What is the main point of Waldorf education?
When the first Waldorf school was founded in 1919, Steiner viewed it as an antidote to the dry and deadly “head” learning that was then common in schools. A child, he said, must be educated not only through the intellect, but also through feelings, imagination, and the body. Steiner infused his curriculum with artistic work, music, movement, and storytelling. He further insisted that a teacher’s job was not simply to impart information and facts, but to inspire students’ strength and will to pursue their own destinies in life. Waldorf teachers hold the development of a child’s ethical and moral character to be as important as anything else in the curriculum. The Waldorf curriculum is based on Steiner’s insights into the developmental needs of children at every age, insights that are borne out by educational researchers such as Gesell, Piaget, Gardner, and others. Steiner held that there are three main stages of childhood: 0 – 7 years, during which a person learns primarily through doin
