet a
A specialist in history should be familiar with everything to be found in Ploetz, it is just an illusion to give.
a book of this kind in the hands of children. There they only find titles and headings
while everything they need to know could be contained in 50-60 pages. You
You may wish to introduce such notebooks for each subject.”(25.5.23)
5.-This indication regarding an appropriate book text for history lessons in class 12 is already
Neither this is dictated nor printed concerns us here - it shows the purposes for that class.
mainly the review of the entire history program condensed into 50-60 pages. Due to
The somewhat unusual thing under these circumstances was not decided from the point of view of those 50-60.
pages should be fixed. There were two possibilities - either it had to be taught or that
It needed to be taught to meet the demands of the examiners. However, this was
made a year later when a "real" class 12 was opened for the first time and the class received
your program.
6.- "You have covered everything, haven't you? (All periods of history have been
covered first biographically and pictorially and then again according to historical motives.
Now in grade 12 you should give a comprehensive study of history, you know that I have
shown how the concept of causality can only be understood until the age of 12. Now
This sense of causality needs to be developed later. It must be experienced.
quite specifically for each individual pupil. This was an indication that the handling of
The material for class 12 had to be raised to a third level. Since this had to be done, it had to be done.
which will be explained later.)

1.-In class, you need to delve more deeply into the aspects of history. When
summarizing the entire history picture you can demonstrate how, let us say during the
Ancient Greece itself, one can discover a time of antiquity, of medieval ages and times
modern. The oldest past - primarily the time of Homer represents antiquity, the
the time of the great tragic poets would correspond to the Middle Ages while the time of the
Platonism and Aristotelianism could be compared to modern times. The same division.
natural can be found in Roman history. History present in such a way that the lines of
Development can be traced in the history of different peoples or civilizations, the characteristics
distances of an antiquity can be traced in the history of different peoples or
civilizations - you can find such symptoms even in our so-called Middle Ages,
resembling certain aspects of Greek Mythology.
The study of incoherent or incomplete civilizations could then be introduced, just like the
history of civilization. American that has a definite beginning, that is, of the Chinese people who
I never reach a final conclusion, but I become fixed in a kind of rigidity. Instead of giving
sketches of history in the form of sketches we should strive to teach history
so that it hangs together like circles that do not intersect. (29.4.24)
One day after this discussion about three periods of each cultural development, the plan for the
Class 12 history lessons were considered once again. With the exception of one girl, all
the students had decided not to take their exam at the end of class 12 so that a genuine
Class 12 will become a reality. Therefore, Steiner provided the following guidelines for history:

2.- "In history, also give a perspective covering the entire background distance,"
starting with Eastern history, to be followed by Greek history and reached the ultimate
Christian development. You are then quite free to introduce real content.
spirituality without teaching anthroposophical dogma. For example, I once showed the workers
from the school as the seven Roman Kings represent the seven principles of man, because this
that's really the case.
 Of course, you cannot say externally that Romulus is the physical body, etc.
But the internal plan of Livy's history of the kings is such that in its composition you...
You can see that Tarquinius Priscus, the 5th, is one with pronounced individualism (man
intellectual) corresponds to the ego principle of man; as far as the spiritual-ego is concerned
concerned, a new impetus comes to being through the Etruscan Element. And the last king, Tarquinis.
Superbus shows how what had reached the greatest heights sank into the
greater depths, because it was natural for the Romans to sink deeply within
of earthly materialism.
3.- Similarly, the development of Eastern history is built in a very beautiful way; in the
India history we witness an adjustment of the physical body, in the Persian of the etheric body and in the
Chaldean Egypt of the astral body, but of course you cannot present it in this way.
Show how people living in the astral element have developed astronomy, like the Jews.
they expressed the principle of the ego in the principle of Jehovah and how the Greeks were the first people
in developing a true conception of nature. Previous conceptions of nature were
only part of a whole perspective of the world. You can provide one that will stand the test
of time and will show how historical events really unfold in the way described.
April 30, 2021
4.-Further information about pre-Greek civilizations can be found in the
last conference that Steiner gave to the Waldorf teachers (3.9.24)

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY FOR THE DIFFERENT CLASSES

Biographical and Episodic

Class 4: Transition from studying the classes around the house (home) (+7) to lessons via
local history

Class 5: First historical concepts; civilizations of the Eastern people and the Greeks.

Class 6: Greeks and Romans and the consequences of their history until the beginning of the 15th century.

Class 7: 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century, the most important periods of time.

Class 8: Seventeenth century to the early times (biographical and episodically)

Course 2: Following historical motifs.

Class 9: Modern times once again according to the internal historical reasons starting
with the 15th century.

Class 10: Ancient history until the loss of Greek freedom in 338 B.C.

Class 11: Middle Ages (with special reference to Parsifal and Poor Henry).

Course 3: Perspective (inner spirituality)

Class 12: Study of all history that needs to be remembered. Periodic development of
civilizations-structure interior of the total development of history.
 8 GEOGRAPHY

Classes 4 to 6, four weeks, in the main class, each class. Classes 7 to 12, three weeks, in the class.
principal, each class.

In the 3 lectures on Steiner comprehensive education (x9) he said after talking about
the education of will

In that particular wait, however, we will have to go to work with the feeling
common. In the way the instruction is given, combinations will have to be made that are little dreamed of.
Today, for example, the drawing will be done by hand with Geography. It will be of great importance for the student in
growth to have intelligent lessons in drawing; during the lessons he will be guided to draw
the balloon from one to another, then head to astronomy and draw the planetary system. Go without
to say that this would have ..............................................................................................................................

9 GEOGRAPHY

In the three lectures on Steiner comprehensive education (+9) he said after talking about the
education of the will
In this particular sphere, however, we will have to work with the feeling.
common. In the way the instruction is given, combinations will have to be made that are little dreamed of.
Today, for example, I will draw by hand with Geography. It will be of great importance for the student in
growth have intelligent lessons in drawing; during the lessons he will be led to draw
the balloon from various sides, drawing mountains and rivers of the earth in their relationship to each other, then
to turn to astronomy and draw the planetary system. It goes without saying that this would have to be
introduced at the true age (not at seven years, but certainly before
that they have reached fifteen, in the correct (true) way, I would work on the young man in
very beneficial growth. (9,conf.1)

In the pedagogical conferences of Stuttgart, geography is mentioned for the first time. There he said:
If you do your geography lessons really graphically. If you describe the countries well.
and show the distribution of laterra products in different countries and in this way they do
in your entirely live lessons you will notice that this is the lesson in which you do not
they find no drowsiness in their duties. If you later verify your lessons of
geographer first describing the country, drawing it, letting the children draw on the board,
drawing the rivers, mountains, distribution of forest and grass vegetation, and then reading
travel books with their pupils, if you do all this you will find that you
Usually, there are a few slow learners among students - and indeed, you can use your lessons from
geography in order to awaken the liveliness of their pupils and bring out other powers. If you can
make the same geography interesting you will actually notice that other abilities are
awakened in their pupils.

1.- "All this time we study geography, which we can always reinforce with
natural history introducing physical concepts and geometry through map drawings, and
finally we connect geography with history - that is, we show how the
different towns developed their characteristics. We study this subject throughout
this entire state of childhood, from 9 to 12 years and from 12 to 15 years.
2.- Thus, geography is given a special place in the curriculum. Like mathematics, it accompanies the
other subjects in constant transformation and intensification; it is supported and illuminated by others
subjects and again also maintains its progress.
3.- A detailed description of the geography teaching methods is given in the key.
conference of the 'Practical Course' which each teacher is advised to study. Contains in
the concentrated form of the program of this subject until the end of secondary school, and
shows how one finds the transition from the so-called geography lessons in class 4
through the transformation of the known surroundings within an initial geographical map.
This is presented in a concrete and direct way regarding the introduction of geographic symbols.
by maps that specify the natural configuration with the resulting "human conditions"
"living beings". The study of the different means of transport in the immediate vicinity concludes this
elemental life picture. In class 5 this introduction to geography is extended to other parts of
land and in class 6 to the whole of land. In classes 7 and 8, however, geography is developed with
historical base (foundation) and includes the 'spiritual relations', the formative conditions of the
character of man, until the end of secondary education which is signified by the 'relationships
The 'spirituals of the peoples' is concretely demonstrated by the example of the geography of Japan,
during which the teacher was asking to inspire confidence in the students to try to paint
how the Japanese paint, etc., the following indication clearly illustrates how the lessons of
Geography should be taught and planned until the end of middle school.
4.- "We first describe the 12-year-old boy, the economic and external aspects
from geography lessons. We then lead him to an understanding of the
cultural conditions of the spiritual conditions of different peoples. At this point,
saving everything else for a later time, we touch on the prevailing laws
about their legal conditions. Because the child cannot yet understand systems.
legal.
5.- Here Steiner wants to shed light on the geography lessons about human conditions, about
land, starting with familiar surroundings of home and ending with an image of the whole
land. He wants economy, the spiritual life of man, and finally - but only in one form by
above - human rights brought to the child as described in his book 'The Aspect
Ternary of the Social Organism." Here we have reached an important point that allows us
it enables us to understand what is meant by the three main purposes of the lessons of
geographer
6.- "The whole of this living complex of processes, which begins with the relationship of man to the
nature and continues through everything that man has to do to transform the
products of nature, just to the point where they are ready for consumption-those
processes, and only those for a healthy social organism, to understand its economic system.
7.- Soon comes the life of public law-political life in its own sense. This must be
recognized as forming a second branch of the social body.
This branch belongs to what one can call the true life of the State - taking 'State' - in
the background in which I was previously applied to a community holding common rights
(ib)

1. The third sphere of the social body, which must be viewed as co-equal and independent of the
the other two, contain everything that belongs to spiritual life.
To put it more concisely, like the expression 'spiritual culture' or 'everything belonging to'
"spiritual life" is too vague, one could say: everything that is a result of the gifts
natural talents of each individual person and their needs must flow within the life of
social body as a contribution of each individual aptitude - both spiritual and physical - helps to bring together the
factory of this third cultural-spiritual realm.
3.-It should be noted that this does not imply that we should teach the
children about the ternary social organism. The real task of the teacher is to open the eyes of the students
to the fact that there are three spheres in the human community, spread all over the land and that they
they have their own laws and development. A study of the 'Ternary Aspect of the Social Organism',
assist the teacher in this task. Then the land can become a colorful image for him and
their students, showing how human beings live together.
It is worth noting that on the two separate occasions when I spoke about the drawing of
Steiner maps suggested the same sequence in drawing geographic maps. In the 8th session of the
Discussions the arrangement the drawing of maps in the following order:
1.-rivers. 2.-mountains, 3.-distribution of vegetation, 4.-forests, and fields. In the key. Conference of
"practical course" he said: "We enter into our maps the rivers and streams of the surroundings,
and thus transforming the image of our neighborhood into a geographic map. We also
we draw on those maps the layout of the mountains.
One might wonder why I mentioned this sequence twice. It may be accidental in the
first instance, but it is definitely intentional in the second. In reality, there exists another
passage where Steiner mentioned an inverted sequence, but the passage taken from the key.
The conference of the 'Practical course' implies a defined order. Mountains and rivers cannot be
separated in reality; on a large scale one can look over the mountains as causing the
rivers, and on a small scale they can be the result of rivers. When maps are drawn one
I could think of first drawing mountains as provoking the rivers and then, after that,
everything, the rivers. This aspect would be related to reality. However, this means to be
starting with something entirely unknown, something intangible (intangible = that which cannot be touched),
with hypothetical primitive mountains. One would then have to begin with the movement of the
Earth's crust which is supposed to have caused the mountains, in other words, with a mere
theory. One then introduces map drawing with a problem that has not yet been solved by the
Geography as a science. If on the other hand one starts with rivers and streams one allows the child
experience the present immediate conditions and present an organic arrangement of the land,
their landscapes separated by their natural shapes, their elevations, valleys, hills, waterfalls and
steps, all the shapes become clearly visible if the river network is drawn first. Step, to
Step one can deduce geographical details and change them into geographical concepts. The mountains
They are practically there if one starts with the courses of the rivers.
Other specific characteristics also become perceptible, such as bifurcations and
escapes. In addition, the sequence: rivers-mountains, aligns with the indications about the
layer of earth, which suggests that one should start with the upper layers (25.9.19).
Those instructions are considerably supplemented by the following sentences taken
since the 3rd conference of 'The Supplementary Course' given by Steiner in the summer of 1921 in the
opening of the first class 10.
6.-"Now remember what I explained to you about the conditions of the drawing. When
we consider the part of the man that is active in reaching conclusions, and we notice
how to truly separate in the world - not dissolving it far through the head - we can
It is immediately evident that this member of the human being is unthinkable without space. As long as to
that I am a man of legs and feet, I am a part of the world of space, and when I am
considering things in their spatial aspect, I am experiencing the effect of putting my astral body
firmly, so to speak, on their legs.

1.- Therefore, when we teach geography to the child, their astral body actually grows.
downwards denser and stronger. Dealing with space we dualize the spirit and the
child's soul, we lead it (we land it) to the ground. Teaching geography in such a way that the
the child goes what we are telling him, we carry out this consolidation in him. But there must be a
true vision of space. The child must, for example, be aware that the Waterfalls of
Niagara (Salto del Laja in Chile) are not on the Elbe River. We must help him understand that a
A vast space extends between the two.
This is the very place to quote a conversation from the Conferences (+4) of 1921, which followed
about a complaint from a teacher regarding the children's poor memory.
3.-"They remember the pyramids and obelisks. In that regard, you should ask yourselves
if you have described everything in detail, as well as giving all the children a picture (image) of a real one
Egypt's position, so that the child does not have to know something about Egypt. If you all...
They say just Egypt, and he doesn't have a clear image, so it's very easy to forget. Perhaps you all
They must take great care to give every detail so that the children can have a complete
The child will know something about the pyramids and obelisks, but he cannot know that they
they are found in Egypt. You must consider very carefully whether you have done everything
possible to give a complete picture. Do they let the children draw Africa alone? Perhaps it would always be
it would be better if, in addition to drawing special maps, they drew a European map or some other, in order to
get a bird's eye view and the connection between one part and another. Perhaps you should look for the
towns that you would pass going from here to Egypt. That kind of forgetfulness is due to the
fact that in some way they have not had enough opportunity to create images
mental. If the children obtain complete (images), then there is no doubt that their memory
improvement."(26.5.21)
4.-Further information on how to develop concrete mental images, not only in
Geography, but also in History, can be found immediately after the last
indication.
5.- This relationship between the study of Geography by the child and its complete embodiment within the
earthly life and space should always be present in the mind of the geography teacher, shouldn't it?
only as an idea, but as a real experience, so that the teacher feels
connected with the space around him also connects with his own body. So he also
He will understand the importance of the sentence that Steiner spoke immediately after the words.
mentioned above:
6.-"By teaching the child in this way, we place him in space: and he will begin to be
interested in the world, in all the vast world. And we will see the results of this in various
directions. A child with whom we study geography in an intelligent way will have a
a kinder relationship with your comrades than one who has not had a feeling of what it means
proximity in space: because he will learn to feel that he lives alongside other human beings and he
will come to have care and respect for them. Such things play no small part in the
the moral training of children and the lack of attention to Geography is partially responsible
due to the terrible decline in recent years of the brotherly love that should prevail among
men. A connection of this kind can completely escape observation, but it is there and
plays its part because there is a kind of subconscious intelligence or intelligence operating in the
stories that we see happening around us.
7.- In the Basel body of 1920, Steiner spoke about the union between the classes of Geography and
History, which has already been mentioned in the indication since the 10th Conference of the Courses
Practical. Following Steiner's words is a discourse about the teaching of history and his own.
preparation through a study of nature.

I have shown how children can be guided to an understanding of life.

land for the botanical teaching in the way I have described. Then they will be in this age.
to pass to Geography. And this Geography, which is proper geography, can later be
built on the classes of descriptions that have been given previously in preparation.
One can still describe distant countries, but one must have described them previously.
Say something to the children about them.
If one has properly prepared them through such descriptions, let us say something
region in America or in Africa, then around twelve years old the time has come for
to lead them to instruction in Geography. What I have is important in Geography is and just as I
I have said this has already been prepared showing how plant growth is connected.
with the land - what is important is that now we can demonstrate how the development
The history itself depends on what comes from the earth, its climate, and everything that is.
It develops in various regions, in its formations and structures.
2.-For example, after having given an idea of the connections between sea and land and the climate of the
ancient Greece we can drive back to what we have already developed concerning
of the character of the Greeks purely as a symptom of the inner evolution of humanity.
Then an internal relationship can be found within the geographical framework that we have given to the
Land and historical developments. And really these two things should always play within each other.
the other, the description of regions of laterra and the description of historical development. America not
should be addressed before the discovery of America took place in history. It is
it is necessary to bear in mind that the horizon of humanity has expanded throughout evolution, and
that human feeling should not be driven too strongly to what I would like.
call something absolute."(23 conf.12)
This connection between Geography and History also includes a fundamental idea of space of
world, which must not be omitted if one wishes to build concrete spatial awareness in the
pupils
4.- "It is not advisable in the so-called mathematical geography to proceed dogmatically from a
drawing of the Copernican or Keplerian system of the Universe - rather, an attempt should be made to
indicate to the children how such concepts have been reached. Through this, the children are not given ideas.
that reach beyond their current state of human development. It is necessary that the
Children should at least have an idea of how the positions of the stars have come to be.
a family model that can itself lead to a system of the universe. They should not
to gain the impression that such a system of the world was the result of someone sitting on a chair
outside in space and only observing the universe from out there. How can a child
possibly appreciate what has led humanity to the Copernican system if you
Do they confront directly with a diagram on the board? He must win a conception.
living being of how such things have appeared in another way, it will pass through the materials of this
class that creates a false belief in authority, but not in the way a true
True, correct feeling for authority is achieved in children between the ages of seven and fourteen.
23 conf.12
5.- A note made in a meeting of teachers about the Astronomy class in grade 8
also belongs to this chapter:
6.- 'When it is a matter of evoking true feelings, you can certainly'
to obtain it in the true and best way to look at the real picture of the sky, but trying, just as
you have done it in previous classes, to retain this image through memory.
children would acquire a certain reverence over time if you bring them into the presence of
the very starry skies themselves and they speak to them there. It is harder to produce reverence by looking at maps
that being in the presence of the starry skies. Maps kill reverence.(22.6.22)

1.-Ilkley course passages illuminate geography lessons, but from a different angle.
They are found after a passage about botany.
From a study of the living, undulating forces of the earth itself, we can conduct
a characterization of all the different plants. And when a child has been given living ideas
about the growth of plants we can move from this study of the plant
living to a conception of the entire surface of the earth.
In some regions, yellow flowers are abundant, while in others the plants are stunted (they do not thrive, do not
They grow in their growth, in each case the shape of the land is different. Thus we reach geography.
what can play a large part in the child's development, if we guide him from the
plants. We should try to give a clear idea of the face of the earth by connecting the
workforces on its surface with the varied plant life we find in the
different regions. Thus, we will develop a living faculty instead of a faculty
intellectual dead in the child.

PROGRAM FOR HIGH SCHOOL

Since the curriculum conferences of September 1919. This is in complete agreement with the
instructions already given.

CLASS 4:

Start with the geography of the surroundings of the home, as I have demonstrated.
conf. 11 and 16

Class 5:

Start geography as I have illustrated with the configuration of the earth and show how this is
connected with the economic sphere-take a region of the land that is close to the child.
conf.1)

CLASS 6:

Continue the work from class 5, taking other regions of the land and trying to find the connection.
between climate conditions and astronomical conditions - of which I gave examples here yesterday.
(not available)
Supplement: The summary for the study of nature includes the following observations for
class 6 "...one should study minerals. But this study of minerals should be
absolutely part of the geography.

The climatic conditions are characteristic of the immediate vicinity of the land; the conditions
Astronomical phenomena depend on one's position on Earth. They define consciousness of
space and make it possible to see the earth as a whole.

CLASS 7:

In geography, they try to extend 'the knowledge of the pupils, of the skies, and begin to
introduce the spiritual and cultural relationships of the inhabitants of laterra. But this always
it should be related to the knowledge of the cultural material conditions gained in the
the first two years (or three) of geography, especially concerning economic conditions.

This is all that can be found in the Curriculum conferences about geography.
as a separate subject. There is however another indication in the second conference that
also belongs to class 7.

1.- "Along with concepts gained either in physics and chemistry lessons, strive to give a
image of a totality that encompasses conditions of salary (pay, wages) through this or that
industry transportation conditions - all this in connection with confessional, chemical and lessons of
"geographies that have grown from a study of nature." (ib conf.2)
2.-Those sentences obviously refer to geography lessons in class 7, changing them.
within something that touches physics, chemistry, study of nature, technology, and history. This
remains a characteristic trait for the coming year, because the course conferences
practical the ................................................................................................................................................
Geology is limited to the distinction between limestone and igneous rock in the Alps. The question in the
which the last two indications refer to seems to have been asked from a general interest,
perhaps with the intention of passing the answer to the students. In any case, Steiner answered and the
The teacher reported at the end of the school year on September 22, 1920, what he had taught to his
Class 8: Mainly the Ice Ages, changes in the distribution of water and land.
jointly a large amount belonging to the geological period of this time. Steiner
then he proceeded to give the program for class 9.

CLASS 9.

In addition to everything that can be brought within such matters, I would recommend you to go to
throughout the entire structure of the Alps: northern limestone Alps. southern limestone Alps
limestone, with all the river valleys that form the boundaries, the mountain ranges, writing,
So the landscapes, of the country, something about its geological constitution from the maritime Alps
just up to the Austrian Alps, through all of Switzerland. Just as you speak about the Alps
You can introduce the fact that in the structure of the earth there is actually a kind of cross.
the external formation of the mountains indicates. The Alps continue through the Pyrenees then
then through the Carpathians, continue (pass) to the wooded mountains while, to the Altai, and
In this way, you have a chain of mountains running east-west that continues
Subterraneously, it encloses the earth like a ring, which is crossing perpendicularly through the
body of the Andes mountain range, which forms another ring. You all do very beautifully make
of course to the children like two rings in the shape of a cross, one over the other, provide the structure of the earth.
You achieve an image of the earth as a body with an internal organization. Do not try
to leap across this content, because you do not need to cover the entire topic
geographical in a geographical period.
Here Steiner gave class 9 the same topic (mountain cross of laterra) which he had given to
class 8, in September 1919, at that time linking it to Atlantis and the ice ages
this is a wave (wave), going from West to East. Above us, we have the mountains of
North America, and South America. We start from that distribution. Then
we add the vegetation and the animals, then we try to study the fauna and flora about
the West Coast of Europe and the East Coast of America and the strata of the mountains. Then we introduce
the concept of connection between the East of America and the West of Europe and the Atlantic Ocean as
a land simply sunk. So proceeding from those concepts, try to explain in
A natural way that there is a movement up and down. Let us begin the
concept of rhythm. We can demonstrate that the British Isles have risen and
descended four times. Then we return to the concept of the ancient Atlantis through the
geology. Then we can move on to trying to present to the children an image of how
It was different when this region was above and that other one below. We started with the fact
that the British Isles had risen and fallen four times - this can be established
simply by the strata. In this way, we try to show the connection between those
things. But we should not shrink from talking to children about the land of Atlantis
We should not let this slip by. We can also establish a link in
connection with history.
Only you will have to discard the usual geology. Because the catastrophe of Atlantis must be
set in the 7th to 8th millennium (7000 to 8000 years)." (25.9.19)
1.-This is followed by further indications about geology. Just a brief and practical
indication will be cited:
2.- "Yes, give as much information as possible about the strata. You can teach it from a map.
graph of the strata, but never without the children knowing something about the classes of rocks-they
They must get an idea of what types of minerals are there. Explaining, you begin with the
they are at the top and work below because then you can more easily show them what it is
"Open the way." (25.9.19)
The last two indications cannot be considered as applied only to class 8 because
In the original curriculum (curricular conferences), geology is not mentioned and in the conference
11 of the curriculums contain only the single and brief paragraph cited for class 8.

CLASS 8:

3.-After an indication about natural study (physiology?) which is supposed to deal with the
mechanics of the bones, muscles, and the internal structure of the organs of the senses, Steiner
continued:
4.- "Then give a summary of industry and transportation in relation to physics and chemistry." (ib)

CLASSES 7 AND 8:

5.-If one tries to understand the task that has been set for classes 7 and 8, one could formulate it in
this way:
6.-In class 7, through the study of individual countries of the earth, along with their conditions
astronomical and material, the spiritual conditions of the different nations should be
discussed. When dealing with strong inputs, the relevant factors of physics and chemistry should
to be included. In class 8 this topic will be expanded to a physicochemical, biology, astronomy and
ethnographic of the earth as a whole. The political and constitutional conditions should be
touched only lightly.

CLASS 8:

7.-When during the first month of the Waldorf School the history teacher of class 8 asked
Steiner on how one could make a connection between the teaching of geology and the Akashic Records.
He said the following:
Of course, it would be a good thing to start by making the children aware of the training.
from stratification. Give them a concept of how the Alps and the Andes are also here in Chile,
have come to be formed, and deal with all the complex proceeding from the Alps (the Andes, the
Mountain range), the Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians, Atlas that form a chain or wave. Make the whole wave.
clear to the children. Then to another chain or wave that goes from North America to South America
Sure. From this you obtain this wave running as much as the Altai, the Asian mountains.
Also to the elevation and submersion of continents - and he told the professor that there was no need to
complete that topic immediately. It needs to be said more about this later. The
curricular conferences mention astronomical conditions in classes 6 and 7 but not in class 8. Without
embargo, since in class 8 the Class 7 program has to be expanded and brought to a conclusion,
astronomy cannot be omitted
The Doppler principle naturally continues after that, the movement of the stars in the
line of sight. You have omitted the movement of the stars in the line of sight. Take everything.
what leads up to that. You must work on it.”(22.9.20)
When the teacher remarked that the necessary knowledge of optics was lacking.
In class 9 for the understanding and use of the Doppler principle and that it only parabolizes heat,
mechanics and electricity had been planned, Steiner replied:
You can include quite a bit of optics for them to introduce the Doppler principle. Discuss.
also the phenomenon related in acoustics.”(22.9.20)
2.- During a conversation about the Doppler principle that Steiner was advocating to use.
only for double stars, not for the Sun. More about it can be found in the place
appropriate. My personal opinion about this conversation is that Steiner did not want the
teachers provided details of the wave theory of light in class 9 so that the students
They should be able to deduce the Doppler principle in order to use it for stellar spectra.
(of stars), but he was not against it being explained to the children in a way
satsfactoria. I believe he wanted the name of the Doppler principle to be used.
firstly just as a formula for everything that would help to find, but the
movement of stars in the line of Vision.
3.- "Use only what helps to find the movements in the direction of the view. (vision)."

CLASS 10:

A year later, Steiner gave the teachers the program for class 10 saying this about it.
of the Geographer:
5.- "Description of the earth as a whole, physical and morphological. In geology, you must describe
land as being a class of cross in its entire formation, the two rings intercepting one
about the other, one in the east-west direction, the other in the north-south direction. The shapes of the
continents. The origin of the mountains. What happens inside the lithosphere. Then the rivers. The geological.
The physical aspects: isotherms, the earth as a magnet, magnetic poles south and north.
They proceed morphologically in that way. They continue with ocean currents, air currents,
trade winds, the interior of the land soon, with everything that affects the land as a whole.
June 17, 2021
6.- At the same time, surveying lessons prepare students to obtain at least
an elementary introduction to geographical surveying.

CLASS 11:

7.-We did not find a strictly geographical topic for class 11 in the 'conferences'
(+4) but, among the indications for technology, linked to the surveying course in class
10, Steiner said when the first class 11 was opened (those words should be considered
as part of the curriculum).
Now I would like you to combine geography and surveying, so that the children will obtain
a specific picture (an image) of what a Mercator world map is. To do this you
they need to explain how the metric measure has come into existence.”(21.6.22)

CLASS 12:

9.- Just like the other subjects, geography for class 12 was discussed twice: in April.
On the 25th of 1923, Steiner told the teachers that they should cover if they were not forced to.
adapt their lessons to the demands of exams:
10.- "It would be desirable that at that age - around 18 years old, the students should earn a
comprehensive understanding of the historical artistic element, and that they should indeed
to understand what belongs to the spiritual in literature, the history of art, and history, without giving them
Anthroposophical dogma. In literature, the history of art and history, we must make the attempt.
to bring the spiritual, not only as a matter of content but also in our way of
treat the subjects; we must, for example, at least achieve for those students what I
I have made an effort in the case of the workers in Dornach, whom I have been able to make
of course, really, let us say, such islands as the British Isles float in the sea and are
firmly sustained from outside by stellar forces. We are dealing with an island. Not
rests on the ground (the base), floats; this is fixed from the outside. Above all, in principle, the
Continental and insular formations are sustained from outside by the cosmos. Generally
speaking this is the case of the configuration of the continents. Those continents are formed by
the cosmos - they are the results of the activities of the stellar worlds. The earth entirely
it reflects the universe and is in no way formed from within. We cannot teach
Such things because our students would pass them to their examiners when they are sitting down.
for your exams and this would give us a very bad reputation. But this really must
be taught to our students in the Geography class."(25.4.23)

1.-After a subsequent question about the floating continents was extended by Steiner.
This can be mitigated at the Conference on (25.9.19)
On April 30, 1924 the final program for class 12 was given.

CLASS 12 (1924):

3.- "The purpose of our Geography lessons (as well as the History lessons
they would provide a broad perspective. The main task in those two subjects is that the students should
gain a comprehensive perspective. Once they have gained such a bird's-eye view they
they can easily look at any necessary detail.”(30.4.24)
4.-This perspective of geography in class 12 is more clearly defined in the meetings on July 12.
from 1923 and the 25th of 1924. On July 12, 1923, we read about the first exam
planned
5.- "When talking about geology, I would recommend going back from the present, from
from flood to deluge, then discuss the Ice Age, evoke the concept of the connection of such
phenomenon like the Ice Age with what is outside the earth; then from there they retreat
to the tertiary period. Make it clear to the children when the second and when the first world of
mammals appeared. If you go back to coal you can simply take the point
of turn.
It would be better to approach the transition in the following way: in the last strata you have.
separately the mineralized element.
The vegetables and the fossilized animals. Now we go back to coal. So the
fossilized animal element ceases. We only have fossilized plants. All the coal is
plant. There the differentiation ceases; there is nothing but plant; we return to what is
completely undifferentiated.
Steiner then drew attention to the two geology lectures that he had given to the
workers of Goethearum (38th) and I continue:
Long before, the forms were only ethereal forms. At that time we have to imagine the
carbon without the defined individualization in separate plants, which is usually imagined. Today
In the day, people imagine ferns. It was a much more undifferentiated mush that came to
to petrify. And in this paste, the etheric forces were constantly active. They precipitated
secretions that were truly organic substances in the study of becoming (STATUS
NASCENDI) and that subsequently became petrified.”(12.7.23)
On April 30, 1924, Steiner recommended that in the study of nature for class 12 one
It should go from zoology and botany to paleontology. Geography in class 12 is given like this.
first concrete task, viz paleontology; to the requirement of April 30, 1924, to provide a total
The perspective of Geography is carried out alongside this. However, part of this
the requirement includes spelling which, as mentioned before, had to be taken more
afternoon (see natural study, class 10). The purpose of the geographer's vision is to unite the animal kingdom and
the plant kingdom Paleontologically with soil and lead to a conclusion the study of man,
not only from the perspective of the individual man but also from the aspect of the
different nations and races. There is no other possibility of including ethnographer, mentioned in relation
with the study of nature from class 10.

The few instructions for Geography in class 12 could be summarized in the

following form:
2.-On the other hand, the study of Geography should include paleontology of plants and animals.
after botany and zoology; on the other hand, ethnographer should be included to be linked to the
previous studies of the periods of man.

3.- A BRIEF SYNOPSIS FOR GEOGRAPHY

4.-CLASS 4 (6.9.19) "Surroundings of the Home"

Nature and human activities
5.-CLASS 5 (6.9.19) “Extension of territory”
The same.
6.-CLASS 6 Other parts of the land
The same, but also climatology and astronomy.
7.-CLASS 7 View of the whole earth - spiritual relations of civilization in connection with
Economic relations; furthermore, the study of trade and industry and the study
of transport.
8.-CLASS 8 (6.9.19) "All the earth" - industries and transportation facilities together with relationships
spirituals from different countries.
9.-CLASS 8 (23.9.19) "Geological disaster; origin of the Alps, the cross of the mountains; elevation and
submersion of the continents, the Atlantean catastrophe.
10.-CLASS 9 (22.9.20) "Formation of the Alps; the mountain cross (not the entire geographical topic)
immediately); Doppler effect in astronomy.
11.-CLASS 10(17.6.21) "Earth as a physical and morphological totality, the cross of the mountain, shape
from the continents, origin of the mountains, matters belonging to Africa,
in the broadest sense, (at the same time perspective.)
12.-CLASS 11 (21.6.22) "Geographical Perspective; map projection"
13.-CLASS 12 (25.4.23)(Floating islands and continents as a result of the activity of forces)
stellar.)
(30.4.24) page 21 and page 23, as well as the study of the nature of the
class 10.

1.-Regarding: Paleontology and Ethnography, the mountain cross of Laterra is mentioned three times;
first for class 8, but here in such a way that along with what is called floating of the
continents, one needs to consider it as a subject for years 8 and 9 to class 12.
In classes 9 and 10, it is mentioned again as a class of remainder that one should continue
theme. The floating continents are also mentioned several times; in class 8 as a
rise and fall through the activity of stellar forces; in class 10 it remains hidden
like a topic when the origin of the mountains is taken and in class 12 it comes again before
with the example of the floating British Isles. This is 'the entire geographic theme' mentioned in
connection with class and (22.9.20), which did not have to be treated as a prevailing idea for the whole
higher school to which it had to bring its contribution every year.
In class 9, Geology and the Doppler principle should be studied in the penetration of the
depths of the earth and in the depths of cosmic space, the expansion of consciousness
the space both downward and upward is part of the program; and awareness of the
it must be awakened through Geology and Astronomy.
In class 10, the form of matter must be studied, as well as matter as a field of facts.
physical in the broadest possible context.
In class 11, through perspective, an exact knowledge of the shape of the land should be
livestock, bringing this to an exact tide drawing.
In class 12, a broad perspective should be given, containing a systematic classification.
of the "entire geographical theme" as a basis for paleontology and ethnography.

PERSPECTIVE

4.-Perspective is taught during a practical course that lasts a week during which the
10th grade students stay in a youth hostel or in other accommodations located in the vicinity.
appropriate environments. The work continues throughout the days of that week.
5.-Originally, Steiner gave the following instructions when the first Class 10 was opened in the
beginning of summer 1921.
6.- "For technical mechanics, we only need one hour a week. Six months for
mechanics, six months perspective and topographical drawing."(17.6.21)

CLASS 10:

7.- "For perspective, it is quite enough if you first manage to teach the treatment and
finding the horizontal and showing how to draw characteristic reactions: live, grazing,
gardens so that they ................. well as one reproduces this in their home.”(ib)
This car was first carried out in the sites of the first Waldorf School, but later the
the 1st class took place in a youth hostel since that time and forever the students have
become familiar with the fundamental instruments and methods of perspective to
through their appropriate learned experiences. Those courses...
..................................................................................................................................................................
9.-After a report given by a teacher about a perspective course..............................
Steiner said:

CLASS 11:

10. - "Now, if you want to make a connection between agriculture and geography so that the
children obtain ..............................................from the Mercator world. To do this you need to
maintain how the metric system came into existence. I now wish for you to make a
link between perspective and geography, so that children get an idea of what it is like
Mercator world map.
For this you need to show how the metric measure has come into existence.

10. STUDY OF NATURE

1.-Class 4 to 6 four weeks, each one

2.- Class 7 to 12 three weeks each, main classes.
In Waldorf Schools, the study of nature is a subject that occupies rather a
special position in the curriculum. Apart from a change in teaching methods, a new
a point of view and new ways of observation and interpretation are required in these subjects, still
more than in other subjects. Again and again one is urged to seek resources in THE STUDY OF
MAN and the other conferences given at this time such as 'Practical Course for Teachers' and
Discussions with Professors" (11.12.23). When it comes to collecting relevant information from
the various lecture courses by Rudolf Steiner, it appears extraordinarily difficult to reach a
clear image of how Steiner wanted to present this subject, much more difficult than in the case of
other subjects in the curriculum. As an introduction, a number of conferences, especially
those of the great course of Stuttgart will be characterized, as well as to shed light on the
the main problem of this subject. Obviously, it can be taken that those conferences are
available to the reader. Here we will maintain their chronological order. Aside from a close
study of the entire Stuttgart courses which cannot be recommended enough
strong, the professor of natural study is advised to work on the selected passages and lectures
After the other in order to become familiar with the teachings outlined by Steiner.
1.-STUDY OF MAN, conference 4: How the shape of the animal reveals the animal's instinct, its
behavior, the relationship of the shapes of different animals to the different states in the
life of the will of man.
2.-PRACTICAL COURSE FOR TEACHERS, conference 7: The beginning of the state of animals
after the 9th year the animal world and its relationship to the human body; cuttlefish, rat (lamb), man.
3.-DISCUSSIONS WITH TEACHERS, sessions 9 to 11. A discussion with the teachers about the
study of plants and their relationship to the earth and the soul of man. A sentence
especially important since the 9th, the session goes as follows: 'While you need
compare the animal kingdom more with the corporeality of man, you must compare the realm of
the plants with the soul of man, with what permeates man (13 session 9). This filling of man
it refers to its soul that joins itself with the body upon awakening, just as in the world of the
The formative forces of plants unite themselves with the earth.
4.-STUDY OF MAN, conference 10. The ternary nature of the body of man and the
development of animals and man.
5.-STUDY OF MAN, CONFERENCE 12. The relationship between the functions of the man's head
and the animal forms, among the functions of their trunk and the world of plants; and the relationship of the
functions of its extremities to the mineral world: The human body only needs to be explained
when we know the processes that take place in the-when we know that the
the human being must dissolve within the realm of plants, must rise above it, that is, must
spiritualize the animal kingdom.
6.-THE PRACTICAL COURSE, conference 14, shows how knowledge of nutrition and hygiene has
to be intertwined within the lessons during the last years of middle school.
In this relation (connection) I would like to recommend the two books by Gerbert Grohman as a
valuable aid in the teaching of the study of nature: 'Plant-Earth-Soul of Man'
Stuttgart, 1953 and 'Animal Form-Human Spirit', Stuttgart, 1954 (¡Flaize-Ederweer!
Human soul and animal form-spirit.
To teach the study of man from the entire book Steiner 'Study of Man' (11) should be
read as a basis for preparation. After this rather general synopsis, information
more detailed regarding the different ages given.
After talking about the changes that take place after the 9th year, Steiner continued in the
Conference 7 of the Practical course.
7.- "When we approach this period in their lives, we will have to feel the
need to introduce natural history into the schedule in addition to the other subjects. Before
This way the children will have grown familiar with the narrative natural history, just as I showed.
yesterday in our training class (session 13, 6) when I talked about the relationship of the
animal and plant worlds to man. The method used to familiarize the child with the
Natural history has been primarily narrative, descriptive.
But with history, before the Rubicon of the nine years has been crossed, you can hardly
They must have begun. Now here it is very important to know that the development to which one is...
the child pointed out through the teaching of natural history is radically defeated to
less than the teacher starts with the presentation of man you can rightly say that
At the age of nine, little can be said to the child about the natural history of man.
But it is always so little, the little that a child can be taught as preparation for
all the other teachings in natural history.”(12 conf.)
More information can be gained at the royal conference. There Steiner introduces a strange form.
by looking at the man, only hinting at the human figure but nonetheless familiarizing the child with
suspicious characteristics and functions.
Now to the 5th conference of the Easter Pedagogical Course in Dornach in 1923. After
passages about the world of plants and after the observations that a child younger than
nine years would showcase the entire animal world.

1.- The last two quotes seem to contradict each other - the Practical Course gives a very clear...
description of the human figure and indicates that it should be introduced before the study of animals
and plants; the Easter Course in Dornach, on the other hand, suggests that the description of man does not
should be given before the important turning point at eleven and twelve years.
2.-In the Ilkey course, we found the following passage, after an observation about the
big changes that take place in the 9th year, after which it can be guided towards a
understanding of the world.
3.- "When we have given enough time to talk about plants as beings.
articles, allowing the child to look toward the world of plants so that
experiment in living pictures, we can then introduce something that he can
learn in the best possible way from plants, if we start talking about them among the
nine and ten years, gradually taking it further during the ten and eleven. The human body
is now in that state ready to relate to itself internally to the world of plants
through the path of ideas.
4.-This is followed by a detailed description of basic botanical classes, which begins
immediately after the changes in the 9th year. Then Steiner says about the child that now
you can experience the world of plants.
5.- "Just as the world of plants should be related to the earth and the child should
learn to think of them as the descendants, ultimately a growing product towards
outside of a living organism, this is how the animal should be related to man.
a child is thus trained - in a living way to find its own place in nature and in the
world. He begins to understand that the world of plants belongs to the earth. On the other hand, without
embargo, we taught him to understand that the various animal species scattered over the
world represent, in a certain sense, the path towards human development. The plants have
relationship with the earth, animals to man - this should be the foundation from which we
we begin. I can only justify here as a principle; the actual details of what it is
taught to a child of ten, eleven or twelve years concerning an aversion to the description of
human being professor to him, Steiner continued: "Now this horror - because it can be called that -
appeared through a description of the human being, actually remains until the 12th year of life.
We can articulate quite well what I talked about yesterday regarding (the study of the
animals in their relation to man) between nine and twelve years old. We can just as it
Explain yesterday presenting the world of plants to children as the hair that grows over the earth.
but we must maintain a pictorial characterization. We can also bring the world to the child in
a way adapted to them, conceiving each animal form as a part of the human being that is
has developed unilaterally. At this age, however, we must not overlook any
class of description of man in himself. From this point of view, it is still quite a good
What do we influence the child with in our teaching by talking about the members of the being?
human and related these members in their unilateral development for this or that is animal form. But
the child nevertheless has no understanding in its entirety of how to connect those with being
human. Only at the age of twelve does he obtain the desire to see in man a synthesis in the
man of the entire animal world. And this can be pursued in those classes that follow the
lifespan between eleven and twelve years. First describing the entire animal kingdom as a being
a distributed human there lies apparent contradiction. It is, however, correct to do this in form
before describing the human being itself in its completeness (of completeness) consent by him
the fact that the whole earth is inhabited by what is comprised in man, although in a
the dismembered form that the animal world is the integrity (the totality) of what is human but
dismembered among its separated contributors. And then the child must experience the
great moment when everything scattered in the animal world is brought together for the concentrated in the
Man. The important thing in teaching is to let the child really experience the decisive.
moments in life, at the right moment allow the idea, to pass through the soul of the child
what, on a higher level, the human being as a physical man is the synthetic combination of the world
animal must be treated with true artistic sense.
6.-In a very simple, even primitive way, we begin by drawing the child's attention to the
nature of man. This is quite possible if the preliminary artistic foundations have already been established.
put.”(35 conf. 8)
7.-Then follows a complete description of the trimembranous man (of the tertiary) of organization-
head, rhythmic system and metabolic-motor system. The continues:
8.- "Thus we find those three members in man and if the teacher has enough
Sentdo artistically and teaches in a pictorial way, he can certainly give the child a feeling.
for the trimembration of man.
9.-At this age, the introduction to the animal kingdom continues.
10.- "The animal kingdom is experienced as a human being unfolded as a man who opens up
like a fan over the whole land.
11.-In the Ilkey Steiner course, the study of plants is placed right at the beginning of the study of the
nature, but, in contradiction to the Dornach Course of 1923, he suggests that the study of man
as a ternary being should be taken as the second theme to be followed by the study of
the animals from the perspective of a human being displayed. He says: (p.123)

1.-When the child is approaching twelve years old, one can return to the subject of the man.
he carries his spirit within himself, he is a synthetic unit
symptomatic unit "what does not make sense, while an expression "synthesis" or "unit
synthetic 'is often used). The child can now experience the man as a work of
art, like an artistic organism uniting the separated parts that are reflected in the various
animal species around the world.
2.-There are still other differences between the Stuttgart courses of 1919 and the later ones that were given.
outside.
In the Practical Course we found the following passage regarding the order in which the
the study of plants should be taken, "Only in the second stage (of middle school), from
At around nine to almost twelve years, we began to develop a greater sense of self-awareness.
We embarked on the natural history of the animal kingdom, just as I showed you with the cuttlefish.
rat and human. And only later did we add the plant kingdom.
At the end of this course, we read once again about the Cuttlefish, Laucha, Man.
Those ideas of things must be rooted in feeling during the mid-point of the course.
basic elemental, when the instincts are still alive at the interaction with the animals, with the
plants, and when, after all, even if the experience never emerges within the ordinary light of
conscious reasoning the child now feels like a cat, now a wolf, now a lion or eagle. This
identification with oneself now with one animal, now with another, only happens until around the age
from nine. Before this age it is even deeper, but it cannot be used, due to the power
to consciously grasp it is nonexistent. If children are very precocious and speak a lot
cantdad about themselves when they are still only four to five years old, their
Comparisons of themselves with the eagle and with the mouse are very common indeed. But if
We begin in the 9th year to teach natural history along the lines I have suggested.
We reach a large part of the instant relationship of the child's feelings with animals. But
This feeling quickly matures into a feeling of connection with the world of plants.
Therefore, first of all the natural history of the animal kingdom, then (later) the history
natural of the plant kingdom. We leave the minerals until the end because they require
almost exclusively the power of judgment and do not refer to something related to man in the external world.
In truth, man is not related to the animal kingdom.
A few lines further on he continues: "The intermediate period of school, the nine to the
Once, it presents a fine balance between instincts and powers of discernment.
We can always assume that the child will respond intelligently if we trust in
certain instinctive understanding, if we are not - especially in natural history and botany
too obvious. We must avoid drawing external analogies particularly with the
world of plants, because that is really contrary to the natural feeling. Natural feeling
is in itself predisposed to seek psychic qualities in plants; not the physical one
external to man in this tree or that, but rather emotional relationships such as we deal with
to discover within the plant system.
Here the study of animals is taken first, in order to make use of it as much as possible.
relationship of instinctive feelings for animals. The study of plants is taken up later.
because the 'instinctive feeling for the world of plants matures later.' And in the ninth.
Session of Discussions with Professors suggests that the study of animals should be taken
before the study of plants. (p. 124 final)

1.-The Dornach course of 1921-22 begins with the study of plants, but goes to a description
of man and his relationships with the animal world, which was not directed towards children,
but for his listening audience. Steiner said at the end:
2.- "By all means translate (what I have told you) within the world of children of
so that they can understand it too.” (27 conf.10)
3.-Then follows the study of animals. In the Dornach course of Easter 1923, the tempo
between nine and ten years is suggested for the introduction to the study of plants. About the study
Steiner said about animals:
4.- "You can wait a little longer from the children there because the study of animals
it begins only at ten and eleven years old. (34 conf.4)
5.-Here the study of plants is clearly placed before the study of animals.
It has already been taught that the Ilkey course prioritizes the study of plants before that of man.
ternary and finally the study of animals.
7.-In the last courses held abroad in the study of plants, it is also taken beforehand.
that the study of animals is interesting to see how Steiner repeatedly introduces new ones
aspects.
8.-The following table shows the difference in suggested order in the various courses.
9.-Perspective for the order of the introduction of different branches of natural history in the courses
Steiner's pedagogical principles.
1.-Stuttgart 1919 Study of man (preliminarily)
Animals-Plants (Earth)-Man.
2.-Basel 1920 Animals (Man-plants) (Earth)
3.-Dornach 1921/22 Plants (Earth) - Man and Animals
4.-Oxford 1922 Plants (Earth) - Animals (Man)
5.-Donarch 1923 Plants (Earth)-Animals (Human)
Man (Synthesis)
6.-Ilkey 1923 Plants-(Earth)-Man-(Tenacity)-Animals
7. - Bern 1924 Plants-(Earth)- Animals (Man)
8.-Asnheim 1924 Plants-(Earth)-Animals (Man)
9.-Torquay 1924 Plants-( Earth)-Animals (Man)

10.-This summary shows a gradual change of sequence from the Stuttgart Courses in 1919, via
in the Basel course which, although keeping the same sequence, suggests an abbreviation via
first course of Dornach 1921/22 in which the study of plants is placed at the beginning by the
first time: the 2nd Course in Dornach 1923 in which the study of man is placed right at the end: and
finally to the course of Ilkey in which the study of man is placed before the study of animals
with instructions emphasizing how to illustrate the ternary nature of man to children.
In recent courses, and also during the first Course of Dornach, the study of man is no longer
given as a separate heading, which may have been due to the lack of time
during the courses of real conferences. And so we are led with the apparent
Contradiction between the courses given in Stuttgart, Dornach 1923, and Ilkey. The order of the subjects.
mentioned above (above) found in the courses of Stuttgart was given because
It seemed important to start with the study of man, introduced artistically, as of another
the professor had to completely ruin all his efforts the study of animals
I had to continue quite naturally.
11.-In the Dornach course of 1923, Steiner mentioned that before the age of twelve, the child had a
aversion to the class of image of man presented in the usual textbooks.
During the Ilkey course he said (established) that it would be practicable to introduce the study of man.
before the study of animals, provided that this was done in an appropriately artistic manner.
(Page 126 above)

1.- During the courses in Stuttgart, such artistic presentation was taken for granted and therefore the
the study of Man could form the great opening theme.
2.-In the Dornach course of 1923 a description of Man was discarded because this
while the audience consisted of teachers to whom those ideas were still quite new and who
consequently, it could not be expected to have developed the necessary skills and expertise
to teach such material in an appropriate manner.
3.- According to the Ilkey Course, the study of Man, artistically prepared and based on the
the tenacity of the human organization had to be introduced as late as possible in order to
to avoid the 'aversion' mentioned above, but nonetheless before the animal study. Here is the
sequence: study of plants from the animal aspect. Here is the sequence: study of plants
from the perspective of the whole earth - study of man - study of the animal in connection with the
man- and finally, after the threshold of eleven and twelve years, the more detailed study of
Man.
4.- The later courses in Bern, Arnhem, and Torquay show the same sequence, although in
abbreviated form like the Ilkey course, so that the approach to the study of man does not present
no new problem.
5.-The 3 problematic courses remain those given in Stuttgart in 1919, in Dornach in 1923
and in Ilkey. However, Steiner has good reasons for the changes which should not be
considered mere inconsistencies on their part. Rather, one should try to resolve the
apparent contradictions recognizing inherent and deep reasons.
6.- First of all, it seems obvious that the Stuttgart course takes a unique position due to its great
purpose to prepare original teachers for their tasks in the Waldorf school. In this
course details are given in great depth and if Steiner puts the study of man as a theme
upon opening, we can only see it in its true intentions. This is also confirmed.
for the first and largest course held in England, the Ilkey course, according to the
A ternary man should be introduced at an early age if the teacher has the capability.
artistic necessary. In the Ilkey course, the study of plants in reality was placed first with the
result that the study of the period of Man is given in a later tempo when the
students are prepared for the topic. On the other hand, the Dornach Course of 1923 discourages a
description of the man and this must be clearly recognized.
7.-If the teacher has the necessary skill, he will begin with the study of man introducing
animals and plants later, in order to return to the topic of Man in class 7. from class 7 to the
class 10 this will remain the central theme in natural history. However, if the teacher does not
feel capable of following this ideal order because you may lack confidence in introducing those
subjects with the necessary imagination he could begin with the study of Man later
when your children are more receptive. Then study of the animals and finally again study
of Man.
8.- The sequence according to the course in Ilkey naturally assumes that the teacher wouldn't spare.
effort in genuinely fixing their classes (which should not be confused with "mannerisms"
anthroposophical
The indication that the teacher has to give the child 'a description of the man' should wait
not until after the age of twelve is of interest here because it does not apply to the Waldorf School. Nor
It comes to the question of delaying the first artistic introduction to the study of man until the...
plants have been studied.
10.-What it means by ..................................can be found in the Steiner Course.
Study of Man,” a work to be studied and practiced over and over again.
One easily gets the impression that the artistic way of handling this matter is in accordance with the
Steiner's purposes lack certainty on the part of our teachers and too much to
you have to realize that your fundamental course 'The Study of Man' is not
taken quite seriously so that teachers cannot develop the artistic sense
What is a prerequisite for completing the demands of the Steiner curriculum.

1.-After these observations, the reader will understand why the original sequence from Stutgart will be
therefore followed.
2.- The last branch of natural history, mineralogy, has not been mentioned because its position is not
it seems problematic.
3.-Several quotes will follow - first, one from the Basel course about the teaching of history
natural in general.
4.- "In reality, I have worked hard to observe the effects of a premature introduction to
the natural history. I found that it leads the child, later (upon arrival) to be atrophied, in such a way
that a careful observer notices that the skin tends to become yellow
127).
Year 9 is the time when we can start bringing such concepts to children, but
First of all, they should be living concepts. Avoid this period as much as possible.
talk about what is mineral and dead. What is living in the external world - and us.
we see in two kingdoms, for example: animals and plants - this is what can be brought to the child. But if
We give the child popular short books with descriptions of animals and plants accordingly.
with science, if we try to speak about animals and plants in an external way and
We really do not reach the children. It can be observed that the textbooks
The history of ordinary natural history is just a filtering of scientific natural learning. This is
terrible. On the other hand, admitting it, it is an attempt to build lesson objects based on
natural science. For this there are also books of a kind, but it falls in the opposite direction. They
they are filled with trivialities and have concepts and content with which the child is already familiar.
As much as possible, an attempt is made to introduce only a subject with which the child is already familiar.
familiarized and extract it in a concrete and pictorial form triviality in this form. Many texts
there are whose instructional methods lead one to despair because they are so
terribly trivial and because one feels that if those methods were put into effect in the
schools all the damage that triviality can cause would be implanted in man. This
Nutrition about triviality in childhood expresses itself later, as it is truly much.
more in what I have already mentioned, like an emptiness, emptiness in human life, or at least in the
formation of life in such a way that the human being is unable to look back at their childhood with pleasure.
But man really needs this because it is necessary that throughout life we should
to be able to look back on our childhood, on school days as something like Paradise -
not only because we have experienced joy there - this is not the point.
5. - In the 1st conference of the Stuttgart course of 1920, now called 'Study of Man'
Meditative” Steiner characterized the study of the spirit of nature from the perspective of the
demands made by modern spiritual life with special reference to Herbert Spencer.
6.- "Spencer was of the opinion that the way of teaching objects should be such that they would lead to
within the investigations of the naturalist, within the research work of the man of
Science. What then should be done in school? According to this we
we would have to teach children in school in such a way that when they become adults and
they have the opportunity to continue what they have learned in school about
plants, minerals, animals, etc. So that they can become regular scientists or
natural philosophers. It is true that this kind of idea is frequently attacked, but at the same
time people really put this principle into practice and for this reason: our texts
they are composed with this purpose in mind, and no one thinks of altering or making them disappear
our study texts. Now the remarkable thing is that we must strive for it.
exactly the opposite of what Spencer established as a true educational principle. In
our lessons when we are teaching children in elementary and middle school about
plants, we could hardly imagine a bigger mistake in our method of
education that addresses the subject as an introduction to the studies that would be required for
train the child later to become a botanist or zoologist. On the contrary, you will be able to
to arrange their classes in such a way that their way of teaching about plants and animals would hinder them
would delay the children from becoming Botanists or Zoologists, then you would have acted more
wisely that following the principles of Spenser. Because no one should become a Botanist or
Zoologist through what he learns in those years. He can only become that through his
special gifts that are revealed by their choice of vocation and that would surely appear
during their life, if there is a true art of education.

1.-In Conference 7 of the Supplementary Course, the study of nature is described from the
aspect of Greek thought and the Greek way of looking at life. Since this cannot be
possibly characterized through appropriate indications the reader is recommended to
study the entire conference.
2.- The Christmas Course of Dornach 1921/22 in Conference 10 following some observations
about the great change after the 9th year there is a detailed description of natural history.
This conference must be studied in its entirety.
3.- In conference 5 of the Oxford course, there is a brief description of the study of nature that
it has already been mentioned.
4.-In the conference given in Ilkey on August 15, 1923, there is a passage about teaching
mineralogy, then a brief observation about the change that occurs during eleven and twelve
years
5.- "Then comes the age when, for the first time, we can draw the child's attention to processes
of what takes place in the external world independent of man. Between eleven and twelve
Years, and not until then, can we start teaching about minerals and stones.
Plants, as they grow out of the soil, are in this sense related to stones and
minerals. Earliest teaching about the mineral kingdom in any other form that is
completely harms the inner mobility of the child's soul. What is not related to the
man is mineral in his nature (p. 128). We should only begin to deal with
the mineral kingdom when the child has properly found his own place in the world-when the
thought and especially in feeling he has experienced the life of plants and their will has
has been strengthened by a true conception of animals - the two kingdoms of nature that
they are closer to him."(35)
6.-In the same course at the conference on August 16, Steiner relates the knowledge of the
nature of artistic activity and artistic understanding.
7.- "If he acquires an understanding of art, the relationship of the human being to his companions will be
quite different from what it could be without such understanding. For what is the essence of
understanding of the world my dear friends? In being able, at the true moment, to
reject abstract concepts in order to achieve penetration within and a true understanding of
world.
8.-The mineral kingdom can be understood in the light of cause and effect. Lofsico can be grasped in this.
form. When we arrive in the world of plants, however, it is impossible to grasp everything.
through logic, reason, and intellect.
The plastic faculties of the human being must be put into play because concepts and ideas have
to be transferred to images. Any plastic skill that we develop in the child
it helps him in understanding the forms contained in plants. The animal kingdom can be
only understood if the ideas for their understanding are first implanted and developed in us
through education..........Only this will activate such inner powers as we are capable of.
understand the forces that build the animal structure from the invisible world. How so little
People, like few physiologists today, know how to trace back today the origin of an animal's shape!
Evidently, the origin of animal forms comes from the structure of those speech organs.
And I sing. This is the center of origin in the forms and structures of the animal.
The animal does not reach the point of articulating language, it only reaches the point of singing just like it.
we know in the birds. The language and ......formatric forces flow outward shaping
the waves of the air and sound arises. What develops in the organism of language and song from a
vital principle, regression and form to the animal. It is only possible to understand the form of an animal if
we understand that it develops musically as if it were from organs that, in a more
late, they are metaphorized in the human being, within the organic structures connected with the
element of music.
1.-To understand man, we need a complete global conception of art, so that the faculty
from reason one can only understand the inorganic constituents in the being of man. If in
the true moment we know how to lead the faculty of mental representation to an artistic
understanding, then, and only then, a true understanding of man is possible. This
understanding of the being of man must be awakened by the teaching that we give about
The subject of art............If nature and history in the same way are imbued with a quality
interior of the soul through teaching that transports (leads) directs an understanding of art
So we are bringing the human element into all of education.
2.- These passages from the Ilkey course are clarified later by lectures 3 and 4 of
"Essential of Education" (37) which is warmly recommended to every history teacher
natural.
An excerpt from the Torquay Course relates the study of nature to the child's soul.
4.- "All this must be brought to him through feelings in an artistic form because it is a
through learning about how plants belong to the earth and the soil that the child
he truly becomes intelligent and cunning. His thinking will be in agreement with nature.
through our efforts we can show the child how he is related to the animal world
see how the willpower that is in all animals lives again in man,
but differentiated in individualized forms appropriate to the nature of man. All the
qualities, all the feelings in a way that are stamped within animal nature
live in the human being. The human will will receive its impulses in this way and man
therefore take its place correctly in the world according to its own nature.
(40 conf. 3)
5.-To conclude this more general aspect of the teaching of natural history, a passage from the 3rd
The conference of the Practical Course will be given, in which Steiner talks about the experiences of the child.
in nature outside the classroom. He has previously shown how pictorial-sculptural art
makes men reproduce the order found in the world and the cosmos, while the arts
musical-poetic? " Only by uniting in this way with the great events of the world do we
we will acquire a true understanding of teaching. Only this can confer upon the
correct consecration and receiving this consecration is truly transformed within a
divine service class. I have established more or less an ideal. But surely our practice
Concrete can be ordered in the realm of the ideal. There is one thing we must not leave behind.
to the side, for example, when we go with the children we are teaching - such as,
supposed we will go within the mountains and fields, when, that is, we take them out of the
nature.
Introducing children like this to nature, we should always remember that
natural science, its teaching in itself only belongs within the same school building........
We should emphasize the difference between studying still life in the room of
classes and contemplating nature in its beauty outside the classroom. We
we should compare those two experiences side by side. (12 conf.3)

CURRICULAR INDICATIONS

Now continue the program for each year; first the curriculum suggestions for the classes.
from the lower school.

CLASS 3:

Let us be very clear that, by the age of 9, for example, in class 3, we begin to
introduce zoology (study of animals), selecting animals in such a way that we can
"relate them to man in the way that I have already indicated." (16 conf. 2)
In the 7th conference of the Practical Course, examples can be found.
CLASS 4:
We will continue this in class 4, so that we will relate the animal world to man.
a scientific way during the third and fourth years.” (ib.)
The nature of this relationship from animal to man can be seen in a response that Steiner gave.
during a teachers' meeting on June 17, 1921.
This must be done (or must be done according to the age of the children, in the fourth grade.
you would stick to what is more external; This is possible in almost all classes. The skeleton
It is of course the most abstract part of the human body. Do not take the skeleton as a
separate entity, but only as part of the whole organism. Not even in grade 10 would I take.
the skeleton separately, but it would always start with the whole human being. They try to
group together certain ideas in order to make them intelligible to the students.
CLASS 5:
In class 5, we present 8 (or bring) lesser-known animal forms and introduce the study of
plants in the way that has been shown in the practical sessions of our discussions.” (see 13
sessions 9, 10, 11) (16 conf. 2)
CLASS 6:
Continue botany in class 6 and introduce elemental mineralogy. However, this study of
Minerals must be part of geography.
Some important information about the teaching of mineralogy is contained in the course.
Practice. In conference 10, after an indication regarding the threshold of 12 years, we read.
Here, the time has also come when, using geometric shapes, we can go to
mineral kingdom. We take the mineral kingdom in constant conjunction with physical phenomena.
which are then applied to man, just as I have already explained: refraction of lenses - the lenses in the eye
(literally) the story (the tale) of the glasses for the eye (12 conf. 10).
The expression 'the story (tale) of the glasses can remind us that the function of the glasses is
the eyes. (crystalline and the other) should only be taught after the significant changes of the
12 years mentioned above, as will be explained in detail in chapter defsica. (p. 130)
2.-Another relevant passage comes from the 1st conference of the same course.
3.- "And if I have told you that mineralogy has to be introduced only a third step (in
Middle school) around the age of twelve, a study of minerals can already be outlined.
within geography during an earlier period, but only in one way
descriptive, pictorial.
This quote can be clarified by the example of the Alps that Steiner gave in the same conference.
when I talked about geography:

And now you show here that the teaching of mineralogy arises from
Geography - a piece of Jurassic limestone, for example, and it says, 'you see, the masses
Mountainous areas above the red line are made of limestone like this, and the
Mountains below the red line are made of different limestone. And for the mountains that
between them show him a piece of granite or Genesis say 'chain of'
mountains between twelve is made of rock like this, the one that is primary rock, and he will be
tremendously interested in the Alpine structure ..."( ib. Conf. 11)
2.- Towards the end of this conference, it once again takes up the study of minerals:
3.- Geography can truly be a vast channel through which everything flows, from which
much can be obtained in exchange. For example, you have shown the child in Geography the
difference between limestone mountains and primary mountains. You show them to the
constituents of primary mountain rocks, granite or Genesis. You show him
as they contain different minerals, one of which is a shiny substance whose
presence is demonstrated by a mica shine. And then you show him the others that are
contained in granite or Genesis. Then they show him quartz and try to develop the
mineral element from rock substances. Particularly here you can do
a large amount towards the development of a sense of the association of fact and a whole
unison. It is much more helpful to show the child grain and Genesis first and then the minerals.
of which they consist, what to teach the whole first: granite consists of quartz, mica,
feldspar, etc. And only after show him that those are combined in the granite or
Genesis. Particularly in mineralogy you can go from the whole to the parts, from the
structure of the mountains to mineralogy. And help the child.” (ib.)
4. - Thus mineralogy, which should follow simple Zoology and Botany, (must be taught) as
a part of Geography and in this way a broader relationship to the general world and to
man is accomplished.

CLASS 7:
5.- In the seventh class we return to man and try to bring what should be.
taught in connection with health and nutrition just as I
mention yesterday.
The teacher should try, with the ideas that he has been able to educate in physics and chemistry,
build a comprehensive understanding of economic and industrial conditions, transportation and
business matters.
Every class since ...............
A defined aspect within the general study of man.
Therefore, it seems evident that he said it in the various conferences about man.
Being the synthesis of the animal world implies that each class should make a contribution.
towards that climax of experiencing the synthesis.
And since Steiner considered the understanding of the ternary nature of man as being the
purpose of the study of man's lessons, the program of each class must be dynamic
toward that purpose. This is actually the case, as can be seen from the aspect of
tasks in natural history lessons which is added at the end of this chapter.

CLASS 8:
In the eighth grade, you will have to prepare your lesson about man in such a way that
you describe what has been built inside from the outside: the mechanics of the bones and
muscles, the internal structure of the eye and so on. Once again, you make a
comprehensive inspection of conditions in industry, commerce, and transport in connection with
physics and chemistry. When will you make them extraordinarily alive, and through history
Naturally, you will awaken in the child an interest in everything related to the world and mankind.
(16 conf.2)
3.-In this class, it is also advisable to deal with the study of man in the real lessons.
of natural history and relegate what has been mentioned in another way to the lessons of
geography. They should provide a picture (image) of the entire earth from which unique parts come.
They were studied in class 7, just as they were mentioned in the class 7 syllabus.
The outlines of the natural history courses in higher classes are taken from the
conferences.(+4)

CLASS 9:
4.- "They continue the study of man so that the students receive an ethnographer apart"
from the lessons. If it is not possible to bring an ethnographer to class 10 after a study of the
individual man (the one who was probably not attempted) then ethnographer will receive a
appropriate place in the synopsis and culmination of the geography study.

CLASS 10:

5.-" At this stage it would be important to study Cell Theory. And then, although not in ...
Detail, characterize the plants from the most inferior to the monocotyledons, drawing.
parallels between flowers and mushrooms (fungi). Always notice the mycelium, the formation of spores. In
theology, bring the connection of the separated parts of the organization (one could say
organism) within a reasonable relationship of reciprocal causes, not purely relationships
causal. Address the theory of cells chronologically."(21.6.22)
At the first pedagogical conferences in Stuttgart in 1922, the following indication regarding the
cell study appears.
For the pedantic type of teacher, it is evident to introduce the study of cells via the microscope.
This is done in universities, and colleges imitate it at a lower level. One does something.
terribly wrong through this approach. One should never introduce the cells
to the pupils at the age we are now trying without bringing also the aspect
cosmological as a small cosmos. Naturally, one should not bring something that is not.
based on one's own convictions, and unless it is the result of one's own
observations of the nucleus and the various particles of the cell."(28 conf.1)

6.-Further information about the relationship between the study of the cell and cosmology given in
Stuttgart in January 1921 (25 years old). A close study of this Course is recommended.
urgently for the Natural History teacher at the high school. Own foundation in
Anthropology. This should be included within the scientific-natural subjects, in cycles.
expanding them from class to class.”(22.9.20)

CLASS 11:

Above all, a certain amount of mineralogy is essential now. We should now

to reach the study of man in class 10. And mineralogy must be taught. We should not
set aside mineralogy.
7.-On the same day he said:
It must be possible to train the pupils to gain an understanding of what a being is.
human, at least to a certain extent. You must, of course, make use of your
an opportunity to help children understand man as an individual being so that
you can come later to ethnographer (study of the peoples in the manifestations
exteriors of their activity). Make the intelligent man as an individual being.
You can find a large amount for this in Anthroposophy. There is no other topic.
where you can gather so much information about Anthroposophy without running the risk of
being insulted for teaching Anthroposophy. This is the objective truth: men with their
organs and their processes seen as part of their soul and spirit (17.6.21)

The last sentence about the man with his soul and spirit clearly refers to the
that Steiner called the ternality of man as a being, described for the first time in his
book "Enigmas of the Soul" (6 a.) and developing later in the different cycles of
conferences. The most detailed exposition of this topic can be found in the 'Study of
Man
2.-Ethnography is not mentioned again in the curriculum and therefore the question of when
teach, it has to remain open in the meantime. It has already been mentioned in connection with
With reading material and stories for class 8 and it can reappear in geography lessons.
when the cultural foundation of nations is discussed in classes 7 and 8. The suggestion of
Steiner in conference 11 of the Practical Course for stimulating (encouraging) children during a
study of Japan. All of this should come from the study of nature in connection with the
teaching of chemistry, physics, and geography.”(16 conf.2)
3.- This year the curriculum should return to the study of man. One is reminded of 'the
great moment " mentioned in the Dornach Course of 1923, in which the child should
to experience how "everything that is scattered in the animal kingdom is found within the
man in a concentrated form.
4.-The specific purpose of these lessons is a study of nutrition and hygiene. Through
this topic the teacher will have to reveal 'the great moment' in which the synthesis of the world
animal in man is experienced.
5.-The basis for teaching nutrition and hygiene can be found in conference 14.
of the practical course.
On February 6, 1923, Steiner spoke extensively about hygiene, referring to,
embargo, mainly on the hygiene measures of teachers and doctors in schools and to the
advice regarding health to be given to parents, rather than current content on
lessons. (6.2.23)
7.-When thinking about the above instructions for class 7 and for those that follow for
class 8, one might ask if to include the topic "industrial and economic conditions and
transportation in the study of nature or in geography. Since Steiner looked at geography
as being a 'vast channel' for all that can illuminate the earthly sphere in a
Form, practical, imaginative and clear, it seems better to assign this topic to geography, which
in class 7 I should introduce the chosen countries from the perspective of economy, industry and
transport. The image of such a country would then be a concrete one, reaching beyond the image of
a mere map, when everything is thus brought together from the astronomical and climatic point of view,
geological and biological apart from the study of the living conditions of man, his conditions
spirituals of culture, their economic conditions and their means of transportation. Because all
these different branches find themselves in the broad subject called geography. One must, without
embargo, be careful not to lose sight of the land as a whole when
approaching a single country from various aspects.

CLASS 12:

Just as in the subjects already covered, we must again distinguish in this class.
between the planned program in 1923 and the other program in 1924. On April 25, 1923, Steiner
he said in response to a question:
2.- "In class 5 there is Zoology - later (class 7), man. Then Zoology comes again. If
there is no exam I would consider it eminently possible (from class 12) to give the children three
wonderful weeks of Zoology; 18 mornings, 12 classes, about animals. The entire skeletal system is
familiar (osteology). The essential thing is for the students to gain an understanding of how the
Various species of animals fall within a defined order. You all start with the
amoebas, go through the jellyfish - you find 12 if you consider the
vertebrates - (they can also be called mammals) as a class." (25.4.23)
On the same day, Steiner gave the following guidance regarding Zoology:
3.-"On this occasion, I would like to give you a classification of animal groups," }
Although with certain reservations, which could serve as guidelines. One should divide the
entire zoology is divided into three major groups, of which each group is again
divided into four parts, thus obtaining 12 different categories of animal types.
4.-No. 1 Group principle would be:

1.-Protests, fairly undifferentiated infusoria, protozoa.

2.- Sponges, corals, anemones.
3.- Echinoderms, from the starfish to the sea urchins.
4.-Membranous, where there is no longer such formation of its own external shell where this is already
receding.

No. 2 Main group would be:

5.- Mollusks
6.-Worms
7.- Arthropods
8.-Fish

5.-No. 3 Main group would be:

9.-Amphibians
10.-Reptiles
11.-Birds
12.-Mammals (12.7.23)

6.- This is followed by an arrangement of the different animal positions in accordance with the Zodiac,
subsequently for a second related to the ternary man; other interrelations for
Geology and Animal Geography are also given. (see 'conferences' (+4) on the same date).

CLASS 12: (1924)

7.-Zoology has already been discussed. For geology and paleontology, start from zoology, then.
it only has an internal value (it should probably be read: it only then has a value
interior). From zoology you move on to paleontology and through this means you also arrive
to the layers of the earth. Botany; phanerogams. Here you also move on to Geology.
April 30, 2024
8.-The sentence 'Zoology has already been discussed' can only refer to what was given on July 12.
from 1923 regarding Zoology.
This has to be the program for class 12. But one continues to paleontology from
there. One is also supposed to continue to paleontology from botany, the quetene as
its goals the angiosperms (flowering plants) and which once again transition to the
monocotyledons.
9.-Since Geology has been taught from grade 5 onwards as part of
geography, this too, could be done in class 12, for example, one should try first
of taking natural history, Zoology and botany (phanerogams) before Geography; then
start Geography with Geology-Paleontology and end with a study of the Earth as a
organism.
10.- One could therefore formulate the purposes of natural history in class 12 as follows:
11.- The twelve groups of animals are taken first and related to man. Their development to
Through previous periods of the laterite, it will lead to the study of the layers of laterite and their fossils.
12.- The kingdom of plants will be treated similarly and thus become a preparation for the
great synthesis in Geography.
1.- SUMMARY OF THE NATURAL HISTORY PROGRAM

Class 3-4 Image of the study of man and animal (cuttlefish, rat, man)
Class 5 Animal study - study of plants and earth.
Class 6 Study of plants and earth (minerals in Geography)
Class 7 .......................................................................................................
Class 8 .......................................................................................................
Class 9 .......................................................................................................
Class 10 .......................................................................................................
Class 11 .......................................................................................................
Class 12 .......................................................................................................
ETC.

CONCLUSION

2.- In the pedagogical course of Basel in 1920, the following phrase about natural history and its
teaching and its relation to history can be found.
3.-" If one can bring to life in a simple and elemental form what is otherwise
experiencing like dead - a living characterization of the earth, life of plants, life
animal and of man then something grows in the child that also brings him inside a
true relationship with the historical life of humanity on Earth. So it only develops
the feeling that history can take in the right way. To what it has been before
Treaties with only the form of stories and biographies can be included in the eleven and ten years.
teaching of natural history but always, that in any place it has been ignited the
feeling throughout natural history, its teaching should be closely linked to the
that one can live in the concepts, ideas, and feelings of historical teaching. It is only
In the 12th year, the possibility of developing true judgment is really there. (23 conf.8)

PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY

4.- Before entering the teaching of physics and chemistry, which is introduced during the time
of great changes in the years eleven and twelve, the words of Steiner spoke in the Course
Supplementary from 1921 will be cited. This intensifies the importance of bringing something that
appeals directly to thought and reasoning in a way that awakens strong powers
in the soul of the child.
5.- "And fundamentally, what we impart with feeling encourages growth of
the very inner life of the child, while what we give them merely in ideas is dead, and
stay like this for him.
Because in ideas we are giving the child reflected images, and to do this we
we work with your head-head which is-as we have seen, of value only in its relation to
past, to the time when I was in the spiritual world. In order to reach what is found
in the blood, and it has its meaning here and now, on the earth, we need to imbue
our classes with feeling.
6.-You must, for example, experience within yourselves something of the hostile, of the force
destruction of the space under the receiver of a pneumatic machine. The more vividly
are you able to describe how terrible a space is when all the air has been
blasted out of it, you will find that you can go further with the children. At ages
early those feelings were expressed in the true words that were used to
describe the process.
Horror into the void: what flows outward from the space that has been emptied into the air, inspires
Horror. It was all in the language itself, but we have to find it again.
We must learn, for example, to feel the relationship that exists between an emptiness and a human being.
very thin and wrinkled.

1.-Here are some characteristic words from Steiner about a subject that generally
talking to you about inanimate matter.
2.- "In physics and chemistry one should be able to put into practice the principle that everything the
The system of physical chemistry is an organism, a unit, and not an agreement, nor an aggregate, such
how it is seen today” (April 25, 2023)
3.-This quote comes from the 'Conferences' (4) in which the program for class 12 was
discussed for the first time. Although it contains something that has not been understood, however,
should be done in the mind of the teacher who prepares himself for these subjects. The two
scientific-natural courses, namely The first Scientific course (20) and the Heat course (21) can provide
a subsequent guide in this regard and a study of those courses is an important preparation
to teach the two subjects in a Steiner school.
4.-Technology, based on physics and chemistry, has created a new world that can be observed.
as a part of nature only insofar as the natural laws operate in it and not others
powers that those who are active in inanimate matter. But it has been again
created and added to the old kingdoms of nature, namely the techno-kingdom, affects and
continuously changes a man's life in the strongest possible way. What this means
It has been demonstrated for man by Steiner in the Practical Course in an urgent argument.
about the later phase of the development of social life and its corresponding demands
about education:
5.-"Just think about how many people see a steam engine or a train these days, the steam passes through
They, without any idea of the mechanical processes involved in the movement of the machine.
a vapor. But think later, in what relation, in view of such ignorance, we
we are as human beings in the environments in which we still make a
convenience. We live in a world produced by human beings, shaped by the
human thought, which we make use of and which we do not understand in the slightest
minimum. This lack of understanding of human creation or the results of thought
human is of great significance for the entire complexion of the human soul and spirit. In
reality, people must hinder themselves to escape the realization of influences, of
this source and there is at least some pleasure in watching people who are completely ignorant of
the workings of an electric train. Going in and out with a slight feeling of discomfort.
Because this feeling of discomfort is at least the first glimmer of an improvement in
acttud. The worst thing is participation in a world made by human heads and hands without
to worry in the slightest about that world. We can only fight against
from this attitude if we start our fight as early as the last state of the courses
from primary school (basic), if we simply do not let the child abandon at 15
16 years of school without at least a few basic notions of the important ones
functions of the outside world.
The child must go with a desire to know, an insatiable one
curiosity about everything that goes around him and then turn this curiosity and desire
for knowledge.(12.conf. 12).
7.-A later quote from Steiner, taken from Conference (4), classifies the general attitude towards the
physical and chemical facts were given during the first days of school
Waldorf
to drive those things gradually on which.........................the Original Phenomenon, just that
dealing with phenomena. The Law of Conservation of Energy should not be treated as it has
has been until now. It is a postulate, not a law. And secondly, there is something quite different here.
You can deal with the spectrum, this is the phenomenon: but the law of Conservation of
1.-Energy is treated as a philosophical law (this, that is how it should be treated).
mechanical equivalent of calortene that should be treated as something different. That is the
phenomenon. Why not then strictly stick to phenomenology? For
For example, it should be said, to work such laws as they are really phenomena. It is a nonsense.
then call them 'laws' just like, for example, the law of the proportion of the fall of the
Bodies. Those are phenomena, they are not laws. And you will find that you can
keep the todo of the physics you will find the name of the so-called laws and
transform them into phenomena, the entire theory of the fall of bodies, by
for example, if you start describing the so-called laws of the Atwood Machine, they are
phenomena and not laws (25.9.19)
2.-When asked how to achieve what Steiner said:
3.-"You can simply draw it if you don't have the Atwood machine. In the
first second does not fall like this in the second like this in the third like this. You simply obtain the
a series of numbers and outside of them you do what is called the law, which is however
only a phenomenon"(25.9.19)
4.-When asked about gravity, he said:
It would be wonderful if you could really get used to not applying anymore.
this term. This is possible if only the real phenomenon is taken. This would be the best way,
because gravity is just a phrase
6.- When asked the same thing applied to electric forces without talking about forces.
Today you can talk about electricity without talking about forces. You can
strictly adhere to the phenomenon. You can reduce it to the theory of ions
and electrons without talking about something, but about the phenomenon. Doing this would be enormously
educationally important.
7.-The teacher still doubted if he could manage without using the concepts of force due to the
physical measurement system.
8.-"What do the forces have to do with it then, of course when you all
they have calculations, in which you can exchange one thing for another you can
use it" (is force a means of measurement?)(25.9.19)
9.- When a teacher suggested replacing the word 'force', Steiner said:
10.-Regarding the student being clear that 'force' is nothing more than the 'product of
mass and velocity", always to ensure that he does not connect metaphysical concepts with it, he treated it
always phenomenologically, you can talk about forces.

describe phenomena - do not state laws

do not use closed concepts like 'electricity' but talk about 'forces' when the concept is not known.
11.-It is only possible to understand this discussion if one can see within the context of the theory of
knowledge of Steiner. We will therefore mention those of his works that
they can be helpful.
12.- The theory of Knowledge implicit in Goethe's world conception (2 bibliography)
 A careful study, especially of the first mentioned works, must be considered.
as an important preparation for a physics and chemistry teacher, especially since there exists
a vast amount of literature in those two subjects, which point in a complete direction
different from the Steiner approach. It is therefore necessary to ensure that there are books
before the teaching of subjects in a Steiner school. The four books mentioned above will
possible this.

In the third conference of the Supplementary Course, there is a practical and specific indication of how.
to teach physics. How this passage is relevant to any subject in which many experiments
They have to be carried out, for example, chemistry will be cited in its entirety despite its
length (p. 138)
2.- "Take, for example, a physical lesson. Now remember what I said yesterday, that man
he thinks with his head, but he is the rhythmic man who values and judges, while the man
metabolic (more specifically legs and feet) the one that draws conclusions. Once you
they also understand the nature of the act of perception as such, you will be ready to
I admit that when we perceive an action that we ourselves perform of our
the act of perception is in that case very closely linked to the own agreement
drawing conclusions - even more so in truth about what happens with his thinking. When I see
own body. Because then I immediately carry out a judgment on them in the world:
this is a body. This is then the perception of a conclusion. The fact is wherever I want
Perceive with understanding, I am at the same time drawing conclusions, consequently my
The whole human is involved in the process. And this is how it is when I do experiments.
Scientists. I am always receiving-absorbing-something and doing it this way through the medium.
of all my being: and "conclusions" are continuously entering into the process. The judgments are
of course there too, but they are like unperceived rules; they are too hidden
inside. While I am experimenting, my whole human being is thus called to the
action.
3.-But now looking at the matter from an educational perspective, we are not doing them
very good for the children with those experiments of ours. They might be quite
interested in them: but one is too weak, normally, to be compelled in this
way to make a constant effort with all your being.

THINK : HEAD
MAN
JUDGE
Wherever you conduct experiments in front of him or direct his attention to something in the world
exterior, he steps too strongly out of himself. True care and concern for the three
Members of the ternary human being is the mark of true education. We have to
see that each member plays their part, and we also see that all three interact
truly in and one with another.
4.-Let us suppose, however, that I take the lesson in the following manner. First, I lead a
experiment. This means, I am making demands on the whole being of the child. This requires
a large amount. Then I diverted his attention away from the device that is right in front of him and
I review everything again now appealing to the reconsideration of the experiment. When we
we recap in this way, letting the child review the experiment with thought without seeing it
while taking place, then its rhythmic system is agitated and animated. After first demanding him
To the total human being, I am now making a demand about the rhythmic system and the cephalic system - because
Naturally, the recapitulation also brings the cephalic system into activity. And then I can
close the lesson and let the child go home.
Later he goes to sleep. While he is asleep and his astral body and ego are far away, what I
I have established first, in the whole being of the child and then in its rhythmic system, lives in it, lives also.
at their extremities (p. 138) (4th line from bottom to top).
5.- Let us now focus our attention on the sleeping child, in that he lies
in bed. What I used to achieve with him in the Physics lesson resonates with their physical bodies and
Eteric. All the development that the lesson evoked, first in the child as a tone, and then more
especially in the rhythmic system, it now flows within the head-man and when the child
wakes up in the morning and goes to school, those images are in his/her head: we found them there.
reality, it is like that. When the child comes to school the next day they have it in their head, without
to know it, photographic images of the experiment that I showed them the day before and of which I
Later I gave them a graphic description. It's all there in the form of images. The next day I
I can start guiding the children to reflect on the experiment. When I do it
I reviewed it again with them the day before, I rather appealed to their faculty of imagination.
Now I want you to consider what they have seen and heard. We have reached a state
posterior: the images must become conscious. I must guide the child to recognize the
laws that are under the experiment. Thus the frames (images that they still carry-
Unconsciously in their heads, they will not be compelled to lead a life without meaning. But
now consider what would happen if, instead of giving the child food in this way, leading them to
reflect on the experiments. Again, I would be demanding all of your being; and the effort that
I demanded from them that it would affect every part of their system and bring confusion and chaos within the images.
who have been there since the day before. Not before moving on to new experiments, I must
always - without exception - consolidate first what is trying to establish its existence. I must
to feed. And so there I have found the true way to organize and arrange my lessons of
Physics, adapting them throughout the life processes in the child” (26, conf. 3).
The Oxford course provides an explanation that helps how between the ages of 11 and 13 the child
experience the mechanics and dynamics of your own body.
3.-" Between the ages of 11 and 12, a great change occurs in the human being. The rhythmic system - system of
breathing and blood circulation system - is dominant between the change of teeth and
puberty. When the child is nearly 10 years old, the rate and rhythm of circulation and respiratory system
starts to develop and enters the muscular system. The muscles become saturated with
blood and the blood passes to the muscular system. In intimate response to the inner nature of man-
to his heart. So between the ages of 9 and 11, a human being builds their own rhythmic system in the
form that corresponds to their intimate disposition. When 11 or 12 years are reached, then it
What is in the rhythmic system and muscular system passes to the skeletal system within the entire skeleton.
Until the age of 11, the skeletal system is entirely embedded within the system.
muscular. Between the ages of 11 and 12, the skeleton adapts to the external world. A mechanic
and dynamics that is independent of the human being takes place within the skeleton. We must
we get used to treating the skeleton as if it were entirely a thing
objects that have nothing to do with man.
If you observe children under 11 years old, you will see that all their movements even
they come from their inner being. If you observe children over 12 years of age you will see from the
the way they step (put their foot) as they are trying to find their balance: how they
they are internally adapting to the world of balance, to the mechanical nature of the system
esquelétco. This means that between the ages of 11 and 12, the nature of the soul and the spirit (the self) is
much more internal. And only now that he has taken control of that more remote part of his
humanity, the skeletal system, the adaptation of man to the external world becomes complete. Only
Now man is a true child of the world, only now must he live with mechanics and dynamics.
of the world, only now must he live with the mechanics and dynamics of the world, only now he experiences
what is called coincidence in life (29, conf. 6).

1.-Something subsequent about these sentences follows:

2.-" Before their eleventh year, a human being does not actually have an understanding of cause and effect."
He hears spoken words. We think he understands them. But he doesn't because he is controlling.
your skeletal system from your muscular system. Later, after the age of 12, the skeletal system that
it is adjusting itself to the external world, mastering the muscular system, and through it,
Influence spirit soul. And consequently, man achieves an understanding of cause and effect.
based on inner experience - an understanding of strength, and one's own experience of the horizontal,
etc.
For this reason you see, when we teach the child mineralogy, physics, chemistry,
mechanics before their eleven years in a too intellectual way harms their development,
because he cannot even have a corresponding experience of the mechanical and dynamic with
all their being. Neither, before their eleven years can they internally participate in the causal connection of

3.- After a few more sentences about history:

4.-"If before the age of 11 we teach the child the principle of the lever or of the steam engine he
cannot experience any of it internally because it has no dynamic or mechanical in its
own body, in its physical nature, mechanical in the direct tempo with the child, mainly
around 11 to 12 years old, what we present to him in thought and head is
found for what comes to his inner being - the experience that the child has of his own system
bony. And what we say is united with the impulse and experience that comes from the body of
child. (p. 140 half).
Thus it appears there, not an abstract understanding, but a psychic understanding
understanding in the soul. And this is what we must aim for (ib conf. 6)
6.- Those indications from Steiner regarding the teaching of physics and chemistry as an organic unit.
it will be concluded in a passage of the course of Torquay. There he said after speaking about the
teaching of mineralogy:
7.-" For the physical phenomenon it is also so important to start from life itself. You do not
they should start their teaching and continue in today's texts, but simply
lighting a match for example and letting the children observe how it starts to burn;
You must direct your attention to all the details of what the flame looks like (as the flame is).
how it is outside, how it is inside, and like a black stain, a small black cup is left
when you have done this, you begin to explain how fire appeared in the phosphorus. The
Phosphorus appeared through the generation of heat, and so on. Thus, you must connect everything with life.
same.
8.-Either take the example of a lever. Do not start by saying that a lever consists of a ray.
supported at one end by a force, and at the other end another force, just as one often
find in the Physics books. You should start with a pair of weights; leave the child
imagine that you are going to some business where things are heavy, and from this, you move on to
balance and scale and the conception of weight and gravity. Always develop the physics of life
the same, and also its chemical phenomena.
9.- "This is the essential thing, start with real life considering the different phenomena of
mundos físico y mineral. If you do it the other way, starting with an abstraction,
then something very curious happens to the child; the lesson soon makes him tired. He doesn't get tired if
You start from real life. He gets tired if you depart from abstractions (40 cf. 7).

1.-I continue talking about students feeling tired in lessons and even during recess.
and then I talked about the importance of imagination in teaching during the last years of the
middle school
2.- In our work with elementary school children (basic or primary education) we must
Let’s (commit) only the rhythmic system. The rhythmic system is never danced, and it is not over -
diligent when we use it in the correct way, and for this rhythmic system we do not need a
method of intellectual presentation, but rather a pictorial one, something that comes from the
imagination. Therefore, it is imperative that imagination should prevail in school. This
it must still be so in the last period we talked about, from 11 years and two thirds until
the 14 years; we must still make inanimate things live through imagination and always
connect them with real life. It is possible to connect all physical phenomena with real life, but
We must have imagination in order to do it ourselves. This is absolutely necessary.
conf.7)
3.-Physics and Chemistry (along with mineralogy) belong to the same sphere of the inanimate world. The
the distinction between the two subjects is based on their historical development. If one accepts the point of
seeing that inanimate matter becomes organized (formed through the 'elements' and the
different tasks (20 and 21) this intrinsic and chemical distinction becomes quite arbitrary and one
He should try to avoid it when teaching these subjects. Steiner expressed this viewpoint.
quite clear when the curriculum for class 12 was made (his words are quoted in the
beginning of inter-chapter). If the teacher works towards this objective, he must start already in class 6
or 7, when physics and chemistry are introduced. Therefore, I have placed this section before going to the
details in physical chemistry in its teaching, to bring together everything that these two wanted
common materials.
4.- For the moment, it does not seem right (true) to break with the tradition of treating it as
chemistry as two separate subjects. If Steiner introduces them simultaneously in his curriculum,
For example, physics in class 6 and chemistry in class 7. He has told us why in physics one should
deal with external events in class 6 such as those of light, but not yet with the
process of seeing, which needs to follow the light within the human body. As for what is
He hasn't given any reasons why chemistry shouldn't be taken before grade 7.
Although he asked us to teach all the other branches of physics in class 6, mechanics had
to be introduced in class 7. In history, he also asked for a different approach in class 6 and
7, mainly from descriptive history in class 6 to one where you seek reasons and
explanations in class 7. (p.14).

Class 6 4 weeks
Classes 7 and 8 each for 3 weeks
Class 9 to 12 each lasting 4 weeks Main Classes

5.- In the eighth conference of the Practical Course, Steiner said after having spoken about the
changes that take place in 12 years:
You can talk to the child about the organization of the human eye before this.
clearly as possible - but before he is 12 years old he will not be able to master it
properly their training and with understanding. Why is it what they are really doing
When do you teach the child about the formation of the human eye? You are calling his
pay attention to how rays of light strike the eye, enter it, are captured by the lenses and
refracted, as they then pass through the vitreous humor and form an image on the
retina of the eye etc., You must describe all those physical processes. You describe a
psychological process that really occurs in the man himself, mainly in an organ of the
human beings. If you want to do this, you must have already developed the ideas in the
child who is trained to respond. That is, you must have already shown the child the
refraction of light rays. This is very easily explained by showing how the light rays
are refracted. But then you are describing purely physical facts that take
place outside of the human being.
1.- This can be done between the turning point of 9 years and the turning point of 12 years.
final
at 12 years old this physical description should be applied to the organs of man himself because
Only then does the child begin to estimate the true value of the action of the external world upon him.
man, the process by which the activity of the external world is projected within the being
human and prolonged within him. He cannot understand this before he is 12 years old. He can
understand physical processes, but not the consummation of physical processes in the human being.”(12 conf.8)
this definitely sets the moment when physics should be introduced. This same conference
It is full of valid guidelines especially for lessons in elementary physics.

CURRICULAR GUIDELINES

2.-The following instructions from the program for intermediate courses are taken from the conferences
of the curriculum:

CLASS 6:

3.- "We began with the teaching of physics in the sixth class in such a way that it is linked
with what the child has acquired through music education. We began our
teaching physics allowing acoustics to grow, growing from the musical. You describe the larynx.
humansphysically and physiologically. You cannot describe the human eye (or the ear) at this
age, but if human larynx. Then you proceed to optics and the science of heat, taking
the most important items. The principles of electricity and magnetism should be taught
also in class six (16 conf. 2).

CLASS 7:

In class 7, you extend the teaching of acoustics, heat, optics, electricity and
magnetsmo, and only from there do you proceed to the most important principles of mechanics, by
example; lever, roller, axle, inclined plane, cylinder, screw, etc."(ib).

CLASS 8:

5.- In class 8 you expand again, review what you have mastered in class 6 and
Then continue in hydraulics, the theory of force working through water. You take
everything related to the concepts of lateral water pressure, level, Archimedes' principle,
It would have been wonderful to give lectures on pedagogy here for three whole years and to have done it.
worked completely with you for once, as a sort of model, all the details
that are formed through their own discoveries. However, that cannot be, in such a way
that we must rest content with what we have been able to do. This way you bring the
class defends some kind of conclusion with Aeromechanics in which everything concerning
a .......................(16 ib conf. 2)
It is surprising that Steiner expected all branches of defense to be introduced within the
short period of 4 or even 3 weeks, for example: in some lessons 48 to 56 (excluding
mechanics, and the explanatory processes in terms of physics that take place in the organs of
the senses). Therefore, teachers have taken the time again to only take
one branch or another in order to continue with the uncovered branches defined in classes 7 and 8.
1.- However, there is no doubt that Steiner wanted this arrangement to be finalized as he pointed out.
twice that should be covered in class 6, to provide a complete picture of what man
you can experience when observing the inanimate world, because before the great
Changes in the ages of 11 and 12, the child is still capable of looking outward more or less.
protected by his own soul's life and thus is able to enlarge his experience of the world. In this
he is still completely immersed in his experience of the external world and during that
He doesn't want anything else. To train him to do that as completely as possible.
possibly Steiner has arranged the defensive introduction in a comprehensive way.
2.-In class 7 when the major changes have already taken place, the situation becomes quite
different. Young people have built a bridge to the outside world, and now their own
the organism also becomes an object for them. Now they are able to relate it to
external process and a new approach to physics is indicated. This does not need to be a repetition
monotonous of the lafsica previously taught because there is surely subject-matter and even if it were
to take the same phenomenon again, that new approach would open new aspects. The
mechanics should only be introduced in grade 7. Steiner has spoken about it in his Course of
Oxford and its sentences were indicated in the section that has to do with general aspects.
of Physics and Chemistry. In class 8, physical phenomena are treated at a higher level. In this
time, like in all the other subjects, unique phenomena have to be treated as part of
this larger process.
3.- A new approach to the physics of class 9 is characterized by the words of the Bern course.
from Steiner, although those words do not specifically refer to Physics:
4.- "We must strive to educate in such a way that the intellect, which awakens in the
puberty, can then find its nourishment in the child's own nature. If during their
In the early school years, he has accumulated an internal treasure of wealth through imitation,
through his feeling for authority, and from the pictorial character of what he has been taught,
So in puberty, those inner riches can be transmuted into a content.
Intellectual. Now he will be faced with the task of thinking about what he has wanted and felt so far.
And we must take the greatest care that this intellectual thought does not appear.
too early. Because a human being can only reach an experience of freedom if their
intellectuality awakens within him about himself, not if it is too much within him, because of his
teachers. But it should not awaken in poverty of the soul. If the child has nothing inside him
that has been acquired through imitation and imagination (probably this means: what has
has been accepted naturally in the age of previousness and then recreating according to the
example put forth by the teacher) and that can therefore elevate itself towards his thought both from
his depths of his soul, then, if his thought were to develop in puberty he does not
find nothing in himself to promote his own growth, and his thinking can only
reach the void. He will not find anchorage in life, especially at the time when he really
You have to find a security point within yourself; you will be running for everything and for nothing. In those...
difficult years of adolescence he will be imitating all kinds of things that are not pleasing to his
adults, who have a more utilitarian point of view. He imitates those things now because as
young boy he has not imitated them properly in a lively way. So we see a lot of
young people after puberty looking for support in this or that and thus killing their own
internal experience of freedom.

Program for classes 9 to 12:

CLASS 9:

5.- "In physics, you must first teach everything about acoustics and electricity, including
Explain in a way that the students can understand how the telephone works. Then you
they should take ...................................... to train them to understand the functioning of a
steam engine.
Steiner's intention was obviously to give the pupils a practical understanding of the
construction of modern machines that are widely used by people who do not know about
from them. At the Waldorf School in Stuttgart, the internal combustion of the machine was therefore
taught equally as the machine that runs on the rails.
On the other hand, it seems correct to wait until class 11 before introducing machines of
communication based on electromagnetic waves. Steiner's response to a
question asked by a teacher whose lessons he had attended, provides useful information about
the teaching of electricity: "Naturally in the teaching of electricity you should
to do it about the phenomena themselves in a rational way, avoiding theoretical speculations
as much as possible. Because in no way would they leave lasting impressions for
less so from a practical point of view. I should think that in that subject it would be ideal
develop the necessary concepts outward from the experience itself do not draw anything about
the board unless you have to do it, but develop it all outward from the
experiment. After that, the Socratic approach can be used, just as you have done. But
If you develop the subject too theoretically, the Socratic method does not work. How
Should children have the necessary prior knowledge? Hardly can you start from
that way. Since you have the facilities for experiments, I would make full use of them. In
In this way, you can save a large amount of time. If you introduce electricity into
that way they will succeed.”(15.11.20).
The following indication, which is taken from the pedagogical lectures given in Stuttgart in 1922,
summarize what has been said about the adolescent state after puberty, and covers the
transition from class 9 to class 10.
You see, those things must penetrate the teacher in full awareness in the transition from the
ninth to tenth grade. It is the complete change regarding which in this case is educational. When the
Children come to you around the age of 6 or 7, the break has already taken place through
from the fact of joining the school. So you do not have to transform them into another situation in life.
But when you drive the children from grade 9 to grade 10, you have to transplant them.
In another situation; then the boy must tell himself, 'Wow! What has happened to
our teacher? So far we have seen him as a bright light, a man who
he would have had a lot to say. But now he is speaking more like an ordinary person. Now
Everyone seems to talk through him. If one can experience a really intense interest.
in every problem of the world and at the same time is in the fortunate position of being able to
discuss those problems with young people; then the world will speak through one. Then it is like
if spirits were speaking through one's own mouth. However, when it comes to children of
14 and 15, and 20 and 21 years old such conversations have to be full of vibrant life that
they stimulate above all the powers of imagination.” (28.19.20).
6.-Then he continues talking about the information precisely at that stage of life.

CLASS 10 :

7.- After an indication from a teacher that mechanics was the subject that had been
taught less during the last ninth grade class:
8.- "Now is the right time to teach mechanics. You should start with
mechanical forms (probably a typographical error; it should read: start teaching
mechanics from the beginning) the appropriate time to introduce it would be after a period of
mathematics. All you need to propose is that the child fully understands.
the simple machines.

1.-Steiner supplemented the class 10 program in the first conference (+4) after the
vacation of 1921, when Professor Defsica reported that mechanics had been taught
comparatively little.
Then you would better go through the simple machines again, with trigonometry.
It is better to deal with projections through equations. Will the children understand the equation of
a parable? If you develop that it is a specific case, there is no need to discuss it. Everything
the projection treatment and its essential nature only have educational value when the
children have been the equation of the parabola and understood its law. To be able to express reality in
The terms of mathematical equations are what we should strive for. It is supposed that the
The philosopher begins with astonishment, this is only partially true. In teaching, astonishment should
to be experienced by the pupil at the end of a chapter. Children must be guided towards the
wonder (the act of being amazed, to marvel), and this amazement must be a profound experience. You
they should lead them to grasp that here you are dealing with something before which Novalis would open up
kneeling. (11.9.21)
A little later, the flight lfsica was introduced at the Waldorf School of Stuttgart.
4.- "Enfsica- and this is something that I completely developed when I had to teach it to
My self-physics is an exceptionally good thing at this age to bring the latest achievements.
telegraph, without thread the facts of X-rays, and certainly something about such things as alpha rays, beta,
In reality, they can be used in a way that would spark great interest in children.
June 21, 2022
5.-For the transition to class 12, the quote given at the beginning of this section will be enlarged because
its meaning can only be applied now.
6.- 'In physics and chemistry we must find ways to develop a principle of agreement with
that the entire system is defined and chemical in an organism, a unit, and not an aggregate as
accept today. In class 12 we reached a conclusion, we must reach results in
each branch for our work. Answering questions such as, for example: Why are there five
regular solid bodies? We need to do that in Christology and Mineralogy. (25.4.23)
7.-The following words were spoken in 1923 when the first class 12 had to be
prepared for the next exam indicates what could be done if one were freed from the pressure of
the exams. Compared to the objectives of grade 12 of 1924 which did not have to
studying for an exam, they require a large part. More specific instructions for physics.
they didn't get it that time.

CLASS 12:

8.- "Starting with class 9, we cover the steam engine and the telephone, heat and acoustics. 10."
Mechanics as such. 11. the modern theory of electricity. 12. optics. Images instead of rays.
We must deal with qualitative elements. Fields of light and spaces of light. We must then
get rid of those expressions. When we talk about what a lens is, we should not
draw the cross-section of the lenses, and then a fantastic cross-section of rays, but we must
continue to conceive the lenses as the contrasting, condensing image or as coming from
down. Thus really keeping only what is immediately visible in the field of vision.
You must completely replace the ray theory.
This must be done optically, wherever other points need to be considered. Above all,
living in the qualitative aspect of the phenomenon. I am not speaking about a theory of color,
but simply about facts that relate to color. I am not talking about
a hypothesis, but merely about real facts. Take optics in their most contexts
broad. First of all, this would include:

1.-Luz como fenómeno puro, luz y su poder para irradiar luz 2.- Entonces encontrando la materia,
usually called refraction; elongation and reduction of the image, displacements. 3.-The
origin of colors. 4.-Phenomenon of Polarization. 5.- The nature of double refraction as it is
calls the phenomenon of incoherence in the scattering of light.
Mirrors belong to the first chapter of the radiation of the nature of light. Optics is a
very important material because many of its individual characteristics are connected
directly with the life of the spirit. Consider for a moment.
2.- Why is there so little understanding of what is spiritual? Because it could well exist. But it does not.
it exists due to the lack of a real theory of knowledge, and instead we find
abstract speculations and new hypotheses.
Why is there no real epistemology? Because ever since BERKELEY wrote his book about seeing,
nobody has properly connected seeing with knowing. If you see the connections this way
They will no longer explain the phenomenon of the mirror by saying: there is a mirror, a ray of light falls on it in a
perpendicular direction. But you will say: here is the eye and now you will have to explain
because if the eye sees in a straight line only things happen. You must come to understand that
Fundamentally, the mirror attracts the image of the object for its eye (?). You find forces
attraction subjects. They must begin with the act of vision. The entire field of optics is available to them.
It will be revealed in a new way. If you look straight ahead, you get a clear image. If
you look in a straight line, you get a clear image. If you look through a mirror
you do not see a pure image, but you really look in a unilateral way at the
direction towards the object. The moment you use mirrors, polarization takes place. A
The spatial dimension disappears when you look through a mirror. You can
find later ones in my lectures on optics."(29.4.24)
3.-The lectures about referred optics are those of the course called Course of Light
Christmas 1919.

CHEMISTRY

Class 7 to 9 Every three weeks

Class 10 A every two weeks Main classes
Class 11 A and 12 each three weeks

Certainly it is more difficult for a young person to understand chemical processes than
those belonging to Africa, because chemistry invades their own corporeality more directly
what makes it lafsica. The chemical process we observe in our laboratories does not
they remain in the physicality of the human being; they would dissolve their own physical existence unless
it is prevented from doing so. We cannot properly understand chemistry unless we learn to
to respect this refusal of chemical action, to stop before our skin; unless
Let us appreciate the chemical substances that have been brought into our body which them
transform and assimilate them unless they prove to be too powerful. Experimenting with the
effect of chemical forces that can make the observer feel as if he is losing a
firm salary under your feet because those chemical forces dissolve in a liquid that is solid and
that is accustomed to seeing it as its solid physical foundations. Therefore, a degree
superior objectivity is necessary for the pupils to make direct contact with chemistry more
that in physics, the one that deals with inanimate matter while the chemical element acts
directly inside living substances. Those thoughts can help us understand
because Steiner wanted chemistry to be introduced one year later than physics.
5.-Dr. Eugenio Kolisko was the first teacher and doctor of the Waldorf School that he led forward.
Steiner's ideas in the teachings of chemistry, as part of a carefully designed program
planned. Steiner had to say this about his efforts:
If you apply Kolisko's chemistry in detail, you will find it impossible to be understood and
understood by current chemistry. The imaginative capacity needed for its understanding
They can menstruate until the age of 18 and 19, until the end of the lunar cycle. After a period of
18 and 19 years the same constellation of the moon reappears. This is the period that the pupils should
having managed to understand certain concepts. A chemist with an ordinary education does not
They can understand Kolisko's chemistry. He has not developed the necessary concepts for it.
It would be good to strive to make this possible for our students. We cannot do this if
We are obliged to ruin their brains in the way that prevails today."(25.4.23)
6.- The chapter that deals with the issue of exams will make this annotation understandable.
Eugenio Kolisko's attempts at developing chemistry education were published under the
Title 'First Lessons in Chemistry' In 1930, there were violent arguments about this little book.
should be valued as the first, a very brave attempt to completely reorganize the
teaching of chemistry and understanding the demands made by Steiner for these subjects.
In the curriculum guidelines for grade 11, we read the following statements:
We will pay less attention to the historical side mainly to the distinction between chemistry.
organic and inorganic.
This sentence, although it was related to class 11, is important for teaching.
total of chemistry, because in its sentence one can more or less clearly recognize the
instructions given regarding chemistry teachings.

Curricular Guidelines

8.-Now the program continues for each class:

CLASS 7:
(After a course in Physics)
You start your process just like burning and from such an ordinary process that
you are trying to achieve a tradition towards.
CLASS 8:
10.-" Extend the simple chemical concepts so that the child learns to understand.
how industrial processes are related to chemistry. Using chemical concepts they address
you develop in link with substances that form the human body, such as starch
Sugar, albumin, and fat."(16 conf. 2)
11.-Steiner gives the chemistry teacher the difficult task of forming appropriate images about
the chemical processes that take place inside the organism, using only qualitative aspects.
CLASS 9:
12.-"What we have set for class 8 is to say the elemental chemistry that takes place in our
organism, it should be extended in class 9 to include the understanding of substances such as
alcohol and ether.
It is likely that for class 8 it was influenced by the thought that many children would be
leaving school at the end of the school year and that they should take better ones with them
complete ideas as far as possible. If this were the case, it would be better to introduce the processes
chemicals that take place in an organism ("organic" chemistry) only in class 9 unless
many students have to leave school.
It is worth noting that the three main substances in chemistry, namely acids, salts, and bases, do not
They have not been mentioned at all in relation to the two classes precisely discussed here.
Apparently, substances that are readily available need to be introduced and
not to those whose existence is the result of chemical reactions, substances which in
reality is nothing more than artificially made chemical processes. Mainly this is the
case with acids not less than with salts.
CLASS 10:
2.-(After the teacher had informed that the difference between acids and bases had been
taught during the previous year.
3.- "Do children have a clear image of a salt, an acid, a base? First, it should be considered
those things. This year a large quantity could be made simply by leaving....................................
and overall anything related to the formation of bases, acids, and salts. Then talk about
alkaline and acidic reactions and then - in order to help them reach an understanding - you
they could start (from something more) of the contrasting reactions and let's say the games of the
food and the blood of bees and the bee's food sap that reacts in the opposite way.
The reaction of the food sap is acidic and that of the bee's blood is alkaline. You all
they find the same principle in the human being, but it cannot be substantiated in such a way
surprising way. You can recreate the process that takes place in the bee quite
easily over the laboratory bench.”(17.6.21)
4.-Here we can see quite clearly that Steiner thought it essential to show through the concepts of
acid base and salt processes that govern the total field of chemistry that lead directly to life
organic, processes that gradually take on different forms in Minerals. Plants and the being
human. The experiment with the food sap and bee blood illustrates the point in this
address acidic and alkaline substances that come to balance in inanimate matter, in
In any case, they have come to be a matter of a higher principle to which they must refine themselves.
These fundamental ideas underlie the structure and general construction of the material world.
they also need to be expanded in class 11.

CLASS 11:
6.- "In chemistry, it would be necessary to explain the main concepts, acid, salt, base, as thoroughly as possible."
in any way possible, so that they know what an alcohol is and what an aldehyde is.
We will pay less attention to the traditional separation between organic chemistry and ignorance.
inorganic. It seems to me that this is the right time to introduce a study of the
chemical elements. In my opinion, it would not be appropriate to introduce chemistry starting with its
elements. It is better to explain the processes first and only then introduce the chemical elements.
and the mental ones. Through your teaching, you should evoke the feeling that when you deal with
With the elements you are dealing with fixed processes. An image of the should emerge.
elements like processes that have been frozen. If I am here and it rains tremendously I
I am directly involved in the process. However, yes, I look at the cloud that is
In the sky, this cloud appears to me as an external object. If I consider certain processes, it is as if
if I were involved with them, like, for example: when I am under the rain.

1.-"If I look at the sulfur, I am in a situation similar to if I were looking at a cloud"

what is in the sky. Such examples appear as fixed and stopped processes."(21.6.22)
2.-The process that Steiner is referring to in this example is the process of formation of
salt all its variations and transformations.
CLASS 12:
3.- A plan after the teaching of chemistry in the first class 12 in the year 1923/24 does not exist,
but there is a significant response that Steiner gave when asked for indications about the
use of a chemical formula (April 24, 1923). Until this moment the teachers had not yet
It is necessary to introduce the terminology of chemical formulas.
4.- "You must discover what the examiners expect students to know. The
the problem is that we may be forced to make commitments because we must ensure that
our students can pass the exams. Actually, it is terrible. If it were possible to apply for it.
less a structural formula there would be some meaning in it. Most formulas are
written only on a plane and are insensitive. The processes must be understood. ( The usual way of
use formulas). It is quite insensitive; it is sad but we cannot deny it.”(24.4.23)
A little later, once Steiner spoke about Chemistry in the 12th grade, after a
visit to the educational authorities where he had conducted research about the
entry conditions for the entrance exams.
6.-" Now that we know that only the subjects taught in higher courses are
They are examining; it would be advisable to bring everything else to an end in order to concentrate on what is.
required by the authorities. To a certain extent we complete our teaching of
Chemistry. So we must try to continue with the subjects needed for the exams.
Very little has been done in geology; children are slow to assimilate it. Before that
finish this school period, at least you could awaken some understanding for what
What are geological formations, as there are different types of rocks and fossils? Could you provide?
some outline before the holidays and let the children learn the details later.
We will be obligated to limit our subjects, as a preliminary matter you should try to
take chemistry to a final. Before the holidays give a summary of geology up to the glacial period and
then give them an understanding of alcohol, the functions of alcohol, the concept of ether.
functions of essential oils, the nature of organic poisons, alkaloids, and also of
Cyanic concepts in contrast to carbohydrate compounds. You need to carry
qualitative relationships. You can achieve a complete understanding by studying the
qualitative relationships.”(12.7.23)
For the next class 12 (1924/1925), the chemistry program was given on April 30, 1924:
CLASS 12:
7.-"Let us consider chemistry in its closest relation to human beings. Children
those who are with us have an understanding of organic processes. In class 12
we must continue in the processes that are not only found in the animal but also in the
human being, we must talk about the formation of Ptalina; Pepsin, Pancreatic Juice, etc. The
Processes mentioned in the human being should be studied in such a way that something from the principle of
Lead in humans can be understood by the pupils.
You must demonstrate that all matter and processes transform into the human being with
regarding the formation of pepsin as something that can only be done within the body
etheric, within which the astral body must still act.
9.- Thus there is a complete break in the process which is subsequently rebuilt again.
Start with the inorganic processes of hydrochloric acid obtained from table salt or by
synthesis, and talk about the qualities of hydrochloric acid.
10.-Then try to emphasize the difference between such a process and one that takes place in a body.
organic. This should culminate in the difference between plant albumen, animal albumen, and albumen
human, so that you impart a concept of an albumen in development, based on the
different structure of the etheric body. Human albumen is somewhat different from animal albumen;
you can start with the difference between the lion and the cow. In the lion, you find a
process that is more connected with circulation than in the case of a cow, where everything
The process is more linked to digestion. The lion still carries out its digestive process with the help of the
respiratory process, while in the cow the respiratory process, while in the cow the
The respiratory process is at play with digestion. In this way, the processes themselves
they become alive. There should be organic, inorganic, and animal chemistry. Here are some
examples for the students: Pepsin-hydrochloric acid, sap from prumus-spinosa and talina. In this
you can bring what needs to be said, or the process of metamorphosis, formic acid 'acid
oxalic.”(30.4.24)
1.- It is surprising to discover and in class 12 one is supposed to distinguish between four different branches.
Chemistry, after having previously stated not to discriminate between organic chemistry and
inorganic (see class 11 however, this could be explained in the following considerations:
The outdated distinction of 'traditional' between organic and inorganic chemistry still reminds us of the
difference between chemical processes that take place either in inanimate mineral matter or in the
living substances, but which has been replaced by a purely arbitrary distinction between the
chemistry of carbohydrates and that of other substances. First, after refuting the use
From this term now without meaning (organic), Steiner gives it a new meaning by placing it close.
(mineral), (animal), and chemistry (human), so that the term 'organic chemistry' refers to
to processes especially life-giving ones, those that take place in an organism.
3.- No different perspective is involved. The new distinction is based on the point of
Given that processes occurring in the mining world follow a certain model, they reach...
modify quite specifically, whether they take place in plants, animals, or organisms
humans.
4.-The chemistry curriculum presents a very difficult problem. It only requires a re-evaluation.
completely new to the current system up to the conceptual understanding of the facts. This
it becomes even more evident when considering what Steiner said after delivering the
instructions from the cited curriculum arriaba. He was asked if the other side should also be taught.
quantitative of the chemical process.
5.-"In fact, it is extraordinarily difficult to explain those things with the data we have freedom
To use, you should start from the cosmic rhythms and explain the periodic system.
You should take this indirect path that, however, does not take place in the school.
its entirety does not make sense to start from the atomic weight.
You would have to explain all the quantum connections through vibrations. There are
something like an eighth in the relationships between oxygen and hydrogen. That, however, could lead to
too far. I think you should develop those concepts that we have already
mentioned. This brings us to the end of the curriculum for class 12."( 30.4.24)

GARDENING

7.-Classes 6 to 10, each with 2 lessons in a week.

8.-The words of Steiner from conference 10 of the Christmas course 1921/1922 in Dornach
clearly show what their intentions were regarding gardening, a subject that
originally it had not been included in the curriculum but it had been suggested to herself to
through the great and magnificent ones that surrounded the school.

Although it may seem absurd, it must be mentioned that a person who has not learned to
Distinguishing a rye spike from a wheat spike is not a complete human being. It can be done.
still to say that a person who has learned to distinguish between rye and wheat without having them
observed growing in the fields, has not achieved the ideal. As teachers, we should
avoid going on botanical expeditions to collect specimens to be displayed in the room of
classes. The children themselves should be taken outside and wherever possible be taken to the ground, with
the rays of sunlight, with life itself. Through this we can find the transition in
a rather naive way to something that is very important.
2.- After this passage, it shows how the teacher can find the transition from the
study of plants to geography.
Here we merely wish to point out that especially children living in towns can
to be led to a true experience in the life and cycle of the plant world through
healthy gardening lessons. Therefore, the spoken affirmations immediately before
the last appointment will be added:
3.-"We must try to understand what it means for the evolution of humanity that for
for a long time a large number of people have been taken into the towns, with the result that
the generation of young people in the big towns has grown in such a way that they cannot
distinguish rye from wheat.
4.-Steiner did not formulate a program for gardening and some indications and answers to questions
what can be found in the 'Conferences' (+4) do not give an adequate image of how it is
the subject should be developed. The first indication made on June 14, 1920 was a
response given to a gardening teacher after he complained about laziness and
litigation of some children.(14.6.20)
5.-Then soon after the opening of the first class 12 Steiner said in one of the
teachers' meetings:
6.- Gardening up to class 10. Children would like to learn the art of grafting. If they were
Introduced into the mystery of tree grafting, they would gladly do it.
7. - This can be considered as an indication of how far gardening should be taken and
what Steiner expected from what 16-year-old children would be capable of doing from their devotion
to attend to plants. Those words also remind us that he gave a similar task to the children of
the same age for their First Aid lessons.
In the spring of 1924, during the first meeting of teachers that Steiner led afterwards
from the Christmas Conferences in Dornach, gardening at the school was once again discussed and
also the question of how the practical results of the Gardening classes could be used in
The lessons in botany. At that time, the Agricultural course in Koberwitz had not yet taken place.
lie when reading the next instruction.
9.- "Cow manure! Horse manure is not good. Everything must be carried out
prudently regarding finance. Unless there is a direct relationship between the
number of cows in the field and the amount of plant growth, the necessary balance is not
I would carry out. If there are many plants compared to the amount of available cow manure, the
conditions would become unhealthy.
You cannot use a late product such as peat, because this is not healthy.
Noise will not bring an increase. Naturally, it depends on how you want to use it for the
plants. In the case of flowers it doesn't matter much, but if you use peat as fertilizer for plants
nutrition, you will only obtain an apparent increase, because the nutritional value is not
increased in this way. Try to understand how you reduce the nutritional value.
Cultivating sprouts in peat. You should try to make the soil suitable for the cultivation.
mixing a certain amount of humus with it. For this, it is even better to use Meir fertilizer, waste
of horns prepared by Alfred Meir. Through this, the land becomes somewhat softer. He does
use of waste (discarded matter) from bodies. This is really homeopathic fertilizer.

In the school garden, you can plant plants to incorporate them into your lessons.
botany. You can teach the systematic group of plants within 12 parts.
These statements reveal the most important tasks in gardening, for example, considering a
agricultural center as a living and individual organism; understanding its true function
subscription as an intrinsic part of nutrition: the application of the homeopathic principle
when dealing with the living earth. The above lines also confirm the truth of using
gardening lessons as part of a practical botany. Steiner did not carry out his intention to
to work on a plant system consisting of 12 groups. This was later done by A. Usterl.
In 1920, Gertrud Michels set out to create an appropriate gardening program. She took
I started at the Koberwitz course and then outlined a curriculum which is given below.
4.- Gardening should start in grade 6 when crafts are introduced. Those two subjects
they run parallel so that one half of the class can take gardening and the other half can be
busy with crafts. During the first 2 years, in classes 6 and 7 the students are mainly
busy with cultivating the land, with the care of plants and flowers. Tasks for class 8:
planning and building a garden house (greenhouse) (vegetables, fruits, and flowers), tending to plants
annuals and perennials. In classes 9 and 10 culture (growth) of fruits; cultivation and laying of trees
fruit trees and shrubs that bear fruit, different forms of grafting, and finally improvement
from the soil, study of the soil and fertilization. This is the end of the gardening program at the end of
the class 10" (From: Kolisko. Images from the free Waldorf school) (Stuttgart 1926).
5.-Hans Strauss, the successor of Gertrud Michels, has also left a plan for a curriculum that he
kindly offered for its publication. He thought it was important to use the time of the year in
it cannot be expected that children work outdoors, because for practical work under
cover and to deepen the experiences gained while they have been working outside in
the fields and gardens. With their cooperation, the following program was made during the year thereafter
to close the first Waldorf school in 1930.

CLASS 6 TO 8 :
6.- Children are introduced to gardening in a simple way and they practice by cultivating the soil.
tending and harvesting plants. The repetition of this work over 3 years trains them.
to gain a direct penetration into the nature of crop rotation (of
months). When it becomes impossible to work outside during the winter months, the work done
In summer, it is discussed to train students to see how the different states are
they develop and also how through their own attention and care they have contributed towards a
healthy growth and good harvest. Apart from this, eternal and other simple tasks are given.
7.-Now the students focus on vegetable cultivation, assisting in the cultivation of shoots and
making compost piles. Taking care of flowers, fruit bushes, and also practicing care for
trees. During the summer months, the connections between plant growth and the subsurface and
Weather and astronomical conditions are studied, as well as the origin of cultivated plants.
most important, the necessary conditions for its cultivation and the different methods of
reproduction.
CLASS 10:
1.-Continuation of the previous work done in class 9; pruning of trees and shrubs. During the summer.
The damaged gardening tools (long handle) should be repaired and paths should be made.
Finally, the teacher should give a careful introduction to support, which offers
opportunities for discussions about agricultural issues and farm management.

13.-FIRST AID
In class 10, two weeks, each with six lessons in the afternoon.
3.- The words of Steiner spoken at the opening of the first class 10 in summer in the year
1921, these are the only indications you can find about that subject.
4.-"In hygiene, simple taping should be practiced as part of first aid.
Let the children take part. Create a soft and orderly atmosphere. What matters is not that
they consider themselves skilled, but they should achieve an idea of such things. A
weekly hour for six months. You must see that the girls watch the boys when they
perform tasks for which they are more naturally endowed and vice versa. Children do not always
They should be the active ones. They should get used to it - and that is a pretty good thing - to be
taking interest. Letting them talk a little about which girl displays the greatest cunning in her
task."(17.6.21)
5.- As you may have noticed, a different number of lessons in First Aid finally
was granted at the time suggested during that first plan of June 17, 1921. This was
It was due to the lack of available time, but the first class concession should be considered.
ideal.

14.- TECHNOLOGY AND PREPARATORY LESSONS FOR LIFE (*6)

Class 10, 9 weeks

Class 11 and 12 3 weeks for each class each one four classes in the afternoon.

6.-In the first of the three lectures on "Public Pedagogy" (+9) Steiner asks the question of
what should be done with a person who has left school and is very close to entering
life. Then he continues:
7.-"Today we must learn to allow people to participate in life; and if we organize education
so that people are able to participate in life, while at the same time starting to work on
economically educated, you will find that we are truly capable of helping
to the human being towards a living culture. This will also empower anyone with an inclination
towards manual arts to take advantage of education for life that begins around
the 14 years.
8.- A possibility must be created for those who in early life (childhood) show a
inclination towards manual arts or crafts, to be able to participate in what leads to a
conception of life. In the future, students who have not reached the age of 21 will never be
should provide no knowledge that is only the result of scientific research and only
come from a scientific specialization. Nowadays, only what has been worked on
completely and has reached a state of maturity should have a place in education.
(9conf.1).
And after talking about the need to work extremely economically, he continues
dealing with the question asked at the beginning:
9.- "Human judgment can only be cultivated from and after the age of 14, when those
Things that require judgment must be introduced in the curriculum. So everything that is
related, for example, to the grasp of reality through logic can begin. When
In the future, the carpenter and the mechanic sit side by side in school or at the academy with
anyone studying to be a professional will certainly result in a
specialization, but at the same time an education for all; but included in this a
education will be totally necessary for life. During the ages from 15 to 20 years everything
What has to do with agriculture, trade, industry, should be learned. No one should
to go through these years without acquiring any idea of what takes place in the field, commerce and
industry. These subjects will be given a place as infinitely more necessary branches than many
from the garbage that constitutes the present curriculum.
During those years, all those subjects will be introduced, which I would call matters of the
world, historical and geographical subjects, everything related to the knowledge of nature,
but all this in relation to the human being, so that man learns to understand man
from their knowledge of the world as a whole."(9 conf.1)

1.-Here is an image that is being presented as an ideal Waldorf school. It is not related to
Waldorf School is currently in a process of becoming (coming to be). This
The image is ideal because it shows a comprehensive Steiner school (+2) right up to the level.
University, which provides in its higher classes for the future university student as
for the learner, while in today's Steiner Schools we can find students
future university students in higher classes, but no apprentices. It continues:
2.- "Now among the young people who have been educated in that way, there will be those who, pushed
Due to the social conditions they find themselves in, they will choose to become involved in spiritual work.
They will receive their instruction in various subjects necessary for this job in schools that do so.
"They provide for such students." (9 conf.1)
3.-Here is a description of a comprehensive Steiner School (Einheitsschule *2= Unified School)
For the entire population, a school that leads to all professions, especially in its part
superior which has two purposes: Life knowledge (Lebenskunde-6) and subjects that carry
towards an individual philosophy of the world; the last ones consisting mainly of subjects that
They have already been taught in the higher classes of schools that offer higher education.
Life preparatory lessons (Lebenskunde-6) have been added by Steiner to a subject that
united with man in every form with the social life of each time. If the activities were added
It could be demonstrated that with those words the total range of teaching has been covered.
and of pedagogy. With this addition to the modern schooling of preparatory life lessons (+6)
Steiner has done what is needed for today's education.
In the third conference we read the same thing:
5.- "From the age of 14 to 15 years and up, when the sensitive soul with its delicate vibrations
It is springing to life, the teenager must be directly guided to everything that touches them and it
move more vigorously in the life of your time, rather than having your being submerged and receded
within the ancient eras of culture that were based on social conditions
absolutely different. What is happening in the world of commerce, he should learn
about commercial links in the business world. All of this should be absorbed by the
young person. Imagine how he could face life in this way completely.
different and what a different personality he would become. As he would refuse what he was forced into today.
what is adored as the highest achievements of civilization, is actually nothing
more than a dead decline.”(9 conf.3)
We found the same attitude in the second conference on 'Popular Pedagogy' (+9)
Popular education
I dare to say that anyone who has never worked with their hands is incapable of
see the truth in a correct way to spiritual life.” (9conf.2)
In the Practical Course for Steiner teachers, I struggle with the problem of preparatory lessons.
for life from absolutely different angles. At the beginning of the conference twelve
after having pointed out the importance of the subconscious and the conscious for the tempo
briefly before puberty, he pointed out that nowadays the majority of people were incapable of
understand the machines used in their daily environment. So the continuum:
We live in a world produced by human beings, shaped by thought.
human, which we use and do not understand in the least. This lack of understanding
by human creation or for the results of human thought is of great significance for the
complexion of the human soul and spirit. In reality, people must be astonished to escape from the
the action of influences from this source. It should always remain a matter of great satisfaction to see
people of the spring of life whom we call 'best classes' entering a factory and sitting down
completely sick, simply. This is because they experience, like an arrow
from their subconscious the understanding that they make one of everything that is produced in the factory,
and, however, as individuals, they have not the slightest intimacy with the processes that take place
there. Finally, there is some pleasure in seeing people who are completely ignorant of the work of a
electric train, entering and exiting it with a slight feeling of discomfort. Because that
The feeling of discomfort is ultimately the first glimpse of a better attitude. The worst
What is it to participate in a world made by human heads and hands without caring in the slightest?
about that world.”( 12 conf.12)
A little further ahead:
6.-"We can only fight against that attitude if we start our struggle as early as
In the last stage of the public school course, if we simply do not leave the 15 or 16-year-old child.
to abandon school without at least the basic notions of the most important functions
of the external world. The child must leave with a longing to know an insatiable curiosity about
everything that happens around him, and then convert this curiosity and longing for it
knowledge in a broader knowledge. Therefore, we must, to use separate subjects
of study towards the end of the school course as a social education of the individual in the
I give a more comprehensive (encompassing) meaning, precisely as we use geography in the lines already.
described as in a summary.
7.- Through this understanding, geography and preparatory life lessons take on tasks.
parallels; both transmit a complete image of man, geography through
midspace and preparatory lessons for life through social concepts. So
Steiner recommended:
8.- "We should not neglect to introduce the child, based on such physical concepts."
of natural history as we can demand it, the works of at least the factory systems in
his neighborhood. The boy should have acquired some general idea by the age of 15 and 16 about the way of
a soap factory or a spinning mill in its operation.
And then addressing Mr. Emil Mol:
9.-" I think that Mr. Molt will agree with me when I say that one could teach the
child, in an economical way, the entire process of the factory to make cigarettes, from the
beginning to end, in a few brief sentences. Such instructions synthesized with certain
Branches of the industry are the greatest benefit for children.
1.- "If each one had to take care of an exercise book in which they trained notes about the
manufacture of soap or cigarettes, spinning and weaving, etc. It would be a good thing.
2.-Then I will develop this topic a little further, as can be read in the
appropriate pages.
3.-In this way, the prepared lessons of life (+6) as described in the (pedagogy
Popular (+9) have been shown for the last classes in secondary education and for school.
superior, however, this takes us back to what was said in the curriculum conferences about
from nature study in class 7.
4.- "In class 7 we turn back to the man and try to move forward what it should be.
taught in relation to food and health. They should deal with the ideas that you have
they are able to evoke physics and chemistry, to build a comprehensive study of the conditions
industrial and economic, transport and business management. All this should originate from
from the study of nature in connection with the teaching of chemistry, physics, and geography.
(16 conf.2)
5.-"Now they should be given a comprehensive picture of the industry and transport conditions
related to physics and chemistry."(ib.)
6.-These two passages were indicated in the chapter that deals with geography, to which they belong.
However, it does not seem important to indicate where they belong. However, it does not seem
It is important to signal how the different lines of development converge here, so that one
image of outer space and an image of social development occur precisely when the student
You have to leave school to enter into life. That line is being developed further.
go ahead. In class 9, the Physics program is entirely focused on that study and
knowledge of life. In other subjects, it remains more in the background, but, however, it can be
finding the curriculum a tendency to look at the whole world as a state of
activity of man.
In classes 7 and 8, this preparation for life is delivered through geography, in class 9
mainly through physics, but in class 10 it becomes a subject on its own. Steiner
she said in her supplementary course (conf.5) after discussing the development that is taking place
in boys and girls just before puberty.
8.-"Now it is important that at this stage children should begin to have an understanding
for the practical life that is happening entirely around them. And now that we are about to
Starting a class 10, we must make this a matter of our immediate concern.
You see, we have the task of guiding the subjective to make your contact with the
object."(26 conf.5)
A few lines further on the continuous:
10.-" Now we must introduce subjects into our curriculum that will lead a child to
to connect with practical life, subjects that will bring him into contact with the external world. This
it will not be forgotten when we are outlining our schedule for class 10; we will have to
approach the subject in the following way. In order to make a correct provision
For the social factor in human life, we must have boys and girls together in class. We will have to
permit, as we have seen, for a differentiation between them in their practical activities,
but we must not separate them. Boys should see what girls are doing, even if they don't
they should take part in it; and the girls what the boys are doing. There should be communication.
social constant among them. But now we also have to deal with those extra children.
age subjects where thought is taken far from the head and brought down inside
of the internal mobility of the hand. The action of the head, however, may have to be
learned simply here by heart as theoretical knowledge. Because children must be
also capable of acquiring a theory of practice. We should resonantly do some
mechanics with children - not the mere mechanical theory that we teach them in physics classes, but
that the first mechanical technical elements lead to the construction of machines. In
in this way we will be giving our children something that is exactly appropriate for their
ages. And girls should learn spinning and weaving. They must also acquire skills.
clear ideas on how spinning and weaving are done, on how a woven or spun substance has
result. If I say it: "This is a piece of material" they should know what it means. They
They must know 'material' which in this sense is something that has resulted from mechanical means. The
Girls should be introduced to the technical origin of such things; they should be the right ones.............
the child should also learn the elements of study and planning precisely for that
enough to gain a basic understanding of it. A child should be able to draw a
field or scale copy. And girls should also be taught the first elements of
practical and theoretical hygiene; they should learn something about bandaging, etc.
1.- Both sexes should share in all those lessons. Spinning and weaving, and also the
hygiene will be done by the girls; practical work will only later fall on the boys. And when
the children are manipulating the level of spirit, for example, then it will be the girls' turn to
look. Because this can be done in our school; we can absolutely teach well to the
children to measure level differences and draw small scale maps of a given area. In short,
We want to awaken the children to an understanding of everything that needs to take place.
for life to continue as it is done. If we make a mistake in doing this, they will be living
all the time in environments that remain unknown to them."(26 conf.5)
2.-After discussing that problem from the perspective expressed in your 'Popular Pedagogy'
(*9) the continuous:
3.- "There is one more important point about this knowledge of practical matters. When a
The young man takes surveying as his profession; he starts studying it as early as 19 or...
20 years. In our time, it is hardly possible to acquire at any age more.
young the most basic knowledge of surveying and scale drawing or even the use of a string
what it measures. But it makes a big difference in life later on if a man has learned something from those
like a child around 15 years old or only approaches them later when he is older
around 19 or 20 years old. At this age, those subjects will later give the impression of something that
will be absolutely out of it. When, however, a start has been made in the study of
they around the age of 15, they become completely one with the spirit
human, so that they are the child's own possession, not merely something he has acquired
as part of their professional training. It is the same with the beginnings of mechanics, and
also with the subjects that I advised for the girls.” (26 conf. 5).

CURRICULAR GUIDELINES

4.-The above words were spoken on June 16, 1921. During the meeting (+4) of the day
the curriculum for class 10 was made and the objectives for complementary courses
they were placed within concrete terms.

CLASS 10:
It is essential to teach at least the principles of technical mechanics; those lessons do not
They need to take more time than language lessons. For technical mechanics only
we need one lesson per week, as well as for surveying and topographic drawing.
For mechanics, you should start with the screw - Although this is not the usual practice -
because technical mechanics has an affinity for matter and density.
6.- The dynamics should be taken later. There is enough substance for months if you go
far enough away, even without teaching dynamics. Take everything that is connected to the screw
of course, you should teach the children how to draw the screw, the drill and the
ring.

1.- Then Steiner spoke about surveying:

2.- "For surveying, it is enough if you go as far as the treatment and fixation of the
horizontal and if you show absolutely small characteristics on the maps: vineyards, land
of grazing, orchards, so that they achieve an idea of how this is done.
3.-About the spinning he said:
4.-"To begin with, talk about various implements, such as the spinning wheel, loom, etc. And
Then introduce the spinning and the simple loom. You can only gain knowledge of it.
basic, but they need to know how to thread and the entire plot depends on this. You all
They can be happy if they achieve any skill within a period of three years.
You need to impart a thorough knowledge of the materials as well as the cultural background.
historical in the form of stories which would make it enjoyable for them. Naturally, you must
becoming familiar with the more delicate later methods, as the elementary ones
simples are out of use."(17.6.21)
5.-Then they discussed.
Like surveying, it also belongs to those preparatory lessons of life and finally
applied mechanics:
6.- 'While the children are drawing, let the girls enter the habit of exercising.'
theoretical side. The extracted thing about technical mechanics is that you can do very little
in a very long time. All sorts of things can be done in this context. A great deal is needed.
Quantity of time. Still nothing has been done, but the lessons can be made entirely.
Otherwise, you will not be able to handle the children, but the lessons must be done.
more interesting at that age.”(17.6.21)
7.- Those passages about 'Lebenskuade' (+6) for class 10 provide an image of a social school.
comprehensive (unit school = Unique School (+2) what it really provides for children from each
path of life. Thus, two paths of education that previously led to different goals now
they come together without losing sight of those goals, because they are set by life itself.
8.-So this gives us the direction towards what the Waldorf School (for example, all the schools
Steiner) should move. Those thoughts occupied Steiner especially during the course of
Christmas of Dornach for teachers in 1921/1922.
9.- "Directly after the pupil has reached the age when school is no longer
mandatory, he must fit within what is prepared for this or that call. Things must
to be facilitated. Now those that no longer entirely proceed from human nature, but have
having become part of our civilization because they are adapted to this or that profession. Thus the
individual must learn to find their place within a specialized society. In our
education we try to prepare for this journey into life by introducing
gradually to people of 14 or 15 years some practical trades such as: spinning, weaving.
Having facilitated the process of weaving and spinning is not only important for someone who is going to
to become a weaver or a spinner, but rather in its meaning for each human being who desires
having a practical skill, in life, but what really matters is introducing things
appropriate at the right moment.
10.-That excerpt comes from conference 14 where Steiner talks again about this important
Subject, starting with a remark about Agustín, and about his attitude towards development.
of human consciousness:
11.-"Agustin says that man makes himself familiar, with everything that flows from evolution.
of humanity as trades and skills through the fundamental attributes of their body
astral. When we build a house, we put together a plow, we build a machine
spinning wheel, the relevant forces of the human being are united with the astral body. It is in reality that
through his astral body that in man learns to know everything in his environment that has
created by human beings themselves. Therefore, it is based entirely on a
true knowledge of man when, in our teaching, we try to introduce into a
practical way to the pupils who are going through puberty, those aspects of life the
they are the result of man's activity.

1.-After pointing out what was missing in our present times in this regard, the
Once again, I return to the preparatory subjects for life taught in Waldorf Schools.
(10)
2.- "Coordinate the curriculum for precisely those students who are reaching the age of the
puberty in a way that is as economical as possible from the aspect of the soul, involves
A great deal of care, but it can be done. It can be done by developing within oneself.
a sense of what matters most in the affairs of life and then bringing this to the children and
girls as economically as possible, so that they learn to know in the way
simpler what they are really doing when they receive or make a phone call,
How the subway with all its associated devices works and so on. It is only necessary
to develop within oneself the ability to reduce all those things to the simplest possible formula;
then at the appropriate age they can certainly be delivered to the pupils in a way
intelligible. Because we must strive towards the students becoming completely familiarized
with the meaning of the living conditions of our civilization. Our teaching of chemistry
and the lafsica must be prepared in such a way that it has value when puberty is reached on the side
Really practical life must be built on this foundation in the most economical way.
2.- Those guidelines can only be effectively implemented for the higher classes.
about the foundations already laid in middle school. It can be said that 'Lebenskunde' (+6)
it really encompasses all education. After referring to the need to distinguish between the
students who try to assimilate work of an intellectual nature like their procession and those who
they try to go more towards practical work the continuous: Naturally those students whose
individual gifts are formed for professions of a more intellectual class and must be educated
and taught in accordance. However, what tends to develop later in life in the
people in a unilateral way must become balanced through development towards a class of
totality, through the development of something absolutely different. If we provide the pupils with a
the impulse of will that leads in a more spiritual direction than the impulse of knowledge
this must be developed by the person who has a concrete penetration within the
practical domains of life because this equips them to see life as a whole. The body
astral demands when its will impulse is developed in a certain direction, then the
impulse to knowledge that should be developed in the opposite direction of the
life." (27) a little further ahead:
3.- "The educational problem that arises in this area is indeed the selection in a form
economic of what needs to be done at this age.
To summarize, once again the problem:
4.- "The point here is to guide the pupil who is heading towards a more spiritual profession or
intellectually familiarized as broadly as possible with the external, manual things of the
life; and, on the other hand, to provide the student who is heading towards manual tasks- in so far as
his power of judgment allows it and within certain limits - which is linked to a spiritual profession
The intellectual. It should be emphasized that at least it should be our effort to take care of that side.
practice of life through the school itself. Manual aspects of the ............... should be
care when placing young people among adults in a factory. There should be available opportunities.
within the sphere of the school to take the practical side of life into consideration so that
the young person begins to acquire in a short time from the model - speaking figuratively -
it can be transferred to practical life.

1.- What is acquired from the model can actually be so practical that the material in
the issue can easily be raised within practical life, nor do I agree with it
point of view because in our prisons they make things that play some role in external life.
Things should not be made in the school workshops that could be sold outside.
2.-But so that the young person can stay as long as possible in the
school environment, which must certainly be a healthy one - because this corresponds with the
It is the interior of man that the pupil approaches life gradually and is not pushed towards it.
outside inside her suddenly: "(27)
3.- After some later references:
4.-"One does not need to be endowed with any particular skill to decorate a table with a
beautiful bouquet of flowers, because Natura is responsible for that. But one must possess a certain
The amount of skill is there only if one does not notice it because attention is not directed towards it.
the right way to oneself. And thus, skill of this kind (as in technical matters) is, for the class
unconscious person, highly unpleasant if the comprehensive requirement of objective things is not met.
is provided. Through the meeting of our path towards the practical things in life
we gradually learn to cope with the intellectual ability that is poured out today
about the present time as an abstraction.
5.- Continuing with the teaching of manual work the continuous:
It is a fact that one can only be led to understand the meter by understanding a machine.
vapor, when at the appropriate age an understanding of a painting or work of art has been acquired
plastic.
This is a hint of an important point which is elaborated in the chapter about the
teaching of art and aesthetics.
CLASS 7 Geography: Industries and transportation
About the land.
CLASS 8

CLASS 9 Physics: Steam locomotive

and phone.
CLASS 10 Technical Mechanics, surveying
First aid, spinning and weaving.
CLASS 11 Water wheels, turbines
Paper manufacturing. + Surveying
In Geography.
CLASS 12 Technology Art Lessons.
Chemistry + construction techniques.

1.- "Water wheels, turbines, and paper manufacturing. In my opinion, it is essential that children
They participate in all those activities, we cannot tolerate impositions because this would lead to defeat.
our purposes."(21.6.22)
2.-When the technology teacher asked if he should include weaving after
spinning, since he had been unable to teach it in class 10 due to the lack of
space for structures in weaving Steiner responded:
3.-"Surely the children know the principles. It would truly be good to introduce turbines.
hydraulics and the making of paper. We can return again later to the weaving. I said
Before that, it must be learned gradually; it will be of great value to the children if we show them.
how paper is made, how water wheels and turbines work. In this way we expand
your perspective. Here the Geographer comes in due to the meaning of the courses of the rivers. You all
can lead to a basic study of the national economy.”(21.6.22)
4.- For class 12, the curriculum had to be given twice.
5.-In 1923 "we can only give a lesson about chemical technology as a new
subject."(25.4.23)
6.- And in 1924:
Technology was taught from class 10 onwards; we planned a weaving course.
which was actually never given) in which they had to be woven in the simplest way
Possible. It is sufficient to do that with a model structure in the class 11 steam turbines.
(generally referring to turbines).
7.-This is the last passage of Steiner about technology and (+6). The word 'steam turbine'
it should be seen as a mistake, although it may be possible that he wanted the introduction to the
structure and functioning of the water turbine extended to a brief description of the
steam turbine. For class 12, no topic is mentioned. Perhaps it was not transcribed.

15 MUSIC

8.-Singing in all classes, one lesson per week.

9.-Sweet flutes (taught in class) and violins (if enough violinists are available in the
class): from class 1 to 4, each with two lessons.
10.-Group play for trained children classes 5 to 8: 2 classes a week.
11.- School orchestra made up of students from grades 9 to 12: 2 lessons at the
week.
12.-Mixed choir of students from all classes. (p. 162)
In lecture 1 of the Practical course, Steiner talks about musical forces.
working through the child before the first tooth eruption. Later, in conference 3, he gives
the first outlines of music teaching for the Waldorf School that was lacking little to
that it would open.
14.- "The musical element, which exists in human beings from birth onward, and that-
just as I have said - expressing himself particularly in the 3rd and 4th year in a talent
dance is essentially an element of will, powerful with life. But
Extraordinarily as it may sound, it is true that it contains when it comes to what it plays its
part in the child, an excessive life, a life directed against conscience. The development of
a child is easily taken by a deeply musical experience to a certain extent
of reduced awareness. One must therefore say: The educational value of music must
consists of a constant harmonization of the Dionysian element emerging in the human being
with the Apollonian. While the element that gives death must be enlivened by the element
Plastico formatvo, a supremely living power in music must be partially softened.
and diminished in such a way that it does not affect human beings too profoundly. This is the
feeling with which we should introduce music to the child.”(12 conf.3) (p. 163
up)

1.-Steiner wants non-musical children to participate in music lessons (classes)

....... that non-musical children be kept separate from all music and that only the children
Musicals are given music education, it is completely false, even the most musical children
must be included in any musical activity. It is true without a doubt, from the point of view of
produce more and more music just to encourage really musical children to appear in
public. But even non-musical children should be there developing sensitivity. Because
You will notice that even in non-musical children there is a trace of musical disposition that is
only very deep in the depths and with loving assistance is brought to the surface.
(ib)
2.-Steiner's suggestions for music teaching will be given in chronological order, in
as far as this appears necessary for the understanding of the curriculum.
3.-In the Basel course, after some observations about 'artificial methods of
Singing instruction, Steiner talks about the technique of teaching singing:
The important thing is that children learn to listen, musical listening must be
trained. The child must above all grow accustomed to correctly listening to what has
The ear must be awakened. There again the best method for the teacher is to lead the singing.
with some love, and then go into the points that are in error. In this way, the student
he develops his natural need to imitate what he has heard and he learns from the corrections
from his teacher. But regarding the singing itself, the child should adjust his organs.
instantly (23 conf. 10)
And after talking once more about the 'artificial' methods, he said:
5.-"In any case, those artificial methods should not enter the classroom. About
above all, the natural relationship must prevail between the teacher and the learner, between the educator and
the one who is educated. The child's loving devotion to his teacher must replace adjustments
artificials and methods. It is here that what is imponderable must be at the base of things. Nothing
it is more fatal than when those 'musical rates' and 'musical coughs' gain entry to schools,
with its own methods. In school, the spirit should prevail and not the external form. This
the spirit can only be there when one is inside (true) of the very matter itself, not
when one brings it to the children by external methods.”(23 conf.10)
6.-In the fourth conference 'Medítateme erarbeitete Menschen Kunde' that contains some
enigmatic sentences, the citation theme of conference 3 of the Practical course
harmonization of the Dionysian and Apollonian currents - is taken again:
That a will element expresses itself from within in opposition to an element.
of will coming from outside.
7.- Those forces that are of a musical nature derive more from the external world, the
extrahuman world, from the observations of processes in nature, particularly of
the observations of their regularities and irregularities. Because everything, after all that
takes place in nature is permeated by a mysterious music: the earthly projection of
the music of the spheres. In every plant, in every animal there is a tone truly embedded in
the music of the spheres. This is also the case even with respect to the human body, but no longer
lives in what is human language, that is, no longer in the expressions of the soul - but lives
in the body, in its forms, etc. The child absorbs all this unconsciously, and this is the
reason why children are musical to such a higher degree. They absorb all of this within.
of its organisms. While the child experiences how the forms of movements, lines and
contours and sculptural elements in their environment works from within, from the
head, everything that is absorbed by the child as formation of tone, as content of
language comes to him from the outside. And this again, what comes from the outside, is opposed only
a bit later: around 14 years old - the spiritual element of music and language that
is gradually developing from within. It is stopped again now, in the woman in
the whole organism and in humans more in the region of the larynx where the change occurs
of voice. The entire process, then, is carried out by the fact that here an element of
will expresses itself from within in opposition to an incoming element of will
from the outside, and in this struggle there comes to expression what appears in puberty as change
of voice. This is a battle between internal and external forces of music and language.

1.-However, those phrases only convey (carry, direct, lead) a main theme from
the second of the four conferences. This conference needs to be read in its entirety, the
Practical Course (conf.3) also belongs to this broader aspect.
2.- In the Supplementary course of 1921 the same problem is discussed but this time Steiner
takes beyond the realm of music. Again, it speaks of a struggle, about
defend "oneself", about "impressing oneself" and "adapting oneself".
3.- Looking at the man in his entirety, we find in him an extraordinarily being.
complicated - this 'man' that we prepare ourselves to understand: take the process that
I have just been explaining, when you teach a child eurhythmy, the body
the child's body is set in motion and the movements are brought inside the body
etheric. Although to begin with, the astral body and ego put up a resistance, they also
They have to receive a printed document of the activities that are taking place in the
physical and etheric bodies. Then comes sleeping. Astral body and ego leave the body.
physical and bring their impression within the contact with other quite different forces-forces
spiritual. In the morning they return again and what they bring is a testimony of
a wonderful harmony between what has been received from the spiritual world during the
to sleep and what has been experienced the day before the physical and electric bodies when the
the child was experiencing arrhythmia. We gave the child certain experiences - we must
say, in preparation. The way these experiences are directed to harmonize with the
spiritual experiences that he experiences later during sleep, can reveal to us
What does eurhythmics really do for the child? When we find...
the result, the next morning, then, later - and not until then are we capable
to appreciate the wonderfully life-giving power of health that is latent in eurhythmics. If we
We give the child eurhythmy in the correct form so that when he wakes up in the
next week and enters his body, he carries within the spiritual substance. A similar process
It takes place in the chant. In this case, the activity of the etheric body. The astral body.
So what to do to best adapt to receiving their activity.
 Despite resisting, she first accepts it and takes it to the spiritual world. When the body
Astral returns next week you have again a clear proof that the power
health giver influenced by eurythmy works directly on the physical comfort of the
child, while in singing we have an influence that works rather on the whole
movement system in the child and from there only backward about the health of the physical body.
(26 conf.3)
4.-These last three passages elucidate each other. In the same Supplementary Course.
We found another observation that indicates important possibilities for the future.
development of Steiner schools.
5.-"Then again in all the lessons that have to do with music it will be good if there
you also bring with you a clear idea of the provisions that children with
Regarding imagination - if they have very little or a great detail in imagination and
he has great difficulty remembering his ideas we should call his attention more
especially instrumental music; while a child who is rich in imagination and who
is easily tormented by his ideas, we perhaps to an extreme degree, such a child
we should rather use it with singing. This ideal plan would be, if we only had the
necessary space, having music lessons and singing lessons at the same time. A
the wonderfully harmonizing effect is also produced in the child by the inter work of
two experiences of listening to music and making music and perhaps it would still be possible to arrange for the
children have two experiences at once, one after the other. We could, for example,
let half of the class sing while the other listens, and vice versa. It would be quite
appropriate if a lesson could ever be arranged in such a way. Because listening to the
It has a healing influence on the part of the head that has to take part in the
organism; while the singing itself must take part in the organism; while the
sing mismotene a corresponding influence on what the body has for the head.
You really know, we would have a healthier humility if we could do
everything we should in education! (26 conf.4)
2.-The Christmas course of Dornach from 1921/22 shows how the experience of the forces
musicals change with the different stages of a child's development and how what
firstly it is done quite instantaneously gradually it moves within the sphere of
the consciousness:
A ............. is an organ of the senses entirely unconscious. It forms itself.
internally imitating what he takes from people in his environment. But these images
Interiors are not just images; they are at the same time forces that are internal.
they work on the organization of the child in a material, plastic way. Then with the change
of teeth, these imitative forces pass over the movement system, within the system
rhythmic; here only they wish to enter. Certainly some of the modulating elements
plastics still remain behind, but added to them is the other element that previously
was not present in the same grade. The whole way in which a child before and after the
tooth change. Previously the rhythm and comfortable within a plastic modeling. After
he came to be transformed within an inner musical element.
Only between the ages of 9 and 10 does the child acquire an understanding of rhythm and meter.
As such, he is not now so strongly compelled to form himself internally in agreement.
with rhythm and beat; he grabs (seizes) these as such, as existing realities existing outside
himself. Previously, the child experienced rhythm and beat; then he begins to
develop the understanding, the ability to comprehend (penetrate, conceive, include, understand)
what they are. This phase is affected not only by the musical sphere but by everything in the
world, lasts until the age of 12. At this age, even a little earlier, the child begins
first to develop the ability to drive based on the experience imbued with fantasy of what
It is musical-rhythm, beat-in what is purely from the nature of thought.
5.-In everything that is perceived with the eye of the soul, the Inter work of body lofsico can be
also considered. I have already spoken about how the child, forming his muscles and bones, copies
what is present internally what is present inside it. Now, around 12 years old,
the child no longer wishes to live only on rhythm and food, but rather to leave to the feeling of
rhythm and beat flow within what is the nature of abstract thought just like
At this time, it gradually strengthens even more the part of the muscles that pass.
about a mere tendon. Before this time all movement is directed towards the muscles
as such, it is now directed towards what flows from the muscles within the
tendons. Everything that takes its course in the emotional-spiritual has to be found again
in the corporeal-physical. And this concentration within the life of the tendons in their connection of
Muscles and bones are the external-physical expression of the passage of pure experience through the center of
rhythm and beat. The knowledge gained from the study of man must now be brought together
with the art of education and teaching(27) (p. 166) above.

1.-In the two lectures on music, given in 1923, Steiner goes into detail about
the tasks of the music teacher, after having given a historical account of the development of
the music.
All these facts are of the greatest importance when we face the task of leading.
human development in relation to music. Because just observe that the child, until the age of 9
Years even when we are able to bring you the major and minor modes, do not notice yet.
no apprehension typical of greater and lesser, when a child enters school can be
ready for a subsequent perception of major and minor modes, but the child
neither one nor the other at the beginning, actually lives, although it is hard to admit, in the feeling
of the 5th interval. Pieces containing the 3rd can naturally be used for purposes of
teaching. But if we wish to touch the essential nature of the child, we must
Cultivate your understanding starting with the relationships of the interval of a 3rd. This is the Matter
important: you will always confer a great benefit on the child by helping him to appreciate
the major and minor modes and especially to experiment with the relationship of the 3rd, in age
that has been indicated anywhere as it happens after the nine years, a time
when the child starts to ask serious questions. One of the serious problems is the
validity of going through the experience of the 3rd greater or lesser. This is an event that
it occurs around the ages of 9 and 10 and on which special attention should be given. In
As far as it is possible given that there are musical conditions; we must
We strive to cultivate the understanding of the octave around the age of 12. So again, it
what will be appropriate for this age must be brought to the child from this side of education.
In his second lecture about music, Steiner once again talks about development.
from the musical experience of humanity and then he looks at music from the point
from the perspective of man's tenacity.
4.- Again he returns to pedagogy:
5.- "At this point, you will find it understandable in the first place when it is being addressed.
with a child who is going to school, that you are more capable of finding in the child a
understanding of melody more than an understanding of harmony. Naturally this does not
it must be taken with pedantry. Pedantry is not allowed to play a part in
art matters. It is of course possible to bring all kinds of things to the child's attention. But
just like a child during their first years of school should only understand 5th.
possibly 4th but not 3rd (they only start to understand them internally from 9 years old
from their life onward) this is how they should grasp (catch) the element of the melody quickly;
just start to sing the element of the melody quickly; just start to sing the
element of harmony from the ninth year onwards. Of course, the child already understands the
tone, but the harmony ahead. But the rhythm takes on the most varied forms.
The child will understand a certain inner rhythm while he is still very young, but apart from the
rhythm class as it appears for example in instrumental music until he is 9 years old
age. This is the age to draw the child's attention to these things. In musical matters
It is also very possible to extract the child's age from it, which should be done.
Approximately, the same states of life will be discovered there just as they should be.
found in the theory and practice of teaching at the Waldorf School.” (31 conf.2)
6.-The Holy Week course in Dornach in 1923 deals with the great change between the ages of 9 and 10 and
how this manifests particularly in the musical experience and volitional life of the child.
In conference 3 we read:

1.-"All the strength of the child, now that he has gone through the change of teeth, strives
towards what is internally plastic and pictorial. And we support this element of
pictorial education, when we ourselves, in everything we teach the child, we
we approach him with a pictorial form. Because between the ages of 9 and 10, something remarkable happens. Now,
much more than before, the child feels the need to be held (taken) by the
musical of being grabbed by rhythms. When we observe how the child takes in music
until this stage of life between 9 and 10 years - as what is musical also lives in the
child as something essentially plastic, and how this plasticity naturally comes to be a
inner formative strength for the body, moving extraordinarily easily within what
what is similar to dance, within movement - then we must recognize how
The internal training of music as such appears only between the ages of 9 and 10. This will be
apparently quite clear. Of course, those things are not clearly separated from each other.
others; and those who have training in them will stimulate the musical element beforehand
from the age of 9, but in the true way - leaning more in the direction that I have just
characterized. Because the child between the ages of 9 and 10 would be in shock if the musical element
He repented abruptly before he was mentally ready and accustomed to be
caught in this strong way
In conference 11 of the Ilkey course of 1923, we read about the importance of the
teaching music as a means of educating the child's will.
3.- "Starting musical instruction with singing, but guiding it more and more towards performance.
Instrumental, we develop the element of will in the child. This instruction
music is not only a means of developing purely human qualities, especially
those of the heart and will. We must of course start with songs, but
to reach an understanding of instrumental music as soon as possible, so that the
the child can learn to distinguish the pure elements of music - rhythm, melody, measure - from
everything else from the imitative and pictorial qualities of music and the rest.
More and more he must start to realize and experience the purely musical element.
2.- Driving the child within the sphere of art, building a bridge from the game of
life through art, we can start between 11 and 12 years old - and that is the tempo
appropriate to teach him to understand art. In the principles of education that is the purpose of
Carrying out in the Waldorf School is of vital importance for the child to acquire some
understanding of art at the appropriate age."(35 conf.11)
4.-He then talks about the tasks of the art lessons (In Germany, music
belongs to the subjects of art) during the time when natural sciences and the
Technological knowledge with its logical structure and causal relationships must be taught:
In the age when the child must realize (understand) that nature is governed by law
abstract to be grasped by reason, when he must learn the union between cause
effect in given cases, we must promote an understanding of art as a
necessary counterbalance.
The child must understand periods of human history, such as this or that motif or art plays its
part in a particular time. Only then those elements that a human being would need for
a total development of their being truly stimulated. In this way too,
We can develop the qualities that are essential in moral instruction.
6.-In the Arnhem Course of 1924, after having dealt with music in the world and in the
Man, Steiner talked about the importance of instrumental music in education:
7.- "And just as man experiences what belongs to the realm of music, just as the
man experiences what belongs to the realm of music, thus the shapes of his body are
plasticly.
8.- Formed from the music itself. Therefore, if the teacher wishes to be a good teacher of
music will make a point of singing with the children in the early beginnings of their life in the
school. This is essential, he must understand as an obvious matter that singing leads to the
emancipation, because the astral body has previously sung and has produced the forms of
human body. Now, between the change of teeth and puberty, the astral body is released to itself.
same, it comes to emancipate itself. And outside the true essence of music, what emerges there is
it shapes the human being and makes him independent. Therefore, it is not surprising in any way if
a teacher who understands these things obviously incorporates them into the singing lessons and
also within instrumental teaching what is truly human by its nature of
point to end. This is because we try not only to introduce singing so early.
as possible in the education of the child, but we also leave those children with
enough attitude to learn to play a musical instrument, so that the child has the
the possibility of truly grasping and entering into the musical element that lives in its form in
as to when it was released and emancipates itself... (39).

1.-In the Torquay Course, Steiner gave details about the first singing classes in
instrumental
2.- "Our nerves are really a kind of lyre, a musical instrument, an instrument
musical interior musical interior that resonates in the head (p. 168)

This process begins, of course, before the change of teeth, but at that time the body
Astral is only slightly connected to the physical body. It is between the change of teeth and the
puberty when the astral body begins to play on the only nerve fibers with the air
inspired, like a violin bow over the strings. You will be taking care of all this if
you give the child a fullness of song. You must have the feeling that the child is a
musical instrument while he is singing, you must be in front of your class to which
you are teaching singing or music with a clear feeling; each child is an instrument
musical and internally feels a kind of well-being (comfort) in the sound. Because you see
sound is brought by the particular path that breath circulates through. That is inner music. For
starting with, in the first 7 years of life, the child learns everything through imitation, but now the
He would learn to sing from the internal joy he experiences while creating melodies and rhythms.
To show the type of inner image you should have in mind when you
they are in front of their class in a singing lesson. I would like to use a comparison that can
seem a little harsh but will clarify what I mean.
......now the comparison continues with a herd of cows that are being directed and with what they are
internally experienced......
........but I want to show that there is something that should be present in the child to a state
superior, this feeling of well-being to the internal flow of sound. Imagine that
it would happen if the violin could feel what is happening inside it. We only
we listen to the violin, it is outside of us, we are ignorant of the origin of everything
sound and we only hear the external sensory image of it.
But if the violin could feel how each string vibrates with the next one, one would have the experience.
more blessed, provided of course that the music is good. You must leave the first one a
observation indicating at the first conference.....................in 1919 about the place of the
teaching throughout the entire school, especially regarding language in the first.
Then talking about language teaching the continuous:
This should be confirmed by what we are going to discuss, elasticity and
Flexibility for their speech organs will be delivered in singing classes, and a fine
sensitivity to long and short sounds will appear by itself. It is not necessary to plan everything.
this through music, provided that the child is introduced to the music given by the
instrument in a way that stimulates this 'listening to understand'. To begin with this
there must be a simple way of 'super-listening'. If I can invent such an expression,
since one can say, clear lucidity (Ubersichtlich). What I want to say will be understood:
super-listening (Overview) is what is internally expressed as one in between
many; not taking things within us in disorder.”(16 conf. 1)
The next observation mainly concerns the music teacher of classes
first.
We must above all understand how the music first needs to be.
taken from what is most basic and simple in the first class, making a transition to what
what is more complicated something more about the 3rd year, so that the child acquires, little by little
the study of an instrument (more particularly through instrumental performance, but rather
also by singing) just that which is formative, just what shapes their abilities. Gymnastics and
Eurythmy will be brought like everything else; these must be related from the music and all the
other artistic activities. (16 conf. 2)

CURRICULAR INDICATIONS

1.-The current music program for the first eight years is found at the beginning of the 3rd
conference. It is headed by an observation, which will be indicated first, and like those
Ideas that need to be considered:
2.- "In the same way that it is only possible to give general guidelines for the arts
plastics, so one can give general indications for the musical. The details, naturally
they can be left to the professor's freedom. Therefore, I ask you to observe those
general indications as uniting everything that is essential for music teaching.
(16 conf.3)
3.-In individual class.
4.-First, an observation indicated in the first conference of the 1919 curriculum regarding
of the place of teaching within the whole school, especially with respect to language in
the first. Then about the teaching of language the continuum:
5.-"This should be confirmed by what we are going to discuss, elasticity and
flexibility for their speech organs to be gained in singing classes, and a fine
sensitivity to long and short sounds will appear by itself. It is not necessary to plan everything in advance.
through music, provided that the child is introduced to the music given by the instrument in
a way that stimulates this "listening saying". To start with this, you must do a simple
path of 'listening'. If I can invent (coin) such an expression, it can already be said, clarity
clear (Clear). What I want will be understood: super-listening (Clear) is what
it is intensely expressed as one among many; not taking things from
we are in disorder."(16 conf.1)
6.-The next observation also mainly concerns the class music teacher.
first.
7.- "We must above all realize (understand) how music first has to be"
taken from what is more elemental, which is and simple the first class, making a
transition to what is more complicated something more about the 3rd year, so that the child acquires,
little by little the study of an instrument (more particularly through instrumental performance,
but also through singing) just that which is formative, what shapes their abilities. Gymnastics
and Eurhythmia will be brought with all the rest; these must be related from music and all the
other artistic activities. (16 conf. 2)

1.- "In the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd classes, you have to deal essentially with simple musical measures,"
and here the goal should be to use the material that acts formative on the human being
in growth. Therefore, everything musical should be directed in such a way that it carries out
(that provokes) in the human being a development, typical of everything that is connected with the voice,
tone, auditory training. (16 conf. 3)

CLASSES 4 TO 6 :
2.- "Then comes the 4th, 5th, 6th classes. By this time, you will do well with the explanations.
of signs and notes and will be able to perform comprehensive exercises with scales. In the 5th and 6th
class the different keys can be introduced, you can put in May etc.
3.-Wait as long as possible with the minors, but it can be introduced somewhere.
now. But all that is truly essential is this: that you start working on the
opposite direction. Now the child's attention will turn to the cries of the music, therefore, the
the lesson will be directed more towards the aesthetic aspect. Previously, 'the child' was the main thing, and
everything was made to involve him so that he learns to sing and listen. Now that the boy has
passed through the first three classes where he was the primary consideration, he must
to adapt to the demands of music as an art.
That is the main consideration from an educational point of view.

CLASS 7 TO 8 :
4.-"And in recent years, the seventh and eighth grades, I ask you to note that the child should no longer
It is not a perforated or drilled sentence, but it should have the feeling that he studies music.
because it gives him pleasure because he enjoys experiencing it as an end in itself. it is towards this that it is directed
Music lesson call should work; thus in those two years of being practiced the training
of the musical judgment.
5.- The particular nature of the different musical works can be brought to the surface and
the distinct style of a piece by BETHOVEN or in BRAHMS can be brought to a consciousness
exercise musical. Before this, all musical discrimination should be kept behind,
but now it can be fostered.
Now it will be absolutely especially important that a certain understanding is developed.
You all know that I gave exactly these same instructions this morning, for the arts.
plastics. I said, first we use the drawing in such a way that the writing proceeds from it,
because then later the drawing develops by itself. The whole matter is that it becomes
an art at the moment when the child makes the transition from utilitarian forms in painting and
in free-form drawing. At that moment (between the 3rd and 4th grades of school) the transition
it should also be done in music, just as I have shown you. First work like this
supports the child's psychological development, so it works in such a way that the child must adapt.
the same in that musical art. Those transitions should correspond to each one in painting
drawing and music.

It is remarkable that Steiner valued musical judgment before the onset of puberty, while
In all the other subjects, he asked us not to let the students make judgments until after.
from puberty, this exception should be seen alongside another characteristic of music which is
described in the second conference on music:
The element that occupies the middle position in the total sum of human experience.
On one side, the feeling flows outward within the will, and on the other, it flows outward.
within the world of ideas. Thus, observing human beings, we can say that in the environment
we have feelings; on one hand, we have feelings flowing outward within the
will. Harmony is experienced by feelings, but our nature of
Feeling as a whole is dual. We have a class of feelings that leans more towards the
world of ideas; for example, regarding that we feel our thoughts,
Our feelings tend towards ideas. And we have a feeling that tends.
towards the will. Regarding a fact, we feel pleasure or displeasure. The experience
the feeling is such that it can be ..................................................by the brain,
they would instantly cease to be something musical......it must be stopped in both directions. The
The experience of music should begin in the realm that lies between ideation and will;
it must take place entirely in that part of the human being that does not really belong to their
ordinary consciousness, but it has something to do with that which comes down from the
spiritual worlds incorporate themselves and experience death again.
2.-Then he demonstrated that the melody guides the musical element from the realm of
feeling towards that of representation (vorstellen), without reaching the being itself part of the
representation (Borstellung); and that rhythm carries the musical element within the will of the
man which does not spread outward within the environments.
3.-Seen in this context, music lives in a realm of non-earthly events, in the
The formation of judgments also occupies a different position than the others.
events "down to the ground".

THE UPPER CLASSES (9-12)

4.-Now suggestions will be given for the higher classes. However, since we are dealing with
with a somewhat exceptional subject, it seems better not to divide the current items of the program
contents in Steiner's warnings, in order to keep a chronological account of how the
musical life was developed in the school. This account is taken from "Conferences" (+4) written at
hand.
On September 25, 1919, a few weeks after the opening of the school, the
Music teacher Pablo Baumann wanted to teach musically gifted children in practical sessions.
special corals, where more complicated pieces could be rehearsed Steiner replicated.
I would not agree with the entire constitution of our school if the choirs were established
together gradually starting from the top four classes and starting from the top four classes
inferiors, perhaps for the Sunday choirs. Through a thing of this kind you
They can merge the children together better than by other means. But by no means should they stimulate.
false ambitions, because this must be excluded from our teaching methods. The
Ambitions should only exist in relation to subjects, but not in relation to people.
Keep the singers of the four upper classes separate from those of the four.
lower classes because their voices are different. Otherwise, groups composed of..........
the music, we must also adhere strictly to what has been pointed out regarding
the different ages. This must be observed strictly. But in our choirs, to which
we can possibly put together the four oldest classes and the four classes most
young people. We must strictly observe the period around 9 years old the period
around 12 years according to their special positions."(25.9.19)
7. - When the curriculum of the first Class 9 was made, Steiner said, it had later been pointed out.
the need for a music room: Music education cannot be as it should be,
until we have the great hall. We are interested in two things that matter.
We must shape our music teaching as perfectly as possible.
If we want to give our children a preparatory musical education, our instruments
they cannot be good enough for our students. Their ears will be damaged if
they listen to bad instruments. Those are important aspects of their work. We could
to develop well beyond the singing of the ancients (church songs). (22.9.20)
The 'two things that matter' obviously refer to a suitable room for lessons and
for excellent instruments.
The music teacher:
I wanted to draw attention to the major and minor modes and their tonal quality (timbre)
only from the point of view of sound.

CLASS 9:

This should be the real subject for class 8. You should strive to bring it to.
all cost. You can approach this topic a bit theoretically but you should also appeal
to the musical experience of greater and lesser through feeling.
The music teacher continued:
In social behavior lessons (anstandsunterricht) (which had been given to him as
a special task), I have related this polarity to the masculine and feminine element.
So the children seemed to be interested.
8.-Steiner:
9.-"I think it would be a good thing to link this polarity to singing, relating it to the
female and male voices. Little has been addressed in that direction, and it is true that such
teaching, drawing attention to the varying rhythm of masculine and feminine voices would be serious
At this age, an exceptionally good contraction to the false feeling of sex that is
appearing too strongly today. That would have a beneficial effect. It grieves me that
we cannot make any progress regarding the treatment of the instruments. That is
irreparable. Private instrumental lessons are private lessons. Here we should see that,
As we have already explained, instrumental lessons are part of education. A
private lesson does not contribute to this. It is truly a shame that we cannot change it. I
I fear it will be a long time before we can change the circumstances.
On January 16, 1921, when the different professors reported on their work to
Steiner, he said to the music teacher:
11.- The use of songs divided into two parts for little kids can be recommended.
hardly.
That shouldn't be started until the 5th class, I would mainly stay in unison.
with children up to 10 years old. Is there a possibility to let the children sing alone?
that they have sung in choir?
12.-When the music teacher agreed:
13.-"That is also something we must consider. I want to say that you should not omit the
let the children sing alone apart from their choir songs. Especially when they speak
In choirs, you will find that the group soul centers itself. Some speak very
good in choirs, but when you call them outside individually what they can do in
choruses, especially in language. What happens in the class in this way during lessons
It depends on what you consider correct.

1.-During a teachers' meeting in May 1921, towards the end of the second year, it was
he asked the question of whether the students who were trying to go to a music training
they should be excused from lessons that could affect their manual skills.
Steiner said:
2.- "We could individualize the schedule with this in perspective. Certainly, that could be done."
We should also think about having special rooms for practice. They would have
that learning the lessons that belong to general education. Otherwise, we
we can specialize.

CLASS 10:

When the curriculum for class 10 was made in the first meeting of the third year of school,
Steiner said:
Continue with instrumental music in class 10.
The music teacher:
"We should have done this earlier."
Steiner:
Especially in class 10.
4.-The music teacher informed the meeting of his intention to organize a small
orchestra of classes with the pupils who could play an instrument, mentioning that most of them
they could be included.
Steiner said:
5.- "Those who are unable to unite should still take part in the lessons. They
They should ensure that they achieve some kind of understanding of what is happening.
June 17, 2021
6.-Then the music teacher developed his plans for the subsequent classes 8, 9, and
10 meetings in singing and just to teach music theory, (the one that starts in class 9) for
separate classes.
Steiner said:
7.-"We would make some harmony. Referring with class 10 the harmony to counterpoint, in such a way
let them have a desire to write something for themselves, don't force anything, let it come to them
outside of themselves, but do not force it.

CLASS 11:

On June 20, 1922, the curriculum for the first class 11 was established. Steiner said something about
of the music.
9.- "I only sing in class 11. Lead or take to a musical appreciation (20.6.22)
10.-The same thought was expressed, though in different words, the next day:
11.-"In the eurhythmics and music classes, it is obvious that you must consider at this age
how to cultivate the taste. This can be done by making use of what has already been learned.
You do not need to take much of what is new in content, but rather to develop a
good judgment and musical taste."(21.6.22)

CLASS 12:

12.- The main task for this class is to train the students to be able to stay awake since
his own musical experience, what distinguishes Bach's style from that of others
composers.”(25.4.23)
13.-In 1924 the music for class 12 was not discussed.
14.- A conversation held on September 18, 1923, and indicated under circles in this chapter
about the place of music in Steiner schools. The music teacher asked Steiner.
to show how to deal with rhythms that were used differently in Eurhythmics and
music. He asked if only the rhythms two, three, and four were important or if other rhythms,
including the five and the six should also be taken. Steiner said:
 1.-"The rhythms that have seven or five beats for older children, in no way for
those under 15 or 16 years of age. I think if you give the children rhythms of
seven or five strokes under 15 years his musical center will be confused. I think that anyone who
He has a gift and could become a musician in any case (he would learn it by himself).
Up to four sides is enough. Care should be taken that the musical center
stay as distant as possible so that they can experience differences.
That would not be the case if you take rhythms with seven beats. It is certainly excellent.
educationally for the child to take an active part through a dynamic class (tempo)
from the side), but every child must be included."(18.9.23)
2.-The music teacher:
"As long as I have let them lead as a group. I wonder if I should also"
asking the younger pupils to drive alone.
Steiner replied:
I think this should also start between the ages of 9 and 10. The fact that ...
comes in these years is of such nature that a great...
In no way is it unnecessary for this to extend to other subjects as well, like
for example in arithmetic where one wonders how to lead others to certain tasks. This happens because
itself, but in music it will be part of the art itself.”(18.9.23)
4.-You wait as soon as possible with the minors, but something may be introduced.
about it now. But everything that is really essential is this: that you begin to
work in the opposite direction. Now the child's attention will be directed to the demands of the
music, therefore, the lesson will be directed more towards the aesthetic aspect. Previously "the child
it was the important thing, and everything was done to achieve that the child sings and speaks. Now that the child has
passed through the first three classes where it was the first consideration, it must
conforming to the demands of music as an art. This is the main consideration from the
educational point of view.

STUDY OF THE MUSIC PROGRAM

Classes 1 to 3 (7 to 9 years) Vocal and oral rehearsal - singing in unison

Classes 4 10 years Musical Notation - the scale.
Class 5 to 6 (11 to 17 years) The different scales - major and minor
Execution in totality set. Part
of the song.
Class 7 to 8 (13 to 14 years) Musical Judgment.
Class 9 15 years ) Major and minor modes such as
Ways to express feelings.
Class 10 16 years Instrumental harmony music.
Class 11 17 years Musical Appreciation of Solo Singing
(development of touch and musical judgment)
Class 12 ( 18 years ) Different styles of music.

EURHYTHMY AND GYMNASTICS

5.- In the 1906 conference about 'The education of the child,' Steiner expressed himself
the same in the following way about gymnastics and games (literally games for young people).
6.- The knowledge of spiritual anthropology facilitates the true foundations, not only for the
spiritual and mental education, but for the physical. This can be illustrated by 175 references to
the games of children and gymnastic exercises. Just as love and joy should permeate the
child's environments in the earliest years of life, thus through physical exercises the
the growing etheric body should experience an intimate feeling of its own
growth, always increase your strength. Gym exercises, for example, should be
of such nature that every movement, every step, gives rise to the feeling within the child: 'I feel
growing strength within me.” This feeling must take possession of the child as a healthy sense of
inner happiness and sociability or accessibility, comfort, softness, friendliness, generosity.
Developing exercises with thought requires more than an intellectual knowledge of the
anatomy and human physiology. It requires an intimate intuitive knowledge of the connection of the senses
of happiness and sociability with the positions and movements of the human body a knowledge
that is not merely intellectual, but permeated with feeling. Whoever wishes can arrange such
exercises must be able to experience in oneself as a movement and positions of the
extremities produce a happy and soft feeling of strength, another, as if it were a loss
internal force... To teach gymnastics and other physical exercises with those things in mind,
The teacher will require only the Anthroposophist - and above all, the anthroposophical mental habit.
It can give. It does not need to see itself within the spiritual worlds immediately, but rather
He must have the understanding to apply in life only what springs from knowledge.
spiritual.

1.- When these words were spoken, eurythmy had not yet been born. This did not happen until 1912.
After the First World War, it was introduced to the public and incorporated into the curriculum of
Waldorf school as a branch since the day of the school's foundation.
2.- In the first of a series of lectures given only a few months before the
opening of the Waldorf School, when speaking about cultural science, Steiner said:
3.-"What is taught to the growing human as mere gymnastics we want
replace it with an animated cultural scene."(9 conf.1)
4.-Regarding the matter of the instruction (or training) of the will, he said:
5.-"Even in these early years it is a matter of cultivating the will. For this purpose
we must submit exercises of a bodily nature and artistic activity. In this regard, a
A completely new approach will have to be made. A start has been made in the time of
movement that we call eurhythmics.
6.-You can see a lot of body movement culture which is in a state of
decadence: but many people like it. In this situation we want to introduce something that is given to.
the growing human instead of what has been the custom up to now as exercise
corporal, in a soulful cultural setting.
7.-Now this is capable of cultivating the kind of willpower that will be with a person to...
the length of life, while other paths of cultivating will have a peculiarity of being
weakened by the various events and experiences of life.
8.-When the Waldorf School opened in the Autumn of 1919, due to absolutely external reasons.
only the lessons of eurhythmics could be introduced, gymnastics was added several years later
afternoon.
9.- Due to the close relationship between both forms of movement, it was necessary for Steiner
always and again talk about the differences between them and their mutual relationship. He did this because
first time in the Practical Course for teachers (methodology and didactics) the content contains a
important reference for the meaning of eurhythmia for the child before the change of teeth
Kindergarten
It is a fact that the individual is born into the world with the desire to bring their own body and this
The internal musical capacity is more active in children at three to four years of age. Parents
They can create a quantity if they take care to form walls around the induced music.
eternally that, on the indication of the whole body, the element ....... And precisely in these
three to four years infinite results could be achieved by the permeation of the child's body
with an elemental eurhythmics. If parents learned to get involved in eurhythmics with the child, the
Children would be quite different from what they are. They would overcome a certain heaviness which
it weighs down its limbs.
1.- In the fourth conference of the same course, the following indication occurs about the quality of
to listen
2.- Our listening, particularly to verbs, is actually always a participation. The part
the more spiritual side of man, in reality, participates, but merely as a 'tendency'. But
It is only in eurythmy that one is fully expressed. Eurythmy gives, in addition to everything, a way of listening.
When someone tells a legend, the listener participates all the time with their ego in the physical life.
behind the sounds, but enough. The ego performs a constant eurythmy, and the eurythmy
expressed in it. The physical body is just listening made visible. So you are always
committed to eurhythmics when they listen and when you are actually performing
eurhythmia is merely making visible what they leave invisible when they listen. The manifestation of the
The activity of the listener is actually eurhythmics. People will learn from eurhythmics to listen.
Correctly... A class of healing or restoration of the being of the soul must occur again.
Consequently, it will be particularly important to add the hygiene of the soul to all the
materialistic hygienic training trends in gymnastics related exclusively to everything
subject with the physiology and functions of the body. This can be achieved by alternating gymnastics
and eurhythmics, but they will teach for the soul what they teach for the body in gymnastics, and,
Furthermore, there will be a very beautiful interplay of those two forms of expression.
3.-In 'The Study of Man' in connection with the ternary nature of man, considering the
the apparent tranquility of a person riding on a train, Steiner said:
4.- “Thus, the head brings to rest in you what the extremities accomplish in the world through the
movement of the external world and what the mind brings in restlessness (or rest).
5.- Now, as human beings, our purpose is to imitate, to absorb the movement of the world.
within ourselves through our limbs What do we do then?
We dance. This is true dance. External dance is only fragmentary dance. All dance
true, it has originated from the imitation of the limbs the movement carried out by the
planets by other celestial bodies or by the earth itself.
But now, what part of our head or chest plays in this dance, this imitation of
movement of our limbs? The movements we make in the world are
detained or contained, as if it were, in the head and in the chest. The movements cannot
continue through the chest towards the head, because the head, weak companion, rests on the
shoulders and does not allow the movements of the head to be reached. The soul must participate in the
movements while resting, because the head rests on the shoulders. What does it do?
then the soul? It begins to reflect from within itself the dance movements of the
extremities. When the extremities execute the harmonic cosmic movements of the Universe
then they begin to sing. Thus, the external movement of the dance becomes song and in
music inside.
7.-The text says 'external' and 'inside' this absolutely confuses the meaning. It is a matter of
transformation of external dance within an indoor activity, a song and making music
within the soul. This is clarified in the following sentences:............
The external movements of man are brought to the rest of the soul and through this begins to
transfer to the tones.
The same is true regarding all other sensory impressions. Like the
organs of the head do not take part in external movements, they radiate those movements
externally backwards inside the chest, and they make them (or turn them into sounds and towards the others
sensory impressions."(11 conf.10)

1.- A notable indication about movement, whether it has meaning or not, is made in
the 13th conference on the State of Man.
2.- "It's not a matter of whether the man is active or not, because a weak man is also active."
but the matter is how much purpose the actions of man have - those words must be submerged
in our minds if we were teachers. Now when is a man active without purpose? He is
active without purpose, insensibly active, when it acts solely according to the demands of
his body. He acts with purpose when he acts according to the demands of his environment
and not merely in accordance with those of its body. We must pay attention to this where the
The child is affected. On one hand, it is possible to direct the child's external bodily movements, but
and more to what is purely physical, that is, to physiological gymnastics, where we simply
we inquire about the body, what movements will need to be made. But we can also guide the
external movements of the child so that the child does not just splash around in the spirit
in their bodily movements in eurythmy. The more we make the child do purely
Physical exercise will be at the mercy of an excessive desire to sleep and an excessive tendency.
to gain weight. We should not completely overlook the physical side, since man must live the
rhythm, but having oscillated to this side we must oscillate (balance) back again to a
class of movement expresses a sound and has a meaning. The more we can alternate
gymnastics with eurhythmics brings more harmony within the need for sleeping and waking up,
We will also maintain a normal life in the child's will, in their relationships with the world.
external. However, gymnastics has become empty of all sense and meaning so that
we have converted it into an activity that is entirely related to the body, it is a phenomenon
characteristic of the era of materialism and the fact that we seek to 'elevate' this activity to
level of sport, where the movements to be performed derive solely from the body, and not only
they lack all sense and meaning - this typical fact of an effort to drag man
down even further beyond the level of materialist thought to that of raw feeling.
excessive pursuit of sports is Darwinism in practice. Theocratic Darwinism is to assert that
Man descends from animals. Sport is practical Darwinism, proclaiming an ethic that carries
back to the man towards the animal.
3.-At the Stuttgart conference.......................................................in eurhythmy.
4.- In the sixth lecture of the Basel course of 1920, there is an extensive passage about eurhythmics.
compared to Gymnastics. In this conference, eurhythmics is called 'Almada' gymnastics
(in enalmada) against “physiological” gymnastics which takes its starting point from a study
of the human body.
5.- "Eurythmy distinguishes itself from this by the fact that each movement is 'animated'......
Each movement is at the same time the expression of the soul, just like the sounds of language.
They are an expression of the soul.”(conf.23.6)
6.- At that time, Steiner referred briefly to eurythmy as such, contrasting it with dreaming.
In dreaming, man is half asleep; in eurhythmics, he is more awake than he is in the
ordinary life.

1.- "The consideration, which I cannot fully note here, ends with the following
sentences:
2.- 'Regular gymnastics does not strengthen the willpower initiative. The willpower initiative will be strengthened.
when a child performs movements of a class where each one is at the same time expressive of
a movement of the soul, where the soul empties itself within each singular movement.
3. Of course, this indication should be considered in its entirety. In conference 13 of
In the same course (Basel), there is a significant passage about the game of the children to whom it is addressed.
reader's attention.
In the first year of the Waldorf School, the need to introduce gymnastics was already discussed.
5.- In connection with an observation made in July 1920 about Steiner music education
said spontaneously:
6.- We can consider adding gymnastics as soon as possible. We could include it.
immediately so that we can say - in the affirmation of our goals t in the
curriculum - 'gymnastics and eurhythmics'. That would be something absolutely good. They just need to go
side by side so that we do physiological gymnastics. As soon as the question is asked, it can
to say that we have not excluded her, that she is included. (24.7.20)
On the same day several discussed the possibility of letting boys and girls do gymnastics together.
piece and at the same time.
7.- "Gymnastics lessons do not need to be given in the three lower classes."
Eurhythmia will be sufficient for the first and second grade. But after that we need to have
gymnastics at the end of not having it. If something absolutely good is done. It would be a good thing if in
as much as possible, I could continue eurhythmy, so that the children first do eurhythmy and at the end
So gymnastics... That would be quite an hour for eurhythmics and then at the end gymnastics. A
eurhythmics, half an hour of gymnastics."(27.7.20)
In 1920, he referred to gymnastics as an unavoidable necessity.
9.-Steiner made a remarkable observation about the use of eurhythmics in school festivities.
conference of 1921:
10.- "The principle of displaying the harmony of the school is dethroned by forming a special class. That
It should not be done. If it is a real principle of the school, it will not be done. We do not prepare a
special group. It will be taken from the regular course of school lessons. The education of
the school will be disturbed if you create an aristocracy of pupils........ Someone must intervene between
the ordinary pupils that can also be used. It is not educational to prepare someone
especially in a group by themselves."(23.3.21)
11.-The same problem was addressed on May 26, 1921, and also on November 16 of the same year.
year, but there in reference to tonal eurhythmics. The reader is advised to look at it.
On May 26, 1921, gymnastics could still not be performed. Steiner said:
There are many children in the fifth grade who we could do it with gymnastics; like it could be or
It should rather be. One lesson a week would properly belong to our curriculum.
We will spiritualize (according to Stochmuyer, Steiner used the word "spiritualise")
Vegeistein, not 'realice' = to realize, only based on the above, the next passage can
understand this as soon as we can.
14.-Therefore, Steiner is announcing and reorganizing a gymnastic teaching. And a few
weeks later he speaks in the Advanced gymnastics course. And a few weeks later the
talk in the Supplementary Course about Gymnastics: how it could be or rather should be and
then it would be a 'direct contact' with eurhythmics. What he meant by his statement
it becomes clear. The eurhythmy made list,
Taken immediately at the founding of the Waldorf School. Gymnastics also had to be part.
of the Curriculum because parents and children wanted it equally - and it was a recognized subject in that
time. But it could not be introduced if it remained unchanged.

1.-Steiner took on the task of remodeling it, so here too the principle in practice that the
a person doing gymnastics would accompany each movement with the experience of its meaning.
As this new goal takes a more concrete form with each step, it is discernible in what he has.
what to say later. In the 'Supplementary Course' of 1921 we still see observations of
accreditations made about gymnastics in vogue until then, but also a clear indication
of the new purpose.
In the first conference of this course, Steiner talks about the physiological processes that take place.
in the child's body as a consequence of a new contemplative teaching, by a
side, as opposed to a teaching that is more carried out through activity.
3.- "Because the same true phenomenon is produced in their organism, at a somewhat less intense degree,
how it is produced in sleep. All the time we are teaching that appeals almost
exclusively in thinking and contemplation, a certain ascent is taking place in the child of
organic activity. They are developing in their organism the same activity that is being developed
in sleep: the products of metabolism are being transported to the brain. We must understand that in
As for how awake we are, anyone who is sick in our body is held back from
the higher organs are not allowed to rise. However, when we go to sleep,
There is a definite rise of the disease; it rises to the lower organs. And so if we are
achieving that a child studies and observes and considers, then anyone who is not in order
in their organism, rising all the time. On the other hand, suppose we are teaching to
a child studying eurhythmics by singing or playing music, giving them gymnastics or some.
handicraft class (knitting, crafts, loom work, weaving, spinning), or even if
We are allowing to write - in all those cases we have in the child an increased awakening.
So, when you teach singing or eurhythmics, there is no doubt about it, you put in
functioning in the child a hygienic activity-yes, even a therapeutic activity..........perhaps the
Activity is healthiest if you do not approach it in the spirit of the doctors; it would be good if...
we should know how we really work for each other. We should know, for example,
That children must have the healthy rise of healthy organic fluids - of which we are seeing the
good results in our History lessons - which they must be aware of due to the eurythmy
that they had the day before.
4.-Here for the first time, gymnastics is shown to be part of the referenced teaching class.
above for example 'carried more by activities'
5.-In the second lecture of the same course, there is again a discussion about eurhythmics and also
gymnastics, but after a good amount of negative characterization of the gymnastics class
ordinary we hear once again the demand made in 1906 at the conference 'The education of
"child" that the person doing gymnastics should participate with their soul in what they are doing with
her body.
Only now, taking this momentum expressed in the 'Education of the child,' does it become possible to take
gymnastics in Waldorf Education as a truly educational instrument. This passage
decisively important as follows:
7.- "Man has no place in that gymnastics. In theory, Natural Science has already excluded him, but
Here, in gymnastics and exercise, he is excluded in the actual practice. Because a man as a man does not
It has a place there, that deeply rooted gymnastics as they have come to be in our way.
so-called civilization, are among the most reprehensible, we could say irreligious (impious, sacrilegious,
evil, wicked). They make children a mimicry of a model. That is not a goal for the
Education! The true educator will see that the child takes a position, a stance that also
experiment internally. The same with the movements we require him to make. They
They should be movements that he experiences internally. Take, for example, breathing.
They must know that, in inspiration, the child may be led to feel a slight suggestion of
some food of good taste, which is sliding under your palate. The experience shouldn't go
so far with the same real perception of taste; there should only be the slightest suggestion of
Hello, just enough for the child to be able to feel when he breathes in, that he is
Feel something of the freshness of the world. Try to make him feel this, and then ask him, 'What about'
Color is my inspiration? If the child can achieve a correct sensation when inspiring, he will know that
you have achieved something if you have been able to make the child feel that his inspiration has a
greenish color, something like a natural green. And you will find that your body then the
The child's inner experience will inevitably lead him to maintain his body correctly.
So you can continue with exercises:
Similarly, you can take the child to an experience corresponding to the inspiration.
The moment when he begins to feel, in the expiration. I really think that I am a
Splendid comrade! The moment he has that feeling of his own strength and of wanting
send it (or offer it) outward, into the world, will also experience it correctly (like
something absolutely in harmony with itself) the corresponding movement of the abdomen in the
expiration, the movements of the limbs, the conduction of the head, the position of the
arms. When the child has fully entered at once into the feeling of expiration,
It will experiment within the correct movements that correspond.
2.-I have taken breathing as an example. We could start with some other activity that
the child can feel movements of arms or legs, run, etc. or even the actual transport of the child,
how to sustain oneself. Each time in the experience of the inner soul that we have to
find and develop, because that will of oneself leads to an appropriate bodily expression. And
here we have reached the point where we can bring gymnastics into immediate connection with eurhythmics. And
this is exactly what we need to do.
3.- Eurythmy brings an element of soul and spirit to an immediate experience. It fills everything that is
moves in the man with the soul and spirit. Take as your starting point what man has
developed with respect to the soul and spirit in the course of human evolution. But it also
Physical body can be experienced in a spiritual way. It can happen if matters are taken seriously.
quite far in that direction, experiencing breathing and metabolism. In this regard the
man can develop himself far enough to have a sense of self,
sent "with" his physical-corporal nature. And then I would like to say that it comes to the child on a level
superior when finally the eurhythmia reaches gymnastics. Certainly, one can build a
bridge between eurythmy and gymnastics. But gymnastics should be done in a different way than the child.
get the movements that are performed in gymnastics from the experience of body-physical, from the
experience of body-psychic, from the experience of the soul and spirit, and leaving the
physical-corporate movements are attuned (harmonized) to those experiences.
4.- Just as this passage is important for understanding the alternative effect of sleeping and
waking up and its relation to active contemplative teaching (for example: teaching through
activity), as well as a passage further along in conference 3 of the "supplementary course" which in its
The main part has already appeared in the chapter on music.
5.-"Looking at man in his entirety, we find that he is an extraordinarily
complicated—this “man” that the teachers set out to understand! When you all
they teach eurythmy to a child, he is brought into movement, and the movements are carried within the
etheric body. Although to begin with, the astral body and ego put up a resistance, they also
they need to receive a print (mark) of the activities that are currently taking place in the
physical and etheric bodies. Then comes sleep. The astral body and ego leave the physical body, and
they carry this mark in contact with other absolutely spiritual forces. In the morning they
Again they return and what they bring with them carries evidence of a wonderful harmony.
between what has been received from the spiritual world during sleep, and what was
experienced the day before by the physical and etheric bodies when the child was doing
Euritmia. We gave the child certain experiences - we can say, in preparation. The path that they were on.
experiences transmit to harmonize with the spiritual experiences one experiences.
during sleep, they can reveal to us what eurhythmia really does for the child. When
we find the result the next morning - then and not until then - we are able to
appreciate the wonderfully healthy-giving power that is latent in eurhythmy. If we give
Euritmia for the child in the appropriate way is actually like this when he wakes up the next morning and
Enter into his body, he takes it down into the spiritual substance."(26 conf. 3)

1.-This shows how the school should take into account the child's sleep as a measure.
effective for the path which is being reconstructed.
2.-The following sentences are also taken from the 'Supplementary Course', conference 4,
they indicate a very important measure derived from human knowledge and that affects
Directly the practice of teaching where you have to see the bodily activity.
3.-"When a child does eurhythmics, movement comes, and the spiritual that is in the limbs
They flow upwards in the path of the child's movements. We set the spiritual free when
we give the child eurhythmics, (and it is the same with singing). The spiritual with which the limbs are
plans to overflow, is released. This is a real process that occurs in the child. We extract the
spiritual, we make it come out. And then, when the child stops doing the exercises, the spiritual that
we have made this come out, so to speak, hoping to be used (I talked about this situation yesterday in
another connection). The spiritual is also waiting to be established, to be assured. We must
find (confront) this need. As you can see, we have "spiritualized" the child. Through
the act of exercising or how much he has come to be a different being, he has in himself more than
spiritual of the one he had before. This spiritual element in him wants to establish itself, wants to
to stay with him; and for us it is to see that he does not stray. There is a simple way to do this.
After the lesson has ended, let the children remain still for a while. Give
A break for the whole class, and make sure that during this time - it only needs to be a few.
minutes-they are still and undisturbed. The older the children are, the bigger the
need for this pause. We must never forget to give it fable; if we don't do it, then at
The next day we will not fail to find in the children what we need.
4.- After having talked about the transition in the child's life during the time of change
teeth from imitation to the 'beautiful copy' there in the last conference continues an observation
at the last conference of the 'Supplementary Course' which continues as follows:
5.- "Because when a child does eurythmy or sings, what is he really doing? He is...
freeing from the habit of imitation, and yet in the true act of freeing oneself from
Hello, in a way he is taking it to a later stage. He is making moves. When
he is singing and even when he is listening to the music he is in motion (internally)
in the same form as he is when he is imitating. When we let the child do eurhythmics,
when instead of having a small board or a pen in your hand, and making him write an A or E, at the
there is no other possible relationship than one of memorization learning instead of this,
We are getting him to write, in his own human way, the content of the language he is.
learning to register in the world what I can register through my own body. This
It means the child is continuing the activity in which he was engaged in another way.
its preexistence. On the contrary, he will have to put his being into activity; we will be calling him to
to unfold with all its being."(26 conf. 8)
A particularly important turn of events regarding gymnastics occurs in the
"Christmas Course" 1921/22. Of this course, Steiner says: "this is the course that will provide information
about those subjects.” In the third lecture, he reveals an unexpected and overwhelming aspect.
related sports such as gymnastics.
2.- "Religion has lost the inner strength to invigorate the logic within man. Because this is so, it
has originated the instinct to want to acquire the same strength in an external form. And like everything in the
life works polemically - we are confronted with the fact that in the sphere of religion man
has lost what they immediately want to acquire externally. Well certainly, I am not going to go to
to indulge in entries against sport as such and I am convinced that it will develop beyond that
a healthier way. But it will have a different role in the future than it does today when it has
has become a substitute for religion. Such things appear to be paradoxical currently due to
that we have put ourselves in so many situations in our modern civilization.
3.-The seventh conference of the same course contains a consideration on gymnastics following
about an exposition of the length of the subconscious process between the child and the educator and also
about the suprasensible wisdom in the child and the earthly understanding of the educator.
4.-If it is necessary for us for the purpose of teaching or educational measurement to have the
child sitting quietly in class, even on hygienically built bases we are on
in any case causing the child to sit still so that the activity is not the system
metabolic-motor, on the contrary, everything that is working has to be taken out of the
head. this is a unilateralism in which we place the child.
5.- We'll balance this again later, and it is correct that it should be later, alleviating the
head of its activity and managing to stir up the metabolic-motor system, allowing exercise to be done to the
child.
6.-When you are aware of how polar opposites the processes are in the cephalic organism and in the
motor-metabolic system, it will quickly be understood how important it is to alternate properly.
also in this sphere and then take them back to the classroom and continue teaching them in
class-good, what happens then?
7.-You see, as long as the man has his metabolic-motor system in agitation, those
thoughts that are artificially induced within the head between the infinite and the earth not
They are in the head, but outside. The child runs around carrying his metabolic-motor organism.
to the movement. The implanted thoughts during earthly life resonate.
8.-But that which at other times plays in dreams, this suprasensible wisdom, is
present now unconsciously in the head becomes centered in the head.
9.-Therefore, if we take the child back to the classroom after gym class
we put something that is subconscious lower for the child in front of it, instead of what he thought
previously during the gymnastics exercises.
10.-Because during gymnastics exercises not only the sensible, but also the suprasensible
to which a particular opportunity is given to work on the child.
11.- For this reason, the child becomes internally ill-disposed. And we harm him, instilling a
tendency to illness, allowing regular teaching to follow the gym lesson.

1.- If it weren't for the fact that we, the old folks who have already hardened in our organization, that
we carry it inside our heads as external wisdom, acquired through intellectual means
it properly radiates images within our memory, it would flow back later within the
rest of the organism. And yet, as paradoxical as it may sound, that which would remain in the
head according to the normal organization, if it reflects downward within the organism
metabolic-motor, the man gets sick, acts like a poison.
2.- Rational knowledge is indeed a kind of poison if it reaches the wrong place, if it arrives
finally within the metabolic system. We can only live with this rational wisdom if the
poison (I mean in an absolutely technical sense, not as a moral judgment), does not penetrate towards
down inside our metabolic-motor system. There it acts terribly destructively. But this
rigidity does not exist in the case of a child. If we manage with our mature wisdom (this
it could have been stff=steif, not reif, according to Stock Meyer), this poison penetrates downward and
In reality, it poisons our metabolic-motor system. You want to make the child.
especially cunning (intelligent) according to today's wisdom in other words if you
they sit down and swallow it when possible while sitting, then something else happens,
then the unconscious wisdom in the child of working is prevented.
3.- Because this unconscious wisdom acts when the child is actively moving around,
when it makes more or less rhythmic movements. Because rhythm promotes the unification of the organism
with unconscious wisdom by virtue of the peculiar intermediate position that it assumes
"organization of the head and the extremities and metabolism." (27)
4.- In lecture 15 of the same course (Christmas course 1921/22), Steiner speaks again.
about children's free play and gymnastics.
5.- "In an education that is based on knowledge of man, we must see in it
that we learn to understand how the child wants to be freely active in their play.
Everything we bring to the child through the path of stereotypical thought (ausgetüftelt) in the form of
games linked to the child in something that is foreign to the repression of what should be internalized
becoming animated in it. With respect to his own inner activity, the child becomes indifferent and because
an activity is fraudulently introduced into it, the child himself becomes indifferent to be
committed to this external activity without interest. It can be acquired particularly well.
clear perception in those matters, it is noticeable that the child's play is being allowed to emerge in a
gymnastics occupation is much better than remaining in the realm of play where it is much
more emphasis on considering the child's intentions.
6.- Generally speaking, it must be said that the gymnastic exercises that are formed in such a way
that they approach the child in a more external way. So that if they have real knowledge
The man will prefer to see the child occupying themselves with parallel bars, bars
horizontal bars and rope ladders, rather than the gymnastics teacher should direct the
movements that the child has to fulfill as something external, something observed and not having
originated from the child himself. This free play is something that must be studied. It must be achieved
to get to know the child, then the possibility of stimulating this free play will be found. Likewise
boys and girls should participate in this free game. Girls should do it in a way
slightly modified what the children are doing in their free play.
7.-The exercise of movement is considered from three completely different aspects in this
course, first as part of connection with religion, then moving freely in its
alternation with intellectual learning, and finally as free play from the point of view
hygienic. (Anemia in girls).
8.- The Waldorf school still does not have physical education teachers, the children were missing it a lot.
gymnastics. Steiner expressed himself as follows in the conference on January 18, 1922.

1.- "I think that in teaching gymnastics we must be very careful regarding to the
personality. It may be that we will have to put while gymnastics lessons on a basis
broader, so that they can be carried out in a reasonable manner. We must
find someone who is interested in this. I have shown how the whole organism should be.
gradually called by the soul. That must be introduced in gymnastics. I would like this
the course should be printed as quickly as possible, because it can provide information about
things of this class. I have not had the opportunity before to explain those things precisely
sufficient for the gym teacher to be able to get into the subject. I will get into this
subject."(16.1.22)
2.-"This course" is the one from which the last instructions were taken; it took place in Dornach at Christmas.
in 1921/22. Only gymnastics was discussed in the broadest sense - but not Eurhythmics. It is the one of
which will provide information on such matters.
3.- In the lectures of this course, gymnastics was included in the practice of education in a
form and in a new style.
It was around the summer of 1922 that Count Fritz von Bothmer came as the first teacher.
of gymnastics. He was prepared for the interpretation of the demands
fundamentals of Steiner within the correct practice of teaching. Some brief
observations that Steiner made in the conferences during this time still exist.
5.- "In gymnastics, you must work with all the teaching staff. Here, judgment is in the taste"
it must come within the other things.”(21.22)
On August 24, 1924 (Oxford), Steiner spoke about figures in detail. The reader is
referred to the relevant passage.
7.- "I was happy about the gym lessons. In addition to this, all the work
Gymnastics should definitely be reinforced. Children are really growing soft.
Side by side with eurhythmics, it is very good to have gymnastics, especially for children, when it is not
carried out in the usual pedantic way, but aims to have corporeal-formative strength. It should not
to happen too early. Only the younger classes should see them.” (15.10.22)
And in the course of making a new rule about the schedule in the Autumn of 1922:
9.- "As long as it is possible Gymnastics in the afternoon The gymnastics class is not in the nature of
recreation. It is not good to place the gym lesson among other subjects. There can be two there.
classes at the same time. I need to discuss the method with the gym teachers. I have only given
instructions. But in gymnastics, it is always possible to arrange their exercises in such a way that
you can make use of two big classes. Not long ago it was absolutely
It is good to have outdoor gymnastics. It was very clear to see that the young lads had not had their
bodies in control by the way they slacked off in every direction, the children are very deprived
in the management of their bodies due to the fact that they have not had gymnastics for three years. this does not
"can refuse." (10.28.22)
10.- Once, when the children had wanted to have gymnastics lessons from 7:30 to 8:30.

1.-"The children come to the main lesson completely tired. They will not get tired anymore, but
how about as if they had taken regular action towards her.
2.-The training (configuration) of gymnastics teaching has now been inaugurated step by step.
aside from free play:
3.- 'Regarding what concerns the first two classes, we cannot do much in the
moment, but in the future we will make the following plan. In the first two classes, it is too much
Early real gymnastics, but on the other hand, systematic games should continue. We must
introduce this as soon as we have time to breathe so that link three can
make a transition from play to gymnastics. Children must have appropriate movement.
January 17, 2023
4.-Due to the new nature that Steiner had given to gymnastics, especially in the Course of
Christmas. Dornach 1921/22, and also due to the separation in the first class of children's play to
New demands were made regarding the style of gymnastics teaching itself.
Steiner expressed that in the following statements of the conference in January 1923:
2.-"The following must be taken into consideration: in a school like this, only gradually
gymnastics can be configured. It is most likely that even next year we will be able to
pay special attention to the development of gymnastics in class 12. So far it has been treated as
for a stepmother - we will have to work together on our gymnastics training. I believe in
subsequent growth of our Waldorf school gymnastics lessons will bring many tasks
difficult, especially from a particular class onwards, absolutely some exercises
Defined conscious efforts will be made for the strengthening of the human organism, a type of massage.
general hygiene of the human body. I think you should now direct your attention more
toward this, more toward the upper classes. Regarding the lower classes, I thought about
develop more games with the teachers. Gym teachers should not suffer the loss
of their authority playing with the children. You should have your authority through what only
They can come through gymnastics. Not that children should feel that now their
game teacher is teaching gymnastics. This does not mean that I am speaking lightly of
games. If the games teacher is in class 1 and 2, she will not switch to gymnastics. Through the change
A feeling of satisfaction would be awakened in the children (By games I mean games with
movements)."(17.1.23)
March 1, 1923 is an important date in the development of work for teaching
gymnastics and eurhythmics. On this occasion, the gymnastics teacher gave a report on the goal he had.
In perspective after a brief period of working that path, and Steiner develops his own
ideas in response to that comment. The words of the gym teacher are not appropriate here.
as they appear in metamorphosed form later. Steiner said:
4.-"Regarding the relationship between gymnastics and eurhythmics - there may really be no collision between
gymnastics and eurhythmics. Generally speaking, the gymnastics exercises as they are.
made, they will look, of course only in a general way, as a continuation of exercises of
eurythmy. That is to say: take an arm movement in eurythmy and a movement
corresponding in gymnastics, you will certainly notice that the form produced in eurhythmics is
closer to the center of the body than in the case of gymnastics. But there can be no collision.
5.- This will look better if I point out that eurythmy essentially has to do with what in the
the human organism plays its part in immediate connection with the internal process of breathing thus
what an arm, or a leg, or a finger or a toe performs in eurhythmics is a contact
immediate with what takes place immediate with what takes place immediate with what takes place
internally like the process of breathing, like an inner process that happens when it passes to
the blood.
Since gymnastics is essentially that process in the human body that is at the root of
passage of blood inside the muscle. This is the physiologically essential thing, at the same time.
It casts a flow of light on what should be done. As soon as we arrive at a
understanding - and that must be instantaneous - like what has been done in each movement
gymnastics with respect to becoming strong, growing, and the increased elasticity of the muscle
through the release of blood to the muscle, it will be possible to discover more free exercises in
ourselves.

1.-Now the same thing can be said from another angle. Eurythmy is essentially a
plastic formation of the organism, or rather, the eurhythmia lives in the plastic formation of the
organism, gymnastics is the static and dynamic of the organism. You felt that as much as
You said that in gymnastics, you really feel the space. Do you see this better if you add
to the parental conception of how an arm or a leg is positioned in the direction or space or in the
gravity conditions in space. You will see that there will be no collision with eurhythmics if also
Attention is paid to its character. This happens too rarely, because in representations
artstcas will not be considered as such, while in education it is particularly
important. When you have seen the figures, you will have noticed that we distinguish between
movement, feeling, and character. Movement and feeling are absolutely satisfactory.
while what constitutes character in the eurhythmic movement has not yet penetrated. This is
entirely natural, since it is not of great significance in the realization of artistic eurythmy
when looked at by another. On one hand, the character of a movement must form an element
essential in teaching. Those who are practicing eurythmy must feel the return of any
movement or position within its own perceptual faculty. Thus, for example: in the movement
from the E he must feel the pressure of one limb on the other and the reflection of the pressure within the
center of the body. There are colors placed on the figures so that it should be clear. Everywhere,
you see three colors in the figures of eurhythmics, one for movement, another for feeling
what happens to the velo - and the third by the character, for example: for that defined part of the body where he
or the eurhythmics they must stretch their muscles and feel the direction of their stretching. That belongs
to the life of eurhythmics in the plastic element, inside the body.
2.-...Since it is also important for a more physiological psychology, Waldorf teachers
they should study these figures in general; they should study them with the aim of acquiring
knowledge of the human body. What can be learned from those figures is at the same time
a general basis for artistic perception, for knowledge of the internal human organism.
3.- It should be said that the essential matter for the physical education teacher is what they should have
before if spiritually the statue and the dynamics of the human organism, who has a clear image
defined as what it means to raise a leg, lower or lift an arm, in relation to gravity
while the eurhythmics teacher must have a strong feeling; this is how the body
wants to shape his limbs plastically. It is not correct to say that the teacher of
Gymnastics is like a sculptor before his sculpture. This is true for the eurhythmics teacher.
gym teacher gives you the task of having an ideal man in front of you. Consisting of lines, shapes,
movement formations, within which he must shape this reality of the human being
messy, too tight, distorted that is before him. That was a correct expression
when you pointed out that children should carry their bodies. While the eurimist must
strive to feel the muscle itself, to feel in its condensation the character of the movement, the
The gym teacher must see if the student truly feels the heaviness or lightness of a
extremity. The child must feel, not intellectually, but instinctively, from the point of
From the perspective of gravity, each arm lift, each leg raise must, for example:
acquire the power to feel how heavy a foot can get when he stands on one leg and
raise the other one.
4.- Thus the gym teacher dynamically holds the ideal man in his soul and wants to transform
the pupil before him in such. Of course, the artistic element must take part in this work as far as
as it can only be expressed through an artistic feeling. While the feeling
artstco plays a large part in the rhythmic plastic work, in the case of a teacher of
Exercises must proceed to the formations that he leads in static and dynamic.

1.-Regarding the issues of breathing, the point at which eurhythmy is found most
next to breathing while gymnastics is closer to the process of blood. What
It is essential for gymnastics that, with the exception of respiratory acceleration during the course of
gymnastics news, which is a physiological process, the method of doing gymnastics should be arranged
so that the process of respiration is not affected by it. Where sport is as it should be, a
gymnastics exercise cannot be done if it is unfair to the process of breathing ......
2.- It is true that in gymnastics willpower is taken into account, and precisely for that reason the purpose of
gymnastics must have an instant experience of the connection between a body movement and a
expression of will. He must be able to feel how a movement is connected with the
will. In eurhythmics, will is also cultivated, but through the path of inner feeling, on a
different plan, how she will express herself through the center. Precisely what I have
described as character is the experience of the center of an act of will. The gymnastics teacher
it has to do directly with the act of will; the eurhythmics teacher with the experience of the
enter into an act of will. In everything there can be a sharp division. And we must take it into account.
Account when we develop the curriculum. Maybe we won't be able to do it immediately in
a form that will encompass the highest ideals. Then we will both observe both of those
Things, of course, the rhythmic element will more easily enter gymnastics with the girls.
With children, those things are differentiated. For this reason, we will have to let them do gymnastics.
the boys and girls in the same room, but in different groups, so that the girls form a
group for themselves, and the free exercises restore the give and take between them. Their joy is
increase if they have exercises with variations for boys and girls.
3.-I think this will only be clarified when we are able to discuss the curriculum in detail.
It is also variable according to age.
4.-Regarding the devices, I would like to note that the shape of the devices could be
modified and perfected, but that, generally speaking, approximately at least, the
Common devices are not so terribly bad that we cannot do anything with them.
Although I do not wish to insist fanatically about our possession of climbing sticks, not yet
"I would abuse her too much"...and after a reference to climbing trees at parties.
of village churches (Those climbing trees were trunks of fir or pine trees stripped of
their bark and decorated with ribbons and garlands at the tips. The young people climbed them in a
a similar way that sailors climbed the masts of the ship.
5.- "That is something that works very strongly on the effect of will on nature"
corporal. This is something that can be exercised artistically by climbing the poles. Of course there are
Some advantage if the children have to climb a rope. The pole, I must say, is a device.
of limited importance. But I do not wish to completely exclude it parallel bars, the bar
horizontal, the horse, if used properly something can be done with them.
I agree with the diversification of exercises to a certain extent by combining them.
Because in this way, it is more about emotional presence, and that must be put into play.
in working with devices. This has a retroactive effect and strengthens the muscles. In this way they
they obtain the correct elasticity and strength.
I agree, but I still believe that horizontal bars gain greater importance if
you place more value on a quick and judicious observation, not with the eyes, but with the
sent, of the body. Surely this order this unique thing is useful; stop swaying (balancing) the
Child should grab the bar in such a way. He must hold himself in the air. This exercise is only done like this.
to indicate its purpose. It can be done with the hands, but also with the whole arm. The
the movement doesn't have meaning until it is done with the arm. It can be started with the
hands. These are things that should really lead the child to feel the device with their body.
whole, this brings more sympathy with the device than it had at the beginning. The first thing for
considering is that the child learns to work on the horizontal bar with their legs. So
You can also combine the exercise by letting it move along.
the bars with their legs, hanging with their legs.

1.-That should only indicate the spirit and the purpose. I don't think it's absolutely necessary.
of talking about the dead device and a new routine. It has come to be so. It doesn't need to be a routine if
you all voice this experience of the device. The legs can be used in a way
truly wonderful at the bars.
2.-I would like to report here about an observation made by Steiner that I remember and that
he might shed light on what he said about the exercises on the parallel bars
and horizontals. It was probably on this occasion that he recommended arm movements.
to make them straighter, but bent at the elbows, so to speak a shortened version. I would imagine
that he was thinking particularly, or finally about the transition of the exercises on the bar
horizontal as suggested above. However, it is also possible that he was thinking
about exercises without equipment. It would be useful to read a passage in the Ilkey conferences which
They will indicate later in this connection, to see if it can be found in the bend of the lower arm.
It should also be remembered that the activity that expresses itself in outstretched arms
without restriction in an external radiation arrives at an experience of oneself again in this
flexion, thus bringing the human being back to itself. something takes place, just as happens in the
experience of the senses and in their transition to representation (Vorstellung) in reflection.
3.-But first of all, one is surprised at the Ilkley conference on August 8 by the
significant consideration of the ancient ideals of Greek Education and what was happening in
those educational centers from long ago. There we read as follows:" What
we contemplate when we direct our attention to one of those places in Greece, where the
Young people were educated from the seventh year of life onwards, which can be correct.
Modern impulses permeated, gives us a true basis to understand what is necessary
for education and instruction nowadays.” (35 conf. 2)
4.- The considerations that follow are too extensive to reproduce them here in their
totality, as important as they are for the eurhythmics and gymnastics teacher.
In the election of ascensions of the Steiner conferences, in any case, the method had to
to be that, insofar as it is possible, passages were chosen that gather a truth that has been
under consideration, in a few sentences, and where possible significantly illuminate their
connections with other matters. One cannot expect to form knowledge in those step by step.
pages, and that is because it is assumed that the reader will not be satisfied with just reading the instructions,
but he himself will lead the works, scheduled conferences, in order to experiment again
the brief sentences in the context from which Steiner had written or was speaking about them.
5.- A final reference from Steiner about the Ilkley course at the conference on August 17, 1923 in the
tomorrow, again characterize the relationship between gymnastics and eurhythmics - having spoken of
gymnastics as if it had been inaugurated by Steiner at the Waldorf school.
Let me just say now that we have introduced eurhythmy in our Waldorf School because
gives such a wonderful contrast to ordinary gymnastics. As has been indicated, the exercises
Physical activities are carried out properly at the Waldorf School, but regarding gymnastics
ordinary, external, we prepared it in such a way that with each exercise a child is given
First of all, a sense of space, of the directions of space that are there, of course.
like the primary thing. The child senses the direction of space and then their arms follow it. In their
gymnastics he surrenders to space. This is the only healthy basis for gymnastic exercises.

1.-Space is conditioned in all directions. To our abstract conception of space there is

three directions that we cannot distinguish in any way. Only they are there in geometry. In
reality, however, the head is up, the legs down - there we have the up and down. Then
we have right and left. We live in this direction of space when we enter our
arms. The issue is not to ask: Where is the absolute address? Of course, we can
to turn towards this path or that one. So we have our direction forward and backward,
front and behind. All other directions in space are oriented with respect to those. If
we understand space this way we can discover truly healthy movements for gymnastics,
towards where the human being himself surrenders, as if this were to go the laws of space.
2.-In eurythmy, the character of movement is determined by the human organism and then
The question is: What is the soul experiencing in this or that movement? This, in truth, underlies.
the rhythmic movements for the different sounds. What is happening when the forces of
Does the being flow to the extremities? In gymnastic exercises, the human being lends itself to space;
Euritmia performs movements that express its being in accordance with the laws of its organism.
Allowing what is internal to express itself externally in movements is the essence of the
Euritmia. Filling the external with the human being unites itself with the external world - that is the
essence of gymnastics."(35 conf. 12)
3.-Now follows an enlightening passage about the use of the figures of eurhythmics in response to a
Question asked to Steiner at a conference regarding how the figures should be.
positions.
Until a child has learned the gesture in question, he cannot connect a concept with the.
Figure. At the moment he has learned the gesture, he is ready to relate it to the figure.
In addition to this, he will understand the movement, not the character and sentiment. The sentiment is...
expressed in the veil. 'You are still too young to see it.' From the moment when the
children learn to live the sound within themselves you can gradually
transmit the nature of character. When they involve the principle in doing those
Figures will have a favorable effect on the lessons of eurhythmics. A feeling develops.
artstco in the course of the tempo. If it is possible to develop this feeling, it should be done.
September 18, 2023
5. A more detailed speech about those figures has to be found in the Oxford course.
but I cannot abridge this passage here due to its length. The reader should read it up to this
point. (29 conf. 8)
In the last course that Steiner gave exclusively to the teachers of the Waldorf School, he adds
the following words to the description of the historical ideals of the gymnast, learned rhetorician.
7.- "But today, we are precisely at the point when we must cultivate the synthesis of those
three elements in man (for Gymnast, Rhetorician, and Teacher also represent three sides
of human nature and the cultivation of this synthesis is more necessary in education than in
any other sphere. For this reason, if everything could be conducted according to an ideal, it would be
for a body of teachers to be able to cultivate the three elements continuously; on the other hand,
they should also cultivate gymnastics and rhetoric separately with everything that belongs to
they according to the ancient conception, and the element of the teacher, everything in the sense more
noble, but those three elements should unite. I almost shrink in horror at characterizing such
dryly
What you should know and take into consideration in this connection: because I fear that
It degenerates like many things that must be said; it should already be seen that the teacher needs.
for your art of education and teaching, the unity of external movement, of the gymnast
specialized, of the entirely animated rhetorical, and thirdly of the spiritual which has
become a living being not the spiritual grown dead and abstract.

1.- Thus, the entire body of teachers should actually take part in what we
it affects in the noblest sense in gymnastics, in what we have in exercise in eurhythmics;
They should have seen all those things for themselves. And if you really succeed in getting in so
Deep within the eurythmy, there lives an element that affects the soul and the spirit. Each
eurhythmic movement calls forth an animic element from the deepest foundations of the
human nature, and every gymnastic movement, if only used in the correct way, brings out
to a certain extent in the human being a movement, a spiritual atmosphere, within which the
spiritual can enter not as something abstractly dead, but as something alive.
(36 conf.)
There is a very clear statement about eurhythmia and its position between visual and sound art in the
Arheim course from 1924. Gymnastics is only discussed in its traditional form.
3.-"And bringing the child what is formative in the artistic (what it means is the "formative-artistic")
we bring something that in the deepest sense to the etheric body, as I indicated yesterday we
we occupy ourselves with the child when internally it holds onto its own being, to put it
correctly within the world as a human being. And bringing the musical element to the child, it shapes
the astral body. And if both of these are united together - if the sculptural work is done in such a way
that went into the movement and that sculptural movement was made - then we achieved eurhythmia which governs
directly from the relationship of the etheric to the astral body in the child.
It is for this reason that the child now learns to do eurhythmy, the language in articulated gesture.
just as in previous years he had learned to speak for himself.
You will never encounter obstacles regarding the learning of eurhythmics as long as the child
it is healthy for eurythmy to simply express its own being - its own being - wants to encompass its
own being........
6.-So you see that eurhythmy has originated from the whole man, from the physical body, the etheric.
and astral; one can only study it with anthroposophical knowledge of man Gymnastics of today
the day only addresses itself physiologically in a unilateral way, to the physical body; and because the
physiology cannot help when a few laws about vitality are contained within it.
7.-But total human beings are not educated through gymnastics, but rather through human beings
partials.
8.-This is not to speak against gymnastics, but rather that it is overrated nowadays.
Reason, eurhythmics must be placed alongside gymnastics.
9.- The reader should take the issue of reading the three statements of the above annotation seriously.
starting with "and" (underlined by Stockmeyer) and seeing in them a repetition in form
abbreviated from the line of thought expressed in the early stages of the Supplementary Course which
it deals with the three struggles that continue in the child's development.
10.- A final summary about eurhythmy conceived anew by Steinertene that
meet in the course of Torquay.
11.- "Gymnastics as it is taught today and all kinds of sports are absolutely good."
Because the conception of space is often considered in an absolutely very
abstract, and people do not take into consideration that space is something concrete.

1.-Then they follow indications about the above and below at different points of the ground. Some
15 lines further down it continues as follows:
2.- "Space is something concrete to which man is sensitive if he feels himself within it."
space and he feels the need to find his place in it, when he thus finds his way
within the balance of space, within the different conditions of space, then they originate
The sport and gymnastics. In these, man is trying to find his own relationship to space.
3.-If you do this gymnastic movement (arms extended) you will have the feeling
that you are moving your body upwards by your own strength. They are exercises
gymnasts. But if you feel that you are holding something inside of you that you are
experiencing internally - the sound E E - and you reflect on it, then you
They can perhaps make a similar movement, but in this case, the intimate emotional quality is expressed.
in movement. Man reveals his inner being. In eurythmy, what man expresses is
you can experience, in the breathing and in the circulation of the blood, when they come inside the
realm of the soul. In gymnastics and in sports, man feels as if space were a
structure filled with all types of lines and addresses within which it sprouts and that it follows, and he
makes its device according to....
4.- That is the difference between gymnastics and eurhythmics. Eurhythmics allows the soul's life to flow outward and
For this reason, it becomes a real expression of the human being, like the language of eurhythmics in visible language.
5.- Through gymnastics and sports, man adapts himself within the external space, he
adapt yourself to the world, experience whether fitting in with the world in this way or that. That
it is not language, it is a revelation of man, but rather a demand that the world
It is about the one who should adapt to the world and be able to find their way within it.
(40 conf.6)
6.- When one often reads Steiner's very vivid observations on gymnastics, one is
always and often faced with the question of whether he is talking about gymnastics of the
traditional class of gymnastics that he inaugurated at the Waldorf school.
7.-Follow those annotations as they occurred during the years of development of the Waldorf School
they can awaken an impression of the many phrases of the struggle that Steiner had in favor of the
gymnastics in order to elevate it to a truly human level and thus win them for an education
bringing the seeds for the future, has resulted from a bodily thought belonging to the
past.
8.- The new body training is, on one hand, eurhythmics, and on the other hand, gymnastics, both of which
they can be seen as entirely justified vis-à-vis the true purposes of the
humanity.

CURRICULAR INDICATIONS

9.-Here are the instructions for the curriculum, first for eurhythmics and then for gymnastics in
as for when they are available.

EURITHMIA

1° a 4th school year 1 lesson a week

5° a 12th grade 2 lessons a week

10.-The following are instructions by Steiner which were given at the teachers' meeting
of June 21, 1992 for an Eurythmy resume.

For school years 1st to 8th (third curricular conference)

2.- Now there is one thing that has much more advantage for us than the official curriculum. This is that
No kind of gymnastics was taught in the first three years. Thus, we started with eurhythmics.
3.-It would be very good if
In the 1st school year, eurythmy was done in conjunction with music so that in reality
A integration of eurhythmy in geometry is indicated.
In the second school year, always related to eurhythmics, music, geometry, and drawing.
6.-And then in the classes 4th, 5th, and 6th school years concrete forms, abstract forms, etc. things that are
possible now for the children because they have now come this far in
grammar. So let's continue. In the 7th and 8th school years with a complication of forms.
(16)

9th grade

7.- In the teaching of eurythmy, one should work towards a reasonable class of ensemble. But
The boys have grown into young men; they can produce fully finished total forms. In the
Tonal eurhythmia is a matter of bringing items that have been only far from being restricted to 3 or 4 items.
all year, starting too many things, bringing the little to one's own perfection.
You can overcome the obstacle of boredom.

11th. School year

8.- There should be a certain harmony in eurhythmics with other subjects. In aesthetics, the style is
it will be considered in relation to certain works of poetry. If these were made simultaneously in
Eurhythmia would be a great help. You may find that this or that poem is particularly
appropriate and then you will find that it contains especially appropriate and then
You will find that it contains elements together, especially stylistic ones. The aesthetics professor will want to...
make a poem to show a sonnet. Among the forms that I have indicated to you, you will find
some sonnets by Shakespeare and Heblel. You will find that those forms vary
greatly because they are completely adapted to the style."(21.6.22)
The result was the following list:
1st. School year: Taking one's own part of the elementary geometric shapes (viz.
Introduction to writing) and simple musical exercises, children are introduced to the
simple eurhythmic movements and shapes.
2nd and 3rd school years: Continuation with musical and geometric exercises. Now the children
They should firmly retain in memory the forms related to sounds.
4th and 6th school years: to the exercises now added as grammatical concepts forms
practiced so far. In addition, more complicated geometric shapes.
7th and 8th school years: More complicated forms are addressed, especially when grouped (or groups of
ways) for poetry and music.
9th school year: Now we begin with a systematic introduction to the laws of shapes.
eurhythmic and movements.
10th and 12th school years: In language eurhythmics, reasonable ensembles are practiced in connection with
long practical work in tonal eurhythmics we take musical pieces in multiple voices
as a basis for group exercises. At this point, closer cooperation with the teachers of
Other subjects are particularly desirable with the aesthetics professor.

Gymnastics and apparatus work

From 1st to 4th grade, one hour a week, and from 5th grade two hours a week.
week.
At all levels, children practice in classes, although the tasks may be differentiated.
partially.
3.- During Steiner's lifetime, the development of a concrete curriculum had not taken place.
achieved. However, the principles were formulated. What could be developed from these
until the dissolution of the Waldorf School in 1938, it was developed and brought together by one of the
gymnastics teachers who had been working until then, Count Fritz von
Bothmen.
4.-The need for bodily movement stemming from the disciplined work of children,
artistically directed in other subjects, should be taken in gymnastics and brought to life.
children should be able to move in accordance with the impulses working on them,
like an impulse of a result of the teaching that has happened before, that they truly enjoy
every movement. Therefore, for younger girls, it will be especially important that the
the teacher should be able to stimulate truly free play. This would also apply to the
exercises on equipment, which are clearly done by both boys and girls.
5.-Through an activity stimulated from within, the functions of the organs participate in
the healthiest way and children experience healthy sleep. On the contrary, movements
stereotypes, which are imposed on children from the outside, paralyze their own activity and
the participation of his soul. Such movements paralyze the functions of the organs and the
they become ill.
6.- As children grow in age, let's say from 4 to 3 school years, the activity
what calls for courage is stimulated, the ability to decide and speed. Running, jumping, climbing.
moving along when hanging from a bar, the beginnings of the fight launches and games
Similar detpo can then be the main content of gymnastics lessons. Here the
Children should participate in activities with their whole being.
Since around the 8th grade, it cannot be said that girls enjoyed the
Regular practice in all fields of gymnastics, athletics, and apparatus work, and can
consciously experience a revitalization of your health. Gymnastics with or without equipment then
crying will be a consciously experienced activation of the whole body that can
to develop a persevering habit for life as a result of the enjoyment that people
young.
8.- Swimming is taught as in common practice.

17 PAINTING, SCULPTING, DRAWING

1.-CLASSES 1 TO 8: As part of main classes and, if possible, 2 extra lessons a week

There were 6 main classes a week in Germany, as Saturday was an ordinary day of
School).
2.-CLASSES 9 TO 12: As part of the periods of trades (lasting 6 weeks of 3 double lessons)
Steiner's indications for the 3 activities are given in chronological order. As painting,
Modeling and drawing form a unity; a different order would be impractical.
Teaching children to read and write, we are teaching in the realm of the most
exclusively physical. Our teaching is now less physical in arithmetic, and we are
truly teaching the soul and spirit when we teach the child music, drawing, or something like that.
class." (12 conf. 1)
After talking about the introduction of writing through appropriate objects (e.g. a fish for
the letter 'f')
3.- "Consequently, we proceed by allowing each child to cultivate something so that they have to
see with drawing and painting. Thus we begin with drawing, drawing-painting, in the simplest way
simple. But we also start with the musical element, so that the child is
used from the beginning to handle an instrument
After an observation about the work, we read in the same conference about
the importance of artistic activities right in the early years (first years)
The point is never to pervert wanting through false means in a false direction, but to ensure
the strengthening of will through artistic means. For this purpose from the beginning,
teaching in painting, artistic instruction, and musical training as well, should be
employee. Not just a stage of the second period of his life, the child is more susceptible to teaching.
authoritarian in the form of art and that we can then achieve the best for it with art.
5.-He will grow as if from himself it is what we want to give him, to pass to him, and his
the greatest imaginable joy will be when he puts something on paper in drawing or even in painting,
merely superficial imitation. Here too we must feel, within times
previous cultures now with a quite different disposition of soul and spirit. Thus, drawing,
we will not lean towards saying: you must copy this or that, but we will show you
original shapes in drawing; we showed him how to make an angle like this and another handle like that;
we try to show you what a circle is, what a spiral is.
6.- We then begin with forms contained in themselves, not as if the form imitates
this or that, but we try to awaken their interest in the very form (12 conf.1).
7.- After mentioning the legend of the acanthus leaf, I continued:
8.- "Then in the end there will be a terrible error that devastates the minds so sadly. When the
people encounter something made by man, they say: it is natural - it is unnatural (no
natural). But a mere correct imitation is of secondary importance. Similar to the external world.
It should only appear as something secondary. Rather, a drive should live in the man.
to become one with the increasing forces of forms within oneself. One must, even when drawing
a nose, having some internal relationship with the shape of the nose itself and then it turns out later
the resemblance of the nose. One will never be able to awaken the inner feeling for the...
form between the ages of 7 and 14 simply by copying shapes from the outside. But it must be understood that
creative element that can be developed between 7 and 14. If this inner element is lost
Creative at the same time, can never be refunded (recovered). (12 conf. 1)
9.-Steiner then mentioned exceptions, where what was lost in the appropriate time could
even though it may be done later, albeit in a rather imperfect form. As these exceptions do not
they belong to the teaching of classes, they are not indicated here.
10.-The following quote from conference 1 of the Practical course talks about how through a
artistic experience every human being can be involved in an activity:
11.-"You elevate the center towards an intellectual experience using either the musical element or
the drawing or modeling element. This must be done in the correct way. Nowadays everything is
confusion, particularly where the artistic element is being cultivated. We draw
with the hands-however, the two things are completely different. This is the most astonishing
When we introduce children to art. When we introduce children to plastic art, we must
pay as much attention as possible to see that they follow the plastic shapes with their hands.
When the child feels his own formation, when he moves his hand and does something in
Drawing, we can help you follow the shape with your eye - but with the will acting on
through the eye. It is in no way a violation of the child's innocence to instruct him to
sent this, center on the shape of the body with the hollow of his hand. When, for example, he is
tracing the curves of a circle, we direct their attention to the eye. This is not at all in
no sense a violation of the child's innocence, but compromises the interest of the whole
Thus, we must understand that we are carrying the inferior being.
by being superior, by being neurosensory

In order to understand Steiner's ideas about teaching drawing, it helps to follow a

a certain line, starting with the 2nd conference of his "Study of Man", then touching on
several of his other conferences and finally conclude with the bear from Torquay. In this way the
The same problems can be viewed from different angles. I can only point out the
most significant sentences of the 'study of man' and I must leave it to the reader to delve deeper into it
knowledge returning to effective conferences.
2.- "You must also represent that the mental imagination is constantly acting from
the other side of birth and it is reflected by the human being itself. and it is because the activity that
what you do in the spiritual world before birth or conception is reflected by your
bodily nature that you experience mental image" (11 conf. 12).
Three pages later we read:
4.- "When you use faculty, this faculty nowadays as a man, you do not do it with strength.
that is in you, but rather with a force that comes from a time before birth and that
still works in you. You must assume that I ceased with the conception, but it remains active, and
we create our mental images with this force that continues to radiate within
We. You carry within you, continuously living from prenatal times, only
You have the strength within you to radiate it back. You have this strength in your...
Antpata. When in your present life you create mental images of each of such processes.
find the antpata, and if the antpata is sufficiently strong an image memory appears
(ib).
5.-In reality, this does not refer to drawing, painting, and modeling, but rather to an appropriate place in the
Conference 2 of the 1920 course will provide the necessary linkage.
6.- After an enlightening observation about the profound meaning of color theory
Goethe, Steiner said in lecture 3 of the practical course:
7.-"Start as early as possible to have the child come into contact with colors, and
doing so is a good idea to apply different colors to a colored background of those that
you would apply to a white surface and try to awaken only such experiences in the child
that arise from a comprehensive scientific spiritual understanding of the world of color.
8.- After characterizing such an approach, the continuum.
9.- In a basic style, we can invite children to understand this living interiority.
of colors.
10.-Then we ourselves must be very deeply convinced that mere drawing
it is something not true. The true thing is the experience of color; less true is the
experience of light and shadow, and the least true is the drawing. Drawing as such already approaches the
abstract element present in nature as a process of death. We must
We are actually drawing with the awareness that we are essentially drawing dead substances. With
colors we should paint with the awareness that we are evoking the element
living from what is dead."(12 conf. 3)

Style = the unique character that the artist gives to their works, by virtue of their abilities.

1.- A few more observations about the 'Line' of

horizon
In this way, you will gradually realize that the forms of nature
they actually come from color and that therefore the function of drawing is an abstraction. We must
to instill in the growing child the appropriate feeling for these things, because they will live
all their emotional being and put it in a correct relationship with the external world.”(12 conf.3)
This observation about the quality of falsehood in the drawing is in order to "that abstract
a natural element as a death process and that mainly belongs to what
he is dead " has often been interpreted as a healthy condemnation of drawing. Observations
How is the 3rd conference of the Practical Course going? It is discouraging the teachers.
completely to the students to draw lines. In reality, it happened that the line drawings
made by Steiner himself were changed to a shading drawing technique in order to avoid a
The continuous line of a circle is therefore good to know that Steiner spoke very positively about
draw lines on the same day on which he had made the negative observations
mentioned above, mainly on August 23, 1919. He expressed the same views
again on the next day when he spoke about basic drawing with special reference to
the temperaments of children. Those positive affirmations are favored (supported) by others
made in three courses of lectures held outside. In those he endeavored to awaken a
concrete spatial awareness in children through appropriate drawing tasks and allowing them to
children experience spatial relationships between figures and free forms, such as symmetry,
diameter, movement and counter movement, repetition and intensification, etc. The following list indicates
conferences that will explain the meaning of the above statements and show how a
artistic plan for geometric and elemental drawing can be done by the teacher. Apart from the
previously mentioned discussions include the Christmas course in Dornach of 1921, 22, the Ilkley course and
the course of Torquay. In the course of Dornach, exercises are given that lead children towards a
beauty scent (please note that the copy of the drawings by Steiner - the symmetry of a leaf of
Oak - that was printed in shadow drawing technique does not represent the artistic intentions of
Steiner. This is due to the shading drawing technique that can only be used to fill in areas and not
to draw lines) (27). The second Course (Ilkey) shows similar...
And in another way, the child's concrete spatial experience of their own body.
After having examined that during sleep the etheric body continues to develop
geometric exercises done during the day, Steiner continued:
4.-"In geometry, therefore, we must not take as our starting point the
abstractions and intellectual constructions that are usually considered the appropriate work
Initially. We must start with internal perception, not external, stimulating in the child a
strong sense of symmetry, for example, even in the case of very young children we can
start doing this. (35 conf. Ilkey 9)
In the Torquay course, tasks are given that are similar to those in the Ilkey course.
One will be able to do exercises of the following kind with children of approximately 6 years old.
age, if they are a little clumsy at the beginning.
7.-Here we find linear exercises, not given to younger children, but to those aged 8.
years, which however belong to the smaller Ilkey group - of the first three years of school.
It seemed necessary to interrupt the chronological sequence in order to correct a possible wrong.
understanding of Steiner's viewpoints caused by his words 'dead' 'abstract'
no true in connection with the drawing of lines. We therefore indicate your
positive observations about the line drawings. Now we will continue
chronologically:
In conference 4 of the Practical Course, Steiner described the first lessons of the school.
students in class 1 and after making serious recommendations for this great event, it showed how
One can guide the little ones in drawing during this fun lesson:
When you have talked to the children for a while about hands and about working
with hands, continue allowing them to make other requirements for manual skills. This
it can be done in the first lesson. You can tell him: Watch me do this.
Now do it with your own hands. Now you can
let the children do the same, as slowly as possible, because it will be naturally a
slow process if you are going to call the children one by one and let them do it on the
blackboard and then after they return to their places. The correct assimilation of teaching in this
it is of the utmost importance"(12 conf. 4)

1.-Then the passage continued about a curved and straight line. He also showed how the painting
can be introduced to children.
2.- "On a white surface that you have previously pinned on the blackboard with
bugs, you apply a yellow stain. When you have made this small stain.
yellow, again let each child make their own yellow stain.
He then placed blue areas between yellow areas and also beautifully arranged greens, in order to
to lead the children to the experience of yellow-blue, on the one hand. This elementary exercise in
original sizes in 'intervals' of original paint color is given correctly at the beginning
from school life. I mention that this should also be done in music
through appropriate exercises. The next conference, the 5th, once again illustrates the first steps
true and that the child takes when they enter school:
4.- "Let us assume that you have pursued such exercises with pencil and with color for some
time. It is absolutely a well-founded teaching condition that certain intimacy with the
drawing should proceed to the learning of writing, so that, in a sense, writing is
derivative of the drawing. And a subsequent condition is that the reading of printed characters should only
develop me from reading handwriting. We will then try to find the
transition from drawing to handwriting, from writing to reading handwriting and from
the reading of handwriting to printed reading. I assume from this forecast that you have
successful, through the drawing element, giving the child a certain mastery of shapes
round and linear and straight lines that he will need to write
5.- He then dealt with writing lessons and it is interesting that writing partly accounts for them.
drawing lessons; part of linear drawing. In the afternoon of the fourth discussion after a
a member of the group had spoken about stereometry. Steiner made an observation that is general.
interest
6.- "Why should they want to go from solids to flat surfaces with a child? You can see that the
three-dimensional space is never an easy thing for a child to imagine after all you
they will not be able to impart anything to a child, but only a very vague idea of space. And indeed
This imagination will suffer if you expect a child to be able to imagine solid bodies.
You are guided by the assumption that the solid is a concrete thing, the line the abstract, this is not
It is the case. If a child has to apply their imagination to a solid, then they must first have
within itself the necessary elements to build this imaginative image. For example, he must
to really have a clear picture of a line and a triangle before he can understand a
tetratriangle; the triangle is a reality, it is not just an abstraction taken from the solid.
I would recommend that you teach plane geometry, not solid geometry, but by providing figures.
with flat surfaces lying between them. This is very desirable, because the child likes to use
understanding powers for things, and starting with Plane Geometry will be a great help for him.
You can add even more to the effect by connecting with your drawing lessons.
The child will be able to draw a triangle relatively early, and you should not wait.
too much time before you allow him to make copies of what he sees (13, 1st discussion).

This point has been added to show how limited the young child is in their awareness.
spatial, at least when entering school in class 1. The last sentence, however,
It shows that children should be guided even at that age to grasp shapes and copy what they have.
He was watching. Steiner doesn’t want to talk about the copying of different objects. This he wants to avoid.
until a later age when he asks for a strictly aesthetic and artistic attitude. He wants
that the children copy what the teacher, as the authority, has drawn, so that in this way
they can imitate what the teacher has created for them. They just have to be copied.
ways of pedagogical value, in fixed external objects.
2.-The following passages from the Conferences (+4) demonstrate how difficult it was for the teacher
understand the pedagogical tasks assigned for painting and drawing.
3.- After a report about the work done in class:
4.- "It is better to use watercolors than colored pencils. Crayons (oil-based) are possible"
(1.1.20)
5.-For a difficult child:
One should let 'X' draw some intricate sample, a line that intertwines and that
find yourself again. Start with drawing (1.1.20)
7.-About modeling:
Do not encourage the child to make a slave copy of the original object - force them to
"to observe to observe" (1.1.20)
9.-When asked about left-handed people:
10.- "Generally, you will find that children with a natural inclination towards the spiritual are
ambidextrous. But children with a materialistic inclination would go crazy if they were made
to write with both the left and right hand. It is absolutely true that in this
materialist age children would become idiotic through a (forced) disastrousness. It would be
It is harmful to have children use their right and left hands alternately as they...
they are committed (busy) in an intellectual work the rational. Drawing is absolutely a
different subject. They could be asked to draw with both hands” (14.6.20)
11.- In the Stuttgart course of 1920, those strange sentences are found:
12.-"There you have a case of real cooperation between soul and body when you understand
how the soul emancipates itself in seven years and begins to function no longer in the
body, but rather independently. Now those forces that appear in the body itself
again in existence as animic forces begin to be active in the seventh (7th) year, and
From then on, they operate completely until the new incarnation. Now, what is radiated
From the body it is rejected, while the forces that spring (born, germinate) downwards.
They are checked from the head. Thus, during the time of tooth changes, the toughest battle is
carried out between the forces tending downward from above and those rising upward
from below. The physical change of teeth is the physical expression of this conflict between 2 classes of
forces; the forces that later appear in the child as the powers of reasoning and
intellectuals and those that must be used particularly in drawing, painting, and writing.
All these forces that rise upward, we use them when we develop writing.
from the drawing.”(25 conf.2)
13.-What was said here about the acting forces, through drawing, painting, and writing,
forces that Steiner usually called plastic forces, have a counter pole in what he said about
of the musical forces. When a teacher complained that the children found it very difficult to achieve
shapes with water colors, Steiner gave the significant response:
14.-Perhaps they should not be commented on. The important thing is that we have not reached
This state, we have not yet made the relevant program to decide what each class should
In the lower grades, it would first be a cleaner, more organized type of program.
In the lower classes, the others (the older ones) will have to do almost the same (since they do not)
these things have been shown, how they have only recently joined us but that
we must adapt them to their ages - the main thing (in the lower classes) is
that an inner feeling for the formation of color awakens in children, that you
awaken in them a feeling for a living world of color through their experience of
fairy tales (15.11.20)

The teacher found this answer obscure and thought that children should be given shapes, motives.
defined, with which Steiner gave the surprising answer that apparently seems to turn around
upside down all previous ideas of painting.
You will obtain your forms if you allow your imagination to work. You must let go
grow those shapes the colors. You can speak to the children directly in a language of
colors. Think exactly how stimulating it would be to empower them to understand when you say:
Here is a cheeky lilac (purple color) and a cheeky red little friend is sitting on its neck.
In the background, there is a soft (modest) (gentle, calm, submissive) blue. If the colors become
Concrete objects will help develop the soul. Let the colors activate the soul.
Everything that comes from color itself can be applied in 50 different ways.
(15.11.20)
3.- During this first stage, it has to be modified according to the age of the students,
Steiner did not want external objects or scenes to be copied naturalistically in paintings, but rather
who suggested themes born from the life of feeling, such as that of the "little bold red one." He
I also wanted the children to truly experience from the beginning how colors
create space, as blue appears very distant, while red seems to move towards it
observer, etc. When seeing the paintings of other children in this class, the pupils can
to experience that a theme can be painted in very different ways ('in 50 ways')
different......”). Thus, a picture originating from the realm of feeling becomes "objective" in
how much is put outside in space.

4.-Steiner continues
5.- "You should let the children live in the experience of color by saying, for example: 'Here the
Red is peeking through the blue, and then the children really manage to bring this to paper.
You should try to bring a lot of life. By stimulating them in this way, you set them free.
of a class of clumsiness (heaviness), of laziness. Generally speaking, it is important for our
time that living the experience of color is cultivated and deepened. This will in turn stimulate the
musical element.
6.- That is all regarding the first stage of the painting. The second state will provide some
response to the aforementioned problems regarding painting topics, if they are correct
undertaken. This second stage involves having the children know in advance what effect they will have.
pure colors and mixed colors would have with respect to space and shapes (painting 'objective', it is
the case above). Only then will the third state be achieved, consisting of a given theme taken
of the external world, which can now be painted because the student knows how to construct it.
entirely from the element of color.
7.-The claims of Steiner about linear drawing are just as instructive as those.
Statements about painting with young children. When a teacher asked if one should practice.
drawing in a similar form Steiner replied:
8.-"Do not practice linear drawing as such, except in geometric constructions. The other kind of
drawing is important, especially when working with dark and light areas. In this regard,
Class 9 has not shown much progress yet. Any help that could assist should be utilized.
November 15, 2020
9.- After a discussion about Physics in class 10, Steiner said quite spontaneously the
(11.9.21)

1.- I would like to emphasize the importance of Baravalle's work for any teacher who has
to occupy oneself with drawing.

I have mentioned this on several occasions. Those issues are of great importance as well in
Aesthetic. All teachers must take care of this dissertation themselves. Works
manuals could especially benefit greatly from such studies. There is much that
would shed light on how to make a necklace, a belt, or a garter. A treatise like that of Baravalle is
of fundamental importance for any Waldorf teacher. Because it shows the transition from
a mathematical thought to mental imagination. This can be applied in a much deeper sense.
broader. What he has worked on for the various shapes and sizes could be applied to color and
still to the world of sound. Regarding sound, you will find many indications in the
sketches of, Goethe on a Theory of sound. Regarding sound, you will find many
indications in Goethe's sketches of a theory of sound published in my latest volume
of the Kushner and Weimar edition. This index is full of content. The theory of color can
also to be treated in the same manner.(11.9.21).
2.- The book by Baravalle about drawing shapes should be studied carefully, because
it can lead to fundamental ideas in related subjects. Its concrete division of areas and
space through curves that, due to their aesthetic appearance, can bring a real understanding of the
Space is the fundamental principle of the book.
3.-The Dornach course of 1921/22 also deals with the first painting lessons in class.
1
4.- "And added to this the child brings with him his potentialities. He is inwardly
A sculptor and we can develop this potential faculty of their general skills. But
he brings other potentialities with him, however, this can be problematic, we
we should let him do all kinds of things on colored paper, because through this method he
it can be guided into the secrets of the world of color.
It is, for example, extremely interesting to see how children find their way within the
nature of color, if to begin with they are merely allowed to cover a surface
white with bright colors. They cover the surface with colors in which, through the
intrinsic potentialities of the child, a certain harmony of colors will already exist. What they
They are scattered over the paper, it is not insignificant, it has a certain harmony of colors. One must only be.
careful not to let the children use the colors found in the so-called 'boxes of
"children's painting", from which the colors are painted on the paper directly from the tablets.
This is always detrimental even if painted as art. The colors should be used from
containers in which colors are dissolved either in water or in some other similar substance. They
It must develop an intimate relationship, internal to the color. The child must also have this. There is no
intimate relationship with color when one simply paints directly from the palette; this only develops.
when dissolved colors are used in a little jar.
6.-If the child is told: look now, what you have done there is beautiful. In the middle, you have painted a
red stain, and this showed you what to do next. Everything you painted
after that it was right with the red stain. Now do it precisely the opposite way.
Exactly where you painted the red spot, now put a blue one and now you must
fix everything to match, not with the red in the middle, but with the blue. First of all, the child
he is extremely stimulated by such exercise: second when he is given something to do something to
child of estetpo (perhaps with a little guidance from the teacher) he will certainly work on this
transposition within another fundamental sequence in such a way that it gains an immense amount
in their intimate connection with the world. Subsequently, any inconvenience that this may bring,
the child should be allowed to model small plastic objects... well, from a material that
somewhere or another you are able to find. However, it is very important,
preventing children from getting dirty. This is certainly problematic, but the gain for the children
is infinitely greater than if they were allowed to remain dirty.
6.-In the foundations of spiritual education, Steiner spoke about painting with children whose
mental images stick in their heads:
Everything depends on the contact between the teacher and the student being permeated by an artistic element.
This will cause much of what the teacher has to do at any moment with a child.
I reached him intuitively, almost instantly. Let us take an illustration.
concrete for the exception in favor of greater clarity. Let us suppose that we find
difficult to educate a certain child because all the images we bring him the impressions that
we seek for the ideas we impart to thus establish a strong circulation in their
cephalic system and cause such disturbance to his nervous system that what we give him cannot
escape within the rest of its organism. The physical organism of its head becomes in a form
partially melancholic. The child finds it difficult to move ahead with what he sees, feels, or otherwise
he experiments, from his head to the rest of his body. What he learns becomes stuck, so to speak,
in the head. It cannot penetrate downwards into the rest of the organism.
An artist in education will instantly keep such a thing in mind in all their work specifically.
artstco with the child. If I have the child, I will use colors and paint with him in a way
absolutely, different from the one I would paint with other children. Because it is of such importance,
special attention is given to the element of color in the Waldorf school from the very beginning. I have
explained the principle of painting; but within the painting lessons each child can be treated
individually with the child because he has to do everything by himself." (29. Conf. 6)

1.- The following pages of the same conference provide a complete basis for the last observation.
the following passage contains the words of Steiner spoken during the Oxford course, when he
I show him a geographical map:
2.-"You see here (maps) how entirely they enter into life when at the beginning from which
they begin is full of life. You can see this very well in the case of those maps;
first they have an experience of color and this is an experience of the soul. Here you see them
"Greece experienced in the soul." When the child is at home in the element of color, they grow the
I must paint the island of Crete, the island of Candia in a particular color, and I must
paint the coast of Asia Minor like this and the Peloponnese too. The child learns to speak through the
color, and thus this map can actually be a production from the deepest depths
of the soul. Think about the experience of the earth that the children will have when this is as he has seen it.
internally, when this is like he has painted Candia or Crete or the Peloponnese or the North of
Greece, when he has had the feelings that go with such colors as those. Then Greece
it can live in its soul, the child can awaken Greece anew from its own.
soul. In this way, the living reality of the world becomes part of the being of man. And when
later you confront the children with the harsh reality of each day they will find it in
a quite different way because they have had a living artistic experience, a
experience of the elements of color in their simplest paintings, and they have learned to use their
language
3.- The principle that Steiner refers to is that children are allowed to experience colors.
first internally, so that the resulting shapes are a direct consequence of their
color experience. Questioning the treatment of colors in art lessons
(apparently in class 9) Steiner responded at a teachers' meeting.
4.- "Can you not carry out what I said yesterday to the boys and girls - what I said
directly about color treatment? This would have to be the subject of many lessons.
Perhaps someone could go to Dornach to send us what I have said about this matter there. I
I think that with this class you should go directly to the practical treatment of colors.
so that they become aware of what they do in lower classes. They must
to become aware of this. Because of course much will have to develop with
regarding the teaching method and this should be linked to what you have already started in
the corresponding lessons and what you have been allowed to draw so far. I do not
I am referring merely to the drawing of curves. You can use the same method when using colors.
For example, you can contrast, just as you would be doing with curves, a stain.
rounded and well defined with a creeping yellow spot to infinity. From there you all can
move to comparative anatomy. Contrast the forelimbs and the hindlimbs.
5.- You can contrast the sensory perception abilities of certain animals and the
Feeling with the movement of the dog's tail. There you find the same criterion.
this way you enter life and reality. Those methods must be introduced within
all branches of teaching"(15.10.22).

1.-I have not been able to find whether these words about the practical treatment of color
The second part of this passage refers to the teachers of Manual Techniques.
Undoubtedly to all the professors of the higher school. Again, one is faced with the puzzle.
(enigma) of the course of 1920.
In the Dornach course of 1923, we find a revealing passage about the
perspective of color regarding linear perspective.
3.-"If one has once accustomed themselves to a feeling for such aspects of life,
we are taken to other subjects you see, all the different things that are introduced to the child
They must be brought in connection with each other. Just as I told you, we let the child paint.
one thing or another from their own forces format-pictorially-naturally not with pencils, but
that with real colors. Then I notice that the child lives with colors. Gradually (one himself
It should only have the feeling that this is how things are.
The child will notice that blue is something that recedes from us, that pulls back into the distance,
while it is the nature of yellow and red, the approach. This is something that appears very
strongly even in a child of 7 or 8, if he is not tormented at this age by any kind of
formal training in drawing and painting. If one only lets the child paint houses or trees
Naturally, this method will not work. But if the child follows the intentions of the teacher,
so that I can feel, "Wherever I move my fingers, colors will result from the material of
color is of lesser importance - color will come to life in my fingers. Here he wants to continue
flowing. If we achieve this, we awaken in the soul of the child something of deep significance:
color perspective; the child perceives that the yellows and reds come closer, than the
blues and violets go far and farther.
4.-Thus working from inner experience, we develop a sense for what most
In the afternoon, they will have to work with the child; the perspective that needs to be implemented is to be carried out in lines.
It is extremely harmful for a child to introduce perspective at a later age without having
previously brought an interior perspective class of color had a terribly effect
externalizer when he has gotten used to acquiring quantitative perspective without
having previously experienced the interior, qualitative perspective that is in the perspective of the
Color. And something subsequent is inherent in this in the perspective of color. And something subsequent is inherent.
in this relationship. If you prevent the child from living intensely in this perspective of color,
He will never learn to read that quickly.

Steiner divides school as a whole into:

Lower school: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th
Middle school: 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th
4.-As he could, but always with the limitations I spoke about yesterday, although here it does not.
It means that the beginning of reading should be brought to the child as soon as possible. But of
this perspective of color the child acquires flexible ideas, feelings, and flexible perceptions
impulses of flexible will. Everything in the soul becomes mobile. It can be, because everything that
required here the development of reading and of painting-drawing, outside of drawing painting. You
They should take a little longer to teach the child to read. But then at the appropriate age certainly.
It will be possible to bring reading to the child in the appropriate way, so that it does not take on a form.
too superficial within the body, within the entire being of the child - what can also be
happening - not yet inducing it too deeply within the child imparting the form of
each letter separated in a way that makes a tear in the social being of man.
5.- Absolutely spontaneous on April 25, 1923, after talking about astronomy,
Steiner said:
6.- "The pupils at the school in Dornach have done brilliantly in their painting. I have
demonstrated how to distinguish between sunrise and sunset. And some have grasped the idea
excellent. Things of this kind can be given. Rainy atmosphere in a forest is a
exercise for ages 14-15.

1.-After a visit to class 8, he said:

2.- "I took a look at his work. Here I would like to say that it is essential for children to be"
their role, if they are going to paint with watercolors. Otherwise, you are stimulating negligence.
They must learn how to be in their role. The work in their exercise notebooks could not
possibly stimulate ideas in the child. They must learn to take on their role properly.
using paste, Steiner says that the sheets of paper should be glued to the surface. Glue? or
Let them use liquid color only on tracing paper. They start their tasks.
too carelessly.
3.-Steiner gave a report on his visit to the Ministry of Education.
I told him that when we have gone far enough and we have built our
curriculum, I will try to develop the whole of the free drawing of Dürer's painting of melancholy.
In it are all the matches of light and darkness and they can also be transposed to colors.
If you can help the pupils to reach an understanding of the whole picture, they would be
capable of doing something.
5.-On July 12, 1923, Steiner said:
6.- "There is a question that I have precisely in my heart. This is how we should
solve this problem with the exercise books, in which they have been painting,
seeing this, it can only be done on parchment. It is indeed in this way that it is
developing great negligence. We cannot have drawing boards because there are too many
dears. A uniformly flat board would also be a solution. Boards could not be made,
about which paper can be made, made in the class of manual labor. This method of being
allowing children to paint in their workbook does not prove to be satisfactory. As soon as
You all start using watercolors, you should also start using the paper.
July 12, 2023
7.- Another aspect of the painting and drawing lessons can be found in the 4th conference of the course
Ilkey:
8.-"And so we see the human being: we see his head, in the head the forces of growth
from the teeth they free themselves and reach the force of thought. Then they press towards
down, as if it were, towards the language, we have all the processes through which the
teeth are no longer directly responsible, as now the etheric body takes the
responsibility. The teeth become the helpers of language. In this, their relationship to
thought is to be the helpers of language. In this, your relationship to thought is still
apparent. When we understand how dental sounds find their way throughout the process of
thought, how man takes teeth for his help when through sounds like
dot, it brings the definitive thought element to language, we see again in the sounds the
particular task performed by the teeth.”(35)
9.-In the conference of August 16, 1923, Steiner pointed out the important connection between modeling and the
physical ability to see
10.-"Thus, in accordance with the principle of the Waldorf School, we begin to give reading lessons and
modeled at a very young age of childhood, modeling is also cultivated as much as possible
possible, although only from 9 to 10 years of age and in a primitive way. It has a wonderful effect.
You vitalized about the physical vision of the child and about the inner quality (of the soul) in his view, yes,
At the appropriate age, the beginning to shape plastic forms and figures. Thus, many people go through
of life without even noticing what is most significant in the objects and events of their environment.
In fact, we have to learn how to do it before we see and observe in the
way that gives us our true position in the world. And if the child has to learn to
Observing correctly is a very good thing for starting, as soon as possible.
to engage in modeling, to guide what he has seen from his head and eyes to the movements of his fingers
and hands. In this way, we not only awaken the waste for the artistic around it - in the arrangement
in one piece, perhaps - and the taste for the artistic, if not, he will begin to observe those things in him.
worlds that must flow within the heart and soul of man.

1.- After an observation about the music lessons the continuation:

2.- "The mineral kingdom can be understood in the light of cause and effect. Lofsico can be grasped from
this way. When we arrive in the world of plants, however, it is impossible to grasp everything through
from logic, reason, and intellect. The plastic faculties of the human being must be activated here because
concepts and ideas have to be transformed into images. Any plastic skill that we develop in the
They help him understand the formations contained in the plants.
3.-On November 5, 1924, a long discussion followed by the manual arts professor about the
painting lessons at the higher school which unfortunately could not be given so
I regularly take lessons in lower classes. The question referred to the painting technique.
In the lower classes and Steiner's response touched on all aspects of the child's painting.
4.-"It doesn’t matter if the painting lessons are interrupted for a few years and replaced
by modeling. Facts are a later effect in the subconscious, and it is important that a
The resumption of painting lessons should be carried out with vigor and skill by the students.
It is always the case that if an activity has been brought to a halt, a very marked progress is...
will show it again precisely due to the previous interruption.
I believe in the lower classes there is still a need for improvement in painting education.
Some teachers have not paid attention to the technical aspects. The materials have not been
used correctly. You should not let the children paint on paper that does not preserve
a smooth and even surface, but you should sand the paper before painting.
So you should insist on the completion of the children's paintings until the end.
so that the painting represents a state of completion. Most of his paintings are mere
beginnings.
6.- What you aim to achieve will depend on your discussions of the technical issues, the
handling of materials, etc. with your colleagues, since you as trained painters have the
necessary experience. There is no other practical solution.
In the two upper classes (specifically classes 11 and 12), you could allow the students.
gifted to paint again. There is too much time. You should let them start over with
very simple tasks. If you allow them to be entirely guided by artistic principles, you
They will not find difficulties. For younger children (smaller ones), it is appropriate to create their life.
of feeling, but in the case of older pupils you need to consider artistic aspects
more objectives. For example, you should direct your attention to the fact that light, when it falls
about an object, it immediately creates an artistic effect, etc. Take everything from a point of view
Practical. After the age of 10, you should not encourage children to paint objects.
externals, because this practice would have harmful effects “(5.2.24 )
8.-Steiner began to draw on the blackboard with colored pencils:
9.-"The older the children are, the more you should focus on the powers of
painter's observation. Show them this sun here. The sunlight falls on the tree. Do not start
drawing the tree with its shape, but by placing the dark and illuminated surfaces, in such a way
that the tree begins to appear from the meeting of dark and illuminated areas; from the.
By doing such things, you will gradually lead him to a feeling for the harmony of the
colors. The boy sees that first I have a red surface here in the middle and green
around her, but if the red becomes green, then the green must become red. It is from a
enormous importance precisely at this age around eight years, leaving this correspondence of
color and shape, work on children.”(40 conf. 4)
4.-This exercise in basic color harmony shows what Steiner meant when he
he suggested that the way of looking at geometric shapes as shown in Baravalle's book
it should also be applied to colors and different matches. In the same course in Torquay Steiner
demonstrated why the puppet has such a strong desire for plastic forms:
We must be clear in our minds that the independent activity of the body
The etheric body of a man only begins with the change of teeth. The etheric body in the first seven
has to carry forward all the independent activity of which it is capable to
predominantly an interior artist in the child in the first seven years; it is a sculptor, a
sculptor. And this shaping force, which is applied to the physical body by the etheric body, becomes
free, he emancipates himself with the change of teeth at seven years old. Then he can work
as an activity of the soul.
6.-This is because children have an impulse to model shapes and paint them. Because the first seven
Years of life the etheric body has been carrying out modeling and painting within the body.
physical. Now that I don't have anything else regarding the physical body, or at least not as much as
First, they want to carry out their activity outside. If therefore you as teachers have a
broad knowledge of the processes that occur in the human body, and consequently
Do you know what kind of shapes the child seeks to model from plastic material or to paint in color?
Then you will be able to give him the true guidance. But you yourselves must have
a class of artistic conception of the human organism.
7.- Finally, Steiner spoke in this same course about the true value of drawing, pointing out
that this activity tended to be greatly overrated in our times due to a
misguided approach to optics:
8.- "An artistic feeling will encourage them (will move them) to work from what is really there"
outside of black and white of color. Lines will then appear by themselves. Only when
Investigate the limits that appear in light and shadow or in color; the 'lines of the drawing' appear.
9.-Therefore, instruction in drawing must, in no case, start from the drawing itself, but rather
that, of the paintings, working in color or in light and shadow. And in the teaching of drawing as such it is
only of real value when it is carried out with the full awareness that it gives us nothing real. A
terrible amount of harm has been brought into our whole way of thinking by the importance
given to painting. From this has come everything we find in optics, for example, where
People are drawing completely straight lines that are supposed to be rays of light? Nowhere is
They find you. What you truly have are images. You make a roll on a wall;
The sun shines through it and an image is formed on a screen (curtain). Perhaps the rays can
See, if in its entirety, in the dust particles in the piece, and the dustier the piece the more they can
to see it. But what is usually drawn as lines in these to develop something for the child like the
perspective, in which you already have to deal with the abstract method of explanation that you
They can start to represent alignment and discovery by line." (10 questions and
answers).

Thus, the Torquay course provides us with important guidelines for painting, modeling, and drawing.

CURRICULAR INDICATIONS

2.-Now follows a summary of Steiner's instructions for the first 8 classes, taken from
the curriculum conferences:
3.- "Now I would like to draw your attention to the fact that until the 6th year we have taken
geometric shapes - circle, triangle - from the drawing. We were drawing in the 1st year at the end.
to teach writing. Then we gradually made the transition from employee to drawing out of love for
writing, to the development of more complex forms for its own purpose, drawing them for the love of
drawing, and also painting for the love of painting. We guide the drawing and painting lessons
inside this sphere in the 4th class. Drawing we teach that it is a circle, an ellipse, etc. this is
learned through drawing. We take this further later on, leading to forms
practices, using modeling clay in order to create a fine feeling for shapes.
In the first classes, as we have seen, we conduct the drawing lessons in such a way that
the child acquires a certain sense for round and angular shapes, etc. from those shapes
we develop writing. During those elementary lessons we avoid any copying,
whatever it may be, of external objects. Avoid as much as possible letting the child copy a flower in
instead encourage him as much as possible lines and round shapes, semi-circular, elliptical,
rights, etc. Awaken in the child a feeling for the difference between the curve of a circle and
of an ellipse; briefly awaken the feeling for the shape before the need to imitate it
copy of external objects awakens. Only later, when copying objects, let it apply what
he has learned since his first drawing exercises. Let the child draw an angle in such a way
let him understand it through its shape, then show him a chair and tell him:
You see here there is an angle and there is another one. Do not let the child copy until you have
cultivated in him, from his inner feeling the way of self-creative activity. And you
hold on to this when they start to address drawing, painting, and modeling in a more...
independent.
5.- "So you bring forward in the 6th class a teaching of simple projection and the
study of shadows, hand drawing, but also with ruler and compass and similar instruments.
See that the child gets a good grip on the following and can draw it, here is a cylinder and here
a sphere and the sphere shines under a light, how will the shadow of the sphere look when it falls upon it
cylinder? Simple projection and shadow drawing should be taken in 6th grade. The child must
to grasp the idea and be able to see how shadows fall on a flat or curved surface, and others
flat surfaces more or less and solid objects. The child must discover in the 6th class how to.
technical can be combined with the beautiful, as a chair can be technically adapted to its
purpose and at the same time have a beautiful form. This idea of combining the harmonious with the beautiful
must enter the child.
1.-For a better understanding of the above observations, an observation made will be indicated.
by Steiner at the meeting on January 16, 1921. A teacher had asked whether it would be preferable
introducing lessons artistically or through geometry:
2.- “Wherever possible, it is better to teach in such a way as to build the bridge between something that is
purely geometric and something that already pertains to art. I don't believe that you can address this.
artistically. What is intended is the conical projection. I certainly think that children
They should really know what the shadow of a cone looks like on the plane - they must have a diagram.
interior of it.
3.-This observation raised the question:
Should teachers use technical terms such as light rays, shadow rays? Steiner
context:
4.- "This is a more general question. It is not advisable to introduce things into geometry.
project that do not exist. There is no such thing as rays of light, even less are there rays of shadow. No
There is no need to use such concepts when it comes to projective geometry. Rather, think.
in terms of space being filled with various contents. Rays of light and shadow do not exist,
but cylinders and cones exist. A shadow body exists which is caused by a solid,
being oblique, and being illuminated by a point of light, if the shadow falls on an inclined plane.
In such an instance, a "shadow body" exists, and the child must be able to understand (grasp) that it is made.
A child must be able to understand the curved line that limits the shadow body. Precisely
as later he would have to understand projective geometry what happens when a cylinder
Another cylinder of a smaller diameter interpenetrates. It is really important to teach children.
This. You do not need to fear that such a thing would undermine an artistic sense, because you are
staying within the artistic element. You are training flexibility in ideation. Your
powers of imagination will become manageable (flexible) if they obviously know what kind of curve
it will appear when cylinders intersect each other. It is of great importance to introduce such
subjects, but not to teach abstractions.
5.-"In the seventh year, everything connected with the interpenetration of solids should be practiced."
Taking a simple example, you could say: 'Here is a cylinder with a post going to
through it. The post must be pushed straight through the cylinder. You must ...
show what kind of linear surface appears where the post enters and leaves the cylinder. The child has
what to learn what happens when solid objects or planes intersect each other so that he knows the
difference between the opening made by the pipe of a stove piercing the ceiling vertically,
causing a circular opening and one made by an oblique pipe, in which case an opening
Elliptical corresponds.
Additionally, during the same year, the child should gain a clear grasp of perspective, of simple
perspective drawing with lines becoming shorter in distance and longer at the front
plan, etc.; also overlaps should be explained and drawn.
6.-Then you should show how an architectural problem can be solved in
a way that can either satisfy our feeling of beauty or not so that the child
get an idea if, let us say, a projection covering the wall of a house would improve or
it would ruin their appearance. Such considerations have a particularly strong impact on a
13-year-old boy if they are introduced into class 7.
7.-Toward class 8 all these considerations should reach a kind of artistic climax.
conf.2)
8. Until this time, art lessons were given by the class teacher. From class 9 onwards
forward, painting, modeling, and drawing become part of trades. In those lessons the students
practcan modeling, they produce all kinds of handmade articles, they learn drawing in
black and white, later they are taught simple carpentry and should practice painting
of colors to the water. Subsequent details can be found in the section of trades.

STUDY OF GOALS IN PAINTING MODELING DRAWING

Colors and shapes as help to learn to write. Exterior objects should not be copies.
but the shapes have to be recreated.

THE FEELING IS STIMULATED BY THE INTERNAL LAWS OF FORMS, BUT NEVER THROUGH
OF IMITATION.

PAINTING MODELING DRAWING

Inner feeling, for the Simple sample of giving

color formation (harmony of as help for
color) for the movements of learn to write.
colors for the color space and relationship of symmetry and
color perspective.” The colors other relationships
they become concrete." No reasons spatial copying it
objects 'Creating from the soul' what has already been drawn
creation in soul-space. Modeled from 9 to 10 years of age triangles
within the class structure comparatively
mainly. Experience of the form with early transition
the hollow of the hand, with the will gradual of geometry
working through the eye. describe

__________________________

From now on wake up Projective Geometry

A feeling for laws and shadow drawing.
Fundamentals of painting. The bridge between
Geometry and art
CAUTION: Objects Combining what is
Outsiders should not be copied, functional and what it is
But only what appears esthetic.
The areas of color should be
driven to the picture. Until the class Interpretation of the
8 special task: Melancholy of Dürer perspective, combining
transposed to the color San Jerónimo in its what is functional to what
study. Aesthetic.

All this (since class 6)

To be artistically a
Condition.

Black and white drawing in freeform modeling classes Descriptive geometry in the
of trades. (no painting). In trade classes. math period.
drawing of maps in the
period of
surveying.
Map projection in the
Mathematics period.
Take up painting again in the
Classes of trades.
Start again with the
Simpler things, but from
But from the aspect of painting
for example color perspective
and the creation of space through
colored spots.

1.-Steiner expected a large number of painting, modeling, and drawing teachers. Painting with
liquid paints on carefully stretched paper, first mainly a technique,
it should lead to an experience of colors and their subtle harmony. Color harmony represents only
the first state, and color movement with its inherent color space and color perspective, the
second state.
2.- The elementary painting of children first leads to accidental results because they do not
they know how to compose a picture entirely from the aspect of color. In those results
By fortunate means, we can discover the unconscious nature of the child.
3.-The children's paintings in this first stage remain within a soul-space (space
mood) when entirely through the perspective of color, if an arrangement about the
external objects have been created.
4.-The second stage is reached when children have experienced the creative quality of color.
space, so they already know this about dipping the brush into the paint,
movement and therefore what shape will result. At this stage, the teacher should provide topics where the
sphere of feeling and do not fear representing the external world.
A third stage, which can be proposed already in 4th and 5th grade reached if added
illuminated surfaces that are found outside the internal experience of color. With this step the
painting since immigration let's say, an image of a fairy tale comes to be transferred to
through an inner awakening of the solid objects found in outer space.
6.-In all the paintings we find those elements:

a.-External objects appear as illuminated or completely perceived shaded areas.

unconscious.
There is a movement of color experienced internally.
A lot has been accomplished if during the painting at school those goals have been achieved.
methodically so that they have become a capability, however, small. After
in an interval that lasts 2 years everything that has been learned previously is now elevated within
from the sphere of consciousness and learned anew (see section dealing with trades)
There are only very small hints and indications for modeling; children should
start modeling in the 9th or 10th year. They should be guided to make plastic shapes from the
palm of their hands.
We have been told that a real knowledge of the forms of human organs awakens a
desire to model in the child that, however, did not result in their action of copying shapes
externals. Drawing penetrates other subjects again and again. First, the drawing of simple shapes
conducts when writing (class 1). Then symmetry and similar exercises help to develop a
spatial awareness, which leads to geometry, starting in 4th grade with exact drawing of
geometric shapes. Starting with grade 6, geometric drawing leads to geometric proofs
and finally to projective geometry until the end of high school. In the 9th grade of this branch of
The drawing develops into a strictly mathematical drawing which continues during school.
superior.
In class 10, map drawing in the surveying course, and in class 11, map projections.
As part of geography, it represents the latest branches of this subject.

Manual Work and Bookbinding

From class 1 to class 4, each with 2 lessons (double period)

From class 5 to class 7, one lesson each.
From class 8 two lessons
From class 9 and 10 each, 1 lesson per week.
From class 11 and 12, each 6 weeks of 4 lessons

On his first day at school, the student of Steiner school already develops a liking for
manual work. Steiner believed that it is very important for the "child to know that he has hands"
with what to work.
school, he describes how the teacher tells his new students why they are coming to the
school, in order to make them understand the meaning of human hands.
Look at yourselves now. You have those hands to work; you can
do all kinds of things with those hands. In this way, one can try to awaken consciousness
of the child in relation to the nature of man. The child must not only understand that he has two
hands, but he must be aware that he has hands. Of course, you all probably
They will say here; Obviously, he is aware of having hands.
3.- There is no difference if while knowing that you have hands to work with, with which this
thought has never crossed his soul.
When you have talked to the child for a while about hands and about working with
hands, continuing, letting him do something or another requiring manual skill. This can sometimes
sometimes happen in the first lesson." (12 conf.4)
Steiner showed how drawing exercises can be introduced that will later lead to writing.
Steiner's first observation about workshops (manual labor) was made on July 30 of
1920. "I have only attended a few workshop lessons, but in one of them I had to
ask myself, "Why doesn't the child have a thimble?" I have always said we must
accustom the child to use a thimble for their sewing. A child cannot sew without a thimble.
That is hardly possible to do. They were sewing without a thimble and that doesn't work.
Here the thimble represents order and efficiency, which should be obvious and which Steiner wanted instilled.
in two small children in the sewing classes.
On January 16, 1921, during the third year of the Waldorf School, Steiner gave the first lines.
guides for the lessons of 'workshop'.
"When choosing the different types of tasks, you should consider how to fit them into your "}
purposes. It is not possible to apply an artistic touch to every made item. Although you do not
they should set aside caring for an artistic sentiment, you can hardly make use of the
when they knit a sock. But you can always let the child do something beautiful.
when he has completed his knitting (or sock). Be careful not to get into the Froebel method.
One can always create useful and tasteful articles artistically.
When the program for the first class 10 was made, Steiner only said those few words.
about the lessons of 'obraje'. 'In class 10, obraje must become more and more artistic'
(16.6.21). Again a warning to teachers to strive to achieve artistic standards
with their pupils. On June 17, 1921, the workshop teachers were recommended to teach
tied to newcomers in a higher class, but then let them join the work to work
main fact in classes.
In September 1921, Steiner spoke enthusiastically about the dissertation of Herman Von
Baravalle.
He had recently joined the faculty. He compared the importance of this.
I work with the introduction to projective geometry by the Frenchman Monge. What mattered in the
Steiner's opinion was not much about the mathematical aspect, but rather the influence of that book on the
approach not mathematical, but artistic to space:
I would especially like to recommend to anyone who teaches to study the thesis of
Baravalle. I have taken the effort to refer to her in various ways. Those things in the thesis of
Baravalle are also extremely important for aesthetics. Each one of you should
Make it your business to study it. Teaching of 'workshops' above all can receive a large amount.
of it. Certainly, there is much to be gained from it if you work on the way of a
collar, a garter, according to the principles indicated here, collar belt garter.

1.- A job like Baravalle, however, he must not become arrogant - it is of

fundamental importance for the Waldorf teacher as it shows the transition from thought
mathematician to that of the mental imaginary. This could be applied in a much broader sense
What he has achieved regarding form could also be applied to color and even to the world of
sound, published in my latest volume of the Kursch and Weiman edition. In that index it is full
of content. The theory of color can also be addressed in the same way.
2.- On November 16, it was agreed to give 'obraje' lessons in block periods. The effect of such a
An arrangement regarding other subjects was also discussed. A textile teacher pointed out that she would prefer
Teaching his students once a week, Steiner replied:
3.-"If we are not proposing a training in arts and crafts, such intervals of
Time does not matter. If we are proposing the latest, then it is desirable to gather the children.
to work in a concentrated manner. If you let them combine the books
(binding), you must have them work with concentration; also when they
they make cardboard boxes. This too.
In such a class, no other profession should be taken (16.11.21). During the Christmas course of
Dornach for teachers, Steiner said this about the lessons of the workshop:
4.-"The teaching of handmade works is arranged according to the principle of the School
Waldorf that boys and girls will be together in a class, and also that they will be involved in
the same work. It is a real joy to see boys and girls in the lessons of handmade crafts
working together in fabric, crochet, and something similar. From a practical school experience one
can provide an assurance that, although a child obtains something different from the fabric than what one
the girl does, however, gains a large amount of it; first and foremost, perhaps the delight
that he takes in doing it. The significant part that this working together can play in the development of
a person - I will discuss it in detail later - has already proven itself. Again in
In the handmade crafts classes, the girls must do exactly the same work in the same way.
that the pupil's ability, the development of their skills can be maintained anywhere at the
"view."(27). In lecture 14 of the same course, which deals with the aesthetic aspect of Education,
Steiner said:
Beauty should be seen as an integral part of life. Wherever it may be,
to develop a sense that beauty is not something enclosed within itself, but rather something
what has been plotted in life. And in this respect, particularly regarding his teaching and
educational purposes, our civilization has much to learn.
This is followed by an indication of how clothes and utility objects can be made so that
appear beautiful.
During a meeting on April 28, 1922, when the program for class 11 was discussed, Steiner
He said:
We should consider teaching bookbinding in craft classes. The main
It is important for children to learn how to bind a book so they can gain skills.
involved."(28.4.22)
On June 20 of the same year, Steiner noted:
1.- “Then the question arises about providing time for the workshop classes in this class.
It must be possible to play a part for that... so we must be clear that
binding and box making is part of the work of this class." (20.6.22)
2.- In the Oxford course, Steiner showed how good painting lessons led to good
results in workshop classes.
3.-"You will observe that the purpose is to build the classes of work in connection with what is
has learned with what has been learned in painting classes. do not let the children draw
first and then embroider, but really let them freely handle the color element
It is immensely important that children should have a true experience.
of color.” (after rejecting the job from the palette “it is necessary for children to
learn to live with colors, they should not paint from a palette or block but from a little jar or
container with liquid color in it, color dissolved in water. Then a child will come to feel like a
color goes with another, it will feel the harmony of colors internally, it will experience them internally.
And even if this is difficult and inconvenient... then great progress can be made when the
children achieve a direct relationship with color, in this way they learn to paint from the living.
the nature of the color itself, not trying to copy something in a naturalistic form. Then the mass
of color and the color of the shape apparently comes together by itself on paper.......it's a matter of
put one color next to another color, or surround one color with other colors, and little by little of
in his own agreement he comes to produce form from color.
4.-The painting of external objects or scenes can come later. If this is started
too early, a sense is lost for a living reality a sense is lost for what
He is dead, it is allowed to enter.
5.-“If you proceed in this way, when you reach the treatment of any object
particular in the world will be much more vibrant than if it were made without such a base... in this way (to
through his experience of color) the living reality of the world becomes part of man. And
when you later confront the children with the harsh reality of daily life they
they will confront it in a quite different way, as they have had an experience
living, artistic with the elements of color in their simple paintings, and they have learned to use their
languages.” (29 conf.7)
On October 28, 1922, the number of workshop lessons was established.
7.- "In the future, we will give a double period per week to classes 1 to 4; for all the
other classes a single period per week.”(28.10.22)
8.-When the older girls complained that the boys were interfering with
The teacher suggested making crafts an elective subject for the children, Steiner.
replica:
9.- "How could we do that? We have included this workshop lesson in our schedule.
in a way that there is no reason to make a change. It cannot be left optional. How should it be
Done? Then we should have made a principle that children only come to it.
what is appropriate for them.
10.-It is possible to have variety in the lesson. In the woodworking lesson, the children are entirely
busy and this offers good opportunities to give them different tasks. There is no need
for all of them to do the same kind of work. From class 8, 9, onwards you
they can, as far as I am concerned, occupy children in a variety of ways;
giving boys a class on work and girls another. If we make it optional
we would destroy our curriculum.”(9.12.22)
11.-From the course of S. Santa in Dornach in 1923:

1.- "Precisely because of that period that appears in human life with puberty, the
transition to the external realities of life must also be found; so now, to a
A much greater degree must be given there within the College, in a higher sense and in agreement.
With body, soul, and spirit, he will make the students useful people in life. In those matters, we do not have
almost quite a psychological vision. Because the finest spiritual relationships inherent in the
human organization of spirit, soul, and body does not have even a notion of them in the present.
These are only guessed today by those who make it their task to learn about the life of the soul.
And from a certain self-knowledge, I can tell you all modestly that there are issues in
the domains of spiritual science, which today perhaps - it is certainly true - appear to them.
many like the reverse of the useful, which could not have been presented, as I have done,
for example, at a certain age (not through Waldorf Education, but through destiny) I do not
I would have learned the craft of bookbinding.
The particular human activity involved in bookbinding provides something truly special.
for the most intimate aspects of the spirit, soul, and body especially when introduced into the
appropriate age.! This is precisely the case with practical activities! And I should observe it
as an error against humanity if with us at the Waldorf School, precisely at a
particular age that can be read from human nature itself, would not be included in the
lessons in workshop, bookbinding, and making boxes, working with cardboard! These things
they must play their part if they want to become a complete human being. It is not the fact that
having made this or that box, or binding this or that book, which is the essential matter; but
that should have carried out the process that is involved, should have experienced the
particular feelings and thoughts.
In his conference titled 'Education towards inner freedom' given in Ilkey on August 17th
In 1923, Steiner said:
2.- The art of education that does not originate in Waldorf pedagogy also takes into account (estma,
assumes) the modern effort towards an improvement in the development of social life. Much of what from
The other way would remain remote from one sex or the other, which can be developed when children are young.
girls are educated together......During the craft classes at the Waldorf School you
you will find children sitting together all involved in knitting and crochet. That this is not
a non-natural activity is proven by the fact that our children learn to knit and even to
darning socks with a certain pleasure. They never think that such work is unworthy of their
masculinity. We do not include those things so much for the reason of giving to the boys, their
global understanding of life. One of the main shortcomings of our present conditions is that
they have such little understanding of what their comrades are doing. We must
truly from Caesar existing as individuals and isolated groups and facing each other with
full and complete understanding, and the main point is that this kind of work gives to human beings
practical skills still in many different directions. Although it seems incongruous, my
my opinion is that no one can be a true philosopher, who is not capable, in an emergency, of repairing their
socks or repair their clothes. (35. Conf.12)
On September 18, 1923, the question was raised whether sewing printed cards for sewing would be.
Appropriate for sewing, they would be suitable for 12-year-old children, due to their geometric designs.
Steiner replica:
4.- "If that's correct. After 12 years it would be too much like playing. I just would never want to"
introducing things in school that are not found in life, such as those could be aligned in
life. Froebel's things are specially invented for school. Only drawn things
from external culture, from real life, they should be treated in an appropriate manner to
school.”(18.9.23)
5.-Steiner also spoke about manual work, 'obraje' is a more general term, within
He falls manual jobs and others, and bookbinding in the Torquay Course on August 19.

I would clearly like to have a shoemaker as a teacher at the Waldorf School, so that the
children could really learn how to make shoes and know, not theoretically, but through
your own work, what this entails. I would have liked to have clearly from the first
I start as a shoemaker in the school staff. It is exactly the right thing I would have been to.
agreement with real life. Nevertheless, we try to make children into workers
practices."(40 conf. 7)
2.-He then talked about embroidering useful items in a similar way, although with less
details like in the Dornach course of 1921/22.
3.-This is all that can be found about obraje. Steiner did not provide a definitive program.
for each class and he left it to the cooperation of the woodworking teachers and the painting teachers
And aesthetics works on the details. In this way, his own curriculum was made, mainly through.
from the initiative of Ms. Edwing Hauck. It was as follows:
4.-Class 1: Children learn to knit with two needles by knitting small face cloths. Each
Double period ends with small artistic tasks, such as drawing on the board.
5.-Class 2: Work starting in class 1 is completed. Then crochet work is introduced and
They make small articles. The children also design and create some more artistic articles.
small.
6.-Class 3: The children make some larger useful items in crochet, such as hats,
vests, cushions, for tea. They continue with the smallest subsidiary tasks started.
in classes.
7.-Class 4: Children learn precise sewing by making small balls in the workshop, which they then embroider.
with their own designs.
8.-Class 5: Now the children learn how to make different parts of clothing. It starts in class 5.
with the fabric of gloves and socks. Apart from that, the children make toys such as animals,
doll, and dollhouses. For this work, the children also create their own designs.
9.-Class 6: Now eurhythmy shoes and slippers are sewn and embroidered significantly. They
continue the making of toys.
10.-Class 7: The children sew a shirt or another article of clothing and learn how to embroider it according to their
own designs. Children learn how to make their own gym shirts or pants of
gymnastics.
11.-Class 8: Work started in class 7 continues and the sewing machine work is introduced
the different clothes and materials are explained and repaired, practice is done through ironing and pressing.
Class 9 and 10: The students are guided in design and in making items such as cushions.
covers, covers that must serve a specific purpose. Basketry work and raffia are
hammocks, hats, dresses, etc. painted posters are made, and cover designs
watercolor books are practiced.
13.- Classes 11 and 12: The students learn bookbinding and making cardboard boxes (Kartonagen)

TRADES

14.- Arts and Crafts (manual skills)

From class 6 to class 8, two periods a week. From class 9 to class 12, six periods a week.
I was late for six weeks in a year.

1.-Steiner mentioned professions for the first time in the llava conference of the Practical Course, after
talk about the teaching of geography.
2.-They do not omit even at the beginning, when they show the child the connection between agriculture and human life,
to give him a clear idea of the plow, of the harrow, etc., in connection
with their geographical ideas. And especially try to make the child imitate the shapes of some of
those implements, even if only in the form of a small toy or work piece
manuals (workshops). It will give him the skill (ability) and prepare him to take his place properly.
later. And if you could still make small bows and let the children cultivate the garden of the
school, if they could be allowed to cut with small sickles, or to mow grass with little sickles,
this would establish a good contract with life. Much more important than skill is the
psychic intimidation of the child's life with the life of the world. Because the real fact is: a child who has
mowed grass with a sickle, who has mowed grass with a sickle made a furrow with a small plow,
it will be a different person from a child who has not done these things. The soul experiences a
Change when doing things. Abstract teaching of manual skill is really not a substitute.
(12 compare 11)
3.-As for the first task of profession that has most likely not yet been put into practice.
by any Steiner School. When summarizing the work done in the first year of the School
Waldorf Steiner said:
4.- "We should aim to teach from Anthroposophy, so that all our teaching is
imbued by her, however, without teaching Anthroposophy in a theoretical way. Anthroposophy will live in her
teach if you treat as your ideal, use rhythm in your work classes. Try to
example of uniting what has been done in music and singing lessons to lessons of trades. I
I recommend 'Work and Rhythm' by Karl Bucher in this context. Such an approach has an effect.
extraordinarily beneficial regarding the content. All the manual work was based on the
musical rhythm. Nowadays this is barely noticeable. However, if you were to go to the countryside and
you will hear the people thrumming, you would understand how the Bator was carried rhythmically.
I think that we could capture such a way of working. What I really want
what we should bring back is spirit into our activities. This principle
basic, however important and sophisticated it may appear in the book you
they will find in 'Work and Rhythm' by Buecher (23.6.20)
6.-At the beginning of the second year of the Waldorf School, when the curriculum of the first class
It was planned, Steiner gave the following instructions:
7.-"I should have thought that in the trade lessons it could be given discreetly.
(modestly) an artistic element, cultivate in what is being done, an artistic element, a
sentiment for what is truly artistic. Let the children do all kinds of things that,
however, they must finish properly. I would let him do only utilitarian things if not
also toys, sensitive toys. For example, I think it would be a good idea if they make
of wood two blacksmiths looking at each other and moving together when the wooden handles
They are being manipulated. Such toys make children develop manual skills.
You can let them make gifts for other people. This also offers many possibilities.
8.-If you can let them gather moss-and this is something that will introduce a festive mode within
the lives of children and, at Christmas time, ask them to make small nativity scenes
entirely, by themselves, if you let them paint their little sheep, etc. and then something great
inner value and benefit can be developed. Do not omit the making of more utilitarian articles.
The children will have great joy in making rattles which are like a practical joke.
We thrashed, we thrashed, the twelve together. The bells, they come from Rome (22.9.20)
9.-Those indications, given for the benefit of the then new workshop teacher, Max
Wolfugel, these are the first general addresses. The specific instructions for each class are
recordings of conversations between Max Wolfugel and Steiner.

1.-On January 16, 1921-Steiner said to the craft teachers:

2.- "There is no objection to children making kitchen cockroaches. Do not leave incredible articles, and if it is
possibly no diversity articles (16.1.21)
At the beginning of the third year of the Waldorf School, the craft programs were made for the
first class 10.
Vocational classes must be guided within the truly artistic element, as you have.
already done with its modeling. This can be finished with paint; those who are smart
(clever) in them can paint with you. We can observe those who have.
followed precisely to class 10 as if they were in the gym and thus we can
to treat our work in arts and crafts in a truly artistic way. I want to say that we
we still need in the nature of aesthetics, and there Dr. Schwebsch will be of great value showing the
aesthetic connection between the sculptural-pictorial and musical singing.
He has occupied himself a lot with the musical side regarding the aesthetics of the
Music - the foundations of which should form a subcommittee of the faculty to work on arts classes and
crafts can be developed from manual skills and this leads to the musical element,
so that the aesthetic rather than the theoretical aspect can be nourished. I think that you all
they should show the beauty of daily life to the eyes of children as soon as possible
construction of a chair or a table. Do it in such a way that you get rid of the non-sensory idea
that a chair should look beautiful to the eye. You should appreciate the beauty of a chair when it
They feel it in her. I pointed out a similar thing yesterday in the craft lesson, when I said that the children
they should express it in the form of their embroidery where the side of the opening is of their item (for
example, in a cup of tea) I think that such awareness will become more general. They worked.
manually crafts and artistic sentiment, all of them will flow together. Of course, this must be
done ideally and not as in the Gymnasium (+3) where all this has been done, or is being
doing it in a quite ugly way.
 Hermann Grimm always complained when people came to him showing them paintings, that
they could not tell if a person in the pictures is posing in the front or at the back
behind the painting. They had no idea. The students of Gymnastics did not have to read if a person
was resting on the front or at the back of the painting. (17.6.21)
On November 16, 1924, the profession teachers expressed the desire to teach their subjects
in blocks periods in higher education.
6.-"Every day for a week with a group of students." (11.16.21)
7.-On July 22, 1922, the same thing was discussed once again. Steiner said:
8.- "We must consider if we could win a period by leaving a language for a
limited time. This would also relieve teachers to some extent without letting teaching
table. Such an interruption in language lessons would not be harmful; in languages such an interval is
quite flexible.
9.-When asked how long such an interruption should be, he replied:
10.- "You can start in class 9, in periods that last a fortnight, this could be done every
six weeks, and distributed over a year (22.6.22).
11.- The Oxford course emphasized the artistic aspect in the craft.
12.- "Instruction and education can better appeal to the whole nature of the child because it is
conceived as a whole at the heart of the teachers' meetings, just as I have described.
This is particularly remarkable when education shifts from the realm of the most psychic to
This delphic and practical life. Particular attention is paid to this transition at the Waldorf school.
logic and practical life.

1.-Thus we strive for children to learn to use their hands more and more. Taking it
As a beginning, the way small children handle their toys and games, we develop
this in more artistic trades, but still as it comes naturally from a child.
2.-This is the kind of things we produce (showing the toys, etc.) this is about the
standard achieved by the 8th year of school. Many of these things belong properly to
smaller classes, but as I have said, we have to make commitments and we will only be
capable of reaching our ideal later - and then when a child of 11 or 12 years now it
A 9-year-old child will be able to do it. The characteristic of this practical work is that it is both
artistic as spontaneous. The child works with the will on something of their own choice not with
a proposed task. This leads to woodworking classes in which the child
He had to carve and make all kinds of objects of his own design.
3.-Steiner continued talking about carving, especially carving mobile toys, and then he made the
next approach:
4.- "Children do this between the ages of eleven and fifteen, and always even later, but gradually.
we will have to bring it for the younger classes, where the forms have to be
simple.
5.-It is interesting to see that the classes that are given in class 6 and later are supposed to be
given to younger classes." Then a 9-year-old child will be able to do what
now one of 11 to 12 years old is doing regarding practical tasks.” Such assertions
Stories should always be thought about again and again.
A subsequent discussion about fixing trade lessons in the periods can be found.
under the.(28.10.22)
7.- When a pupil requested to be excused from participating in duties (work) due to his classes of
music, Steiner said at a teachers' meeting:
8.-"If this were to happen often we should be required to arrange a special group of
students who want changes of this kind, the parents would have to agree that their children
they should lose a lot of what we are proposing in our teaching. Each
each case would have to be treated individually for the student to receive such treatment
exceptional."(14.2.23)
9.-In this lecture given on August 14, 1923 in Ilkey, Steiner also spoke about
crafts (trades).
10.- "At the proper age - indeed relatively early - indeed we left to
our children make toys for themselves. They carve wooden toys and in this way
we also bring an element of art to their games. Gradually bring the game over to,
creation of artistic forms and then to the practical work which I have already mentioned, precisely it is
act in complete harmony with the demands of human nature. And it is absorbingly
interesting to find in the children's plastic, the artistic activity becomes entirely
naturally to the making of games and toys. Here again we take
(we direct) from art for-CE to art as a factor in industrial life. Children are shown how
make simple tools for home use and at the same time learn how to use saws,
knives, and other woodworking and carpentry tools. Both boys and girls love to be in
our work rooms, working with a knife, saw, and other tools in addition to their
ordinary lessons and they are happy when they succeed in doing something truly useful. In this
We stimulate all your instincts for the practical side of life. So for a
On one side we develop a practical sense for the side of life and on the other for art.
11.-Here we find a significant note; the child's game must have an ally towards
an artistic activity and this activity leads to a practical form of work.

1.- Although Steiner provided general outlines for this matter, he hardly gave detailed tasks.
for several classes. Some of those details were worked on by the crafts teacher Max
Wolfard, and below is a list of them:
2.-Class 6:
Children are introduced to work understanding and they make simple practical objects.
3.-Class 7 and 3:
The experience gained so far is applied to the making of movable toys. After
From this, simple artistic objects of regular sizes are made.
4.-Class 9 and 10:
Free modeling is introduced. Useful objects are made with shapes, free drawing is practiced on white.
and black.
5.-Class 11:
The work from last year continues. Furniture elements are introduced.
6.- Class 12.
The drawing in black and white is continued (is carried) to watercolor painting; It continues
Carpentry.

RELIGION

7.-Two classes a week for all subjects.

The unique character of religious education in Steiner schools has prevented me (encouraged,
driven) to introduce Steiner's observations in chronological order:
9.-The cultural situation in Germany in 1919 that led to the founding of the Waldorf School and that
It also influenced the position of religion classes, as characterized by Steiner at the end of his
first conference of the curriculum. "It is almost unnecessary to tell you what with the material
of teaching which we have talked about so far, many things will be developed through the
awareness of the child - that the spirit permeates everything in the world; that the spirit lives in language; that
the spirit lives in how geography covers the land; that the spirit lives in history. When
we try to feel the living spirit in all of us, we will find the right enthusiasm to
bring this living spirit to our students. And then in the future we will learn to do well what
what has been wronged against by the Religious confessions, which have never provided for it
free human development, they have promoted materialism from many sides. When it is not possible
use the material from the collective world to demonstrate to man that the spirit works, then the
Religious lessons become a breeding ground for materialism. Religious knowledge.
he has taken upon himself the task of prohibiting the spirit and the soul being spoken of in other lessons
as if it were to preserve this as a privilege.
10.- Therefore, religious knowledge has increasingly dried up reality and what is brought towards
forward in religion lessons, does it only have the substance of sentimental turns of language and
And what as a mere phrase dominates the entire world today becomes reality more closely.
connected with the ecclesiastical than with worldly culture. Because the emptiest phrases are used in
the religious instruction today and those phrases, working in the moment of man, are taken to the
daily life. Certainly, external life also gives rise to much that is mere empty phrase
but religious knowledge errs more in this direction.
11.-We will see, my dear friends, how the first matter in the religion program (In the days
According to Rudolf Steiner, religious instruction topped the list of plans in the official program that I
I don't touch at all, especially in these conversations, about what the tasks of the communities will be.
Churches will influence the other plans in our Waldorf education (page 220 above) the plan
He must leave it entirely alone. The religious class will be given to the religion teachers. Here
they will be free men. Here they do not listen to us........................we will make our
duty in this regard, but we will also do it with a charming spirit given the others
Subjects taken with the children. " (16 conf. 1)

1.-In Conference 12 of his Practical Steiner course, he talked about the position of the teachers of
religion.
We will have to make compromises, just as you know regarding the
religious instruction, which will have the disadvantage that the religious element will not be closely
connection with other subjects. Even today, if the religious parties would make the same commitments.
From its side, much can be achieved by the close association of religious instruction with
other subjects. If, for example, the 'professor in religious instruction agreed from time to time
when and then take some other aspect of study; if, for example, he were to explain to the child
as an incidental part of their religious teaching, and connect with it, the steam engine or
something of a completely mundane nature, something related to astronomy, etc., the simple
the fact that the religion teacher is doing this would make an extraordinary impression on
the awareness of the growing child.”(12 conf.12)
3.-In the last two indications that belong to the time of the founding of the Waldorf school
Steiner only referred to the religious instruction given by different visiting priests from various
denominations. The words of this opening talk on September 7 also refer to this
arrangement.
4.- “But we will honor our promise; the priests of different denominations
religious who will teach religion in this school will be free to bring to this school the
principles of their worldview. We will wait and see if what they
they will introduce it in the school, without any intervention on our part, it will adversely affect what
we wish to bring to the school with all modesty as a new art. Because we know: The
humanity must first understand that an art of education can be developed from a
spiritual perspective on the world before it can achieve a real penetration within the
problems of the different religious bases and their reciprocal relationships. This means that we are not
founding a school where the art of education can be practiced." (final part of the speech
+17)
5.- During the following two weeks, Steiner was in Berlin and Dresden and only returned to Stuttgart.
on September 24. During that interval, the members of the Anthroposophical society that also
they were parents of the children at the Waldorf school, they asked Steiner to start religious instruction for
his children that was based on Anthroposophy.
6.-Therefore, he found a non-sectarian religion teacher or 'free' who had to offer himself.
shoulder to shoulder with the other denominational instruction. In other words, these classes of free religion
The dogmas were not instituted by the college, but in response to a request made by the
anthroposophical parents who believe their children should also receive religious education in school like
the children of parents of various denominations did it. Many students whose parents worked
in the Waldorf-Astoria cigar factory and that most likely would not have any kind of
religion, now they enrolled for those religion classes that have reopened. Steiner spoke about
of that development in his 8th lecture in the Christmas course in Dornach in 1921/22:
7.- "Due to the fact that it is in no way our intention to create a school that represents a
particular conception of the world—as one might easily suppose—but rather to carry it
Anthroposophy within an educational practice was a matter of comparative indifference for
if we leave the true (center, the essence, the core substance, of the conception of
world-mainly its religious point of view-in the hands of the representatives of the
traditional religious denominations; and so it happened that the teaching of the Catholic religion was
making available to the Catholic priest and that the teaching of Evangelical religion is in the hands
of the Evangelical pastor. But......................................................................................................................
I formed the Waldorf school, the main ones among the children were those of the workers.
proletarians of their factory. For their part, these people are dissidents, whose children had gone to other
schools had not taken part in religious teaching in any way, that they would have grown.
without religion. In their cases, the matters turned in such a way that we realized
precisely just through the children, that their parents felt the need for their children
also have something of a similar class. Thus, to meet that need, we had to
fix our own religious teaching. Just as the Evangelical teaching was delivered to a
Evangelical pastor to a Catholic priest, those lessons now become a
accepted part of the schedule, and were given to certain of our own teachers, who were
then observed as religion teachers.

1.-In this way, lessons on Anthroposophical religion are given, and today things have already come to the...
state when this Anthroposophical religious teaching means a great deal for the children of
proletariat and also for the other children. Here a particular difficulty arises. We have a
Anthroposophy for adults, but today the teacher, if he is to be successful in his religious teaching.
Anthroposophy must shine in the task of creating real content in what it is to give to children.
This means that the first must throw the conception of the anthroposophical world within a
the way in which the child can be brought and we are involved in various forms of work in
through a conception of the world anthroposophically in a way that can be imparted to the child
And they were distanced in various ways from the worker towards an appropriate anthroposophical conception.
for the children and which is in accordance with the spirit ....... For example, it is necessary to enter here
deeply within the degree to which it affects the child and how what is imponderable is
consider.
2.-Steiner discussed this situation, which had already been and developed in the Autumn of 1919 during the
first meeting of teachers that he led after his return from Dresden:
You must tell the children that whoever wants to have free religion classes must decide.
definitely, and then this lesson must take its place as a third in addition to the others
Two (denominational religion lessons). There should be no doubt that children cannot
attend other religion lessons as well. However, you can arrange those lessons for
religion free according to the classes. Let us say that the four upper classes and the
Four lower ones can be grouped together. One of us can give those lessons.
September 25, 2019

4.-On the same day, Steiner remarked:

We will not mix denominational lessons and free religion classes. We only
we will act according to what is desired. Those students who do not want to attend classes of
religion, we will leave them alone, but at the same time it may be good to try to find out why
They do not want to attend religion classes. We should find this in each case.
individual. Some may wish to attend denominational religion classes again or they
They may prefer to attend our anthroposophical religion lessons. Something should be done about
About this. We do not want children to grow up without any religious teaching.
6.- When asked if the classroom teacher had to give those religion classes, Steiner
context:
One of us could take on this task, but it doesn't have to be the class teacher.
desirable that someone unknown to us should have to be chosen. We should
to remain within our own body of teaching. If there were sixty children, we would
we would divide them into two groups of 30 each. Perhaps we could put together
students from the four upper grades and the four lower classes. I will give them a program for those
lessons. This subject must be taught with the utmost care." (25.9.19)

On the same day, Steiner outlined the first program for those two groups made up of students.
classes 4th and 5th to 8th.
2.- "In the first group, everything that has to do with reincarnation and Karma must be omitted. Those
Topics must be introduced. From the tenth year onwards, those things must be addressed.
When discussing those topics, it is particularly necessary to do so correctly from the
You should obtain the participation of the students in mind. Reincarnation and
Karma should not be talked about only theoretically, but practically. (25.9.19)
3.-Children, when they approach their seventh year, they record something like a memory of all the
conditions that were present before birth.
Sometimes they connect the most curious things, which are an image of those conditions.
early - this is not an isolated example, but rather - children come and say:
I come into the world through a funnel that gets narrower and narrower. They describe how they
They came into the world. Let them describe these things, let them cooperate, and you take care of this.
so it is drawn from the (sub)consciousness. This is very good, but children should avoid talking about it.
You must elicit (discover) what they themselves have to say. But what you are
saying, what belongs to your teaching.
The subject could be made lively in this form of teaching, as was shown yesterday in the conference.
public.
It would be the most beautiful thing if one's teachings were put into a new life every minute of the
own pedagogical efforts, simply because it is based on a true understanding of
man; if there weren't a tendency on the part of the teacher to indoctrinate students in a conception
unilateral. This was the basic theme of my article in the Waldorf magazine, covering the foundation
educational aspect of the Waldorf School (19). What I indicate in this article is indeed a summary of
what we study in our course, only written for public consumption. I would like
ask them to consider when looking at the content of this article as an expression of our
teaching ideals.
4.-An hour and a half of religious education teaching in a week is enough for each group: 3/4 of
twice a week. It would be especially good if it could be on Sundays, but this would be
difficult to fix. In those lessons you could also make the children familiar with such
verses of the soul's calendar. (25.9.19)
5.- When a teacher (p. 222 below) asked if those verses would be so difficult for the children
Steiner said:
6.- "There should be nothing that they take as content-thought, but the form (the
way) in which thoughts develop. I would like to know what would be more difficult for you.
children for the Our Father. People only imagine that it is easier than the verses in the
soul calendar. This is also true of the Creo, and therefore they oppose it. In another
they wouldn't do it that way. Contain only what is really obvious, but it is really obvious,
but until their 27th year, people have not developed enough to be able to understand it,
and after this they learn nothing else about life. The treaties on the Creed are childish.
There is nothing in it about what is possible to reach some decision from oneself. You
They can also recite the verses from the soul's calendar with the children before the lesson.
(class)(September 25, 2019)

7.-The next day, September 26, 1919, Steiner gave the teachers the detailed program for
the two stages.

1.- "Those lessons should be given in two stages. If you are ready to teach
Anthroposophical in religious terms, you will have to take the concept of religion more
seriously what is usually done. Usually the concept of religion is twisted (deformed)
because all kinds of strange things are brought to her, things that really belong to
conceptions of the world. Because of this, religious traditions have led from an age to the
next idea and concepts that have not changed over time.
2.-Thus ancient world conceptions remain side by side with those that develop at
long new lines. You find grotesque examples of this situation in the times of
Galileo and Giordano Bruno. The way such things are being justified today in
Apologies are almost fun. The Catholic Church used the fact that the system as an excuse.
Copernican was not yet recognized in those times, although the church itself had suppressed it.
it was the reason why Galileo was not allowed to speak freely about the Copernican image
of the Universe. I do not wish to go into the details here, I merely mention it in order to point out that
religious teaching should be taken seriously as soon as we deal with subjects
anthroposophical.
3.-Anthroposophical knowledge begins with a conception of the world that, as such, we...
we definitely do not wish to disseminate through our teaching. On the other hand, we
we must develop the religious feelings that are the result of an Anthroposophical vision of
World for the sake of those students whose parents have asked about such religious classes. Without
embargo, we must be careful not to allow anything false, especially nothing premature
enter our work. Therefore, we will divide our pupils into two groups.
First we will put together the children from the first four lower classes and then those from
the first four lower classes and then those of the four upper classes. In the four
lower classes we will talk about subjects and processes belonging to the human kingdom in
our environments in such a way that children begin to feel that the spirit lives in the
nature. We can use the examples already given: for example, you may wish
bring to the children the concept of the human soul. To do this, it is especially important to talk first of all
about the meaning of life itself. This can be done by drawing your attention to the fact
that human beings are born very small, that they grow, become old, have gray hair and
wrinkles on his face; etc. in other words, you make them realize the serious nature of
the life of man and the nature of man... because sooner or later the children will have to
to meet the meaning of death. (p. 223)
4.- It then becomes necessary to draw comparisons between what happens in the human soul.
during sleep and during waking life. Such things you can discuss even with the
younger children. Describe the characteristic traits of waking and sleeping, indicating how the soul
is resting, like a person lies still during sleep. Then you talk about
the way the soul permeates the body upon awakening, and how a force of will reveals itself
same in the movement of the limbs, as the body gives the soul the senses through the
What men can see, hear, etc. Such things can prove to the child that the spirit
work through the physical area. You should discuss those matters with the younger children.
5.- What you must avoid at all costs is any kind of superficial teaching of purposes.
functional in nature. The teaching of Anthroposophical religion must govern itself
the doctor of operation set apart would answer the question: why us?
We find cork in nature in the bark of a tree? "Saying," so that we can
to manufacture corks for champagne bottles. The good God has wisely arranged it so that
that we can use cork for bottle stoppers." The inherent idea is that everything has its purpose.
in nature that is useful for man in a true poison for the mind and must be
entirely avoided. Whatever you do, do not introduce such utilitarian ideas,
trivial in their teaching.
6.- You should not promote the idea that many people desire, that the unknown is a
test of the existence of the spirit. Some people are fond of saying:

1.-"Oh, we cannot delve into this, because here the spiritual reveals itself." Instead of
gain the conviction that they can learn to recognize the spirit that reveals itself in the
matter, people are often tempted to look over something that lies beyond outside of the
human explanation as proof of the existence of the divine. (p. 224, top).
Those two trends must be excluded from our religious teaching, that of a false and
superficial idea of the utilitarianism of natural phenomena and the others that treat them as equivalents
impenetrable miracles with the proof of the spirit.
On the other hand, our real task is to awaken a consciousness of how the suprasensible is
living behind the tapestry of the external nature. To quote an old example: we speak
to the children about the chrysalis and how the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, thus giving them
to them an image of the immortality of the human soul. We can say, if man must
to die and its immortal soul leaves its corpse like an invisible butterfly from the chrysalis. But such
the images are valuable only if you are convinced of their truth, if for you the image of the
butterfly emerging from the chrysalis is a symbol of immortality of the soul placed before your eyes in
nature by the Divine powers. If you yourselves are not sure of this, your words do not
they will carry no weight.
Ideas from this class should inspire children, and they will become especially powerful if
you can show how a being, an archetypal form can live in many forms
different. In religion classes, it is important to nourish what belongs to the realm of
feeling and not what is part of a philosophy of the world.
Poems about the metamorphosis of plants are quite appropriate in this regard as
to what you appeal to the feeling contained in each line you can talk about the
nature in a similar form until the end of class four. You must also awaken
in children time and again the image of man with all his thought and will as
belonging to the entire universe. Furthermore, you should always awaken the idea that
God lives in everything that lives within us. Always return again to the following.
imaginations: the divine lives in every leaf, the divine lives in our flowing blood, it lives in the
latent heart, in everything we feel, in everything we think. Always give birth to the idea that
Man is permeated by the Divine.
5.- A subsequent task for the religion teacher at this stage would be to convey to the children the
the feeling that man, as the representative of God, has the moral duty to be good and that
man commits an offense against God if he fails in this. From a religious point of view, man does not
has been placed in the world for its own cause, continues as a revelation of the Divine. This has
It has often been expressed with the words. Man does not exist for his own sake, but for the
glory of God. But in reality, 'for the glory of God' means in this case 'for the revelation of
God and as the words "Glory to God in the highest" really mean" The gods reveal themselves
themselves in the heights". In a similar way, the sentence: "Man exists for the Glory of God
It should be read, "Man lives on earth so that he can express the divine through ..."
his actions and through his feelings "And if a man does something wrong, if he is irreligious and
outraged, then he commits an offense against God which distorts God, through the
which still God becomes something that is not beautiful.
6.-The image of God living in man is very important, which should already be created in this
first stage. On the other hand, I would leave Christology out of this city and only awaken the
feeling of God the Father living in nature and in natural processes. I should try to
unite this subject of conversations about the Old Testament, its themes in particular
Psalms of David regarding their appropriateness, and they are this, as long as they are treated in
the true (correct) form. The psalms of David, the songs of Solomon, etc.

THIS WOULD THEN BE THE FIRST STAGE.

1.- When the second state is reached in the four higher classes, human destiny would be or
It would become the main topic. You must try to give the child a concrete idea of the meaning.
of destiny, so that they can truly feel that each person has their own destiny.
It is important for them to be able to appreciate the difference between what can happen to a
a rather accidental person and what happens by destiny. You have to deal with the issue.
of destiny in this stadium. You cannot explain through the way of definition if a
occurrence happens as a result of fate or merely accidental. Rather, you can
Illustrate this problem with examples. Let's suppose that I can feel when an event happens.
It happens that I have been looking for it, waiting for it, so I have an example of the action.
of destiny. On the other hand, if I cannot experience such awareness, no matter how minimal it may be, if I
I feel completely caught by surprise, if I can feel that I will learn from the fact one
great quantity for the future, so I am facing an event that will come
to be destined. Such examples eventually enable the child to experience a feeling for the
difference between 'Karma accomplished' and 'the process of becoming Karma'. The problem of destiny.
It has to be dealt with step by step from the perspective of Karma.
In the newest edition of my 'Theosophy' you will find those differences of feelings.
described in great detail in the chapter 'Reincarnation and Karma' which has been entirely revised.
In this chapter, I tried to address how such differences in feelings are experienced and
as there are indeed truths of facts. In the first case, you can perceive internally
that you have really looked for it. For example, if you find another person through the
first time, you usually feel that you have been searching.
strongly even in a child of 7 or 8, if he is not tormented at this age by any kind of
formal training in drawing and painting. If one only lets the child paint houses or trees
Naturally, this method will not work. But if the child follows the intentions of the teacher,
so that I can feel, "Wherever I move my fingers, colors will result from the material of
color is of lesser importance - color will come to life in my fingers. Here he wants to continue
flowing. If we achieve this, we awaken in the soul of the child something of deep significance:
color perspective; the child perceives that the yellows and reds come closer, than the
blues and violets go far and farther.
4.-Thus working from inner experience, we develop a sense for what most
In the afternoon, they will have to work with the child; the perspective that needs to be implemented is to be carried out in lines.
It is extremely harmful for a child to introduce perspective at a later age without having
previously brought an interior perspective class of color had a terribly effect
externalizer when he has gotten used to acquiring quantitative perspective without
having previously experienced the interior, qualitative perspective that is in the perspective of the
Color. And something subsequent is inherent in this in the perspective of color. And something subsequent is inherent.
in this relationship. If you prevent the child from living intensely in this perspective of color,
He will never learn to read that quickly.

Steiner divides school as a whole into:

Lower school: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th
Middle school: 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th
4.-As he could, but always with the limitations I spoke about yesterday, although here it does not.
It means that the beginning of reading should be brought to the child as soon as possible. But of
this perspective of color the child acquires flexible ideas, feelings, and flexible perceptions
impulses of flexible will. Everything in the soul becomes mobile. It can be, because everything that
required here the development of reading and of painting-drawing, outside of drawing painting. You
They should take a little longer to teach the child to read. But then at the appropriate age certainly.
It will be possible to bring reading to the child in the appropriate way, so that it does not take on a form.
too superficial within the body, within the entire being of the child - what can also be
happening - not yet inducing it too deeply within the child imparting the form of
each letter separated in a way that makes a tear in the social being of man.
5.- Absolutely spontaneous on April 25, 1923, after talking about astronomy,
Steiner said:
6.- "The pupils at the school in Dornach have done brilliantly in their painting. I have
demonstrated how to distinguish between sunrise and sunset. And some have grasped the idea
excellent. Things of this kind can be given. Rainy atmosphere in a forest is a
exercise for ages 14-15.

1.-After a visit to class 8, he said:

2.- "I took a look at his work. Here I would like to say that it is essential for children to be"
their role, if they are going to paint with watercolors. Otherwise, you are stimulating negligence.
They must learn how to be in their role. The work in their exercise notebooks could not
possibly stimulate ideas in the child. They must learn to take on their role properly.
using paste, Steiner says that the sheets of paper should be glued to the surface. Glue? or
Let them use liquid color only on tracing paper. They start their tasks.
too carelessly.
3.-Steiner gave a report on his visit to the Ministry of Education.
I told him that when we have gone far enough and we have built our
curriculum, I will try to develop the whole of the free drawing of Dürer's painting of melancholy.
At present, we are still capable of carrying this out in our school and therefore
We will have to do it in two stages. It doesn't matter if the children listen at an earlier tempo.
what they will be able to understand only later.
We lead to Christology by dividing the entire evolution of the world into two parts: in
pre-Christian times were a period of preparation and Christian times that is a
time of realization what is important here is the recognition of the children that the worlds
Divine beings revealed themselves through Christ in the fullness of time. Only now you...
They pass to the Evangelicals. Until now you have chosen stories from the Old Testament in order to
elucidate the meaning of Angel, Archangel, and Spirit of the times. You can take the history
of Moses as an example of showing children the emergence of a new Spirit of the
times, in contrast to the previous Spirit of the Times, which was the guide of the revelations of
Moses. So you proceed showing how in the meaning 6 B.C. again a Spirit
From the Times I take the reins. You enter gradually into the kingdom of history and
geography. You must approach in such a way that the child learns to clearly distinguish
between the God whom, for example, Protestantism speaks of, who is actually just an Angel, and between
the Archangel who is more sublime than the divinity that is spoken of in religious teaching
evangelical.
1.-The spirit of Time would represent the third sphere, a divine being that governs for a period.
detempo.
Here you find the union between history and religion. And only when you have introduced
such subjects should be taught to children seriously during their twelve years of school to the real
Christology. At present, we are still capable of carrying this out in our school and for that
so we will have to do it in two stages. It doesn't matter if the children listen at a slower pace
previously what they will be able to understand only later.
We lead to Christology dividing the entire evolution of the world into two parts: in
pre-Christian times that were a period of preparation and Christian times that is a
time of realization what is important here is the recognition of the children that the worlds
divine beings revealed themselves through Christ in the fullness of time. Only now you
They go to the Gospels.
2.- So far you have chosen stories from the Old Testament in order to elucidate the meaning.
of the Angel, Archangel and spirit of the times you can take the story of Moses as a
example of showing children the emergence of a new Spirit of the times, in contrast to
previous Spirit of the Times, who was the guide of Moses' revelations. Then you
they proceed to show how in the 6th century BC again a Spirit of the times took the
Friends. Take the Old Testament as the basis for this period.
3.- And when you have passed to the Christian times, after considering the precedents
you eat as a period of preparation, you lead to the Gospels, choosing several
themes. However, always make it clear that the quaternity of the Gospels represents
four points of view. Just as a tree needs to be photographed from four sides for a
complete image can be won, so should the four Gospels of Saint Matthew, once again, the
Gospel of Saint Mark, then again the gospel of Saint Luke, and that of Saint John is important
for the students, to experience and realize four points of view. You must on this
difference in quality as being of the greatest importance.
4.-This could then constitute the content of the second stage. Everything that we can
to recognize as divine powers working through nature, revealing itself to
through wisdom should belong to the first stage.
In the second stage, a great change must take place: Man perceives the divine not only in
through wisdom, but through the strength of love. These are the two leading themes
for the two stages in our religious teaching. (26.9.19)
5.-After this detailed description of the curriculum for the Steiner middle school, he responded:
Should students memorize passages?
7.-"Yes, preferably from the Old Testament and later from the New Testament. But not the
class of verses that you often find in prayer books (prayers), because those
are usually quite trivial. Take verses from the Bible and also verses from sources
anthroposophical. There you can find all kinds of appropriate anthroposophical verses for
the teaching of religion."(26.9.19)

Should the Ten Commandments be taught?

2.-The Ten Commandments belong to the Old Testament. You must always make sense of
the children the depth and gravity of such matters. I have always emphasized just like it
the commandments state that the name of God should not be taken in vain. This
commandment is broken (red, down, broken) by almost every preacher in his pulpit that
tends to use the name of Christ in vain on many occasions. All this must grow in
depth, matured by the right kind of feelings. The classes of religion entirely do not
they should appeal to the heart, not the head. What matters is not the content of the Creed, but
that the feelings it evokes. The belief in God, the Father, and the Son, the spirit is not so
important as our deep feelings of reverence towards the Father, the Son, the Spirit,
This will make us delve into the depths of our soul. Not recognizing God is a
disease, not recognizing the Spirit is a serious limitation of the soul."(26.9.19)
3.-A subsequent question: Should one teach the historical development of individuality?
Zarathustra to the revelation of Christianity and the story of the children of Jesus?
One should conclude the religion lessons with a complete description, but naturally
you have to talk about those subjects very carefully. The first state represents
more a religious-nature aspect and the second state represents more the historical side of the
religion."(26.9.19)
5.-This is the first draft of the religion classes whose two states cover classes from first to
fourth, and fifth to eighth.
However, the passage that deals with the introduction of Christology in a clear manner shows that
Christology truly belongs to a third state that should not be started until the
pupils be ready for him.
6.-Steiner led the teachers' meetings again briefly before Christmas, in
December 22 and 23, but only very little is known about the content of those meetings.
After listening to a report from the religion teacher, Steiner gave a response to which
only the following lines remain
7.-"Express their content (stories) in a pictorial and mystical style. Descriptions, stories"
Pictorials should be at the forefront: try to elaborate them. Use cuito frames.
(Cult images) "(23.12.19)
At this time, the service for children was introduced for pupils who took part in the
new religion lessons, for their parents and teachers. Just a brief observation from a
incomplete note remains:
9.-"The Sunday service is given only by those pupils who participate in religious classes."
non-denominational. It is intended to replace the ritual of a church service for children and their parents.
"Finish it with music." (6.3.20) (page 227)
10.-When he was told that a pupil who had participated in the religion lessons did not
denominational and had returned to Catholic religious lessons, Steiner said:
11.- "Such backlogs of non-denominational lessons must be accepted, backlogs of the
ministerial priests must be accepted."(6.3.20)
12.- During Holy Week 1920, Steiner gave his first Pedagogical Course outside the course in Basel.
for teachers. At the end of conference 11, there is an outline of sectarian instruction and the non
denominational religious instruction of the Waldorf School.
On June 14, 1920, the curriculum for religion classes was subdivided into three stages for the
classes from first to third, fourth to sixth, and seventh to ninth. On the same day not decided who
I would give birth in the Sunday Services.
The curriculum for the new third stage (seventh to ninth grade) was announced in September.
day 22 of the same year

1.- “This group made up of pupils from the seventh, eighth, and ninth, of course you could
theoretically explain, but in a rather free form, subjects such as preexistence and life
after death. Give them examples. Show the pupils how the great civilizations are
together.
Talk about man's mission on earth. You just need to look at Goethe or Jean.
Paul, their lives, from this point of view you can see, you can point out, how their
gifts come from before the birth of their life.
2.- Subsequently, the body of Laocoon offers a good image that can be elevated to the sphere.
religious and that you can explain. What really happens in the case of Lacoon is that his
The etheric body is retracting and consequently its physical body seems to be distorting.
There is much that can be demonstrated in this rupture of the physical body of Laocoön. One should have
a group (the whole group). But you must elevate this fear to religious feelings in the
presence of the human body in dissolution.”(22.9.20)
You can use most of what has been said in the lectures as long as you
adapt your content to suit children. Such conversations are very helpful for that.
particular age. It is possible to start those topics even at a very early age and continue with
they until a later stage.
Talk about the Christmas festival for a period of four weeks (June 17, 2021) (page 229)
above)
(It is not clear for which class this suggestion was made).
4.-When asked about it, Steiner agreed that the professor should use the charts.
of the prophets by Michelangelo. (ib). After a question about the continuation of the
religion classes: "It is unbelievable that Christ can be omitted. This must not happen. A
different group professor: "I took the history of the Old Testament."
5.-Steiner "Do not take exclusively the history of the Old Testament." When he himself
The professor wanted to know how to start. Steiner gave an overview of the topics for the
two original stages:
6.- 'We have always tried to let the phenomenon of nature be the starting point of
our classes. this was a definitive topic in the first stage (which includes classes from 1st to 4th)
year ) and then we continue with history. After this, we take the Gospels and
we gradually introduced stories composed by the teachers. Then we took scenes from the
Gospel of Saint John in greater detail. We begin with a kind of religion-nature.
Your task will be to lead the children in a natural way to a religious experience when
discuss all kinds of other topics. (17.6.21)
On November 16 of the same year, it was reported in a meeting of teachers that some teachers
they had arranged special times for discussions with individual students, during which they
they could talk about life's problems. Steiner said:
It is not surprising that the students who participate in denominational religion classes do not
they make use of that opportunity themselves. However, such conversations are a good
It's difficult for you to avoid that such conversations have an anthroposophic taste.
you can avoid it in your religion classes, but necessarily even in those. In those
discussions with students individually you cannot hide your fundamentals
anthroposophical, nor would it be necessary to address.
8.- I would like to draw the reader's attention once again to the Christmas course in Dornach for
teachers of 1921 (27) in which in the 16th and last conference a general characterization of the
Religion classes are given.
9.-Class 11: A teacher thought that religion classes lasting only 45 minutes were too short.
briefly, Steiner said:
10.-"It would do the children good to have those lessons more often. I can't see why a
A lesson lasting ¾ of an hour should be too short. In my opinion, it would be better if the children were
religion classes twice a week. I would still prefer shorter lessons, but more
frequent.(28.4.23)
11.-About the relationship between art lessons and religion in class.
12.- 'Religion lessons must have a quality quite different from art lessons.'
Everything should be directed towards an artistic appreciation, towards an understanding of the element.
artstco, while in religion lessons the main purpose in my opinion should be the
creation of a true religious spirit. In this spirit or that which represents the pedagogical value.
Previously, a large amount of effort was usually dedicated from the most
intellectual of religion."(10.5.22)
13.- When the curriculum for class 11 was given on June 22, 1922, Steiner had this to say
about the classes of free religion.
14.-"In the presentation of your subject, you should now appeal more to the judgment of the student. Give them
value to enter into discussions. In previous years, the important thing was a 'language of
images”, but now the time has come to pretend to a more conceptual understanding.
You should talk about destiny from a religious perspective: about the problem of
guilt and reconciliation: about the father, son, and the Holy Spirit. You evolve from
images to concepts and this introduces into your teaching something of the nature of cause and effect.
June 21, 2022
The continuum:
The 8th and 9th grades, what did we do? A teacher: We talked about the statue of the Laocoön group.
Steiner: "It is not necessary to cover all of them, you have taken part of the Gospel of St.
Juan, it is terribly difficult to teach children the story of creation, unless one has
I have been quite busy with this subject. They do not need to take any other chapter from the Old.
Will. In doing this you can refer to the Gospel of St. Luke (21.6.22).
On June 22, 1922, the subject of religion classes was intensely discussed (see on 22.6.22)
On December 5, 1922, the positions under which a professor could be discussed were addressed.
chosen to teach religion and also to officiate at the Children's Religious Services.
(ver 5.12.22) when asked about the treatment of Parsifal in class 11 Steiner
responded:
In religion classes and history classes, what matters is the way the topic is approached...
Next, there was a detailed description of how the topic of Parsifal changed the
history of literature.
On January 17, 1923, Steiner spoke about the students who argued for the sake of arguing in class.
about religion and concerning the relationship of the school with anthroposophy as a way of looking at the world and
finally about the symbolism in the treatment of Parsifal.
On March 8, 1923, the Religious Service for youth and the formation in the community of
Christians debated.

Class 12: On April 25, 1923, the curriculum for the first class was set: Take the appearance
history of religion. A perspective of the religious evolution of humanity can be given.
Start with ethnographic religions, then talk about national religions and finally
about universal religions. Start with ethnographic religions, for example, those
that are linked to a particular race, for example, the Egyptian religions of local gods.
Also in Greece, Local Deities can be found everywhere. One must take
the topic step by step. First are the religions whose worship is fixed in a defined place,
the sanctuary. Then there are those like in the case of the nomadic tribes, where the tent
replace the sacred place, where the celebration of worship is universal religions, Buddhism and
Christianity. No other religion can be called Universal.

14.-For class 9:
15.- 'For class 9 the story of the apostles from Luke, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit (ib).
16.-After a question about the Apocrypha:
17.-"Children are not yet mature enough for the Apocryphal books. They contain
much of what is more correct than what is found in the Gospels. We have always used
as a supplement to the Gospels what can be affirmed from the Apocryphal books. Without
embargo, large contradictions appear, when one reads in one of the Gospels that children must
always be ready to consult others. It is not at all to explain the contradictions. If to the
Children are given the Apocryphal books at the same time, so nothing seems to fit anymore. I
I would take the Acts of the Apostles."(25.4.23)

1.- After a subsequent religion question in class 10:

Take again the Gospel of Saint John. There are many possibilities; choose either Mark or
Agustín. Choose the speeches where he discusses the religious element (25.4.23)
2.- After a visit from strangers, Steiner said on July 12, 1923.
3.- "The other danger is that you become too anthropocentric. I was sitting down
Yesterday about thorns for fear that those visitors should think that the history lesson
It seems to be becoming too religious. It is not correct that a history lesson should
It seems to be a religion lesson. For this reason, we have separate religion lessons.
Our visitors seem to have been well disposed towards our school. However,
We would easily succeed in gaining the reputation of teaching our subject.
too much from an Anthroposophical point of view."(12.7.23)
4.- When asked what the teacher should choose as an example of popular religion:
5.- 'Old Testament and the Hebrews' (31.7.23)
6.- A brief excerpt from the conference given on August 15 in Ilkey:
7.-"He who educates in the sense of a true sense of Christianity must understand that
Before the age of 9 to 10 years, it is not possible to transmit to the child's soul an understanding that
it was what the Mystery of Golgotha brought to the world, or of everything that is connected with the
personality and divinity of Jesus Christ. The child is exposed to great dangers if we have
failed to introduce the principle of universal divinity before this age, and by divinity
universal I want to say the divine principle, Father. We must show the child as the
divinity in all of nature, in all of human evolution, as it lives and moves not only in the
stones, but in the hearts of other men, in their true actions. The child must be
taught with the natural authority of the teacher, centered gratitude and love for this universal divinity.
In this way, the basis for the correct attitude of the Ministry of Golgotha between the ages of 9 and 10 is
set.
You see now why it is so infinitely important to understand the essence of man from the aspect
of its development in time. Consider for a moment what difference it makes if we teach to
a child 7 to 8 years old from the New Testament, or having first stimulated a conscience of
universal divinity in the whole of nature wait until he has reached the age of 9 1/2
10 years before we pass the New Testament as such. In the latter case, the correct one.
preparation has been made and the Gospels will live in all their suprasensible greatness.
If we teach the young child about the New Testament, it will not permeate their whole being, but
that will remain mere phraseology, just many rigid prosaic concepts. The consequent danger
a religious feeling will harden in the child and continue throughout life in a
rigid form, instead of a living form that traverses its feeling from tip to end through
the world. We will prepare the child most beautifully to take within himself from
from the 9th to the 10th year onwards, the glory of Christ Jesus, before this age he has been introduced in
the principle of imminent divinity of the world.
8.-Steiner classified the relationship of the free classes of religion to Anthroposophical society in February
15 of 1924.
9.- The decline of adding something to children's services that would relate to the ritual of the
stations.

1.-"In this way, one would worry the children with an artificially induced mood."
2.- What could make the service depend on the calendar.
3.- Asked about the subject in the religion class for grade 9, he responded:
4.- "Augustine, Thomas à Kempis" (5.2.24)
5.- In response to a question posed by a member of the audience at the Bern Course, Steiner
Gave a short summary of the free religion lessons that were given to children of parents who
They had asked and were taking place side by side with the religion classes.
denominational in the Waldorf school:
First of all, we had to develop an appropriate curriculum for the classes of
religion of those children. In the case of Catholic, evangelical religion classes, the responsibility
laid entirely or the respective visiting professors. The educational principles that we bring
the children in those lessons are the same as those in all the other subjects we teach in
As for those, they are based on the other subjects we teach regarding those.
based on a spiritual conception of man. To begin with, we allow ourselves to...
In the child's second period of life (approximately from 7 to 14), the development of the soul
and spirit which naturally fills their body during the first seven years I have
shown how in the first period of life the relationship of the child's body to its environment
It is based on an attitude of religion-nature. This attitude later reverts to life.
the child's soul, when the body becomes emancipated from it in the task of the religion teacher
to respect (to awaken again) this devotion to its environments in the life of the soul and spirit
of the child. This can be achieved by trying to develop in the child a feeling for the world of
fairy tales or legends for their very existence and for the multiple beauty of the world. If such
The feeling of gratitude can be engendered; one can trust that this gratitude gradually...
will return in love.
From the child's experience, the moral element in him can be developed.
7.-For the new class 12 that had to be prepared for the final exam of class 13 in the
The religion program was made on April 30, 1924.
8.-"Generally speaking, we have already outlined the character of the religion classes."
There is really nothing in what you have given me that I need to alter. We are
the higher classes. The climax of the religion lessons in class 12 should be a study of the
world religions, but this study should not give the impression that any of them are
genuine. On the contrary, you must show your relative authenticity by choosing examples.
meaningful. Similarly for the ninth state. The previous eight states should be
devoted (dedicated) to Christianity, but in such a way that in the ninth course, it appears
as the synthesis of all religions. Christianity itself should be studied in detail
during the eighth stage and in the ninth, the religions of the world should be taken in such a way
that they culminate once again in Christianity.
1.-For the seventh grade, one should propose a harmonization of the four gospels, the
The true nature of Christianity and its external form should be presented. For this example the
pupils will be familiarizing themselves with the gospels. Briefly seventh state: harmonization of
the gospels: eighth state Christianity: ninth state religions of the world” (30.4.24)

2.-The following arrangement was made for the lessons of free religion:

Stage 1: Class 1 and 2

Stage 2: Class 3 and 4
Stage 3: Class 5
Stage 4: Class 6
Stage 5: Class 7
Stage 6: Class 8
Stage 7: Class 9
Stage 8: Class 10
Stage 9: Class 11 and 12

3.- When asked which selection of Bible stories should be chosen for class 8
Steiner recommended Schuster's Bible, saying:
It is better to give a free version of the stories to children rather than sticking to the original text.
It should briefly approach those stories. The book serves only as a memory aid.
(p. 233) (2.6.24)
4.- You will learn a great deal if you ponder about the fact that we
we have to teach Bible stories in two different places in our curriculum. When
We teach like the Bible in the main classes we treat them like it
belonging to the general history of humanity. There we simply provide the content
from the Bible known without giving any particular religious coloring, we treat it as a subject
secular and like classic literature among other classic literatures, which is undoubtedly the case. What without
embargo when we are teaching the Bible in our free religion classes we see it from a
religious point of view and we use it for the development of a true religious element. If
We succeed in fully distinguishing contact between these methods, if we can avoid
A superficial explanation of the main classes, we would be able to learn a lot.
quantity for our pedagogy. What matters is the 'how' and what an extraordinary difference
there can be in this 'how'! The stories of the Bible that have been told in classes should be
read again so that their knowledge becomes consolidated, I do not think that this Bible
Schuster is a bad reading book.
On June 19, 1924, Steiner spoke in detail about the relationship of giving the lessons of
free religion to those given by the community of Christians.
6.-In August 1924 in Torquay, Steiner gave his last Pedagogical Conference Course. During the
During the time of questions, he gave the following response regarding the classes free of religion:
7.-"We have a Methodological school, we do not interfere with social life as it is in
present, but through Anthroposophy we find the best method of teaching and the
school is purely a 'Methodological School'.
8.-Therefore, I arranged from the beginning that religious instruction should not be included in
our school program, but the teaching of Catholic religion should be delegated to the
Priest (Catholic, and the teaching and the Protestant teaching to the Pastor and so on.
In the first few years, most of our students came from a factory (the factory
from the Waldorf Astoria cigarettes), and among them we had many dissenting students. Children
whose budget requires that a certain type of religious instruction should be given to them
also. We therefore arranged a 'free religious education' for those children, and
for this we have a special method. In these free religion classes, we first
that we all teach gratitude in the contemplation of everything in nature. While in the story
of legends and myths we simply recount that doing things-stones, plants, and so on-here
In religion lessons, we lead the child to perceive the divine in all things.

1.-This is how we start with a class on religious naturalism, I will say in an appropriate way.
for the children.
Again, the child cannot be brought to an understanding of the Gospels before time.
between 9 and 10 years of which I have only spoken then we can proceed to a
consideration of the gospels in religion classes. Going later to the Old Testament.
Until this time we can only introduce the children to a class of religion-Nature in
its general appearance and for this we have our own methods.
2.-Then we should go to the Evangelicals, but not before 9 or 10 years old, and only much
Later, between the ages of 12 and 13, we should proceed to the Old Testament.
This is how you should think about free religion classes. We are not concerned.
with the Catholic and Protestant instruction: we must leave it to the Catholic and Protestant Pastors.
Also, every Sunday we have a special form of service for those who attend.
to the free religion lessons.
A service is performed and forms of worship are provided for the children of
different ages. What is done in these services has shown its results in practical life
over the course of the years; contributes in a very special way to the deepening of
religious sentiment awakens a spirit of great devotion in the hearts of children.
3.-We allow parents to attend those services, and it has become evident that this
teaching of religion truly brings new life to Christianity, and real Christianity in the
Waldorf school, because through this naturalist religion during the early years, children
are gradually led to an understanding of the Mystery of Christ when they reach
upper classes." (40 questions and answers).
Unfortunately, Steiner's outlines for religious education have remained
incomplete. Nor did he provide a list of topics for the different mentioned stages. The program for
the higher school was not given. However, the general outlines are clear. Only remains.
a difficulty: The instructions given in Stuttgart place in the stories of the Old Testament in
the first stage, which is in accordance with the plan to leave God the Father, the divine principle
acting in nature spoke to the child in their earliest stage. Most of the courses of
conferences given abroad are in accordance with this plan, although in the Ilkley course the
the transition to Christology is placed earlier (before) than in the courses of Stuttgart,
mainly between the ninth and tenth year instead of the twelve years. The same difference is
found in the course of Torquay. However, in the course of Torquay the teaching of the Ancient
The will is suggested in the twelfth and thirteenth year, while all the other conferences that
They recommend that these stories be told in the younger classes.

5.-QUOTES RELATED TO DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS

1.- "Until the time of the child's puberty, he should be storing in his memory the treasures of
thoughts that humanity has pondered (thought, balanced); then it is the
time to penetrate with intellectual understanding what has firmly been in the years
early impressed by music.
It is indeed necessary for man not only to remember what he already understands, but that he comes to
understand what he already knows, in a way similar to how the child assimilates his native language. This
it has a wide application.
2.- These are the three rules for the development of memory.
Concepts overwhelm the memory.
An imaginative and artistic presentation builds memory.
Active involvement ensures memory.
6.- "What the child has observed in a dreamlike manner through his senses since
the activities that are...
this comes to be transformed inside into inner images, during its second period of life
between the change of teeth and puberty.
Now the boy begins to experience what I would like to call dream images of the
activities in their environments, while in their first period of life he reacted
immediately imitating them quite directly and spontaneously. Now, however, he begins to weave dreams
about the activities of their environments." (34 conf. 3)
7.-"If we recognize how the child is intrinsically an imitative being, how he is a type
of the organ of the senses full of soul that is devoted to its environments in a form
religious body, then we will propose to direct the influences that work on it from
his environments in such a way that he can absorb them and internally direct them. Above all,
We will have to pay attention to the child absorbing the spiritual, moral emotional background.
from everything he makes his own through the senses, so that when he approaches time
of dentition, we have already laid the foundations for the most important impulses of life
afternoon.
8.-When the child enters school, approximately at the time of the second dentition, the
no way is a blank sheet of paper, but rather one that is already deeply
printed due to its previous imitations.
We will have to understand during our practical pedagogical considerations here.
that we cannot put anything new or original inside the child during the time between his
tooth change and puberty, but we must learn to recognize the impulses in the
which have already been formed, during their first seven years, and that we must give to them
the direction that later life will demand. It is, therefore, so important for the teacher
become sensitive to perceive the subtle movements in the young, because when they enter the
school, an entire fabric of inclinations has been formed that he must guide and direct. He should not
to have some fixed opinions about what is true or false, or about what he should or should not do
to do, but he must learn to discriminate that lives in the child in order to guide the impulses of his
pupil. (34 conf. 4)
9.- "At this stage, what matters is not that it is installed in the child step by step. But that in
certain decisive moments in your life can lead one to live defined and appropriate experiences that
one gives him to overcome what one can call certain high mountain steps in life of the
men that happen during childhood. Such experiences can have consequences
lasting benefits for the rest of your life." (ib. Conf. 5)
10.- From the time of the second dentition until adolescence, development of
rhythmic system - for example, respiration and blood circulation along with everything that belongs to it
At the regular rhythm of digestive functions, everything is important. While the teacher finds the...
the need for pictorial images in the child's soul, it has to deal with the rhythmic system
like an organic bodily thing (p. 236 above)
For this reason, an imaginative pictorial element must prevail over what the child is given.
to create a musical quality, I can still say, the relationship between the must be interconnected
teacher and student. Rhythm, measure, even at noon it must be there as the basic principle.
teaching and this demands that the teacher has this musical quality in his whole life.
1.-It is the rhythmic system that predominates in the organic nature of the course during this first
the period of life at school, and the entire teaching must follow a certain rhythm. The teacher must
to have this musical element so deeply within him, that true rhythm may prevail in the
classroom.
2.- "Only from the ninth year until approximately the twelfth year, for example, during the
In the second period of life, we begin to train the pupil's self-awareness. And this we
We do this by introducing grammar, because to this state, after having experienced the
Changes that I have just characterized, the child is in a position to bring to his self-awareness.
what the grammar can reveal to him.
We started with the parts of the sentence and after we took the study of
animals, as I have illustrated with the examples of the cuttlefish, the field mouse, and man. Only later
We take the study of plants, as you will demonstrate this afternoon.
3.- Later in this state in the life of the human being, we can continue with
geometry, so we see so far the elements of geometry in drawing. In drawing, by
supposedly, we can develop for the triangle, the square, the circle, and the line. "This is
we develop the true forms of things in drawing, by drawing them and then saying this
what results is a triangle or a square. But the geometrized adds to these with its search with the
relations between shapes, this is only introduced around 9 years old. At the same time by
Supposedly, the foreign language is continuous and becomes part of the teaching of grammar.
Finally, we introduce the African child.
4.- "When the child reaches their ninth or tenth year, they begin to distinguish themselves from their environment.
environment. For the first time there is a difference between subject and object; it is what belongs to itself,
An object is something that belongs to another person or another thing; and now we can begin to
talk about external things as such; while before this time we must treat them as if
those external objects formed a whole with the child's own body.
5.- "On this (p. 236), between the ages of 9 and 12 the child is ready to explore the external world if he is
brought to him in an imaginative way. Until about his ninth year, he wants to participate
actively in the image; at this stage he does not let the image approach from outside. But now
The teacher must always work in such a lively manner that he and the child create a picture together.
harmonious. In reality, this working together of teacher and pupil must itself be an image.
This does not necessarily mean working with real images or something more about collaborative work.
The lessons themselves must form a picture. Thus, between the ninth and tenth year, the child develops
a special sentiment for the imaginative (pictorial) element. This pictorial element needs to be used.
and gives the teacher the opportunity to introduce the child appropriately to the world of plants and
animals. And as long as the teacher is able to represent in a truly imaginative way the
what is usually found, to be completely devoid of any pictorial element in
our botany texts, the best for the child from nine to twelve. Succeed in transforming the
own matter within true images this is what can bring a sense of achievement and
satisfaction. Because if one tries to translate the world of plants with its multiple forms to
images, one must be working creatively in conjunction with the powers of creation.
(34 conf.5)
Until around the age of 12, the child does not have understanding of whatever it is.
concept of causality. He perceives what is movable, ideas that have movement. He is open.
to the imaginative musical element; this is perceived. But the concept of causality means nothing.
for up to around twelve years. In everything we bring the child up to that age for
we must entirely leave the concept of causality out of place. Only then
Can we start counting with the child having some understanding of the connections?
general principles between cause and effect.
Only then does he start to form thoughts, because until that time he has images.
mental. Now, however, it begins to illuminate that it is the age of puberty that appears
completely, the life of thought and judgment is a narrower sense, being with him
thought. The child's life between the change of teeth and puberty is connected with feeling;
life before the change of teeth with an inner will unfolding (in development), which to
this age is not influenced by thoughts, but by the imitation of what comes to its
encounter. But together with what brings the child closer in a bodily sense, the moral, the element
spiritual within the physical is also firmly held by it. This is because the tenth year to
elevenths, and usually elevenths and twelfths is also impossible to bring to the child what it is to depend
about the concept of causality.(34 conf. 5 )
2.-"After puberty, when the child has reached 15 or 16 years of age, a change takes place in
its inner nature leading him from independence of his authority to his own sense of
freedom and therefore to the faculty of independent judgment of discernment. Here is something that
we must clarify in our previous observation in the education of teaching. If before the
puberty, we have awakened, the feeling for what is good and what is bad, for what is and what is not
Divine, those feelings will come from their own being after their understanding, intellect,
penetration and judgment power are not influenced, he can now form independent judgments
from their own being.
3.-If we start by telling the child that he must do this and this other thing, all of this
stay with him through his years afterwards and then he will always be thinking of such
and what is wrong. Conversion will color everything, now in true education today,
A human being should be within the conventional, but rather have their own judgment about morality.
And religion, and this will develop naturally unless it has been prematurely involved.
4.-In the Waldorf school, we allow the child aged 14 to 15 to find their own feet in
life. We really put ourselves alongside him. He develops his judgment,
but still seeks the authority that we ourselves. He develops his judgment, but still seeks the
authority that we represent and he had the affection he had for us when
we were their teachers. Their judgment has not been chained if we have only worked
merely about their emotional life. And so when the child has reached the age of 14 to 15 years,
we leave your nature of soul and spirit in freedom and in the higher classes we appeal to
your own power of judgment and insight. Freedom in life cannot be achieved by instilling us
morality and religion in a dogmatic canonical form, but working always only
about the powers of the child of feeling and perception at the right age - the period between the
tooth change and puberty - the big thing is to empower the human being to find their place in the
world with due confidence and its own power of judgment. Then he will sit and judge his complete
nobility (human nature), because their education has been true and complete
human...(p. 237).
5.-Children aged 14 or 15 educated according to modern methods begin to realize
In a sense of mutilation if they are not permeated with the qualities of moral judgment and
religious sentiment. Something seems to be missing in its notoriety. There is no better management in the
moral and religious sense that of educating children to consider the elements of morality and
religion as an integral part of their being that they do not feel entirely human if
they are not permeated by morality, completely animated by religion.
6.- "At the right age they will awaken their own senses of religion and morality, which then...
he will come to be part of his own being. And they will feel that only this can make him completely
men. The great purpose of the Waldorf School is to shape free human beings who know how to
"to direct their own lives." (35 conf. 12)

DECORATION IN CLASSROOMS
1.-"It is deplorable, my dear friends, that the classrooms for our
Children are a truly barbaric environment for their young hearts and minds.
Imagine each classroom not decorated in the often artistic way today, but
formed by an artist in such a way that each unique shape is in harmony with what his eye should
look when the child is learning their multiplication tables.
2.-Thoughts that need to be socially effective cannot work unless,
while they are being formed, a lateral current of spiritual life flows within the soul
what comes from a living environment. For this reason, however, art needs to carry a
different course during the growth years of children compared to what is done now.
Just as I have said, just like a reasonable educational system, thinking more about the
concentration that in the schedule can give the human being an independent power of
understanding and reason, thus a real permeation through social art of our community through
of education would give us a true culture of will. Because no one can have
will that has not been cultivated by a genuine artistic education.”(9 conf. 3 )
3.-More details on the suggestions for the classrooms, the colors and images can be
found in the book by Hedwig Hauck. 'Handicrafts and Trades', instructions by Rudolf
Steiner.
4.-When the school was opened in the old house "Uhlanshohe" in 1919, the walls were painted.
red and images were not available when in the summer of 1920 the first part of the barriers
could be used by Rudolf Steiner suggested a lilac color with a blue dye for the first four
classrooms and indigo for the provisional singing classroom. The colors had to be
slightly obscured upwards in the direction of the cycle in three steps. As it was probably
that the classrooms had to be changed year by year it was possible to give a defined color for
each class.

1.-The situation changed in the Spring of 1922 when part of the great construction of the school was
completed. Rudolf Steiner inspected the finished classes with me. The three lower classes
they had to remain in the large barracks and there they had to keep the old ones
purple shadows. All the other classes had to be renewed within the new building. This is the
reason why the column titled: New building 1922 only starts with class four (see
Steiner made new suggestions for the other two schools that had reopened.
in Hamburg-Wardsbork and in London.
2.-Although these indications differ from those made for the College of Stuttgart, they have in
it is common that all the first classes had to be painted in colors representing the final red
of the spectrum while the upper classes had to be painted in violet or lilac shadows.
On July 29, 1920, a light blue lilac color was suggested for classroom desks.
this was done at the beginning, but it was found impractical due to the need to exchange
the furniture of the classrooms.
(see list)
A classroom teacher reported that he had been attending a religion class given to his
class, in order to maintain the discipline that he had felt (having a second teacher present
in a lesson). By doing this we are not straying from our general principles.
We must report the fact that classes and their teachers belong together. But since this
religion class raises questions for combined classes. I think it is quite appropriate for the teacher to
The concerned class should be present while the subject teacher of their class, the only way
To resolve the difficulties would be to aspire (to intend) to have small classes.
5.-Quite spontaneously, Steiner made the following observations that refer to the third.
stage (eighth, ninth, and tenth classes).
6.-"Make this the central point of all your liberations to which you can return over and over.
again. By doing this we are not straying from our general principles. Life
Christ over the earth is the central point. We must maintain the personal relationship with Christ.
also in the lower classes, so that it can become a class of internal cult.
Protect the personal relationship of children and Christ! An ideal spirit of worship must penetrate the
Classes. Symbolism and the form of images must play their part so that feelings are
"Very intensely hooked." (26.5.21)
7.-During a meeting for the class schedules of eighth, ninth, and tenth grades, Steiner speaking about
(or when speaking) of non-denominational religion lessons, he said:
8.- "I have searched and searched and I have not found. It is essential that children should be divided from
agreement with classes. I want to point out that religion classes have been added as a
extra to the program.”(16.2.61)
9.- During a discussion about the curriculum for grade 10, Steiner said about the class of
religion
10.- "We have not reached the point when we both study in class"
Religion. Ten-year-old children should be able to understand psalms. Have a conversation.
about the psalms that you have chosen, a kind of inner contemplation of their content and
crown it by singing.
11.-When asked what a teacher should use after their students have graduated
fairy tale status:
12.- "Symbolism of themes that are taken; the meaning of festivals throughout the year. You all
They find a lot of material about Christmas, Holy Week, Pentecost.

FRAMES FOR THE CLASSROOMS

Steiner's suggestion of January 31, 1923

Class 1 Fairy Tale Images

Class 2 Frames of Legends
Class 3 Still Life, for example, plants
Class 4 Animals
Class 5 Groups of people of different ages (choose a setting that helps stimulate giving)
Tell what is happening between one person and another.
Class 6 The individual man, heads, figures, man in nature.
Class 7-8 Rafael and Leonardo
Class 9 a.-Giotto or similar styles
b.-Technical plans of situations or star maps
Class 10 a.-Holbein Dürer
b.-The interior of the seas
Class 11 a.-Holbein, Dürer or ancient painters Rembrandt
b.-Geological, relief maps.
Class 12 a.-Holbein, Dürer, Rembrandt
b.- Anatomical physiological diagrams.
Music room Sculptures
Paintings: Only pure effects of color.
Eurythmy Room Dynamics of the human soul
Gym Hall Relationship of Man to the world from the aspect of balance and movement.
Handicrafts Interior frames with an appropriate atmosphere (rhythmic)
Spinning Trades Artistic themes of practical life and trades.
Structures Make appropriate frames for the paintings. Use colors for the frames that
they are also found in the paintings.
 STEINER'S INDICATIONS FOR CLASSROOM COLORS

Class 1 New Construction Wooden Shed New School Red Hamburg

5-6 years London progressively
orange smoother.
Class 2 7-8 years green 5-6 years red, progressively
Red-yellow clearer
orange
Class 3 9 years greener more 7-8 years green orange,
Obscure 9 years green progressively
Class 4 Bluish Soft green obscure clearer

Class 5 Lila Green to blue 10-11 years blue

Class 6 Colors Blue
Class 7 Indigo Yellow
Class 8 Violet Green, but lighter than
in the 9 than in the 8
Class 9 Violet
Class 10 Lila Blue
Class 11 Lighter than Bluish to violet
Gym
Class 12

Room of Mallow Light violet

Eurhythmia
Physics Room Blue Green
Passages Yellow Reddish purple Yellow
Indigo choir room Lila
Gym Reddish purple
Room of Reddish
Doctors