Rudolf Steiner School

The Future of Waldorf Education
by Stephen Sagarin, Faculty Administrator

From the holiday issue of Martha Stewart's "Martha by Mail" catalog: "Dolls are more than just toys: They are faithful companions with a special place in children's hearts. Based on the teaching methods of the Waldorf schools, these dolls have pared-down facial features so a child can imagine the rest." These doll making kits represent one part of the future of Waldorf education--its acceptance, without fanfare or epiphany, into mainstream American culture. We see this influence more commonly in the ways that other schools are adopting ideas first practiced in Waldorf schools, things like "looping", in which a teacher follows a class for several years, or block scheduling.

From Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "But when a faithful thinker, resolute to detach every object from personal relations and see it in the light of thought, shall, at the same time, kindle science with the fire of holy affections, then will God go forth anew into the creation."

This passage, written twenty-five years before the birth of Rudolf Steiner, leads us to the terrain of an education in meaning. Emerson speaks to Waldorf education before there even was such a thing. Education that accords with "the light of thought" offers students the reassurance that life, self and the world are meaningful.

Rudolf Steiner did not write or speak about Waldorf education, nor did he intend to found alternative schools. He spoke and wrote about how children learn and how teachers can teach them. If he is fundamentally correct about children's development and education, his ideas regarding dolls, the "light of thought", and everything in between; will find their way into schools everywhere. And if Waldorf schools represent Steiner's method with open-hearted intelligence and skill, their work can model, lead and inform changes in education everywhere.

Waldorf education is not an alternative form of education. It is education.