The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Speech Delivered on the Eve of the Course

[ 1 ] based on participant notes

[ 2 ] Tonight, I would like to say only a few preliminary remarks. The Waldorf School must be a true cultural endeavor in order to bring about a renewal of our spiritual life in the present. We must expect transformation in all things; after all, the entire social movement ultimately stems from the spiritual [the social movement is ultimately rooted in the spiritual], and the issue of education is a subset of the great, pressing spiritual questions of our time. The potential of the Waldorf School must be harnessed to bring about reform and revolution in the educational system.

[ 3 ] The success of this cultural endeavor rests in your hands. Much is entrusted to you to play an active role by setting an example. Much depends on the success of this endeavor. The Waldorf School will be practical proof of the impact of the anthroposophical worldview. It will be a unified school in the sense that it will focus solely on educating and teaching in a way that meets the needs of the human being—of the human being as a whole. We must place everything in the service of this goal.

[ 4 ] But we need to make compromises. Compromises are necessary because we are not yet ready to carry out a truly free act. The state imposes poor educational goals and poor graduation requirements on us. These goals are the worst imaginable, and yet people will imagine them to be the very best. Politics—political activity from now on—will manifest itself in treating people according to a template, in attempting, more extensively than ever before, to force people into molds. People will be treated like objects that must be pulled by strings, and it will be imagined that this represents the greatest possible progress. Institutions such as educational establishments will be organized in an inappropriate and as arrogant a manner as possible. An example and foretaste of this is the structure of the Russian Bolshevik schools, which are a veritable graveyard for all genuine education. We are heading toward a hard struggle, and yet we must carry out this cultural endeavor.

[ 5 ] Two conflicting forces must be brought into harmony. On the one hand, we must know what our ideals are, yet we must still have the flexibility to adapt to what will be far removed from our ideals. How to reconcile these two forces will be difficult for each and every one of you. This can only be achieved if everyone brings their full personality to bear. Everyone must bring their full personality to bear from the very beginning.

[ 6 ] That is why we will organize the school not according to government guidelines, but according to administrative principles, and manage it in a republican manner. In a true “teachers’ republic,” we will not have a safety net—regulations handed down by the school administration—but rather we must carry within ourselves that which gives us the opportunity, that which gives each of us full responsibility for what we have to do. Everyone must be fully responsible for themselves.

[ 7 ] We will be able to establish a replacement for the school administration by setting up this preparatory course and actively incorporating into it the elements that make the school a unified whole. We will achieve this unity through the course if we work with true dedication.

[ 8 ] The course description should state that it will include:

[ 9 ] first, an ongoing debate on general educational issues;

[ 10 ] second, a discussion of specific methodological issues related to the most important subjects taught; third, a kind of seminar-style work within the scope of what our teaching responsibilities will be. We will develop these teaching responsibilities and put them into practice through debate exercises.

[ 11 ] Every day, we will cover the more theoretical material in the morning and the seminar-style material in the afternoon.

[ 12 ] So tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. we will begin with general pedagogy, followed by specialized methodological instruction at 10:30 a.m., and in the afternoon, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., we will have the seminar exercises.

[ 13 ] We must be fully aware that a great cultural achievement must be made in every direction.

[ 14 ] We do not want to establish an ideological school here at the Waldorf School. The Waldorf School is not meant to be an ideological school where we cram the children full of anthroposophical dogma as much as possible. We do not want to teach anthroposophical dogma; anthroposophy is not part of the curriculum, but we strive for the practical application of anthroposophy. We want to translate what can be gained in the field of anthroposophy into actual teaching practice.

[ 15 ] What matters far less than the content of anthroposophical teaching is the practical application of what can be derived from anthroposophy in the field of education in general and in specific teaching methods in particular—that is, how anthroposophy can be integrated into classroom instruction.

[ 16 ] Religious instruction will be provided by the religious communities. We will apply anthroposophy only in our teaching methods. We will therefore assign the children to religious education teachers according to their denominations.

[ 17 ] That is the other part of the compromise. Through justified compromises, we accelerate our cultural endeavor.

[ 18 ] We must be aware of the great tasks before us. We must not merely be educators; rather, we must be cultured individuals in the highest degree, in the truest sense of the word. We must have a keen interest in everything that is happening in the world today; otherwise, we will be poor teachers for this school. We must not limit ourselves to our specific duties. We will only be good teachers if we have a keen interest in everything happening in the world. It is through this interest in the world that we must first gain the enthusiasm we need for the school and for our work. This requires intellectual flexibility and dedication to our task. Only from this can we draw upon what can be gained today when we turn our attention to: first, the great distress of our time; and second, the great tasks of our time—neither of which can be given a large mental image.