The Rudolf Steiner Archive

80. On Pedagogy II

Ladies and gentlemen!

[ 1 ] When knowledge of human nature is developed in the manner described yesterday—that is, through the education of the developing human being and the gradual unfolding of the human world in terms of body, soul, and spirit—then the method of instruction and education naturally extends directly into practical application.

[ 2 ] If we take just one moment in human life—the one highlighted just yesterday as being of unique significance, namely the moment when the baby teeth are replaced around the age of seven—we can see how a certain instinct underlay the fact that the age of compulsory elementary school was once, for the most part, set to coincide with this stage of life. During this period, as I explained yesterday, a certain part of the human etheric body becomes free, emancipates itself from its connection to the physical parts of the human being, and can be filled by the human being’s soul-spiritual nature. Whether one judges a person from a more spiritual perspective or from a more physical one, one will always find that education—through upbringing and instruction—has brought about such a transformation of human nature. One must bear in mind that, while the etheric body permeates the entire physical body uniformly and the child is entirely dependent on imitation before the change of teeth, this is merely an expression of the fact that during this period, all activity—all organic life—taking place within the child is, in fact, a revelation. Imitation is, after all, something that occurs entirely in response to an external impression, followed by a characteristic inner impression. Yesterday I used the following expression to describe this relationship: “The child is, in fact, one large sensory organ.”

[ 3 ] And then we can look at this from another perspective, and we will have to say: If one looks at a newborn child and compares it with all subsequent stages of life, one will find that at this age, everything that happens within a human being originates primarily from the head. First, the head—like a marvelous inner craftsman—forms its own brain; but then all the other organs are also formed from the head. What modern physiology says in this regard is, of course, only a hint of what one needs to know. But none of what is said here is contributed by today’s physiologist; rather, he merely carries it forward in a certain appropriate manner. It is as if all the impulses of human growth—and also the finer regulation of human nutrition—originate in the head precisely at this stage of life. A person can grow stronger or weaker depending on whether they are treated in the right [or wrong] way. A human limb—as you can see from a working muscle—becomes strong when it is exercised appropriately. During this specific stage of life, the whole person should be understood through educational influence within [their physical constitution], in accordance with their physical constitution.

[ 4 ] One must be able to recognize the significance of every emotion in a person. One must be able to recognize whether it is more meaningful and healthier to have the child do exercises—speech exercises—that do not require a deeper meaning, but rather are carried out as a natural activity in which, at first, this or that letter plays a prominent role. Such an approach, expressed in the way the child is treated, must be developed, for example, for the kindergarten. And it is always a source of pain to me that at the Waldorf School in Stuttgart—where principles derived from anthroposophical pedagogy are put into practice—such activities can only begin once children reach compulsory school age, and that there is no kindergarten available. The reason it cannot exist is that the Stuttgart Waldorf School does not have an abundance of classroom space.

[ 5 ] Now, when the child enters the stage of tooth replacement, its soul is torn away from its imitative nature and led over to what I described yesterday: a natural authority toward the instructor, the teacher. And the entire lesson must then be structured artistically. One cannot aim to activate the child’s intellectual element. One must fully expect that a completely different set of forces within the child will come into play. For as this part of the etheric body, of which I spoke yesterday, becomes manifest and takes on a soul-like quality, what is now happening within the child becomes evident: a thoroughly rhythmic activity in the functioning of the respiratory and circulatory systems and in other human rhythmic activities, in the alternation of [waking and sleeping], which is, after all, also a rhythmic experience. When treating a child between the change of teeth and puberty—in everything one does in teaching and upbringing—one is dealing with the imparting of impulses that continue physically in breathing and in the circulatory system, rhythmically, and that influence whether the child develops the inner inclination toward [illegible word], from [illegible word], whether it can develop the strengthening forces during growth through the [illegible word], and so on. One must [take into account] everything that takes place in the child’s rhythmic life when one is in a position to truly sketch out a practical art of education, which I once explained [in writing] and again yesterday. Of course, in this lecture I can only proceed in a very sketchy manner.

[ 6 ] And then I would like to draw your attention to how we at the Stuttgart Waldorf School try to incorporate the artistic element, for example, when teaching children to write. We have the child learn to write before learning to read. Why? Well, learning to read is an activity the child undertakes on their own. The visual, contemplative element in the human organism is particularly engaged during this learning process—whereas the whole person is engaged when they perform an act of will that must be lived out as a will-act throughout the organism. It is therefore only natural to begin not with learning to read, but with learning to write, and then, once the child has been learning to write for a while, to continue with learning to read.

[ 7 ] But learning to write itself must be approached artistically. Just consider this: even when using today’s advanced methods to teach a child our printed letters, the child is being led to engage in an activity that is actually still completely foreign to its nature.

[ 8 ] You can also see this from a historical perspective: The letters we write today are the result of a long evolution of writing. The earliest letters were either those that emerged from a pictorial activity—such as pictographic writing—or, through a higher form of activity, from a certain inner objectification of antipathies and sympathies. These allow the external sign to take shape, as is the case with cuneiform. Writing was, after all, originally something entirely different, much closer to human experiences of soul and body than it is today. [In order] for the child to have an inner experience of what a particular letter is, there is absolutely no need to teach the historical development of writing in the classroom. The point is simply to try to [incorporate] the inner spirit of the origins of writing [precisely] at the point in time when the body can still develop artistically, as a matter of course, out of the whole being of the human person.

[ 9 ] And that’s where you find the connection, for example, by doing the following: Let’s suppose we start by having a child say the word “fish.” We try to draw a simple fish shape on the board in as vivid a way as possible—which always appeals [more] to the child’s imagination than to their intellect.

[ 10 ] And then we have the child say the word “fish” and, while saying it, limit themselves to the beginning of the word; we guide the child to restrict the pronunciation of the word “fish” to “F.” And then we say to the child: We express this “F” through the image of the fish, and gradually shape the “F” from the form of the fish. Or we pronounce the word “mouth,” starting from this drawing: We have the child limit themselves to the “M” and draw the “M” out of the musical-pictorial element. In this way, we shape the entire process of writing in a pictorial, artistic manner out of sensation and the activity experienced through sensation.

[ 11 ] Of course, it is then necessary to focus on the artistic aspect, especially for very young children in their seventh and eighth years; to introduce the child to the use of color and form in a natural way, and to maintain this approach continuously. Thus, right from the start, the instruction takes on an artistic character.

[ 12 ] Today, so-called experimental pedagogy conducts many experiments on how quickly a child becomes fatigued while learning to write. It is carefully documented that children tire so quickly from this activity, and one will then introduce a form of [abstract] pedagogy that takes this fatigue into account.

[ 13 ] But anyone who wants to introduce artistic instruction relies on the artistic system during these years. Yet that, in turn, does not cause fatigue. After all, if you are not thinking about anything at that moment, you do not get tired at all, for example. The respiratory and circulatory systems are, after all, constantly at work. Therefore, anyone who evaluates a lesson based on how tiring it is demonstrates that the lesson is being taught incorrectly. For at this age, lessons must be conducted in such a way that they are based on a system that does not cause fatigue—and that is the rhythmic system, the respiratory system, and the circulatory system.

[ 14 ] It is precisely because people are unaware of these things that such ideas emerge—ideas that are, at their core, pedagogical absurdities. And that is why, because it is particularly effective in shaping the will, music—the musical element—must be given special consideration in a child’s education. And when it comes to the musical element—which in itself stimulates learning and is all the more vibrant in a child the younger the child is—this element is particularly represented by eurythmy. Eurythmy evokes movements in the child that correspond exactly to the child’s natural stage of development, just as spoken language does. Just as the child becomes accustomed to spoken language through an inner will and desire to learn to speak, so it is with the eurythmic element. In these figures, I have specifically used eurythmy to express what lies inherent in eurythmic movement and in the character of eurythmic gestures themselves. And when these eurythmic movements are taught to the child in such a way that they are as meaningful as poetic forms corresponding to individual sounds—the sequence of a-e-i-o-u, and then again with consonants, [gap] in m, f, h, ch, [illegible sound], g, s, r—then one hears from the entire human organism, which is transformed in this way into a single larynx by bringing forth this visible language; then one draws [directly] from the human organism the letters in the very same sequence in which they emerge as sounds purely through natural imitation during the child’s earliest years.

[ 15 ] Let the child go through [illegible word], which is a natural part of human development. This has an immense influence on the development of human dexterity and on learning to use the individual limbs skillfully. [This] is particularly lacking in the education of people today. This does not mean that gymnastics should be done away with simply because this impulsive element is introduced into the child’s artistic movement. But future generations will judge [this matter] impartially: Today, people insist on basing everything solely on scientific progress—and in doing so, they overestimate the importance of gymnastics. I certainly do not wish to criticize gymnastics in any way. In any case, I cannot go as far as a very famous physiologist once did—who, incidentally, was also present in this hall—when he listened to an introduction on eurythmy and its pedagogical value. I said then: If one studies the purely physiological theory of movement through physiology, then gymnastics emerges as that which is developed in the human being solely through the body. But this will one day be supplemented—likely also by what flows from the soul into the child’s physical being.

[ 16 ] Then this famous physiologist said—I won’t mention his name, since there may be [a gap in the stenographic record]). Do you consider physical education to be a legitimate school subject? As a physiologist, I consider physical education for children to be nothing short of barbarism.

[ 17 ] So, ladies and gentlemen, it was not I who said this, but a famous physiologist. From this you can see how little development based on scientific observation corresponds to the child’s actual experience. And once one understands this clearly, one will no longer hesitate to introduce eurythmy lessons into the school curriculum in the proper way.

[ 18 ] There, on the wall, you can see all kinds of experiments—all kinds of painting attempts—showing how children learn to experience color, how they start with very simple color combinations, and how, ultimately, a whole map emerges from their work with color. And this happens when the child is open to drawing this out of their experience with color. This is quite different from presenting them with abstract geography—even if one tries to make that abstract geography physically concrete by going through it with the child in a trivialized way through local history and the like. One can see how significant it is, especially at this age, not to work toward so-called “intellectual visualization.” This intellectual visualization [is cultivated] in the child through reading.

[ 19 ] [There are entire] works of literature that have been developed for visual instruction, [...] which have been reduced to the point of seeming trivial, simply because people believe that this goes beyond the [illegible passage]. But those who do this do not realize that children must be educated in such a way that the foundation for health is laid at this age, that one [illegible passage], if, for example, in 35 years one is not able to say to oneself: Now something is clearly emerging in the picture of one’s development. What was there long ago is [now] gradually coming to the surface. Something is emerging here in a way you’ve known before, because you revered the teacher who explained it as an authority. And now it’s coming to the surface. Much has passed you by since then—things that had long been present within you—and now they are here, connecting with your life and with the life experience you now have: Only now do you understand it.

[ 20 ] Such an inner act may, under certain circumstances, mean the kindling of a very significant life force at the age of 35 or 40 /unclear passage]. But only those who can teach a child to live can truly educate. [Gap in the transcript]

[ 21 ] Making a child memorize too much or too little [gap in the transcript], that will become apparent in 34 or [illegible] years in the form of illnesses [illegible passage in the transcript]

[ 22 ] It is of no use to a science that delves into details if one merely removes a person’s liver or kidney when they are fully developed at age 52, and now the life [illegible word]. It only becomes clear when one knows what took effect inside the body during infancy—the components of breast milk that ruined the liver or kidneys, so that the effects don’t become apparent until the age of 50. So it is with everything you accomplish through writing and reading, where—at that age, when the entire brain is still developing up to the age of seven, when the [entire] organism extracts individual components within a single year—you influence the entire human organism according to its etheric, soul, and spiritual nature. The teacher must therefore master [pedagogy] as an inspired pedagogical art if pedagogy is to develop in a healing way into the future.

[ 23 ] According to the natural sciences, the goal is to design instruction in a visual form—quickly and purposefully—even for children of elementary school age. I cannot go into all the details here. The point is that, of course, not only should learning to write be taught in a pictorial form, but everything that is presented to the child as part of their understanding of the world should also be clothed in pictorial forms. Everything is presented to the children [at the Waldorf school] in a kind of narrative, in a kind of “visualization.” Nothing actually penetrates the innermost being of the entire human organism before the age of nine or ten unless it is taught in a thoroughly pictorial form. This truly demands that the teacher, the educator, possess artistic creative power for everything they present to the child. We will proceed in this way until the age of nine or ten. At that point, something of fundamental importance enters the child’s life anyway. Between the ages of nine and ten, something takes place in the child’s soul that, unfortunately, is usually not given proper attention by educators and teachers. Something is taking place where children need to rely on an authority figure to an even greater degree. And accordingly, the entire elementary school age must be enlivened. The world—represented by the teacher or educator—reaches out to the child. Not intellectually, but [emotionally].

[ 24 ] The child has these questions of its own. Questions that are related to their current physical development [illegible passage]. If I were to speak at length about this important inner change that occurs between the ages of nine and ten, I would simply like to draw attention to what is particularly important to note regarding what such schools [illegible passage] do for boys and girls.

[ 25 ] I’d like to point out that this is the age when girls start to grow rapidly. Boys fall behind a bit at that point. But not for long—by around age fifteen, boys quickly catch up—yet even as they continue to grow, it becomes clear how growth progresses, something that is evident even in those who are not [illegible words]

[ 26 ] This is the point at which the child learns to distinguish between itself and the world. The sense of self was not present before; one must first present everything to the child as if all external events were as close as the child’s own self. Therefore, one must not present to the children something that, for example, lies within us [illegible passage]. The teacher must have transcended everything he has learned in a scientific manner. Instead, he must be able to develop the [primordial being] in the child’s inner understanding in such a way that the child feels this inner [primordial being] just as he feels the [strength] of his own limbs. This is how instruction must be structured up to the ninth or tenth year. For it is precisely at this age, when one becomes a physical observer of human beings—hence the prevalence of words today—that one will find that sometimes a single word spoken by the teacher or educator can have a [illegible passage in the stenographic record].

[ 27 ] But one must take into account that, for example, one should not teach the child about the primordial being in such a way that—what the individual [illegible passage in the transcript]—one must take into account that it is pleasant for the child to take in the piece of earth that it knows, and beyond that, it can intuit the whole earth, that the earth brings forth the environment, just as the head brings forth human hair. [Gap in the transcript] Just as no single hair has an existence of its own /Gap in the transcript] — to believe such a thing would be absurd—neither does the individual [illegible] have an existence of its own, but only in conjunction with the whole Earth; a sense of this must be awakened in a child at an early age, for only through this does the whole of a person’s soul come into proper alignment.

[ 28 ] Therefore, one must introduce the world of poetry to the child in such a way that, just as one teaches the connection to the Earth when discussing the environment, one must also convey the connection to humanity. [Gap in the transcript]

[ 29 ] Every child is actually [illegible passage in the transcript]).

[ 30 ] If one were truly to bring out the entire poem in a way that is symptomatic, one would first bring out the whole person. But this must then be expressed in concrete forms, so that the child thereby has the [illegible passage in the stenographic transcript].

[ 31 ] We shall see how such an approach to [illegible] with the earth has a stimulating effect on the development of the best aspects of a child’s character. And we shall see how such an approach to the poem truly serves to stimulate the development of the human intellect, which is like a seed, like a preparation for later stages of life [gap in the stenographic record].

[ 32 ] But one will also see how, by instilling such a [illegible word] into a form, one simultaneously strengthens and invigorates the human being within this human-physical organism—and how such a profound morality enables a person to be little [illegible word], without causing disturbances to the digestive system and the entire nutritional system, as would happen if one were to teach the child poetic morality in a fragmented, purely physical-scientific manner [illegible passage in the stenographic record].

[ 33 ] Only then can one move on to the study of minerals. Only then can one move on to the study of chemistry, insofar as it is already characteristic of cause and effect across the course of time. Before that, one should only present the child with complete images of human beings, so that the child grasps connections with a kind of artistic understanding. Connections of a temporal nature and matters of a historical nature that are based on cause and effect are unsuitable for teaching the child before the age of twelve. [Gap in the transcript]

[ 34 ] Thus, I can only outline how the curriculum can be derived from a proper education of the human person—from human nature itself. In fact, our curriculum would [illegible word], but it is designed in such a way that it is not based on arbitrary measures, but rather is derived from what human nature reveals year after year, month after month, week after week [gap in the transcript].

[ 35 ] Then, based on human nature, one can [recognize] in detail what one must impart to the child, and how certain aspects of genuine human education form the basis of pedagogy. It is relatively easy to say: Intelligence cannot be taught, [illegible passage in the stenographic transcript].

[ 36 ] However, we are too dependent on social conditions and must also base education on those social conditions. Therefore, this pedagogy, as it is understood here, is such that it can be applied to every /gap in the transcript] child.

[ 37 ] However, something radical happens to a person upon reaching sexual maturity. While a part of the etheric body emancipated itself from the physical body during the change of teeth, work now proceeds via the rhythmic system; with sexual maturity, a part of the actual soul organism—that which is now the soul organism—emancipates itself. In anthroposophical literature, it is also called the astral organism. One needs [illegible passage in the stenographic transcript].

[ 38 ] [The soul organism] emancipates itself from the role it previously played in the physical and etheric organisms, and this part of the astral organism now primarily serves as the [representative] of volitional activity and those activities in the human being that must originate from the will.

[ 39 ] But this also pertains to the power of judgment; something very peculiar is taking place within the human being. If I were to demonstrate this to you as well, I would have to draw the following. Just as we are all sitting here again: We have the human being; we then have his etheric organism, which is evenly distributed up to the age of seven. From the age of seven onward, one part is emancipated, set apart, permeated by the soul, and primarily supplies the rhythmic system—a fact that must be taken into account in education from ages seven to fourteen. At puberty, it is not only what is most obvious—the human sexual nature—that comes into play, but also the entity known as the astral being [illegible words], in that a part of it becomes emancipated and takes precedence over the human being, particularly that which is now the vehicle for the inner unfolding of the will. Physiologically, this is expressed in the fact that previously the human skeletal system—and the muscular system in which it grew—was primarily under the influence of the rhythmic system [illegible word]. From the age of fourteen or fifteen onward, this is no longer the case. Anyone familiar with this phenomenon knows that the child begins to walk and grasp objects differently than before. In a sense, the child draws its astral organism inward. The skeletal and muscular systems begin to develop no longer under the influence of the external world, because the astral organism emancipates itself and now unfolds primarily within the metabolic and limb systems, where it acts in such a way that the entire skeletal and limb system emancipates itself from the rhythmic system.

[ 40 ] Modern psychology knows all too well that, even from this early stage, a person’s life is much more closely connected to the outside world than was previously apparent. It holds that the capacity for judgment depends solely on the brain and metabolism. In reality, it depends on the musculoskeletal system—on bone and muscle development—as the human being experiences it internally by attuning to the rhythm and moving visibly through time. This, in turn, radiates back into the brain and causes the power of judgment to develop there. And this power of judgment, [...], only then can one conduct lessons in such a way as to encourage the child to form their own judgments independently of [relying on] authority. It is, of course, downright comical to someone who has been educated in modern psychology—one can already sense this absurdity when one tells them: This power of judgment does not depend solely on the brain, but also on the skeletal and muscular systems. —But this sense of absurdity will eventually fade. And the other aspect will seem strange. People have no sense of why a person who steps with their whole foot makes a completely different impression than someone who steps first with their heels. Try to [determine] what difference this makes between the two in terms of logic. Fichte, for example, was someone who always stepped with his heel first. One can understand Fichte’s entire logic based on this habit of stepping with the heel. Therein lies a direct opportunity to acquire an inner understanding of the world. But this is something the educator needs above all else. And he needs it in such a way that it is not merely confined to his head. The head is of the least use in this [field]. For practical and spiritual work, the head is a downright unsuitable instrument. Things must be rooted in the whole person; it must come about in a child when one senses how a structure emerges from the kind of rhythm, from the kind of [illegible passage] through which logic develops, an inner life must come into being, and an inner palette must develop within the educator, just as it does for a painter when he has red, violet, and so on in his palettes, [illegible passage in the stenographic transcript] (...).

---

[ 41 ] In this way, one also comes to introduce manual, outwardly practical activity into human development in the proper manner. One might think that a pedagogy based on anthroposophy—and thus on spiritual education—would rely solely on the spiritual and psychological aspects. But that is by no means the case; on the contrary, it is precisely such a pedagogy that will recognize how the spiritual and soul forces, too, will stimulate that unity in the right way through physical activity. Because, as I said yesterday, the physical, soul, and spiritual are viewed as a unity, handicrafts are taught from the very beginning in Waldorf schools—with boys and girls working together. It is wonderfully evident there how the boys devote themselves to what is customarily called “feminine handicrafts” with the same diligence as they do to any other activity. The right moment is allowed to arise in the working with wood—carpentry, joinery, and so on—which serves as a transition to a trade. Thus, one sees how what the child acquires in terms of manual dexterity and practical life skills is precisely what will have a reciprocal effect on the soul and the spirit. At the right moment, therefore, this educational approach incorporates training in weaving and spinning.

[ 42 ] By no means is this education aimed merely at cultivating the soul and the spirit. There is always more to it than a [illegible word] mindset. If one cultivates the spirit and the soul in schools because one wishes to prepare people in the proper way for the practical matters they will encounter in a [illegible word] manner [illegible word], then their physical organism will remain functional well into old age without becoming an obstacle. To achieve this, however, the soul and spirit must be properly prepared and thereby developed.

[ 43 ] At our Waldorf School, every effort is made to place the teaching staff at the center of the entire educational process. This is how we prepare for teachers’ conferences: Either the teachers themselves, or—if a child is also present—the individuality of each child is carefully studied, including their place in social life. And when a child leaves school at the end of the school year, for once they do not receive report cards as are customary today [illegible passage in the transcript] practice.

[ 44 ] Especially when these achievements are expressed in numbers, one gets into a situation where even I find myself laughing [illegible passage in the transcript). At the Waldorf School, every teacher writes a short biography in the report cards that reflects the child. Then they add a guiding motto that can correspond to the child’s exercise of will and feeling for the coming year—one that the child can constantly hold before their soul. In this way, the child sees their own path reflected in this report card. This comes from life itself. Spirit leads everywhere first into full life—not away from it. And when one becomes honest, for example, dear attendees, this can be expressed in this way.

[ 45 ] Among our students, there are two or three who will one day become geniuses. Perhaps we, as teachers, are not even geniuses ourselves; it could very well be that there are far more brilliant children among our students. We must also educate these children in such a way that we can guide them beyond our own genius—which, moreover, may not even exist—and beyond their own aptitudes. We will never be able to do this if we merely nurture [their] aptitudes in class. Education must be entirely independent of us; in fact, we cannot educate the inner core of a person’s being, for it educates itself. Essentially, all education is self-education, and that is something one must understand. It is particularly prone to failure when one attempts to educate someone who is more intelligent than oneself. Whatever a person achieves, they always achieve it through interaction with the outside world and through our own teaching. Otherwise, one could not even speak of the art of education, [illegible words]

[ 46 ] People possess the art of education; they sense that their teaching at one point [gap in the transcript] did not quite measure up, but they are not called upon to say, “I am poorly educated,” and that should lead them to know what is right. One finds oneself in a peculiar cycle when discussing educational possibilities today [gap in the transcript].

[ 47 ] All education is therefore self-education—and we must guide the child mentally and emotionally, [illegible words], to shape its physical and mental organism in such a way that the child educates itself. All education is essentially an education in [learning through life], and all we can do is ensure that we treat a child in such a way that their body presents as few obstacles as possible to their entry into life.

[ 48 ] But that's not all: introducing a doctrine of unity into pedagogy and didactics, [illegible passage in the transcript].

[ 49 ] To shape the spiritual and soul aspects in such a way that [illegible passage in the stenographic record], so that the body becomes healthy and strong. If we educate the body in the right way in accordance with spiritual development, then later in life the person will, through the way they have educated themselves in unity and through their spirit, have the self-education to [illegible word] and be able to take their place in life. It is precisely the right kind of physical education [gap in the stenographic record] that influences proper pedagogy; both [gap in the stenographic record].

[ 50 ] Time is running out. What you [illegible word] have—which is also what I intended—is that in anthroposophy we want to incorporate pedagogy and didactics [illegible passage in the transcript], but these should also be integrated into a genuine way of life.