Anthroposophy and Ecofascism 120

Continuing my commentary on the 36th paragraph of Peter Staudenmaier's Anthroposophy and Ecofascism.

In this second third of the grade school years, between the nine-year change and the eleven-year change, the child lives in the immediacy of outer impressions, but is not yet ready to comprehend cause and effect. If this is presented, it can be repeated back, but not yet really grasped, not really understood. This is possible only after the eleven-year change. It is then that mechanistic sciences such as physics can be introduced.* These, too, should be introduced in the context of ordinary life. Minerals are found in the earth, not just in boxes and photographs. They are found in specific geographic regions, and for specific reasons. Levers are used in ordinary life, and can be introduced with concrete examples.

Thus is the Waldorf pedagogy shaped by the characteristics of the changing consciousness of the child in its development through the school years. The exact ages may differ in individual children, but the pattern remains universal. I could go on and write an entire book on the subject, and indeed, several such books have been written. It is a pity that Mr. Peter Staudenmaier could not avail himself to such a book before considering himself expertly informed on the subject of Waldorf education.

* Rudolf Steiner, The Kingdom of Childhood. Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press, 1995. Pages 37-39.