The Rudolf Steiner Archive

5. Speech at the Ceremony Marking the End of the First School Year

[ 1 ] My dear children! Today, as we approach the end of our first school year at our beloved Waldorf School, let us take a moment to reflect on why we are actually here at this Waldorf School—what the whole purpose of it is—that our dear Mr. Molt, together with our dear Mrs. Molt, founded this Waldorf School for you, my dear children, and for humanity, and what the whole purpose is behind you coming here every morning to learn something worthwhile, and that, above all, you are to be guided into life as capable individuals by people who go to infinite lengths for you.

[ 2 ] You see, my dear children, whenever I’ve come here during this school year—as you know—I’ve always asked you a question in each class, a question that comes straight from the heart. I’ve often asked you: Do you love your teachers? [“Yes!” the children call out.] You see, and you’ve always answered me as wholeheartedly as you did today.

[ 3 ] There are weeks ahead when you won’t see your teachers for a while; now I’d like to tell you something else. And I hope your hearts will often respond to this very question during these holidays. I want to tell you: Now, just when you won’t be seeing your teachers, learn to be grateful to them. Just as you have learned, just as you have strived to learn to love your teachers, so now learn firmly in your hearts to be grateful to your teachers, so that when you ask yourselves, “Am I grateful to my teachers?”—you can answer sincerely and wholeheartedly: “Yes, I am grateful.”

[ 4 ] Now I’d like to tell you something else. You see, my dear children, it shouldn’t be the case here that, as a child at the Waldorf School, you say to yourself: “Well, school’s out now; we’re going on vacation.” When we’re at school, we have to work hard; we have to study. But now we’re allowed to laze around for a change—we don’t have to do anything. We’re happy that we’re allowed to laze around. - You see, that’s not how we want to talk here. We should say something quite different; we should say to ourselves: “Yes, the day is beautiful; during the day we experience many beautiful things alongside some sad and painful ones; but what would a human being be if they could not experience through their senses all that which divine spirituality has placed in the world—all that which is so great, beautiful, and true.”

[ 5 ] But we would not be able to truly see with our eyes or hear with our ears all that divine spirituality has so beautifully brought into life if we were not also able to sleep and rest. Consider this: after you have enjoyed the day, you must rest at night; then you will be refreshed again in the morning. Your eyes will see better and your ears will hear better. If you had to stay awake all the time, you would certainly not be able to enjoy and fully appreciate life in all its truth and beauty, just as divine spirituality has created it.

[ 6 ] It is the same way in life as a whole. You should not think, “Now we’ll be able to be lazy during vacation”—but rather, you should think: We have received everything from our dear teachers, everything that humanity has worked to achieve so that people may know it, we have received all of this, and now we need a little rest so that, once we have had this rest, we can return to our classes all the more refreshed and vibrant—each of us even advancing to a higher grade—and then, with renewed strength, take into our hearts once again what our teachers have given us with love and hard work, what humanity has worked out for the service of humanity. So we understand it this way: during this vacation period, we are resting precisely to regain our strength for the entire new school year.

[ 7 ] Now, my dear children, I would like to speak to you a little about the whole purpose of our Waldorf School and the meaning of our existence in this school. You see, the human being—the person you are actually meant to grow into—has a physical body, a soul, and a spirit. You all have a physical body, a soul, and a spirit. And everything that constitutes the physical body, the soul, and the spirit actually comes into the world—when a human being enters the world, so very small—in a rather imperfect state. It is still quite imperfect in you as well. But it is meant to become more perfect. Here at the Waldorf School, your physical body is to be shaped so that it becomes skilled for everything a human being has to do in life. And your teachers have worked hard for you—just think, for example, that eurythmy has been introduced to you, which aims to make the body truly skillful in life, and many other things have been introduced to you so that, through your bodies, you may become skillful, capable, and powerful human beings. When one is small, one is rather clumsy. One must first become more skillful. It is the same with the soul. It is within all of you. But it must be developed so that it can spin threads out into life in every direction. Just as with a little ball of yarn—as you unravel the threads from it—so must the threads for life be unwound from the soul. This is how the soul is developed, and this is done for you so that you may become capable in regard to the life forces. Powerful life forces are to be drawn forth from your soul. And your spirit—yes, my dear children, if we did not train it, if we did not teach it, then we would not be human beings at all. The spirit must be taught so that we may become fully capable human beings.

[ 8 ] Now, you see, when a person has worked all day, when a child has played and studied diligently and then falls asleep, dreams sometimes come while they’re sleeping—most of you have probably had dreams before. Sometimes these are very beautiful dreams, and sometimes they’re scary ones. And now you’ll be getting some rest during the holidays. Something similar to dreams will happen then, too. You see, when you think back on school during the vacation, you might find yourselves thinking: Oh, I had wonderful teachers, I enjoyed learning, and I was happy when I got to go to school. And you see, when you think that, you’ll have pleasant dreams during the vacation. And if you think: “Oh, I really should have been less lazy; I didn’t like going to school”—and so on—then you’ll have bad dreams during the holidays. That’s why you should often think back on this school during the holiday season and reflect, for example: “My thoughts turn to the Waldorf School. There, my body is shaped for skillful activity; there, my soul is developed into a vigorous life force; there, my spirit is developed into true humanity.” — If you think about this often—how your body is shaped, your soul is developed, and your spirit is nurtured—then you will send a good dream into your rest, and then the vacation period will also contribute to your becoming capable people in life.

[ 9 ] You see, when I came in today, your dear classmate, the little, kind Häfele, gave me something: let’s see what it is. Look, this is what I was given—a washcloth with little flowers! Well, I imagine that I’m supposed to wash myself and dry my hands, and that the little flowers might symbolize that learning is something that blooms as beautifully as these lovely little white flowers. [R. Steiner shows the washcloth]: This could remind us that what we’re learning here is also something with which we can wash away from our souls everything that is imperfect—bad thoughts and feelings—that drive us toward laziness, sloth, and inattention. I would like to place such a spiritual washcloth in everyone’s hand so that they may wash away laziness, lack of diligence, inattention, and so on. I am therefore very grateful that you have given me this little symbol and that I can show you how we want to use it—that is, to wash away a great deal of what should not be in the soul. - Just look at these little flowers! You have learned so many things here, and that has been necessary for you; for what you have learned are all such little flowers in your soul. Remember this when you say to yourselves: My thoughts rush back to the Waldorf School, where my body is trained in dexterity, my soul is developed into a strong life force, and my spirit unfolds into capable humanity—remember how such little flowers have been nurtured in your souls day after day, and how grateful you should be for them. Everything in life can serve us so that we may reflect on what is right. That, dear children, is what I wanted to tell you.

[ 10 ] Think of one another, too! You have gotten to know one another and, hopefully, have come to love one another. Think of one another often—very often—and reflect on how good it was that you came together so that your teachers could help you become capable people. Don’t think, “Now we can be lazy,” but rather think, “We need rest, and after we’ve rested, we’ll come back here and, refreshed, embrace what our dear teachers have to offer.”

[ 11 ] And now, in your presence—so that you may hear it, even though you may not yet understand it—I would also like to say a few words to your dear teachers, who have all the hard work of the Waldorf School behind them; I would like to shake their hands. First, I would like to shake the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Molt for having created this Waldorf School for us, so that we can try to do something for humanity, which has been so sorely afflicted. My dear ones—as I said, I am speaking to the teachers, but you, dear children, can hear it and will be able to remember it later—we have bitter years of human history behind us, years in which people fought and shot at one another until blood was shed. We still have many bitter times ahead of us; for things still look very bleak. It was the Waldorf teachers who were the first to find the courage to come here and embrace in their faith what I am convinced must, above all else, be embraced in people’s faith today; the Waldorf school teachers came forward and said: “Yes, we must work with the children so that, when we are old, our work will have brought about in them what can prevent the misfortune and bitterness that have befallen humanity.” — It takes a certain amount of courage and diligence; but above all, it takes—and that is why I would like to shake your hands so warmly, my dear Waldorf school teachers—that which awakens in the human heart the ability not to sleep, but to stay awake. If what you have resolved here were not overlooked by many people today but were viewed with vigilance, and if what is happening here were to find followers, then you would be able to say to yourselves: we were among the first to contribute to what is so necessary for the future of humanity.

[ 12 ] My dear children, when the teachers of that time entered the school, they were people who truly understood the task of their era and devoted themselves with diligent dedication to what was required of them. And it was always a matter close to my heart when I asked you, “Do you love your teachers?”—and you answered with such heartfelt “yeses”—and I will also ask myself during the vacation: “Are the children grateful to their teachers?”—But to you, dear Waldorf school teachers, I extend a warm handshake. I thank you in the name of the Spirit of Humanity, which we strive to nurture throughout our entire spiritual movement; in this spirit, I shake your hands for all that you have accomplished for the future ideals of humanity. Today is the day when we can remember these things, and it is the day when you children should feel how grateful you ought to be to your teachers.

[ 13 ] There is one more thing I would like to say today. In addition to what we have learned here—as the individual teachers have already so beautifully emphasized—and in addition to all that we have learned, there is something else. This is what I would like to call: the spirit of the Waldorf School! It is meant to nurture genuine piety once again. It is, in essence, the spirit of Christianity that flows through our classrooms, emanating from each teacher and reaching every child—even when something seemingly unrelated to religion is being taught, such as arithmetic. Here it is always the Spirit of Christ that, emanating from the teacher, is meant to enter the children’s hearts—this Spirit that is imbued with love, with true love for humanity. That is why I want you, children, to feel that you have not only learned something, but have also gradually learned here what love for one another truly means. And so I would like you to remember this as you head into vacation: toward all your classmates, I feel in my heart this one phrase: “See you again soon!” Think of one another with this beautiful phrase: “See you again soon,” when we return here, strengthened, to these classrooms, when we can once again work together with our teachers to become capable people.

[ 14 ] Look, dear children, you must realize how school life is connected to the whole of human life. When a person grows old, they reach the age of seventy or eighty. Life brings happiness and misfortune, beauty and ugliness. As I said, when we grow old, we reach the age of seventy or eighty. One can compare life to a day of twenty-four hours. If we were to visualize life as a day, then a year spent in this day of life would be about twenty minutes, and your eight years of elementary school would be something like two to three hours in the whole of life. Thus, the time you spend at the Waldorf School is something like two to three hours out of your entire life. And when we live through the remaining twenty hours—the time we have to live, when we have to work, when we are to act among other people so that something worthwhile may come to pass in the world, when we are to become conscious of the spirit—when we live through this other part of life, then it is a true comfort to our hearts, a true life force, when we can say to ourselves: “Yes, those two to three hours of our lives that we spent in elementary school have given us strength, spirit, and a capacity for work that will last a lifetime.”

[ 15 ] This, my dear children, is what we want to say to ourselves right now, on the last day of our first school year at the Waldorf School, but we also want to remember it again and again during the vacation—I want to write it into your souls, to write it so deeply into your souls that it blossoms within you like these lovely little flowers here, so that you will think of it again and again: My thoughts shall rush to the beloved Waldorf School; there my body is shaped into true competence and work, there my soul is developed into a strong life force, there my spirit is awakened to true, capable humanity. —We hope to see such capable people emerge from all of you one day, when you step out into life and grow up.

[ 16 ] Today I wanted my heart to speak to your hearts. I want to have spoken these words to you in love, and I am telling you this so that you may take it to heart. Once again, remember: My thoughts should rush toward the beloved Waldorf School. There, my body is shaped for effective life’s work; there, my soul is developed into a strong life force; there, my spirit is awakened to true, genuine humanity. So it shall be. — So let us part ways, and when we return, let us continue as we have been doing.

[ 17 ] You’ll receive your report cards later; those who get good grades shouldn’t take it as an excuse to slack off, and those who get lower grades don’t need to start crying right away—instead, they should think: “I’ll try even harder next year.”

[ 18 ] In the spirit of the Waldorf School, you greet one another today and shake hands with the teachers, saying: “Let us meet again in the fall to learn diligence in our work, to develop our souls into a strong life force, and to awaken our spirits to true humanity.”

[ 19 ] See you later!