Rudolf Steiner, “Spiritual Ground of Education”, Lecture 4

“Our rightful place as educators is to be removers of hindrances.”  – Rudolf Steiner, “Spiritual Ground of Education”

“…Each child in every age brings something new into the world from divine regions, and it is our task as educators to remove bodily and psychical obstacles out of its way; to remove hindrances so that his spirit may enter in full freedom into life. These then must be regarded as the three golden rules of the art of education, rules which must imbue the teacher’s whole attitude and all the impulse of his work. The golden rules which must be embraced by the teacher’s whole being, not held as theory, are: reverent gratitude to the world in the person of the child which we contemplate every day, for the child presents a problem set us by divine worlds: Thankfulness to the universe. Love for what we have to do with the child. Respect for the freedom of the child — a freedom we must not endanger; for it is to this freedom we educate the child, that he may stand in freedom in the world at our side.  …If we realise the full import of this we shall say to ourselves: the main task of the teacher or educator is to bring up the body to be as healthy as it possibly can be; this means, to use every spiritual measure to ensure that in later life a man’s body shall give the least possible hindrance to the will of his spirit. If we make this our purpose in school we can develop the powers which lead to an education for freedom.”

Rudolf Steiner, “Spiritual Ground of Education”, Lecture 4

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