The Rudolf Steiner Archive

First Lecture on the Curriculum

[ 1 ] My dear friends, there is, of course, still quite a lot to be said in the field of general pedagogy, but in matters such as these, everything must eventually come to a provisional conclusion. And so, this morning, in the time that remains to us, let us apply what we have considered in general pedagogy and didactics to a preliminary outline of our instructional goals for the individual levels. After all, through both our general pedagogical and didactic considerations, we have sought to gain the necessary perspectives to properly assess the organization of the curriculum with regard to the development of the growing human being. And so we will always be mindful that instruction should be organized as much as possible in the manner I have shown you—that mineralogy can be integrated into geography, and that history and geography can be linked through the intellectual treatment of cultural history by examining national characteristics. Keeping in mind at all times that we can transition from one subject to another, let us now review the curriculum—organized according to the individual categories—as we intend to present it to our students.

[ 2 ] You see, the first thing we need to consider is that, once we have the children enrolled in their first year of school, we find suitable material for them to hear told beforehand and to retell afterward. Through this preliminary retelling of fairy tales, legends, and even outwardly realistic events—and by having the children retell them—we cultivate their actual speech. We foster the transition from dialect to standard colloquial language. By ensuring that the child speaks correctly, we also lay the foundation for correct writing.

[ 3 ] We will let the child’s introduction to a certain visual language of form proceed in parallel with this pre- and post-narration. We let the child draw simple, round, and angular shapes—purely for the sake of the shapes themselves—not, as mentioned, for the sake of imitating an external appearance, but purely for the sake of the shapes. And we do not shy away from combining this drawing with simple painterly elements by placing colors side by side—arranging them in such a way that the child gains a sense of what it means to place red next to green, red next to yellow, and so on.

[ 4 ] And based on what we achieve in this way, we can introduce writing to the child in the manner we have considered in our teaching methodology. It would be natural for us to gradually seek the transition from drawn shapes to the Latin alphabet. If we are in a position to introduce the Latin alphabet first, we should certainly do so, for only then will we be able to transition from the Latin alphabet to the German one. And once the child has learned to write and read simple written forms—which they bring to life through words—we then move on to printed letters. Here, too, we naturally begin with the Latin letters first and then move on to the German ones.

[ 5 ] If we proceed rationally in these matters, then by the end of the first school year we will have reached the point where the child is at least able, in a simple way, to put down on paper whatever is read aloud to them or whatever they set out to write themselves. We stick to the simple things, and we will get the child to the point where they can also read simple texts. There is certainly no need to expect the child to achieve anything complete in this first year. That would, in fact, be entirely wrong. Rather, the aim in this first year is to bring the child to a point where they do not, so to speak, face the printed word as something entirely unknown to them, and where they develop the ability to write something down in a simple way on their own. — That would be, if I may say so, the ideal for instruction in language and writing.

[ 6 ] This would be aided by what will be discussed later: the elasticity and pliability that the child will acquire for his or her vocal organs through singing lessons, and this will result—without any deliberate intention—in a more refined sensitivity to elongated, sharpened sounds, and so on. This need not be intended in a musical sense at all, provided the child is introduced to an aural understanding of what the instrument produces musically—initially in a simple way and, for the ear—if I may coin the term, since one cannot really say “clear”—in a “perceptible” way; you will be able to understand what I mean: “over-audible” is that which is truly experienced inwardly as one within the many, so that things do not overwhelm one in one’s inner perception.

[ 7 ] Now, to what has just been said, one should add what can stimulate the child to think by explaining familiar things to him: those things that will later be presented in a more systematic way in geography and natural history. This is explained to the child and brought within the child’s grasp by drawing on familiar things—familiar animals, familiar plants, familiar landforms, mountains, rivers, and meadows. Schools call this “local history.” But the point is to bring about, especially in the very first year of school, a certain awakening in the child toward its surroundings—an awakening of the soul—so that the child learns to truly connect with its surroundings.

[ 8 ] And then, as the second school year begins, we will try to continue and further develop the practice of having the child retell stories. In the second school year, the child can gradually be guided to write down what is told to them. And then, once they have become accustomed to writing down what is told to them, they can also be encouraged to reproduce in very brief descriptions what they have been taught about the animals, plants, meadows, and forests of the surrounding area.

[ 9 ] It is important not to focus too much on grammar and such in the first year of school. But in the second school year, children should already be taught concepts such as what a noun is, what an adjective is, and what a verb is. And this should be followed up in a simple, clear manner with a discussion of sentence structure.

[ 10 ] With regard to the description—the reflective description of the environment—one should continue what was begun in the first school year.

[ 11 ] The third school year will essentially be a continuation of the second school year with regard to speaking, reading, writing, and many other areas as well. The child’s ability to write down what they see and read will be expanded. However, one will now also attempt to awaken in the child a conscious awareness of short, long, and drawn-out sounds, and so on. This sense of speech articulation and, more generally, of the structure of language is something that can be effectively cultivated in the eighth and ninth years, when the child is in the third school year. At that point, one should try to give the child a mental image of word types, sentence elements, and the structure of a sentence—that is, the placement of punctuation marks such as commas, periods, and so on within the sentence.

[ 12 ] The fourth school year will again be a continuation of the third school year with regard to having the children retell stories beforehand and afterward. And when dealing with poetry—short poems—it will be beneficial to ensure that, especially in the first and second school years, the child instinctively senses rhythm, rhyme, and meter, and that the inner structure of the poem—that is, what relates to the poem’s inner beauty—is brought to life in the child’s perception during the third and fourth school years.

[ 13 ] But then one should try to transition what the child has learned—in terms of retelling stories in writing and describing things in writing—into the composition of letters, letters of all kinds. Then, especially during this period, try to help the child develop a clear mental image of tenses—of everything expressed through the conjugations of the verb. In other words, during this period—we are now roughly between the ages of nine and ten—the child should grasp what it needs to in this regard, so that it develops a sense of when to say, “The man ran,” rather than “The man has run.”—So that it does not confuse the simple past, the so-called “Präteritum,” with the perfect tense or the past tense. That the child develops a sense of when to say, “The man stood,” and when to say, “The man had stood,” and similar distinctions regarding the inflected forms of what is expressed by the verb. Likewise, one should try to teach the child, intuitively and instinctively, the relationship—for example, between prepositions and the words they precede. But in every instance, ensure that the child develops a sense of when to use “an” in one context, “bei” in another, and so on. Structuring language vividly—that is precisely what should be practiced in the mother tongue around the age of ten. Experience language vividly!

[ 14 ] Now, in the fifth school year, we will focus on repeatedly continuing everything we have been doing in the fourth year, and, in particular, from that point on, we will pay attention to the distinction between active and passive verb forms—that is, the active and passive voices in verb usage. Then, especially during this time, one should try to encourage the child not only to freely recount what they have seen and heard, but also, whenever possible, to quote what they have heard and read in direct speech—that is, to quote it exactly as one would if writing it in quotation marks. One should try to give the child plenty of practice in paying attention, in the way they speak, to when they are expressing their own opinion and when they are conveying someone else’s opinion. One should also strive, in the writing assignments given to the child, to instill a clear distinction between what the child thinks and has seen—and so on—and what the child is relaying from the words of others. And in connection with this, one should seek to further perfect the use of punctuation marks. — Letter-writing will then be further developed.

[ 15 ] And when the child enters the sixth grade, we naturally continue, time and again, everything we practiced in the fifth grade. And we now try to instill in the child, from a stylistic standpoint, a strong sense of what the subjunctive is. In doing so, one should discuss these matters using examples as much as possible, so that the child learns to distinguish between what can be stated directly and what must be expressed in the subjunctive. And one should try to do speech exercises with the child in which great care is taken to ensure that nothing the child does incorrectly regarding the use of the subjunctive is allowed to pass. So if the child were to say, “I’ll make sure my little sister learns to walk”—one should never let them get away with saying, “I’ll make sure my little sister learns to walk”—so that a strong sense of this inner plasticity of language is transferred into their linguistic intuition.

[ 16 ] Now let the letters give way to simple, vivid business essays that actually deal with topics the child has already encountered elsewhere. After all, in the third grade, what is said about meadows, forests, and so on can already be expanded to include business relationships, so that later there will be material available for writing simple business essays.

[ 17 ] In the seventh grade, one must continue what was begun in the sixth grade. And now one should try, through linguistic forms, to help the child develop a true, vivid grasp of the ways of expressing desire, amazement, admiration, and so on. One should strive to help the child learn to form sentences in accordance with this inner configuration of feelings. In doing so, one should avoid, for example, misusing poems or other texts merely to show how a particular person has formulated a sentence expressing a wish; instead, one should approach this directly by having the child voice something they desire and then have them form the sentence. Then let the child express something they admire and have them form the sentence, or help the child form the sentence. And then compare the wish sentence with the sentence of admiration, in order to further develop an understanding of the inner structure of language.

[ 18 ] Now, what has been covered in natural history will already enable the child to write brief descriptions in an essay—say, of the wolf, the lion, the bee, and so on. In addition to this focus on the more generally human aspects of education, special attention should be given during this period to the composition of practical, business-related topics. The teacher must take an interest in what practical, business-related topics exist and must then instill them in the minds of his or her students in a reasonable manner during this period.

[ 19 ] In the eighth grade, the focus will be on teaching the child a coherent understanding of longer prose or poetic works, so that during this time we read dramatic and epic works with the children. In doing so, one must always bear in mind what I have said: Let all explanations and interpretations come first, so that when it comes to reading, this reading is always the final step in what one does with the material being read.

[ 20 ] In particular, however, practical business skills must not be neglected in this eighth school year, especially in the area of language instruction.

[ 21 ] The goal will now be to incorporate Latin into the curriculum in a flexible manner once the children have reached the fourth grade, while introducing French and English to the children in a very simple way as soon as they enter school.

[ 22 ] We begin teaching Latin when the child is in the fourth year of school by having them listen to—and, as far as possible, repeat—short dialogues, a skill that will develop only gradually. Here, too, one should definitely begin with oral practice and strive, through listening to spoken language, to achieve what is typically prescribed for the first year. We will then continue these Latin lessons according to the guidelines I provided in my lectures on pedagogy, to the extent that the student leaves our elementary school with a command of Latin roughly equivalent to what is typically taught in the Tertia. So, in Latin, in our fourth school year we must achieve roughly what is taught in the Sexta; in our fifth school year, what is taught in the Quinta; in our sixth school year, what is taught in the Quarta; and then we are left with what is to be taught in the Tertia.

[ 23 ] In addition, we will continue teaching in French and English, taking into account, in particular, what we have heard in the didactic portion of these lectures.

[ 24 ] And for those who wish to learn it, we allow them to begin freely with the basics of Greek starting in the sixth grade, proceeding in the same way as we discussed in the didactic section. In particular, however, we again attempt to use the writing of Greek letters to develop this skill through form drawing. And for those who now wish to learn Greek, it will be an extraordinary benefit to repeat in other letter forms what is first to be practiced when deriving writing from drawing.

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[ 25 ] Well, as you’ve seen, we freely draw on what is known from the immediate surroundings to conduct a free kind of general studies. By the time a child is in third grade and approaching ninth grade, this kind of general studies can give them a good sense of how to—well, I can only highlight a few examples—how to prepare mortar and how it is used in house construction. They can also gain a mental image of how to fertilize, how to plow, and what rye and wheat look like. In short, we allow the child to freely explore those aspects of their immediate surroundings that they are capable of understanding.

[ 26 ] Then, in the fourth grade, students will transition from these lessons to discussing—still in a free-form manner—topics related to the most immediate history. For example, one can tell the child—if, say, the facts happen to indicate it—how viticulture came to the child’s own home region, how fruit growing began, how this or that industry emerged, and so on.

[ 27 ] Then also from the most immediate geography. So one begins, as I have explained to you, with the most immediate geography.

[ 28 ] In the fifth grade, every effort will be made to introduce the child to truly historical concepts. And one should by no means shy away from teaching the child, especially during this time in the fifth grade, about the cultures of the peoples of the East and the Greeks. The reluctance to go back to ancient times has been created solely by people of our age, who lack the ability to evoke the appropriate concepts when one goes back to those ancient times. A ten- to eleven-year-old child can quite easily—especially if one continually appeals to the child’s feelings—be made aware of everything that can help the child develop an understanding of the peoples of the East and the Greeks.

[ 29 ] In addition, as I have shown, geography begins by teaching children about landforms—and the economic aspects associated with them—for a specific part of the Earth, the one closest to home.

[ 30 ] The sixth grade curriculum should include historical studies of the Greeks and Romans and of the lasting effects of Greek and Roman history up to the beginning of the 15th century.

[ 31 ] In geography, we will continue what we covered in the fifth grade by examining other parts of the world, and then try to make the transition from climatic conditions to celestial phenomena, some examples of which we demonstrated here yesterday afternoon.

[ 32 ] In the seventh school year, the focus will be on helping the child truly understand the kind of life that emerged for modern humanity beginning in the 15th century, and then describing European and other conditions up to roughly the beginning of the 17th century. This is the most important period, to which one must devote a great deal of care. It is even more important than the period that follows.

[ 33 ] Then, in geography, one should attempt to continue with the celestial conditions and begin by examining the intellectual and cultural conditions of the Earth’s inhabitants, the peoples of the Earth; always in connection with what was learned for the children about material cultural conditions—namely, economic conditions—during the first two years in which geography was taught.

[ 34 ] In the eighth grade, one should attempt to continue teaching history to the children up to the present day, while taking cultural history fully into account. Most of what constitutes the content of the history still taught today should be mentioned only in passing. It is far more important for the child to learn how the steam engine, the mechanical loom, and so on have transformed the world than to be introduced too early to such curiosities as the correction of the Ems Dispatch or the like. The things found in our history books are the least important for the child’s education. And even Charlemagne and similar historical figures should, in essence, be dealt with only briefly. What I told you yesterday regarding the way to help oneself constantly translate the abstract concept of time into something concrete—in that regard, one should do a great, great deal. For it is necessary that one do a great, great deal in this regard.

[ 35 ] Now, I hardly need to tell you that even through these subjects we have discussed so far, a child can develop, to some extent, an awareness that the spirit permeates everything that exists in the world. That spirit lives in our language. That spirit lives in what, geographically speaking, covers the earth. That spirit lives in the life of history. When we try to feel the living spirit in everything, then we will also find the right enthusiasm to convey this living spirit to our students.

[ 36 ] And then, through our students, we will learn to make amends for what religious denominations, in particular, have done to humanity since the beginning of the modern era. These religious denominations, which have never sought to ensure that human beings develop as freely as possible, have fostered materialism from a wide variety of perspectives. If we are not allowed to use all the resources of the world to teach people that the spirit is at work, then religious instruction becomes a breeding ground for materialism. Religious denominations have virtually made it their mission to forbid other forms of instruction from speaking of the spirit and the soul, because they wished to claim this as their exclusive privilege. Yet the reality underlying these matters has increasingly dried up for these religious denominations, and so what is presented in religious instruction is nothing but a collection of sentimental platitudes and clichés. And what strikes us so terribly today in the empty rhetoric that prevails throughout the world is actually more a result of pulpit culture than it is a result of world culture in general. For the emptiest phrases are brought to light within the religious denominations and then, through human instinct, carried over into external life. Certainly, external life also produces a great deal of phraseology, but it is the religious creeds that are most at fault in this regard.

[ 37 ] We will see, my dear friends, how the first subject area, “Religious Education”—which I will not address at all in this discussion, since that will be the responsibility of the church communities—will influence the following subject areas in our Waldorf school curriculum. For I must leave that very section—which is listed as the first category—completely blank. “Religious Education” will remain open at the top. Those lessons will simply be left to the religious education teacher. There, he has complete freedom. He does not take his cues from us, of course. He follows the constitution, the official gazette of his church administration, or the church school administration. We will fulfill our duty in this regard, and we will also calmly fulfill our duty with regard to conjuring up the spirit for the children from the other subjects.