Waldorf Education and Anthroposophy 1

This is the first of two previously untranslated volumes of Rudolf Steiner's public lectures on Waldorf education. Readers familiar with Steiner's lectures for teachers will discover here how Steiner presented his ideas to the general public with surprising directness. Teaching, Steiner says, should be artistic, creative, and improvisational, not dogmatic. Yet he is clear that the great battle concerns the spiritual nature of the child. Other themes include understanding the role of health and illness in education, as well as repeated expositions of the three major phases in child development: imitation, authority, and freedom. There are also two lectures Steiner gave in England on Shakespeare and new ideals in education.