WALDORF SCHOOLS: A NEW WORD IN EDUCATION

by Anna VASILYEVA

Today parents enjoy multiple opportunities to choose a school for their child. For a decade now, along with the public school system, a network of private schools has been developing. Alongside, some families give preference to home education of their children. Recently, another option has appeared.

About ten years ago, first schools based on educational principles formulated by Rudolf Steiner began to appear in Moscow and other major Russian cities. They are known as Waldorf Schools. While we apprehend them as news, in Europe educational facilities of that type are known for decades and widely spread. The first such school was founded in Stuttgart back in 1919. Rudolf Steiner, its founder, was a well-known German philosopher and public activist. He introduced the concept of anthroposophy, a philosophy that used to be very popular in the beginning of the 20th century. Anthroposophy advanced the principle of human spiritual nature study as the basis of cognition in any other field of knowledge. Steiner, however, would not stay within the boundaries of philosophical theories. Instead, he undertook the attempt to make anthroposophy the basis for practical applications in a variety of societal institutions, and, first of all, education.

Today we find Waldorf schools in practically every nation (Islamic countries are the only notable exception). Their total number has reached 500. However, the widest spread of Steiner's pedagogies falls on the West Europe, the loci of its inventor's origin. In Germany alone, circa 150 Waldorf schools operate today. The new educational approach has already reached to Australia, South and Central America, Japan, South Africa... In Russia, Waldorf schools exist in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ryazan, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan, Samara, Yaroslavl, Irkutsk, Obninsk and Vladimir. I happened to get acquainted with Waldorf education at one of Moscow schools of this type.

What is the difference between Rudolf Steiner's and the traditional approach to children's education? First, Waldorf schools' vision implies maximal development of individual talents of every given child. While at a regular school a teacher plays the role of the all-knowing strict maitre ruling his absolute knowledge into his students' brains, at a Waldorf school a teacher is the wise tutor who helps children find answers to the world around them. A Waldorf school eliminates the distance between the teacher and the scholar. No marks to evaluate the quality of knowledge. Therefore, students are never classified by grade. No 'good boys' and 'bad boys', no 'successes' and 'failures' - which are, in fact, stamps that sometimes stick to children for the rest of their days. As the result, children feel more liberated; and they are free to express their emotions.

Waldorf concept of education implies that a child develops in the same ways as the human society has evolved. Therefore, he should acquire knowledge in the very same sequence as the entire humanity did - piece by piece, as his mind is getting ready to apprehend. In this sense, Waldorf approach denies the prevailing approach of recent years, which was driving children to schools when they are 5 or 6. Children come to a Waldorf school when they are seven, and at first they will have only one 2-hour lesson a day.

The first thing in the morning is a thirty-minute warm-up exercise. Children repeat simple poems and tunes offered by their teacher, clap their hands rhythmically, jump and dance in circles. All that is done to help a child 'open' his mind and mobilize his memory. Due to the described exercises, by the end of the first year children easily learn by heart up to 100 short poems.

After the warm-up, children will turn to one of major disciplines. If you think that it is going to be some traditional reading or writing lessons, your guess is deeply wrong. First year at a Waldorf school will cover such unconventional subjects as "drawing forms", "eurhythmics", and "handicraft and artisanship".

Writing is phased-in sparingly. At first "drawing forms" lessons, they will be taught to draw straight lines only. Next, curves will be introduced. In such a manner, the process of writing development in ancient nations is replicated. The very first six-stick alphabet was invented in ancient China. The next step was curves added to straight lines in hieroglyphs, and that happened in ancient Middle East. On having acquainted with the earliest stages of writing development, children pass on to learning about printed letters. They will discover anew all about sounds and how they are designated with letters. Reading and writing under a teacher's dictation will not be introduced until the third year at school. Waldorf followers believe that at earlier stages a child's brain is unprepared to comprehend words in writing.

Basic principles of Waldorf education include the postulate that every bit of knowledge must be profoundly thought through and apprehended. Such aptitudes will develop gradually, and at a different rate dependent on the field of knowledge. Certainly, a five-year old may learn reading, but it will be a mechanistic skill only. Like a trick for a well-trained beastie in the circus. In support, a Waldorf schoolgirl is cited. After talking with her non-Steiner cousins, she said, "Poor things! They believe they can read and they have no idea of where did all these letters come from!"

At Waldorf schools, special emphasis is made on physical development, which must go at a matching rate with mental development. Certain disciplines put a specific focus on improving flexibility and aptitude of a child's body. For example, first year program includes knitting with large wooden needles. There is a huge reason beyond it. Equal development of both hands will secure apt and coordinated functioning of both hemispheres of a child's brain.

At Waldorf schools, they use to say that if children appear pale in the face and with blues under their eyes, a teacher shall check for mistakes he has done. It is a probable explanation why Waldorf pupils rarely miss school because of their illness. From first through eleventh year at school, Waldorf students play musical instruments, draw pictures, and mold statuettes. At eurhythmics classes, they learn to express their feelings through their body plastics and movements. Annually, a number of performances will be staged by every class to be shown at school parties. Right from the start, Waldorf children will study a foreign language, and at graduation, most students will be fluently speaking at least two foreign languages.

All these disciplines are add-ons to the standard public school curriculum. In fact, Waldorf school students are subjected to a double load. Nevertheless, they succeed not only in grasping the entire bulk of knowledge, but in avoiding overtiredness as well. In this respect, thoroughly scheduled lessons are a good aid. In the course of a year, children will study only mathematics for a month, then only physics for a month, then only history for a month. When the cycle is over, they will begin all over again. It helps student deeper concentrate on the subject currently studied and entirely dedicate their attention to it. Just imagine that at work they would ask you to file a financial report in the morning, write an analytical paper an hour later, and go on to computer programming one more hour later. Well, what you can expect of a child hurrying from algebra lesson to a lesson of literature?

An objection is predictable that children may get bored with daily studies of the same subject for a month. Waldorf education theory disproves this point. Everything depends on how a teacher furnishes his lessons. In Waldorf schools, the process of studying mandatory school disciplines is turned into a sort of delightful quest. Knowledge is never offered to children in such a manner as to make it look like a bundle of truths, theorems and axioms beyond doubt. For an illustration, let us turn to a regular physics lesson. The teacher puts a glass container filled with muddy liquid on a table and places a lit lamp behind it. Everyone in the class notes the change in intensity and color of light. The teacher mentions similar effects that can be observed in the nature. No further suggestions follow. From that point, children will have to search for probable physical explanations, formulate and defend them. It may take several days before they find the right answer. Now, imagine their childish joy when they finally 'discover America' anew.

Independent thinking development in children is another objective of Rudolf Steiner's method. For this reason, Waldorf schools avoid knowledge of mere informative nature. Teachers believe that their students will not benefit from hard knowledge of additional theorems. Creative thinking makes a good specialist in any field, for such a person will be able to accumulate more and more knowledge.

Today, such ideas are planted not only in educators' heads. More and more representatives of creative professions cheer them. In one of his science fiction stories, Isaac Asimov envisions the future of our planet where humans will be capable of mastering any chosen profession on the same day and with no effort. The trick there was that a new device was invented to "transfer" computer databases directly into human heads. In the story, an 18-year old hero was told that, in force of inborn deficiencies, his brain lacked proper capacities for direct application of whatever new knowledge. So, the boy was placed to an asylum for 'failures' like him. There he learned that new knowledge might be as well obtained with the use of books, just as ancestors had used to do. After many trials and tests, the hero finally realized the true function of the 'asylum'. It was a place to foster inventors who would then produce new clever machines for the humankind. At the same time, his friend who had passed all tests and mastered his profession overnight would not be able to make use of a device slightly different from what he was taught to handle.

In fact, modern school with its overabundance of scholastic disciplines would often leave no space for invention in children's heads. Nonetheless, anyone will readily recall a teacher who used to be different and turn his lessons into enchanting quests for knowledge. The Waldorf model of education is intended to make every teacher a children's guide to the unknown. My trust in it has resulted from a conversation with a teacher at Moscow Waldorf School.

Elena Luchkina is a teacher and teacher's daughter. Before finding herself in the Waldorf School, she taught at a regular public school. Many years ago, she happened to read an article on Steiner's educational methods. All she read then struck her as a revelation of the truth. Some approaches she had already used in her own teaching practice. Other things she intuitively felt to be right, but they could not be implemented in the public school system. From that day, Elena Luchkina dreamed of a Waldorf school opening in Moscow.

Finally, her dream came true. About ten years ago, the first Waldorf school was initiated in Moscow by Anatoly Pinsky, active member of Aristotle Anthroposophic Club. Elena has worked there right from the start. Other educators, she says, are as eager and enthusiastic about all this as she is. The practice indicates that the most successful Waldorf teachers are mothers who have acquainted with Steiner's concept through their children. By now, ex-engineers, psychologists, and programmers are employed at Moscow Waldorf School. They have all graduated a two-year training course for Waldorf teachers developed with the assistance of German colleagues.

Waldorf teachers and students sustain very close personal relations, which make them look like a large family. At seven, a child needs someone to serve as an authority and a life model. He needs to believe in everything heard from such a person who is his teacher. If this need stays unsatisfied, a child will find - sooner or later - other moral models to follow, and those may include rock singers, religious and political leaders. Children brought up in the air of estrangement and faced the need to make their own decisions too early often experience uncertainty deep inside. Their disbelieving and contradictive attitudes are the manifestation of their inner weakness rather than spiritual strength. A teacher's task is to create the air of friendliness around a child and to make him trust that he or she may turn for support to the teacher any time.

At Waldorf schools, the same teacher will teach all disciplines from the first to the 8th grade. As children grow, the teacher's role changes. In their first year at school, the teacher is almost a substitute for a mother - caring and attentive. As the teacher unfolds the world of knowledge before their students' eyes, he becomes a sort of magician for them. Finally, as they grow up, children must apprehend as their senior friend and the tutor. If a boy of 13 feels bored at lessons or plans to acquire a profession with no need for imagination, his future disappointment with life is rather expectable. To avoid such a development, he needs someone around who will find a deep contact with him, develop his capacity to learn about the world around, and warn against the faceless emptiness.

Any concrete judgments about the extent to which teachers at Moscow Waldorf School are successful in managing this task are preliminary. This year, first graduates left the school. Teachers are happy that all of them successfully passed state examinations and 78% were admitted to higher education institutions. Meanwhile, Waldorf education gains popularity in Moscow. The school staff feels disappointed with inability to accept all applicants. This year, every other application was denied. While teachers do their best to avoid any limelight, they have expressed their readiness to share secrets of harmonious development of young individuals with all who demonstrate real interest in it.

The article draws on the book Upbringing to Freedom, Waldorf Education Center, Moscow.