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E. A. Karl Stockmeyer was administrator of the first Waldorf school, serving under the school's director, Rudolf Steiner. After Steiner's death, Stockmeyer produced a book in which he outlined the curriculum of the school as developed by Steiner. Stockmeyer's book today is used by many Waldorf faculties to guide their own curricular decisions.

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[Floris Books, 2015]

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Here are excerpts from some of the more remarkable passages in the book.

I have appended my own commentary. — R.R.

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Steiner wanted Waldorf education to emphasize the development of pragmatic skills. Surprising benefits would result, he indicated.

"I should have dearly liked to have a shoemaker as a teacher in the Waldorf school ... It could not be done because such a thing does not fit into a curriculum based on present-day requirements ... [But it should be done] in order that the children might really learn to make shoes ... [I]n real life such a skill would enable people to avoid trouble." — Rudolf Steiner, quoted by E. A. Karl Stockmeyer in RUDOLF STEINER'S CURRICULUM for Steiner-Waldorf Schools (Floris Books, 2015), pp. 42-43.

Precisely what sort of trouble Steiner meant, and precisely how the skill of shoemaking would enable us to avoid that trouble, is left for us to imagine.

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Steiner wanted all students (boys as well as girls) to master a wide range of handicrafts, such as knitting. Handicrafts are vastly superior to purely intellectual or academic exercises, Steiner indicated.

"[A]ll boys should learn how to knit ... In this activity of the hands something is built up...which actually considerably increases the power to form judgments. This ability to form judgments is helped least if one makes pupils do exercises in logic ... The pupil [who is trained in logic] will become the kind of person who in later life can only judge schematically. If one gives too many of such thinking exercises one educates man's mind to run on tramlines. Apart from that, such exercises cause too much salt to be deposited so that the man becomes 'pickled'. He then tends towards sweating...." — Rudolf Steiner, quoted in RUDOLF STEINER'S CURRICULUM  for Steiner-Waldorf Schools, p. 44.

Many Waldorf educational practices stand upon the quack medical views propounded by Steiner. [See "Steiner's Quackery"] If we reject the quackery, the rationale for the educational practices is greatly weakened. (Consider. Steiner said exercises in logic cause a buildup of salt, while knitting improves judgment. Elsewhere, Steiner added the following: "Go into our needlework classes and handicraft classes at the Waldorf School, and you will find the boys knit and crochet as well as the girls ... This is not the result of any fad or whim, but happens deliberately in order to...permeate the fingers with soul. And to drive the soul into the fingers means to promote all the forces that go to build up sound teeth.” — R. Steiner, THE RENEWAL OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2001), p. 10. Knitting strengthens teeth. Consider.) Getting to the nub: Has Steiner given us any persuasive reason to think knitting is a sensible, superior alternative to the study of logic?

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Steiner placed great emphasis on clear diction and declamation. The very shape and functioning of one's inner organs depend on such things, he indicated. Moreover, speaking correctly will ward off diseases such as tuberculosis.

"It is...of immense importance that one continually sees to it that the child learns to speak in clear, full tones ... [T]he right formation of the organs of the human breast is dependent on right speech. It would be well for once to look at the statistics for chest diseases...from this point of view. One should ask oneself how much of the blame for chest tuberculosis today is due to the fact that too little care was taken at school over measured rhythmical speech...." — R. Steiner, quoted in RUDOLF STEINER'S CURRICULUM for Steiner-Waldorf Schools, p. 62.

The arguments we considered above concerning knitting and logic apply here as well. Is there any good evidence that the way you speak will affect the formation of your chest organs and the probability that you will develop tuberculosis? If not, then the rationale for the Waldorf curriculum is proportionately weakened.

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Waldorf education devalues the sorts of knowledge students need to possess if they are to do well on standard end-of-high school exams. Steiner hoped that, as the Waldorf School got ready to inaugurate its first Grade 9, plans could be laid to open special Anthroposophical colleges where Waldorf graduates could enroll without needing to pass any standard exams. Or another possibility, Steiner indicated, would be for Waldorf to stick by its Anthroposophical (anti-intellectual, low-knowledge) approach all the way through upper school (grades 9 through 12), and then add a thirteenth year that would consist of intensive coaching in the knowledge needed to pass standard exams.

"There is no point in opening a Class 9 unless we contemplate the opening of a completely free [i.e., Anthroposophical] university at the same time ... But if one wishes to adapt the Waldorf School pedagogy to the social demands of today, one is forced to do things with which one cannot inwardly agree ... [I]f we really were to carry out our education [as we want it]...then all of our students would fail their [standard] examinations ... I think it would be best...to carry out our curriculum up to Class 12 inclusive. Then we would take a thirteenth year for examination preparation." — R. Steiner, pp. 45-47.

The thirteenth year would be a frenzied effort to offset the deficiencies of Waldorf education. The obvious question that arises is whether an educational system that leaves students, after 12 years, in need to intensive remedial work can possibly be considered defensible. The answer would be "yes" only if we decide that the knowledge regular schools try to impart (the knowledge regular colleges require of entering students) has no real value. Only then would Waldorf schools seem to excel.

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Academic instruction (logical, intellectual) can cause illnesses, Steiner said. Instruction in grammar, for instance, can cause intestinal (enteric) diseases. Inflicting such illnesses on children amounts to sin; the printed materials leading to such sin should be abolished:

"[Y]ou may be sinning against the healthy condition of the child if you occupy him for an hour with what is usually called grammar ... [O]ne is cultivating real stomach trouble, for example enteric illnesses, in the child — though this may only reveal itself some fifteen to twenty years later. Enteric illnesses very often are caused by grammar lessons ... [Most] grammar lessons are just horrible. All the stuff which you find printed in books ought to be burnt." — R. Steiner, pp. 65-66.

Trying to take the Waldorf view on such matters seriously returns us to the considerations we examined above. The Waldorf approach is sadly deficient. Kids need to learn grammar. And, no, this will not damage their intestines. 

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 E. A. Karl Stockmeyer

[public domain photograph; color added]

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Steiner said correct reasoning should arise naturally in children's schooling. So, for instance, when children are taught how to write, they should be told to start with the meaning they want to convey (a picture in their minds), then analyze how this meaning should be framed in sentences, then analyze how the sentences should be framed in words, and then analyze how the words consist of letters. Developing the capacity for analysis in this way will protect children against atomism (in Steinerspeak, belief that objects fundamentally consist of atoms) and materialism (in Steinerspeak, belief that the material world is the only world).

"How does it come about that in our time we have developed what I might call an inclination to atomism? It has come about through the fact that in our day the analytical faculty is too little developed in children. If only the analytical activity of children, that proceeds from the finished word picture to the letters, were developed then the child would be using this analytical faculty when he has a natural inclination to do so ... It is simply the unsatisfied impulse for analysis that fosters materialism ... Therefore in the Waldorf School...we start first with the complete sentence; within the sentence we analyse the words and then we take the words and analyse the letters...." — R. Steiner, p. 68.

Let's pause here to do a quick review. Logical exercises can cause children to build up too much salt in their systems. Poor enunciation can cause students to develop tuberculosis. Grammar exercises can wreck kids' intestines. By the same token, failing to analyze things in the Waldorf way can turn kids into woeful materialists who are inclined to atomism. Do you agree with Steiner about these things? (If you do agree, then you may want to accept another insight Steiner offered concerning the epidemic of materialism in the modern world: "It is actually due to the fact that potatoes have come to be widely eaten in recent times that materialism has developed...." — R. Steiner, FROM ELEPHANTS TO EINSTEIN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 44).).

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Waldorf students are usually not taught how to read and write until they are at least seven years old. And, according to Steiner, students should not be asked to write original compositions until several years after that. Allowing young students to write originally produces sad effects in the children's souls, effects that may last a lifetime:

"[B]efore the ninth or tenth year the child...will not be able to write anything in the way of a composition out of himself ... The inner thought structure which a child needs before he can pass over to essay-writing is not present until towards the twelfth year. He should not write essays before this time. If he does it too early...then there will set in...rickets of the soul. At a later stage of life the child will [consequently] be inwardly weak and ineffective." — R. Steiner, quoted in RUDOLF STEINER'S CURRICULUM for Steiner-Waldorf Schools, pp. 76-77.

Waldorf education is generally intended to be therapeutic; children are made healthier as a result of Waldorf pedagogy. They are protected from the danger of being pickled (they don't have so much salt in their systems), they are protected against tuberculosis, their intestines are in top shape, they aren't weighed down by materialism and atomism, and — we now learn — they are much less likely to develop rickets in their souls. All of this helps clarify what Waldorf proponents mean when they speak of the "holistic" nature of Waldorf education. Every part of the child receives benefits, up to and including the child's soul. [See "Holistic Education".]

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Waldorf students are usually not taught basic math until around the same time they are introduced to reading and writing — at about age seven. But math in all its forms is important, Steiner said, and indeed it can have surprising benefits. For instance, "Basic geometric concepts awaken clairvoyant abilities.” — R. Steiner, THE FOURTH DIMENSION (Anthroposophic Press, 2001), p. 92. Math is troublingly intellectual, and as such it may be harmful to young children, Steiner indicated. Still, math can contribute to children's development in multiple ways.

"The presentation to the child of the mathematical, of what is arithmetical and geometrical, is something which engenders quite special difficulties for instruction and education ... But the remarkable thing is that arithmetic and geometry work upon both the physical-etheric and the astral and Ego ... [A]rithmetic and geometry are really like a chameleon — by their very nature they are related to every part of man's being." — R. Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER'S CURRICULUM for Steiner-Waldorf Schools, p. 131. 

This statement carries us into deep Anthroposophical waters. Steiner taught that human beings have four bodies: the physical body, the etheric body (an envelope of life forces), the astral body (an envelope of soul forces), and the spiritual Ego (a structure of divine essence). He taught that the first two bodies ("the physical-etheric") are intimately related to each other, and they remain on Earth at night while the second pair of bodies ("the astral and Ego") ascend into the spirit realm. The great glory of math, if it is approached sensitively by teacher, is that it can confer benefits to all four bodies ("every part of man's being").

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Looked at from a slightly different angle, math can teach children to be moral, Steiner said. The universe is orderly and hierarchical, according to Anthroposophy, and math reflects this. Things add up, things make sense, if we approach math properly. Thus, if only the world had learned to look at math as Waldorf does, the rise of Communism could have been prevented!

"[T]he child who has a right introduction to arithmetic will have quite a different feeling of moral responsibility in later life than the child who has not ... If men had known how to permeate the soul with mathematics in arithmetic lessons during the past years we should not now have Bolshevism in Eastern Europe." — R. Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER'S CURRICULUM, p. 123.

Anthroposophy is a revolutionary movement that aims to remake virtually all human institutions in accordance with Rudolf Steiner's mystical visions. [See "Threefolding".] Waldorf schools have an important role to play in the overall Anthroposophical project. Waldorf schools endeavor not only to improve the overall health of their students, but they also strive to improve the functioning of mankind's social and political systems. (Communism would never have arisen if only there were enough Waldorf schools in the world, teaching arithmetic — and all other subjects — in the right way.) Indeed, the significance of Waldorf schools is almost limitless. Here is a how Waldorf teacher has stated this: 

“A Waldorf school is more than just another independent school that provides a developmental education. It is an organization that seeks to allow the spiritual impulses of our time to manifest on earth in order to transform society ... Steiner described the founding of [the first] Waldorf School as a ceremony within the Cosmic Order [i.e., the divine structure of the cosmos] ... [T]he founding of every subsequent Waldorf school also has cosmic significance ... [W]e may celebrate the founding of a Waldorf school because it strives to bring the soul-spiritual [i.e., the soulful and spiritual influences of the gods] into the realm of human life .” — Roberto Trostli, “On Earth as It Is in Heaven”, Research Bulletin, Vol. 16 (Waldorf Research Institute, Fall 2011), pp. 21-24.

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Waldorf education is arts-intensive. The walls of Waldorf schools are hung with colorful paintings and tapestries, and Waldorf students are led to create artworks, and make music, and perform dances at frequent intervals at all levels of their schooling. Art is woven into everything at Waldorf schools. The underlying purpose is not aesthetic; it is spiritual. As the founder of Waldorf education explained, “This is what gives art its essential lustre: it transplants us here and now into the spiritual world.” — R. Steiner, THE GOETHEANUM (Philosophical-Anthroposophical Press, 1961), p. 25. 

More particularly, at Waldorf schools the arts are meant to offset the potentially damaging effects of cold reasoning and science. This is especially necessary, Steiner said, when students become old enough to use their logical capacities.

"At the age when the child must realize that nature is ruled by abstract laws to be grasped by reason, when he must learn in physics the link between cause and effect in given cases, we must promote an understanding of art as a necessary counter balance ... Only in this way will those elements which a human being needs for the all-around unfoldment of his being be truly stimulated." — R. Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER'S CURRICULUM for Steiner-Waldorf Schools, p. 86.

This statement returns us to the deep waters. The "unfoldment of his being" refers to the incarnation of the four human bodies. Steiner taught that after the physical body incarnates at the moment of physical birth, the etheric body incarnates at about age seven, the astral body incarnates at about age 14, and the Ego incarnates at about age 21. [See "Incarnation".] Here, we learn that the entire process of incarnation is assisted by the spiritual effects of art: Through the correct understanding of art, "those elements which a human being needs for the all-around unfoldment of his being [are] truly stimulated."

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Rudolf Steiner

[public domain photograph; color added]

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Of all the arts, the most important, according to Steiner, is eurythmy — a form of spiritualized dance invented by Steiner himself. [See "Eurythmy".] Steiner said eurythmy is so important that every child attending a Waldorf school must do eurythmy. "Eurythmy is obligatory. The children must participate. Those who do not participate in eurythmy will be removed from the school." — R. Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 65.

The steps and gestures of eurythmy are meant to accurately embody the inner, spiritual meaning of language. In doing so, eurythmy brings us closer to the gods. "In having people do eurythmy, we link them directly to the supersensible [i.e., supernatural] world." — R. Steiner, ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 246-247. 

Here are excerpts from Steiner's statements about eurythmy as recorded by Stockmeyer. Steiner spoke of the artistic and musical impulses in eurythmy:

"[I]n every eurythmic movement there lives an element which affects soul and spirit ... [I]n bringing to the child that which is formative in the artistic...we bring to [the child] something that is in the deepest sense akin to the ether body ... And in bringing the musical element to the child, it forms the astral body. And if both these are joined together...we get eurythmy which follows directly out of the relationship of the etheric [body] to the astral body in the child ... So you see eurythmy has arisen out of the whole man, out of the physical, etheric and astral body; one can only study it with anthroposophical knowledge...." — R. Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER'S CURRICULUM for Steiner-Waldorf Schools, p. 260.

Anthroposophy is inextricably linked to eurythmy. All children who do eurythmy in Waldorf schools — in other words, all children in these schools — perform steps and gestures that make sense only in terms of Anthroposophy. (As for Steiner's reference to "soul and spirit": We again are diving into Anthroposophical depths. Steiner taught that your soul is your identity during a single life, while your spirit is the deathless identity that you carry forward through all of your lives as you reincarnate. See "soul", "spirit", and "reincarnation" in The Brief Waldorf/Steiner Encyclopedia.)

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Steiner gave remarkable directives for the teaching of such subjects as geology and history.

"We call up the concept of the connection between the East of America and the West of Europe, and of the Atlantic Ocean as simply sunken land ... Then we come back to the concept of old Atlantis by way of geology ... [W]e must not shrink from speaking to the children about the land of Atlantis. We must not pass this by. We can establish a link also in connection with history. Only you will have then to discard usual geology. For the Atlantic catastrophe [i.e., the sinking of Atlantis] must be placed in the 7th to 8th millennium [BC]." — R. Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER'S CURRICULUM, pp. 166-167.

It is important to recognize what Steiner is saying here. He is not saying students should be told about the myth of Atlantis; he is saying students should be taught that Atlantis really existed. Note the importance Steiner attaches to this ("We must not pass this by"), and the specificity of his account ("the Atlantic catastrophe must be placed in the 7th to 8th millennium"). Teaching students that Atlantis was real means rejecting ordinary scientific knowledge, as Steiner acknowledged ("you will have to discard usual geology"). Yet Steiner was adamant about all this. Why? Because Anthroposophy places great importance on Atlantis [See "Atlantis and the Aryans"], and at root Waldorf schools work to implant Anthroposophic beliefs in their students. Waldorf authorities almost always deny that Waldorf schools teach Anthroposophy to the kids, but in fact Anthroposophical concepts and preferences frequently arise in Waldorf instruction — as we see here. Despite denials, Waldorf schools serve to promote Anthroposophy. [See "We Don't Teach It". To see how Atlantis fits into the Anthroposophical conception of history, see the "historical narrative of Anthroposophy" in The Brief Waldorf/ Steiner Encyclopedia.]

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Steiner gave Waldorf schools a green light — or at least a yellow light — to discard usual geology, and usual history, and usual disciplines of all types, in order to push Anthroposophical beliefs. Here is an astonishing example, centering on the subject of geography. Steiner makes some mind-boggling assertions — such as that islands float in the sea. He says Waldorf teachers should convey these concepts to their students; but then he backs away from this proposition; but then he ends up saying such concepts "really ought to be taught to our pupils." By the end of his remarks, the heads of his listeners (Waldorf teachers) may have been spinning. Perhaps your head will rotate a little too as you read the following:

"[W]e must...achieve for these pupils [i.e., twelfth graders] what I have myself striven for in the case of the workmen in Dornach [i.e., workers constructing the Anthroposophical headquarters], to whom I have been able to make it clear that really, let us say, such islands as the British Isles float in the sea and are held firm from outside by stellar forces [i.e., the power of the stars]. We are dealing with an island. It does not rest on the ground, it floats; it is fixed from outside. On the whole, in principle, the continental and the island formations are brought about from outside, from the cosmos. Generally speaking that is the case in the configuration of the continents. The continents are formed by the cosmos — they are the results of the activities of the starry worlds. The earth altogether mirrors the universe and is not formed at all from within. We cannot teach such things because our pupils would pass them on to their examiners when sitting for their [end-of-school] exams and this would give us a very bad reputation. But this really ought to be taught to our pupils in geography lessons." — R. Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER'S CURRICULUM, pp. 168-169.

Got it? Island float in the sea, The stars hold them in place. The stars sculpt islands and entire continents. Indeed, the entire Earth is formed by the stars, not by any forces arising within the Earth. Waldorf teachers "must achieve" the transmission of such truths to their students. Except they shouldn't ("this would give us a very bad reputation"). Except they really should ("this really ought to be taught to our pupils"). Welcome to the wacky world of Waldorf.

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Waldorf teachers may disagree among themselves over how to interpret Steiner's more mystifying remarks. Some Waldorf teachers may decide Steiner wanted them to teach students about floating islands, for instance, and some may decide Steiner warned them against doing so. Either way, however, we need to recognize that Steiner's mystifications and fallacies [see "Steiner's Blunders"] underlie much of the Waldorf curriculum [see "Spiritual Agenda"]. Steiner wanted Waldorf teachers to think of themselves as missionaries engaged in a divine mission, spreading the religion of Anthroposophy.

We can conclude this little review of E. A. K. Stockmeyer's book by alluding to one major tenet in the Anthroposophical faith. Steiner taught that mankind is evolving from one "planetary condition" to another. After life here on Earth, we will evolve to life on Jupiter, and then life on Venus, and then life on Vulcan. (Stockmeyer refers to this as the "reincarnation of the earth in the Jupiter-Venus-Vulcan development", p. 183.) In the following passage, Steiner indicates that such Anthroposophical beliefs, producing a sweeping Anthroposophical vision of reality, should guide Waldorf teachers in their holy work:

"Only in linking up in this way with the great facts of the world do we acquire a right understanding of teaching. Only this can confer on it the right consecration, and in receiving this consecration it is really transformed into a kind of divine service." — R. Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER'S CURRICULUM for Steiner-Waldorf Schools (Floris Books, 2015), p. 183.

Genuine Waldorf schools — those that are firmly devoted to Rudolf Steiner's teachings — are at root Anthroposophical religious institutions staffed by people who "consecrate" their work by conceiving it to be a "divine service." Perhaps you find this vision appealing. Perhaps you want your children to have an education that is fundamentally religious. Bear in mind, however, that the religion at the heart of the Waldorf vision is Anthroposophy. [See "Schools as Churches".]

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E. A. K. S. and R. S.

[public domain photographs; color added]

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PRECIS

Shoemaking: avoid trouble

Knitting: better than logic exercises; minimizes pickling

Full, rhythmic diction forms the chest organs and helps prevent tuberculosis

Waldorf grads should go to Anthroposophical colleges; otherwise, they will need remedial coaching

Grammar instruction causes intestinal illnesses (perhaps we should burn grammar books)

The Waldorf approach to analytical thinking protects against atomism and materialism

Children who write essays too soon are prone to rickets of the soul

Arithmetic and geometry can assist in the development of the four human bodies (physical, etheric, astral, and ego)

Arithmetic, taught well, could have prevented Communism

Art counterbalances logic and science, and it assists the four bodies to incarnate

Eurythmy, which can only be understood Anthroposophically, is deeply tied to the etheric and astral bodies

Students must be taught about Atlantis, which was real

Islands float; they are held in place by the stars (teach this to students, or don't, or maybe do)

The cosmic Anthroposophical vision gives education its consecration and makes teaching a divine service

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There is plenty of other material in Stockmeyer's book, most of it coming directly from Steiner. 

A lot of it shows up, one way or another, in Waldorf schools today. 

Before sending a child to a Waldorf school, you might do well to get a copy of the book and page through it thoughtfully.

— R.R...

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