Education as a Force for Social Change: (CW 296, 192, 330/331) (Foundations of Waldorf Education, 4)

These dazzling, radical lectures were given one month before the opening of the first Waldorf School-following two years of intense preoccupation with the social situation in Germany as World War I ended and society sought to rebuild itself. Well aware of the dangerous tendencies present in modern culture that undermine a true social life-such as psychic torpor and boredom, universal mechanization, and a growing cynicism-Steiner recognized that any solution must address not only economic and legal issues but also that of a free spiritual life. Steiner also saw the need to properly nurture in children the virtues of imitation, reverence, and love at the appropriate stages of development in order to create mature adults who are inwardly prepared to fulfill the demands of a truly healthy society-adults who are able to assume the responsibilities of freedom, equality, and brotherhood. Relating these themes to an understanding of the human as a threefold being of thought, feeling, and volition, and against the background of historical forces at work in human consciousness, Steiner lays the ground for a profound revolution in the ways we think about education. Also included here are three lectures on the social basis of education, a lecture to public school teachers, and a lecture to the workers of the Waldorf Astoria Cigarette Company, after which they asked him to form a school for their children. 10 lectures, Dornach & Stuttgart, Apr. 23 Aug. 17, 1919 (CW 296, 192, 330/331) These illuminating lectures were given one month before the opening of the first Waldorf school, located in Stuttgart, following two years of intense preoccupation with the social situation in Germany as World War I ended and society sought to rebuild itself. Well aware of the dangerous tendencies present in modern culture that undermine a true social lifepsychic torpor and boredom, universal mechanization, and growing cynicismSteiner recognized that any solution for society must address not only economic and legal issues but also that of a free spiritual life. Steiner also saw the need to properly nurture in children the virtues of imitation, reverence, and love at the appropriate stages of development in order to create mature adults who are inwardly prepared to fulfill the demands of a truly healthy societyadults who are able to assume the responsibilities of freedom, equality, and brotherhood. Relating these themes to an understanding of the human as a threefold being of thought, feeling, and volition, and against the background of historical forces at work in human consciousness, Steiner lays the ground for a profound revolution in the ways we think about education. Also included here are three lectures on the social basis of education, a lecture to public school teachers, and a lecture to the workers of the Waldorf Astoria Cigarette Company, after which they asked him to form a school for their children. German Die Erziehungsfrage als soziale Frage (GA 296); lectures 4, 5, and 6, the "Volkspdagogik" lectures in Geisteswissenschaftliche Behandlung sozialer und pdagogischer Fragen (GA 192); lectures 2 and 11, Neugestaltung des sozialen Organismus (GA 330331). Foundations of Waldorf Education EDUCATION AS A FORCE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE 1 Contents 6 Synopses of the Lectures 8 Translator's Introduction 14 Chronology of Events 22 PART 1 : Education As a Social Force 32 Lecture 1 - August 9, 1919 34 Lecture 2 - August 10 56 Lecture 3 - August 11 74 Lecture 4 - August 15 85 Lecture 5 - August 16 103 Lecture 6 - August 17 115 PART 2 : Backgrounds of Waldorf Education 134 Proletarian Demands 136 The Social Basis of Public Education (part 1) 156 The Social Basis of Publich Education (part 2) 177 The Social Basis of Public Education (part 3) 198 The Tasks of Schools & the Threefold Social Organism 216 Concluding Remarks 238 Notes 250 Further Reading 264 The Foundations of Waldorf Education 265 Index 268 Anthroposophic,Press