The ploughing classroom
The will is the lost dimension in education. Ever since Plato bought Akademos’ garden from him and set up a school in it, institutionalised education has taken place in houses and thus mostly sitting down. People want to make us believe we live in a knowledge society. But that deprives us of the ability to change the world. The will is lulled to sleep. That has to change. [more]
Send them to the farm – the earlier the better!
Recently I had to think of Pedro again. He came to our youth farm in Estonia when he was not yet 12 years old. His mother had long resisted but the persistent learning therapist with whom he tried several times a week – with little success – to do something “for school” had finally managed to persuade the parents to invite me for a coffee. While I told them about life at Naatsaku and showed photos, the slim, tall boy sat snuggled up closely to his mother on the sofa. [more]
Publisher's View
Honour not plunder
In 1863 Theodor Storm wrote his fairy tale of The Rain Maiden which tells the story of a drought whose unbearable heat not only makes the plants wither and animals die of thirst but also the humans suffer terribly. [more]
Living lessons
Zealously at work. Manual crafts communicate elementary laws of physics
Manual crafts are the source and a practical application of physics, just as tools are created from applying the laws of physics. Pliers are an example which makes use of the lever principle. [more]
Waldorf worldwide
Waldorf school in an Indian reservation. With the Lakota in Pine Ridge
There has been a Waldorf kindergarten with a Waldorf school in Pine Ridge, the second largest Indian reservation in the USA, since the 1990s. The land is extreme, the conditions are extreme under which the Lakota people fight for a decent living. [more]
Editorial
What am I, a farmer?
Waldorf means getting your hands dirty. That starts as early as messing about in kindergarten, continues in school in gardening and reaches its climax in the farm work placement in upper school – and then you end up as a biodynamic farmer? [more]
Bund der Freien Waldorfschulen e.V.