A Study of ‘Education for Adolescents’
by Gifford Teeple, Class of 2007
Ask of yourself as a teacher, ‘Did I bring enough feeling to the lesson?’
Wiping a shock of silver hair from his smiling dark eyes, our guest teacher surveyed his new class with a penetrating gaze. In a distinctly Dutch accent, Christof Wiechert introduced himself and instantly took friendly command of our class. Right off the bat, he started pointing directly at students around the room, asking us what our mood was while reading “Education for Adolescents.” Thus began our week together of engaging with some of the more salient nuggets of The Adolescent Course, a lecture series given by Steiner in 1921.
“What’s a teacher to do if the children don’t understand something?” he asked us. To answer this question, he said to ask of yourself as a teacher, “Did I bring enough feeling to the lesson?” Engaging the feelings strengthens the memory— Christof called this one of the “Waldorf essentials.” The central theme of the first chapter, he said, is that “the teacher needs to feel it, so that the children feel it, so they remember it.” It is essential to feel in our thoughts; children don’t think without part of their feeling life in their thoughts.
Another question that Wiechert posed to us was, “Why is the product of a knitting class better after an imaginative lesson on Caesar?” He explained that it is because a polarity has been established. Imagination stimulates one pole (call it the “contemplative” pole), thereby creating the potential for the other pole of physical activity. With two poles now established, a healthy rhythm can flow.
Steiner’s main theme throughout”Education for Adolescents” is that
we must not raise children to be so objective. It’s much more important (and more difficult!) to convey feeling, by being engaged ourselves, both with the subject matter and with the children we teach. Thus, rather than merely conveying thoughts and ideas devoid of life, our enthusiasm feeds the children and allows their own inner life to grow — certainly a feat to match any of Caesar’s.
