 THE QUOTE OF THE DAY (AND YESTERDAY, AND...) Here, in reverse chronological order (newest first, oldest last), are the "Quotes of the Day" from the News page. The central rationale and explanation of Waldorf education can be found in a single series of lectures delivered by Rudolf Steiner in 1919. These fourteen lectures have been collected in volumes titled, in various editions, • A GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE HUMAN BEING, • STUDY OF MAN, and • THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE. In 2009, education authorities at the Anthroposophical headquarters said this about the lectures in question: "The basis of Waldorf education is a study of human being and developmental psychology presented by Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925) in his volume of lectures entitled 'A General Knowledge of the Human Being' or 'Study of Man'." [http://www.paedagogik-goetheanum.ch/uploads/media/Principles_01.PDF] For the time being, we will draw all "Quotes of the Day" from these essential Steiner lectures. This will enable us to see, in Steiner's own words, the basis of Waldorf education. These are the words of Rudolf Steiner, explaining the Waldorf mission to Waldorf faculty members: 11. "[T]here is a tremendous difference between the development of will and that of thinking. If you particularly emphasize the development of thinking, you actually direct the entire human being back to prenatal life. You will injure children if you educate them rationally because you will then utilize their will in something they have already completed — namely, life before birth." — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, Foundations of Waldorf Education, Vol. 1 (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 62. Here Steiner continues his denigration of thinking, especially for young children. He taught that the will is a separate human faculty, and he urged Waldorf teachers to give more importance to the development of the will than to the development of thinking. This advice applies especially to the first seven years of a child's life, before the etheric body incarnates: Steiner said that children up to the age of seven live primarily in the will. To stress the development of thinking, he said, would be to send kids backward into their lives before birth (when they formed the thoughts that would later reach them during the earthly lives). Kids have finished the "life before birth," so "You will injure them if you educate them rationally."  10. "The beautiful structure of the outer cortex [of the brain] is, in a sense, a degeneration. It represents more of a digestive system in the outer portions of the brain. People need not be particularly proud of the mantle of the brain; it is more like a degeneration of the complicated brain into a more digestive brain. We have the mantle of the brain so that the nerves having to do with cognition can be properly nourished. The reason our brain is better developed than an animal brain is that we can feed the brain nerves better. Only in this way, namely, that we can feed the brain nerves better than animals can, do we have the possibility of more fully developing our higher cognition. However, the brain and nerve system have nothing at all to do with actual cognition; they are only the expression of cognition in the physical organism." — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, Foundations of Waldorf Education, Vol. 1 (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 60. Rudolf Steiner taught that real thoughts come to us from our lives before birth [see quote #7, above]. The brain is generally insignificant, he said: It does not create thoughts, it only receives them. Steiner was particularly dismissive of the outer cortex, the seat of intellect and reasoning. But ultimately he was dismissive of the whole brain. He claimed that real knowledge comes through the use of clairvoyance, of which imagination (the formation of pictures based on pre-birth experiences) is a first stage. And clairvoyance, he said, is not seated in the brain but in non-physical organs of clairvoyance. As for the particulars of Steiner's statement #10 — they are nonsense. There is no "digestive brain;" the outer cortex is certainly not degenerate; and cognition certainly does occur in the "brain and nerve system." As usual, believing Steiner would require us to dial down our brains and gullibly accept arrant codswallop. The question for parents of school-age children is whether to send your kids to a school built on the proposition that the brain has no real connection to cognition — i.e., the perception of truth. 9. "Physiologists believe that they are on to something when they speak of sensory and motor nerves, but they are actually only playing with words. They speak of motor nerves because people cannot walk when certain nerves are damaged, for instance those in the legs. They say someone cannot walk because the nerves that set the legs in motion, the motor nerves, are paralyzed. In truth, that person cannot walk because he or she really cannot perceive his or her own legs. Our age has of necessity become lost in a series of errors so that we can have the opportunity to work our way through these errors and become free human beings." — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, Foundations of Waldorf Education, Vol. 1 (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 58. Here again we see Steiner essentially rejecting modern knowledge. Talk of "sensory and motor nerves" is just "playing with words." The cause of paralysis is totally different from what physiologists think; it is a matter of perception, not of damage sustained by the physical body. We cannot be "free human beings" until we reject the "errors" of modern science and follow Steiner's occult lead instead. The "freedom" Steiner offered — and that is still stressed in Waldorf schools today — is essentially freedom from the modern mindset and the findings of modern science. [See "Freedom" and "Science".] Steiner stressed the importance of perception, the highest forms of which are, he said, clairvoyance. [See "Clairvoyance" and "Exactly".] His claimed use of clairvoyance led him to extraordinary misunderstandings. Thus, concerning nerves and the brain, he said “[T]he brain and nerve system have nothing at all to do with actual cognition....” — THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, p. 60. Concerning the heart, he said “[Science] sees the heart as a pump that pumps blood through the body. Now there is nothing more absurd than believing this....” — Rudolf Steiner, PSYCHOANALYSIS AND SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY, (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1990), p. 126. The thinking behind Waldorf schools embraces the freedom to believe Steiner's falsehoods. The implications of those falsehoods for health and healing are, of course, dire. [See "Steiner's Quackery".] 8. "Blood is truly a 'very special fluid.' Were we able to remove it from the human body so that it would still remain blood and not be destroyed by other physical agents (which, of course, is not possible in earthly conditions), it would whirl up as a vortex of spirit. Blood must be destroyed so that we can hold it within us as long as we are on the Earth, until death, so that it does not spiral upward as spirit. We continuously create blood and destroy blood — create blood and destroy blood — through inhaling and exhaling." — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, Foundations of Waldorf Education, Vol. 1. (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 57. 7. "Thinking is a picturing of all our experiences before birth or before conception. You cannot come to a true understanding of thinking if you are not certain that you have lived before birth. In the same way that a mirror reflects spatial objects, your present life reflects your life between death and a new birth, and this reflection is your pictorial thinking." — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, Foundations of Waldorf Education, Vol. 1 (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 51. Waldorf schools emphasize imagination. What they mean by this is a form of clairvoyance. Steiner disparaged the use of the brain, as we will see; and he denigrated intellectual thought.* For him, true "thinking" is the formation ofpictures that come to us from our lives "before birth or before conception." Thus, truth comes to us from the spirit worlds where we lived before our current incarnation; it does not come from the use of the brain, except insofar as the brain works as a sort of receiver for the pictures of "imaginations" that Steiner also sometimes called "living thoughts." These are distinct from the dead thoughts that our physical brains produce on their own, especially when messing around with the dead concepts of natural science. Steiner's view — which undergirds Waldorf education — is essentially mystical, anti-scientific, and anti-intellectual. For most forms of education, use of the brain is paramount. Not so at Waldorf schools. Waldorf education is based on mysticism; Waldorf schools are generally run by mystics; and ultimately these schools are likely to satisfy only families consisting of mystics (mystics whose particular beliefs conform to those promulgated by Rudolf Steiner). * Steiner began his public career as an intellectual. His professed views shifted markedly after he pronounced himself an occultist and joined the ranks of Theosophy. [See "What a Guy".] 6. "[T]hose psychological concepts formed from the knowledge of the fourth post-Atlantean period are today more or less without content and have become clichés in the realm of understanding the soul. If you look at a modern psychology book, or at anything to do with psychology, you will find it has no true content. You have the feeling that psychologists only play with concepts." — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, Foundations of Waldorf Education, Vol. 1 (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 49. Steiner generally opposed all authority except his own. Thus, the "psychological concepts" of modern times are false. Only he, with his teachings that so thoroughly violate modern science, gives us the real scoop — according to himself. As for "the fourth post-Atlantean period": Steiner taught that Atlantis really existed, and all subsequent historical periods date from the time when Atlantis sank. This gives you some idea of just how true Steiner's teachings really are. But despite being so wholly false, Steiner's teachings constitute "the basis of Waldorf education." Look again at the quotes with which we began: • "The basis of Waldorf education is a study of human being and developmental psychology presented by Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925) in his volume..." • "THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE is the most important text for studying and understanding the human developmental and psychological basis for Waldorf education." The basis of Waldorf education is the rejection of modern scientific knowledge about the world and about human nature, substituting for them various mystical fantasies: Atlantis, reincarnation, the soul-spirit, astral bodies, clairvoyance... The basis of Waldorf education is no real basis at all — it is an assemblage of falsehood and delusion. 5. "Our attitude in teaching would be incomplete if we were not aware that human beings are born to have the possibility of doing [on Earth] what they cannot do in the spiritual world. We must teach in order to bring breathing into the proper harmony with the spiritual world. In the same way, human beings in the spiritual world cannot accomplish the rhythmical changes between sleeping and waking that they can accomplish in the physical world. Through education we must regulate this rhythm so that human beings properly integrate the temporal body into the soul-spirit." — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, Foundations of Waldorf Education, Vol. 1 (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 44. Here Steiner states again that the central goal of Waldorf education is to assist children to incarnate successfully, so that the physical body and the soul-spirit are harmonized. This dictum is tied to several other occult Waldorf beliefs. We alternate between lives in the spirit realm and lives in the physical realm, achieving in each realm things we could not achieve in the other. We move back and forth between the realms through the process ofreincarnation and also through the process of sleep. Every night, according to Waldorf belief, the "astral body" and the "ego body" or "ego" leave the physical body and travel into the spirit realm. The "etheric body" stays behind with the physical body. How can Waldorf teachers keep tabs on their students' soul-spirits, astral bodies, and other invisible components? Through clairvoyance. "[W]e must work to develop this consciousness, the Waldorf teacher’s consciousness ... We must realize that we really need something quite specific, something that is hardly present anywhere else in the world, if we are to be capable of mastering the task of the Waldorf school." — Rudolf Steiner, DEEPER INSIGHTS INTO EDUCATION (Anthroposophical Press, 1983), p. 21. Beliefs such as these constitute the "foundation of human experience" — i.e., our lives as human beings. In turn, these beliefs constitute the "foundation of Waldorf education." When considering a Waldorf school for your child, you should carefully decide whether these are the kinds of beliefs you think should control the educational process. In Waldorf schools, they do. 4. “The task of education, understood in a spiritual sense, is to bring the soul-spirit into harmony with the temporal body. They must be brought into harmony and they must be tuned to one another because when the child is born into the physical world they do not yet properly fit each other. The task of the teacher is to harmonize these two parts to one another." — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 39. You might think that the task of a school is to educate children. But this is not the primary goal that Waldorf faculties aim for. As explained by Rudolf Steiner in his most important exposition of Waldorf schooling, the spiritual task of Waldorf education is to help children to incarnate properly — that is, help the children achieve a proper fit between their spiritual and physical parts. Anthroposophists believe that humans have both souls and spirits; the "soul-spirit" or "spirit-soul" is the combination of these invisible components. Waldorf teachers think their job is to "harmonize" their students' soul-spirits with their physical or "temporal" bodies. If you do not subscribe to the mystical beliefs of Rudolf Steiner and his followers, you may ultimately conclude that Waldorf teachers spend a great deal of time trying to do things that have no real meaning while failing to focus on the real purpose of education, which is to give kids the knowledge and skills they need in order to lead productive lives in the real world. 3. “We want to be aware that physical existence is a continuance of the spiritual, and that what we have to do in education is a continuation of what higher beings [i.e., gods] have done without our assistance. Our form of educating can have the correct attitude only when we are aware that our work with young people is a continuation of what higher beings have done before birth.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 37. Steiner repeatedly insisted that Waldorf teachers work in the service of the gods. Parents need to understand this clearly when deciding whether to send children to Waldorf schools. Such schools are polytheistic institutions where the faculty think they are on a messianic mission. Steiner stated and restated the Waldorf mission in the lectures we are considering and elsewhere, for instance in Waldorf faculty meetings: “Among the faculty, we must certainly carry within us the knowledge that we are not here for our own sakes, but to carry out the divine cosmic plan. We should always remember that when we do something, we are actually carrying out the intentions of the gods, that we are, in a certain sense, the means by which that streaming down from above will go out into the world.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 55. Note that Waldorf education absolutely requires belief in these concepts: "Our form of educating can have the correct attitude only when we are aware..." You may find much that seems attractive in Waldorf schools (green values, emphasis on the arts, avoidance of technological gadgetry...), but Waldorf will ultimately be a good fit only if you can embrace, and bow to, the proposition that Waldorf teachers are the instruments of an overarching pantheon of gods and their divine plan for human evolution. These are fundamental Waldorf beliefs. 2. “It is our duty to see the importance of our work. We will do this if we know that this school is charged with a particular task. We need to make our thoughts very concrete; we need to form our thoughts so that we can be conscious that this school fulfills something special. We can do this only when we do not view the founding of this school as an everyday occurrence, but instead regard it as a ceremony held within Cosmic Order. In this sense, I wish, in the name of the good spirit whose task it is to lead humanity out of suffering and misery, in the name of this good spirit whose task it is to lead humanity to a higher level of development in education, I wish to give the most heartfelt thanks to this good spirit who has given our dear friend Mr. Molt the good thoughts to do what he has done for the further development of humanity at this time and in this place, and what he has done for the Waldorf School ... [W]e are united with him in feeling the greatness of the task and of the moment in which it is begun, and in feeling that this is a festive moment in Cosmic Order ... We wish to see each other as human beings brought together by karma, who will bring about, not something common, but something that, for those doing this work, will include the feeling of a festive Cosmic moment.” — p. 34. Waldorf education is intended to ceremonially serve the "Cosmic Order" — in other words, the gods and their plan. This is a religious intention, tied to the particular doctrines of Anthroposophy such as the belief that the gods are assisting humans to evolve to ever "higher levels of development." In this instance, the higher development will be in the sphere of education: Steiner asserts that Waldorf teachers have been brought together by their shared karma, and the result — the founding of the Waldorf School — is an occasion of importance for the entire universal order. Emil Molt was owner of the Waldorf Astoria Cigarette Factory. He recruited Steiner to create a school for the children of the factory workers. This became the Waldorf School and Steiner education has carried the designation “Waldorf” ever since. The "good spirit" Steiner praises is that manifestation of benevolent divinity — the very spirit of Anthroposophy — that has spoken directly to Emil Molt. Steiner had made it clear earlier that Waldorf teachers are to work in the name of not one God but many gods. for indeed Anthroposophy is polytheistic: "the spiritual powers in whose service and in whose name each one of us must work." [p. 33] Thus Steiner vests the opening of the Waldorf School with the highest spiritual significance — the teachers are on a holy mission in compliance with the divine powers of the universe. 1. “We can accomplish our work only if we do not see it as simply a matter of intellect or feeling, but, in the highest sense, as a moral spiritual task. Therefore, you will understand why, as we begin this work today, we first reflect on the connection we wish to create from the very beginning between our activity and the spiritual worlds. With such a task, we must be conscious that we do not work only in the physical plane of living human beings. In the last centuries, this way of viewing work has increasingly gained such acceptance that it is virtually the only way people see it. This understanding of tasks has made teaching what it is now and what the work before us should improve. Thus, we wish to begin our preparation by first reflecting upon how we connect with the spiritual powers in whose service and in whose name each one of us must work.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 33. Despite the usual Waldorf claims to the contrary, Waldorf schools are clearly religious institutions. And the religion involved, of course, is Anthroposophy. Note that the Waldorf teachers Steiner addressed were engaged in "a moral spiritual task"; their work began with a recognition "from the very beginning" of the "connection ... between our activity and the spiritual worlds"; and the teachers set about to work in the "service" and in the "name" of the "spiritual powers." The teachers were undertaking work that can only be classed as religious — serving, and working in the name of, the gods.  "Gems and Precious Stones retain within themselves a faithful and accurate record, even to the smallest detail, of physical conditions, and acquired properties, from the primitive time ... Thus the salutary sunlight stored up from past ages, in tropical regions, the electric endowments from volcanic furnaces, the marine boons derived from many waters, and the remedial virtues of many curative herbs, may come to react, healthfully, and beneficially, for the good of the fortunate owner...." — William T. Fernie, THE OCCULT AND CURATIVE POWERS OF PRECIOUS STONES (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1973), p. 18. "St. John's ... In Waldorf schools, this festival is sometimes celebrated in the open air with a big bonfire ... At the end, pupils of the higher classes, often the ones about to leave the school, are allowed to jump over the fire ... Christian and pagan elements blend in this age-old festival ... [It] heralds the change of consciousness and growth of inner spirit required in humanity's further evolution." — Henk van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Sophia Books, 2011), p. 104. “ And [this is] why parents who remove their children and leave are hardly if ever given the time of day afterwards. Those families are looked upon as uncommitted to the great spiritual task at hand, or as karmically incompatible and so forth.” — A former Waldorf teacher. [See “Ex-Teacher 7”.]  “There is no chance or accidental coincidence [sic] in the recurrent reflection of the heavenly pattern [i.e., the twelve signs of the zodiac] in earthly life. We find it in the twelve sons of Jacob, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve disciples of Christ, and the twelve Knights of the Round Table. They are ordered by the twelve facets of the one zodiacal diamond. Spiritual realities have their image in earthly events and in human life, but man has largely lost his perception of these things.” — John Jocelyn, MEDITATIONS ON THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1970), p. 20. “The heart of the Zodiac, its life and fire, is LEO, the lion, ruled by the Sun, the heart of the solar system.* It was in the dim dawn of man’s evolution that the sublime spiritualbveings — the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones — active in Leo, laid the first foundations of the human heart.” — Ibid., p. 99. * The ruler of the Sun is “the Christ, the sublime Sun Spirit”. [p. 20] “Steiner spokesmen claim that by the end of their school career, Steiner students have learned at least as much as students in other schools ... But that’s not what we hear from parents. I remember that when my children were tested in order to change schools, they had gaps in their mastery of subject matter ranging from one year up to three years. Lack of subject mastery is something that comes up every time Steiner schools are discussed.” — Ramon De Jonghe. [See "Ex-Teacher 12".] “When we look at what Rudolf Steiner has to say with regard to difficult children ... he describes children in terms of six constitutional types: large-headed and small-headed, earthy and cosmic, fantasy-rich and fantasy-poor ... [W]hat can be done from the pedagogical point of view to help large-headed and small-headed children? ... In every lesson there is an opportunity to allow the children to experience the full range of emotions. Antipathy, terror, and crying all obviously increase the strength with which we breathe in, holding ourselves back. When we sob, we drew in the air spasmodically, irregularly, until our limit is reached. On the other hand, laughing is exhalation, opening up, sharing — it is a long breathing out ... Steiner encourages us to bring the children to the point of laughter and then — now serious again and full of compassion — to bring them almost to the point of tears in every lesson, so that through their living experience of the content of the lesson, the children can experience and build up this middle ground between the two extremes.” — Michaela Gloeckler, "Constitutional Types in School-Age Children" (AnthroMed Library, http://www.anthromed.org/Article.aspx?artpk=281).  In Anthroposophy, ancient myths and legends are true (but modern science and scholarship are generally false). Thus, the search for the Holy Grail has been a true quest. “It was the mission of the Grail Stream [i.e., the spiritual impetus of the Grail quest] to prepare the hearts and minds of men and women, so that Michael [the presiding god of our time] could enter them and within the individual once again be regent....” — René Querido, THE MYSTERY OF THE HOLY GRAIL (Rudolf Steiner College Publications, 1991), p. 63. [See “The Grail” and “Michael”.] “Anthroposophy has a very screwed-up psychology, full of beliefs that are not conducive to mental health, such as (one of my favorites), ‘Thoughts are living reality,’ which leads a person to try to repress bad thoughts or bad emotions rather than accept and deal with them. Instead you're encouraged to project anxieties and fears and anger on spirit entities (e.g., gnomes). This stuff is also inflicted on the children, and it is particularly explosive with children, makes them extremely angry and uncooperative. So you have situations building in the classroom every day where lots of people are getting angrier and angrier, both teachers and students, and have no healthy outlets for it, particularly because with children, you can't talk about anything directly. “I could write a book on this . . . We had a lot of teachers walking around who were anger time bombs, and the occasional explosions were truly memorable.” — Former Waldorf parent Diana Winters. [See “Slaps”.] "It is no easy feat for people of our time to see the fairies. Yet there are four professions which offer their practitioners unique opportunities to know them. Farmers, fishermen, foresters and miners work not just at the threshold of fairyland but well inside it ... Insightful farmers learn to transform dead wastes into life by composting ... Fairies are strongly attracted by this practice. They swarm to the farmer's aid ... Taught by Rudolf Steiner, the biodynamic farmer adds a further lure: Four kinds of sprays are readied ... To strengthen gnome activity in roots a spray of treated cow manure is used... [etc.]." — Marjorie Spock, FAIRY WORLDS AND WORKERS (Anthroposophic Press, 1980), pp. 27-28. [For more on fairies, gnomes, et al, see "Neutered Nature".] “It is wise, on encountering a fairy, not to be too overeager in one’s scrutiny. Little People — like those other innocents, animals, and children — have an intense dislike of being stared at. They love to stare at us, of course, but will turn away at once and disappear the moment we return the favor. They have grown shy in the face of our disbelief in them.” — Marjorie Spock, FAIRY WORLDS AND WORKERS (Anthroposophic Press, 1980), p. 28. Most people would consider such a statement silly or sweet, or both. But according to the Waldorf belief system, fairies really exist. [See “Neutered Nature”.] It is hard to believe that Rudolf Steiner’s followers believe what they do. But they do. "The relationship between parents and the school is a recurring cause of friction ... [P]arents...often wish to follow the way teachers deal with their children. They may be quickly perceived [by the teachers] as uncomfortable nuisances and treated accordingly. On the other side of the coin, teachers often display demands (urgent requests) toward the home, which potentially infuriate parents." [p. 63] "In dealing with this, we cannot use the procedures of conventional school systems as our approach to this problem. This would only result in a patchwork of misunderstandings, fixed ideas, dogmas, and resentments." [pp. 63-64] "Spiritual freedom is clearly the most developed area of a Waldorf school. If all is well in this area, every teacher is free to proceed with her or his task of education in his/her own way. This means that neither parents nor colleagues, nor least of all a board of trustees, have a right to give directions." [p. 64] "It can hardly be avoided that there are teachers who find that their educational work is being spoiled at home [i.e., the students' homes], and parents who feel that their child is either wrongly treated or misunderstood at school." [p. 64] "[J]ust as an artist does not create from higher rules and prescriptions, but from very personal insights, the teacher, too, must act with undisturbed autonomy." [p. 66] "[No rules apply], not even Rudolf Steiner's, except perhaps the golden rule attributed to him, namely: it is not too bad to make mistakes if one makes them out of conviction." [p. 64] "The parents are on a collision course with this autonomy of the Waldorf teacher." [p. 67] "[T]he democratic model ... is quite unsuitable for the spiritual life." [p. 67] Note that at Waldorf schools, education is considered part of the spiritual sphere. The three spheres of the "threefold structure" are the spiritual/educational sphere, the economic sphere, and the rights sphere. "The teacher may very well be autonomous, but this gives him or her no right to put him or herself above the school structure." [p. 68] In other words, the teacher works freely within the Anthroposophical character of the school. "If one enrolls one's child in the school, a ... contract is [agreed to]. This contract covers more than the amount of tuition! It is, in the first place, a declaration of will. The school promises to engage itself for the child in the field of education. The parents promise to engage themselves to facilitate the task of the school ... The child and parents become members of an organization by this contract and have to adapt themselves to the organization ... [S]chool regulations include in the first place the demands the school makes on the behavior of the pupil outside the school: smoking, television, drugs, to name a few ... Neither party is allowed to change [the contract] unilaterally, although the schools often depart from this." [pp. 69-70] |