The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Sixth Seminar Discussion

[ 1 ] Repeat yesterday's speaking exercises; then new ones:

Truly wise
Gloriously armed
Vigorously avenging
Calmly rolling
Penitent steeds

Boastfully praising
Bathing fervently
Rumbling playfully
Diligently crafting
Powdering clumsily
Mountainously strutting

Reading a fable by Lessing.

[ 2 ] Rudolf Steiner: You must bear in mind that prose can be read in different tones of voice depending on the individual.

[ 3 ] In cases like this, it's best to omit the title and not emphasize it particularly.

The Nightingale and the Peacock

A sociable nightingale found many envious singers among the forest’s birds, but no friend. “Perhaps I’ll find one among a different species,” she thought, and flew down confidently to the peacock. “Beautiful peacock, I admire you!”—“I admire you too, lovely nightingale.” — “Then let us be friends,” the nightingale continued. “We must not envy one another; you are as pleasing to the eye as I am to the ear.” The nightingale and the peacock became friends.

[ 4 ] Kneller and Pope were better friends than Pope and Addison.

Rudolf Steiner, however, jokingly said:

[ 5 ] France and Italy are better friends than Italy and England. You could also put it that way; after all, the statement can be applied in a variety of ways.

[ 6 ] Rudolf Steiner: Now I would like to discuss a reading passage with you. I would like to point out that you should never spoil the emotional impact and feeling of a reading passage—I’ll call it that in prosaic terms—by reading it aloud or going through it with the students and then explaining it pedantically. A discerning psychologist will not do this, but will have a sense that a piece of prose or a poem must affect the soul in such a way that, once the soul has experienced it, it can be content with the impression; one could also say it can be satisfied by the impression. However, one must not rule out the possibility that this very satisfaction—which is meant to arise from the content of a reading passage—can be enhanced for the student by ensuring that the student fully understands all the nuances, that the student understands, at least intuitively and instinctively, what the poem conveys. There is no need to engage in speculation or to develop a scholarly commentary on a poem or reading passage, but one should fully elevate the child to an emotional understanding of a reading passage. Therefore, one should always try to save the actual reading of a passage for last, and do everything necessary to aid understanding beforehand. If one provides the appropriate preparation in a reasonably appropriate manner, one does not come across as a pedantic schoolmaster, but rather helps ensure that nothing in the reading passage remains unexplained. This enhances the child’s enjoyment and satisfaction.

[ 7 ] I would therefore—you might go into a bit more detail—do something like the following with the students in class. I would say: “Look here, dear children, you’ve certainly seen dogs before! Well, who among you hasn’t seen dogs? They’d have to be hiding behind the stove. And you’ve noticed that not all dogs are the same. They’re very, very different from one another. There are tiny dogs, very small dogs, bigger dogs, and really big dogs. You’ve sometimes been afraid of the really big dogs. You’re not afraid of the very small, tiny ones—or maybe you are, because they sometimes bite your calves.

[ 8 ] Now let’s take a look at a few dogs today. You’ve probably seen a meat cart on the street many times, with a butcher’s dog standing in front of it. If you’ve been paying close attention, you’ll have noticed that he usually sits in front of the butcher’s stall and makes sure no one steals the meat. If someone comes along and takes the meat without permission, the dog must bite him—or at least bark. Now you’ll understand that the butcher’s dog can’t be a small animal. No, it’s a big dog! You’ve also surely noticed that little puppies aren’t harnessed to the butcher’s cart, nor are they placed in front of the butcher’s stall.

[ 9 ] Well, you can compare a dog like that to a person who has to pay attention to something. You can often compare animals to people. What animals do out of instinct, people often have to do out of a sense of duty. People and animals have to do similar things, and that’s why you can compare them.

[ 10 ] For example, if a person has to keep an eye on something—like a butcher’s dog in front of a butcher shop—then that person will develop a habit. If someone comes along and tries to take something, the person will “grab them by the comb”—yes, that’s what people say when they’re warning someone not to do something; that’s how they put it. People say, “Grab him by the comb,” when they’re holding the person in question. With people, it’s the hair—it’s not an actual comb. You grab him by the hair. That hurts him, so he doesn’t break free; that’s why you do it. And you don’t say things like that so bluntly, because if you say it straight out like this: “I’ll grab you by the hair,” it doesn’t sound fun enough. There always has to be a little fun mixed in with life, which is why people say, “grab them by the comb.” People have hair;

[ 11 ] People can be a little cheeky sometimes. Roosters are almost always cheeky; they have a comb. That’s why people say, “I’ll grab you by the comb.” So it’s easy to create a mental image of this, for example, if another cheeky animal came along and tried to snatch a piece of meat from the butcher’s shop, the butcher’s dog might say, “I’ll grab you by the comb!” — That would be a pretty good comparison between humans and dogs.

[ 12 ] Well, you know, children, there are other kinds of dogs, too—little ones. They’re mostly lazybones, miserable lazybones! They lie on pillows; sometimes they even lie on their mistress’s lap. In short, they’re lazy little fellows. These are the lap dogs, the little sofa dogs. They aren’t nearly as useful as the butcher’s dog. The butcher’s dog serves a purpose; the little sofa dogs just play around—they’re basically useless. But when someone does something they shouldn’t, the butcher’s dog will grab them by the scruff—that is, grab them, hold them tight, and give them a good shake. That’s useful, because then the other animal won’t be able to steal the meat. The lap dog doesn’t do anything useful like that—it just barks. It barks at everyone, and especially when other big dogs come along, the lap dog is right behind them, barking and barking and barking. But “dogs that bark don’t bite,” as the saying goes; that’s what big dogs think, too, when they walk by. That’s why you can see big dogs walking by quite calmly, letting the little yappers bark away, and thinking to themselves: barking dogs don’t bite. — They aren’t brave; they’re cowards. A butcher’s dog must always have courage. The lap dogs—yes, they run after others and yelp, but when the other dog looks at them, they run off right away. Well, you see, these little dogs are, in any case, lazybones; they do nothing but cause trouble in the world and are good for nothing. They’re like those people you shouldn’t listen to, even if such people bark at you very often.

[ 13 ] These little lap dogs are very small, while the butcher’s dog is large. But there are also medium-sized ones. One of these isn’t as big as the butcher’s dog, but it’s bigger than a lap dog. The German Shepherd is one of these medium-sized dogs. This German Shepherd has to herd the livestock. In some areas, this is harder than it is here. In some areas, like in Russia, for example, wolves come. And the dog has to be on the lookout for wolves or other animals; it has to keep running around the herd. That’s why the custom has developed of the dog always running around the herd. It’s also good here that the dog walks around the herd, because the shepherd often sleeps, and something dangerous could come along and take something from the herd. That’s why the sheepdog walks around and guards the herd. Even when there are no wolves around, it’s good for the sheepdog to walk around and guard the flock—and sometimes even to watch over the shepherd and wake him up. It could happen sometimes that a shepherd might be kidnapped while he’s sleeping.

[ 14 ] So a herding dog, a shepherd dog, is a capable creature, a useful animal. You can also compare them to people who have a healthy outlook on life, who aren’t useless like slackers, lap dogs, or lap-sitting dogs. Yes, this distinction exists in human life as well—between people who are like the shepherd dog and those who are like the butcher’s dog. Both are useful, even if those like the butcher’s dog are sometimes rough. Sometimes they are the kind who say exactly the right thing in a short, to-the-point speech; they have this sense that one must guard something, protect something, and ward off the enemy. One can also compare the sheepdog to people who go about their work more quietly but must wait until the difficult aspects of their work arise. The sheepdog runs around. For a long time, it has little to do, but it must remain ready—to be strong, to be courageous, to be prepared—so that when the wolf or another enemy comes, it can strike at the right moment. In the same way, some people are called upon to wait and remain vigilant until they are summoned. They must not allow themselves to be discouraged by life’s petty concerns; they must remain prepared until the moment when they are called upon to do what is right.”

[ 15 ] You see, this is how I would speak to children so that they become aware of the animal world in a specific context and direct their thoughts toward the analogies between animals and humans. Once you’ve discussed something like this, you’ll be able to read the following aloud without needing to provide explanations afterward. If you were to present the following short story to the children without any explanation first, they would not be fully prepared, because their senses and feelings would not be focused on everything. If you were to provide explanations afterward, you would ruin it by overanalyzing it, and they would not be able to read it properly either.

The German Shepherd

An old sheepdog, who had faithfully guarded his master’s livestock, was walking home one evening. As he walked down the alley, the little lap dogs began yapping at him. He trotted along without looking back. When he reached the butcher’s shop, a butcher’s dog asked him how he could stand the barking and why he didn’t take one by the scruff of the neck. “No,” said the sheepdog, “it doesn’t sting or bite me—I need my teeth for the wolves.”

[ 16 ] Then there's no need to say anything else to the children; you have to prepare them beforehand so that they understand.

[ 17 ] Another time, you say the following to the children: “My dear children! You’ve gone for walks many times before—in the meadow, between the fields, but also in the forest, and sometimes right at the edge where the forest meets the meadow. When you walk deep inside the forest, you’re completely in the shade; but when you walk along the edge of the forest, the sun can still shine quite brightly from one side. Then, if a meadow borders the forest, you can calmly watch the flowers grow. It will always be good for you to choose places for your walks where the forest and the meadow meet. Then you can always find something to look at—sometimes in the forest, sometimes in the meadow. There you can always observe anew how the grass grows, and how the plants and flowers grow within the grass.

[ 18 ] But look, it is especially lovely and pleasant when you can not only walk through the forest and across the meadows, but when the meadows are also nestled among the mountains, in valleys. In such meadows, you’ll find things far more interesting than in meadows that get too much sun. Valley meadows, sheltered by the mountains, have very beautiful flowers, and these flowers often grow in such a way that you can see them even among the moss, which grows particularly well in such meadow valleys. Violets, in particular, are found right where the moss is nearby.”

[ 19 ] Now you can continue talking with the children about moss and violets; perhaps you can ask one child to describe the violet and another to talk about the moss. You can even try, if they’re available, to bring some violets and moss with you that day. After all, they’re both in season at the same time.

[ 20 ] Then you might continue something like this: “But look, dear children, if you have a meadow like this nearby, you’ll find that when you go out, all you see is moss. Yes, then you go out again in eight days. What do you see then? Violets in the moss! Yes, they’ve just come up; they used to be hidden in the moss. Remember that. And when you go out next year, you’ll have even more joy. You’ll think: ‘There weren’t any violets here in the spring! We hadn’t seen any yet.’—Now try to part the moss. Aha, there’s the violet in there!

[ 21 ] In nature, my dear children, things are often just as they are among people. There, too, many good and beautiful things are often hidden. Some people go unnoticed because the good within them is hidden, because it has not yet been discovered. One must develop a sense for identifying good people among the crowd.

[ 22 ] Yes, see, dear children, human life can be compared to nature in even more ways. Just imagine for yourselves a very good child, and you’ll find that such a child always speaks very good, well-behaved words. Now, there are modest children and immodest children. Modest children—they’re less likely to be noticed. Immodest children, however, will want to be noticed.

[ 23 ] Look, the violet is certainly quite beautiful, but when you look at this violet—the way it holds up its lovely violet petals—you’ll surely notice: the violet wants to be noticed; it wants to be looked at. I can’t compare the violet to a modest little child who withdraws and stays in the corner. You could only compare it to a child who actually really likes to be seen. Yes, but it doesn’t show itself when it’s hidden in the moss, does it? Yes, you see, when you look at the violet like that among the leaves, the way it emerges, and the whole plant crawls out of the moss again—it’s just as if the violet doesn’t merely want to be seen, as if it doesn’t merely want to be smelled; it’s as if it wants to be sought out: “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, here I am! But you have to look for me!”—This violet is something like a not-quite-modest human child, but also something like a mischievous human child.”

[ 24 ] It is quite beneficial to discuss such parallels and analogies between nature and human beings with children, so that everything around the child comes to life.

[ 25 ] It would be a good idea to hold all such discussions with the children as preparation, so that they can get some enjoyment out of it. After the reading, no further explanations should be given at all. Wouldn’t it be nonsense if I were to start reciting something to you in Chinese right now? You would say: “Well, that doesn’t make any sense; we haven’t learned Chinese.” — But if you all knew Chinese, and I were to speak to you, you would find it extremely boring if I tried to explain everything to you afterward. That is how one should approach a reading passage as well: do everything possible to make it enjoyable.

[ 26 ] In a bit more detail, by letting the children participate quite a bit, talk to them about modesty, immodesty, and coquetry, and then read the following to them:

Oh, what is blooming so secretly in the sunshine?
They are the lovely violets, blooming in the quiet valley,
Blooming so secretly, hidden in the moss,
That’s why even we children haven’t spotted a single violet.

And what is that little head peeking up quietly?
What is whispering so softly, so softly from the moss?
“Seek, and you will find! Come find me!”
Oh, wait, little violet, wait! We’ll find you yet!

Hoffmann von Fallersleben

[ 27 ] Once you have taught the child the language of the poem, the child can engage with all its nuances; then you need not spoil the experience afterward with commentary or pedantry. This is what I would like to recommend to you regarding the handling of reading passages, because it gives you the opportunity to discuss with the children many things that should be part of school instruction, and because you can give the child undivided satisfaction through such reading passages. So this is what I would like to urge you to do with regard to the handling of reading passages.

[ 28 ] Now let us continue our discussion of the children’s souls. Yesterday I asked you to reflect on how to deal with the pious and the well-behaved—those who push themselves to the front through their hypocrisy and good behavior, but who do not act in the best interests of the class.

Below are remarks from those in attendance.

[ 29 ] Rudolf Steiner: I asked this question specifically because it is difficult to distinguish between harmful and useful braggarts. One must consider whether one is dealing with those who will actually play a role later on. They are like that, too. They are useful braggarts, but inconvenient.

[ 30 ] You could tell the story of how the donkey got its ears. You can also use harsher measures against particularly bratty students. However, one should not expose them to ridicule or shame in front of the class. That is too harsh. Instead, one can assign an overachiever overly demanding tasks—such as pole exercises—and then let the facts speak for themselves, so that the child sees that they cannot complete the task and must tell the teacher so. This reveals whether their ambition is genuine.

There are other participants' accounts of this as well.

[ 31 ] Rudolf Steiner summarizes as follows at the end: Yes, essentially, the issue at hand has already come to light in this discussion.

[ 32 ] The first step will be to carefully determine whether this is a case of justified self-assertion on the part of the more gifted students, who are capable of greater achievement. In such cases, care must be taken to ensure that greater talent does not turn into ambitious egotism. One will strive to make what they can do better beneficial to the others. Such a high achiever will be given tasks, in keeping with his greater ability, that benefit the others, so that he works not only for himself but also for the others. If he is better at math, he should be allowed to work through problems with the others so that they can learn from him. When the teacher then explains the significance of this attitude—which might be expressed as follows: “Müller is a good boy. Look, Müller can do quite a lot. People like that can be of great use to others. And I now praise all of you for having learned so much from Müller.”—In this way, praise for one person leads to praise for everyone!

[ 33 ] Once you have identified these truly outstanding students and weeded out the real show-offs—who are always around—then you know who they are, and you will almost always have to deal with them by combining two methods.

[ 34 ] The first step will be to speak with them—not in front of the class, but in private. This is so they realize they’ve been seen through. You speak to them very forcefully: “You do this, you do that,” and you also point out these traits, and in this case, you make the matter personal. “You can always do this; you can do it over and over again. Do you think this pleases me, that you’re doing me a favor? No, I don’t want that at all. It’s unpleasant for me!” Not in front of the class, but in private, you speak to them this way. That is one thing. You make it very clear to the student that you see right through him.

[ 35 ] The other point is this: People give him tasks that are too big for him and try to make him understand that if he has to tackle these overwhelming tasks, it is because he wants to prove himself. It is harder for him to combat these traits than to tackle overwhelming tasks. But it is more unpleasant for him to do these tasks. That is why he will make an effort. We must tell him that he is given such tasks because he pushes himself forward. But if he combats these traits, he will not have to do any tasks other than those assigned to the rest of the class.

[ 36 ] However, one can specifically link these two things together for a student—and by telling the student that you see right through him or her, and that the student is given such assignments precisely because he or she is pushing ahead—you can certainly achieve a great deal by linking these two things together. You will see that, after some time, you will have “cured” the student if you apply these methods.

[ 37 ] We will, of course, have many more challenging tasks to tackle during these seminar sessions. For tomorrow, however, I would like to assign a similar task—one that is somewhat related to the last one, yet different in its own way—and one that also requires consideration of eurythmy. Please forgive me for assigning this task, but it falls within the realm of pedagogy: What should one do when a particular group of students develops a strong infatuation with the teacher?

[ 38 ] “Crush”—doesn’t anyone understand that? When a student has a crush on a female teacher, or vice versa—a female student on a male teacher, or a female student on a female teacher, or a male student on a female teacher. All these nuances do come up. This genuine infatuation, which can be very disruptive to the continuation of class—I ask you to consider how this should be handled.

[ 39 ] It must be present to such an extent that it actually disrupts the class. Of course, I am by no means referring to genuine respect, proper esteem, or even a healthy affection for the teacher, but rather precisely that which disrupts the lesson through an unhealthy infatuation, as so often occurs in classrooms.