How did Steiner education get started?
In 1919, Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian philosopher, scientist and artist, was invited to give a series of lectures to the workers of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart, Germany. He held lectures and courses for workers at a number of factories and he had spoken to the owners about the need to involve workers in enrichment programs and in consultative bodies within the factories. As a result, the factorys owner, Emil Molt, asked Steiner to establish and lead a school for the children of the factorys employees. The school therefore began as a real peoples education cutting across class, monetary and gender barriers as the so called Free Waldorf School. The establishment of a school for workers children was considered revolutionary at the time, as academic education was available to few other than the privileged classes, with boys having preference. The staff wanted their children to enjoy an education that they themselves had missed; an education that catered for the whole
In 1919, Rudolf Steiner was invited to give a series of lectures to the workers of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart, Germany. As a result, the factory’s owner, Emil Molt, asked Steiner to establish and lead a school for the children of the factory’s employees. Steiner agreed to do so on four conditions: The school should be open to all children; it should be coeducational; it should be a unified twelve-year school; the teachers, those who would be working directly with the children, should take the leading role in the running of the school, with a minimum of interference from governmental or economic concerns. Molt agreed to the conditions and, after a training period for the prospective teachers, die Freie Waldorfschule (the Free Waldorf School) was opened September 7, 1919.
