Waldorf Education Connects People with the World

Woodworking class, sixth grade: Lena, twelve years old, stands bent over the workbench, working on her piece with a rasp. The effort brings a bead of sweat to her forehead and a flush to her cheeks. Fine shavings fall to the floor. Lena is completely absorbed in the task. After a while, she removes the workpiece—a mallet—from the vise, holds it up to the light, and runs her hand over the surface of the mallet she’s shaping to check: Is the curve right? Where does she still need to remove material? Lena is accomplishing a demanding feat of integration: she combines proper body posture and the precise application of force with adherence to the planning and objectives established in advance. Through careful observation, she monitors her progress while simultaneously exercising her aesthetic sensibility.

German class, twelfth grade: The class is reading Goethe’s «Faust». The focus is on Faust’s first monologue in the second part of the tragedy. Faust is in the mountains, observing the morning changes in nature. Full of enthusiasm, he gazes at the rising sun, but, «pierced by pain in his eyes», must immediately look away. On the opposite side, he sees a waterfall with a rainbow appearing in the spray, about which he says the following: «Contemplate it, and you will understand more clearly: In this colorful reflection lies our life.»

The text is explored in several steps: First, the text is read aloud, allowing students to perceive its rhythmic flow and sound. The class then notes that Faust describes specific observations of nature and turns its attention to the imagery in the language. This leads to a surprising insight: In Goethe’s work, the symbolic is the real—and reality becomes a symbol. The rainbow is both a reality of everyday life and a metaphor. The next day, the lesson begins with a discussion of how the «colourful reflection» can be understood as the sphere of human life. Various perspectives are expressed and compared. Opinions begin to take on individual forms. The lesson leads from the text into real life.

In today's world, we must succeed in being human even under conditions of alienation. Waldorf education can contribute to this in every subject. The path does not lead to an idyll detached from reality, but rather, through serious academic rigor, into contemporary life.