Artistic Lesson Design

GA 302a — 21 June 1922, Stuttgart

First Lecture

My dear friends, last year, at the beginning of the school year, I spoke to you about the important transition that takes place between the development of the growing human being until puberty and from puberty onwards. This was necessary at that time because, with the establishment of the 10th grade, we were able for the first time to teach students at our Waldorf school who had reached this important transition in human development. Perhaps it is now necessary, in view of what we discussed yesterday at the conference, to add a few things, and I would like to use today's introductory lesson for this purpose. I will then save some of the general additional points that need to be taught in pedagogy for tomorrow.

It is necessary that during this transition, which we must now consider much more thoroughly than we did last year, we take it very seriously that the transition from one particular soul orientation to another must be found in human beings. Until puberty, human beings are oriented in their souls in such a way that they benefit most when education and teaching focus as much as possible on the image; when an attempt is made to bring everything that is presented to young people into the image. This applies to every single branch of teaching and education. For example, what is taught in history, for example, can certainly be brought into the picture if the main intention in teaching history at school is to give children a clear idea of what happened, what individual people did, how certain inventions or discoveries, for example, fitted into the course of human development. The more one succeeds in bringing out the plastic or musical image, the more one meets the needs of the child's mind at this age. There is no branch of teaching that cannot take this into account. It is only a question of how to do it. But then it must be taken into account that the transition, which I would like to characterize briefly by saying that the child finds the transition from knowledge to insight — it is characteristic that this transition from knowledge to insight actually takes place with great abruptness — that one must therefore, especially when moving up from one level of instruction, which in our case is the 9th grade, to the next level of instruction, which in our case is the 10th grade, it must be taken into account that the vast majority of children, without being aware of it themselves, are going through this transition from knowledge to insight. This is when the human soul begins to feel the urge to process what comes to it in the form of judgment.

To illustrate this, let us assume that we are talking to the children about Julius Caesar. Beforehand, we will try to paint a picture of Julius Caesar for them, we will try to describe his deeds, perhaps also the peoples he encountered, we will try to describe how he himself wrote, how vividly and with what other peculiarities he wrote, and so on. When we talk about Julius Caesar after the establishment of the 10th grade, we will do so in such a way that we will talk about the intentions behind his individual deeds, that we will talk about how one or the other thing that Julius Caesar did could have turned out differently than it did, and why it happened the way it did. When we describe anything else, we will try to take into account the favorable and unfavorable circumstances. When we talk about Goethe, for example, whereas previously we mainly compiled images of his life and work, we will try to talk about Goethe from this age onwards in such a way that we take into account, for example, how his work took on a different character after 1790 than it had before. We will try to tell the children what his longing for Italy was like, whereas previously we simply described what he experienced in his youth in a pictorial way, and what he experienced afterwards in the same way. In short, we will try to focus more and more on causal and similar connections. Such causal connections can already be hinted at from the age of 12, as we have mentioned in previous educational courses; but above all, care must be taken to ensure that the children's own need for causality is satisfied from this age onwards. If this is not taken into account, a wide variety of problems can arise in children. One must be really clear about the fact that the human soul demands something specific at every age, and if one gives it something else, it reacts in a way that is unfavorable to it. In particular, it reacts in an unfavorable way if no distinction is made between before and after. If one simply continues teaching from the 9th to the 10th grade in such a way that it has the same character in the 10th grade as in the 9th grade, then the child's soul reacts in an unfavorable way. If one is forced to deviate from the curriculum in certain respects due to timetable considerations, then of course, in those subjects where such a deviation does not occur, all the more thorough consideration must be given to such things.

You see, it is necessary that extremely clear pedagogical concepts prevail in this regard. These are not at all prevalent today. Today, people talk about secondary things, especially when considering this age group. It has even come to the point where certain instinctive soul stirrings that arise in children with sexual maturity are included in the analysis of the soul, including the pedagogical analysis, with a completely false interpretation. The following applies in general: when a child reaches the age of sexual maturity, it is necessary to awaken in them an exceptionally great interest in the outside world to a certain degree. Through the nature of their teaching and education, they must see the outside world with its laws, its course, its causes and effects, its intentions and goals. Of course, this applies not only to human beings, but also to music and so on. All this must be presented to young people in such a way that it continues to resonate in their souls, that mysteries arise in their souls about nature, about the cosmos and the world, about human nature in general, about historical questions, and so on. Mysteries about the world and its phenomena must arise in the youthful soul. For if these mysteries about the world and its phenomena do not arise in the youthful soul, then these forces, because the forces are there, transform themselves; they become free in the soul with the liberation of the astral body for this comprehension of mysteries. If these forces are set free and it is not possible to awaken the most intense interest in the mysteries of the world, then these forces transform into what they usually transform into in today's youth; they transform in two directions into something instinctive: first, into a thrill of power and second, into eroticism. And what has unfortunately also found its way into education is that this thrill of power and this eroticism of youth are not understood as secondary products of things that should be quite different until the age of 20 or 21, but are understood as natural elements in the human organism from the onset of sexual maturity. Basically, if education is done in the right way, there is no need to talk about the thrill of power and eroticism to young people between the ages of 14, 15, and 20. It is something that happens entirely beneath the surface of life. If it has to be talked about during these years, it is in itself something pathological. Our entire pedagogical science and art suffers from the fact that this question is repeatedly given the highest priority. The highest priority is given to this question for no other reason than that we are powerless today — have become increasingly powerless in the age of materialistic worldview in the broadest sense — to arouse real interest in the world, in the world in the broadest sense. Our sciences, through which teachers are of course also educated today, contain basically nothing about the world. They contain physical laws, mathematical relationships, descriptions of processes in the cell, all kinds of disputes about the course of history, and when you take all this together, it is simply not the case that it can interest people between the ages of 15 and 20. Anyone who is impartial enough to make proper observations in this area must be aware that it simply cannot satisfy the deepest interests of people at this age. However, because people are not sufficiently interested in the outside world, they turn their attention to themselves; as a result, they begin to brood over all kinds of things. And on the whole, one must say that if one wants to consider the main damage caused by today's civilization, it essentially consists in the fact that people are far too preoccupied with themselves, that they basically spend a large part of their free time not dealing with the world, but dealing with how they themselves are doing, what hurts them. Of course, when necessary, one can concern oneself with such things; when one is ill, one must even concern oneself with them. But people concern themselves with themselves not only when they are ill, but also when they are reasonably healthy. And the most unfavorable age for concerning oneself with oneself is between the ages of 14, 15, and 21. At this age, the power of judgment that blossoms must be directed toward the connections between all areas of the world. The world must become more and more interesting to young people so that they do not divert their attention from the world to such an extent that they are constantly preoccupied with themselves. For, as everyone knows, in terms of subjective feeling, pain becomes greater when one thinks about it constantly — not the damage objectively, but the pain becomes greater when one thinks about it constantly. In a certain sense, the very best remedy for overcoming pain is to be able to stop thinking about it. Now, what develops in young people between the ages of 15, 16, and 20, 21 is not entirely dissimilar to pain. This working one's way into the effectiveness of the astral body being released into the physical body is actually a continuous experience of quiet pain. What one feels there immediately stimulates one to engage with oneself, if one is not sufficiently distracted by the outside world.

Now, it is actually not too difficult for the educator, with the proper attention, to bring about this reorientation in his educational principles when this age begins. For it is primarily a matter of realizing at this age that boys and girls are beginning to seriously understand the whys and wherefores. Before, they wanted to admire pictures, or perhaps understand them, or live in a state of limbo in between, but now one must address the whys, and one will see the joy of children at this age everywhere when one draws their attention to particular whys, but especially the joy when one broadens their horizons in one direction or another, when one seeks connections, when, for example, one tries to start from the smallest and try to arrive at the largest; when one tries to start from the greatest and try to arrive at the smallest. It is so that it is, of course, a matter of course for the pedantic professor to present the doctrine of cells under the microscope. This is done at the universities, and it is copied in the lower schools. This is terribly wrong. One should never present cell theory to students of the age we are now talking about without linking it to cosmology, really viewing what goes on in the cell as a kind of small cosmos. Of course, nothing else should be presented other than what one has oneself acquired as a conviction through observation of the cell nucleus and the various bodies that are present in the cell. And so, after the age of 14 or 15, every opportunity must be taken to seek connections with what was previously presented in a more pictorial way. In mathematics, for example, we strive for what we characterized in the conference, for the understanding of Carnot's theorem. Now it is extremely useful not to let the opportunity pass to go through with the children in detail every relationship that may arise between Carnot's theorem and the ordinary Pythagorean theorem, so that the judgment is directly stimulated as to how a metamorphosis of the Pythagorean theorem is present in Carnot's theorem; in other words, to cultivate this recourse to what was previously cultivated in perception, which can be taken into account in mathematics just as well as in religious education, in fact in all areas. Of course, what one has previously cultivated in the visual realm must always come to one's aid. This recourse is what stimulates judgment. For by discussing things with the children, they feel that they have previously looked at things, acquired knowledge, and now they want to judge them, want to acquire insights. These are things which, if worked through in detail, will actually lead to a certain behavior, and it is this behavior that really matters. This behavior will gradually lead to the feeling of authority, which children should certainly have until they reach sexual maturity, but which they can no longer have after that, being replaced by the interest they show in the teacher's suggestions based on their own power of judgment. One can already see how the power of judgment is expressed in riddles, and one must of course keep a very watchful eye on this. But what can be gained through these general principles must be further developed through the specific behavior of the teacher.

You see, if you make a mistake with ten- or twelve-year-old children, it doesn't really matter much. You may describe something incorrectly, forgive me; in relation to the relationship I want to describe, the mutual relationship between students and teachers, it doesn't matter much. I don't mean to say that you should make as many mistakes as possible at this age — it doesn't matter that much. You may describe something incorrectly, and when you notice it, you will be able to correct it, and even if the children notice it due to some circumstance, your authority may be somewhat diminished at first, but things will be forgotten fairly quickly, at least much more quickly than, for example, ten- and twelve-year-olds forget certain injustices they believe they have been subjected to by their teacher. On the other hand, when dealing with young people between the ages of 14, 15, and 20, 21, one must not expose oneself at all; especially not what I would call latent vulnerabilities. By latent vulnerability, I mean those unspoken things that can occur particularly during teaching and education at this age. At this age, as is already clear from what has been said, numerous questions arise from the soul. These questions arise so unconsciously that, from a psychological point of view, the following can even happen: Let us assume that we are studying a period in a language with a class of this age. What stylists mean by the sentence structure of this period is perceived with extraordinary sensitivity by young people of this age. Whether one is able to comprehend with the intellect what one feels in terms of judgments is less important, at least for personal development. For life, of course, it matters whether one can transform the unconscious into the conscious or not, but for personal development, it is not so important at first. But even if the student himself cannot formulate what he is experiencing inwardly as a question, the teacher must be able to formulate this question so that the formulation comes about, and he must be able to satisfy the feeling that arises in the student when this question arises. For if he does not do so, then above all else, what has happened to the person will enter into the world of sleep, into the state of sleep, and in the state of sleep, unformulated questions generate a whole host of contradictory toxins, toxins that are only developed at night, when toxins should actually be processed rather than newly generated. Toxins are produced in the person, with which the young person has burdened their brain when they enter the classroom, and all of this gradually builds up to a terrible extent. This must be avoided, and it can be avoided. It can only be avoided if the children are not made to feel that the teacher has once again not answered their question properly, the teacher has not given us a satisfactory answer; we cannot get the right answer from him. These are the latent vulnerabilities that often remain unspoken when children feel that the teacher is not capable of giving them the answers they need. And it is not only the personal ability or inability of the teacher that is decisive for this inadequacy, but also the pedagogical method.

So if we spend too much time showering young people of this age with a lot of teaching material, or if we teach in such a way that they do not get a chance to resolve their doubts and puzzles, then a situation arises where the teacher — even though it is more objective — reveals his latent weaknesses, which are not immediately apparent. This is something that must be taken into account first and foremost for this age group. Young people at this age must feel that the teacher is firmly in control in every respect. Before that, there is a sense of authority, and I would say that some teachers who are not entirely capable are treated as authorities by the students in the lower grades. There are other factors that are decisive in this regard. From the age of 14 or 15 onwards, it is mostly the students' unconscious that does not allow the teacher to get away with anything that remains unresolved in their souls. And you see, it is particularly important to take into account in the way we teach that we try to describe processes in a transparent way, so that, I would say, one thing does not overshadow another in the student's perception, so that judgment can arise clearly.

It will not be necessary to develop special methods for one subject or another in relation to this age group. The teacher who is simply able to establish the right relationship with students of this age will be able to use a wide variety of methods and will even do well to use a wide variety of methods. Above all, however, they must share a certain interest with the pupils from the beginning to the end of the lesson. They must be interested in the subject, and if they are interested, they will instinctively find the right methodology for this age group. Therefore, it is particularly important at this age – in some respects even more so than before – to place value on thorough preparation. And I would like to say that, for any lesson in which one has to work with this age group, one has hit the jackpot if, during the preparation itself, one has found something new in the content to be presented or undertaken, even if it is only a problem for dealing with the subject, if interest is constantly being rekindled. Now, there should not be a single person among teachers who objects to the assertion that, for example, when one goes through a chapter on chemistry, a chapter on mathematics, a chapter on history, or a chapter on literature, often several times in succession for the purpose of presenting it, one cannot rekindle interest each time as if one were encountering it for the first time. The same applies to the multiplication tables: every time they are taught, interest can be rekindled. But it is not as difficult with the multiplication tables as it is with the subjects that have to be taught in the higher grades.

You see, all these things must be fully understood by the teacher when the children move from the 9th to the 10th grade. For it is precisely this complete change of course that is part of pedagogy in this case. When you get the children at the age of 6 or 7, the change is already made by the fact that the children are entering school, so you don't need to put them in a different situation. But when you take children from the 9th to the 10th grade, you have to put them in a different situation, and then the child has to notice: Wow, what happened to the teacher? Until now, we considered him an extraordinary highlight, a person who has a lot to say, but now much more than a person is beginning to speak: the whole world is beginning to speak through him. And when you feel the most intense interest in the individual questions of the world and are then in the fortunate position of being able to communicate them to other young people, then the world speaks through you; then it is indeed as if spirits were speaking through you. And something like that must generate momentum. Teachers must show enthusiasm to children between the ages of 14 and 15 and 20 and 21; enthusiasm that appeals above all to the imagination; for even though children develop the tendency to judge from within themselves, it is precisely judgment that is born for us from the power of imagination. And if one treats the intellectual purely intellectually, if one is not able to treat the intellectual with a certain imagination, then one still loses the children. Children demand imagination; one must respond to this with enthusiasm, and with a kind of enthusiasm that children can believe in. Skepticism should not be shown to them at this age, especially not in the first half of this age. The most harmful judgment that can be made for the age between 14 and 15 and about 18 is one in which things such as “You can't know that” are presented in a pessimistic way. This is something that wears down the soul of the child, of the young person, most of all at this age. At the age of 18, it is more acceptable to move on to what may be more or less doubtful. But introducing the child to a certain skepticism between the ages of 14, 15, and 18 is soul-wearing. It is much less important how one deals with one thing or another than that one does not lead young people into this demoralizing pessimism.

For oneself, as a teacher, one must have a certain self-awareness, especially at this age, be free of illusions, and not indulge in illusions. For what is truly fatal at this age, when judgment is maturing, is when young people feel smarter than the teacher during class, especially in minor matters. They should not feel smarter than the teacher at all, not even in minor matters. Young people should — and this can be achieved, even if perhaps not in the very first lesson — be so captivated, so enthralled, that they are actually distracted from the teacher's minor idiosyncrasies and the like. In this respect, too, the latent vulnerabilities of this age group are the most fatal.

Now, if you consider, my dear friends, that failure to take all these things into account results in the instincts of power and eroticism, then you will realize from the outset how enormously important it is to take a generous approach to teaching, especially for this age group. It is much easier to make mistakes in later years, say during medical studies, than at this age between 14, 15 and 18, 20 and 21. For at this age, every mistake one makes has a devastating, extraordinarily devastating effect on the whole of one's subsequent life. In particular, it has a devastating effect on human relationships. Genuine human interest in life as a whole is not possible unless a genuine interest in the world has been aroused in fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds. If fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds merely learn Kant-Laplace theory and what can be learned from today's astronomy and astrophysics, if they merely get this idea of the cosmos into their heads, then they will become, in social terms, the kind of beings that people in today's civilization are, who actually cry out for all kinds of social institutions out of their antisocial nature, but in their real soul forces they express the antisocial. I have said it often, even in public lectures: people cry out for social things because they are such antisocial beings. In any case, we cannot say it often enough: the period from the ages of 14 to 18 must be built up in the most careful way on the fundamental moral relationship between the teacher and his students. This fundamental moral relationship is to be understood in the broadest sense, for example, that the teacher calls upon the deepest sense of responsibility in his soul with regard to his task. This moral relationship must also be lived out in particular in that one does not allow oneself to be distracted too much by one's own subjectivity, by one's own personality. For it is here that the imponderables of the teacher really have an effect on the pupils. Whiny teachers, perpetually morose teachers, teachers who are immensely fond of themselves in relation to their lowly ego, create their faithful mirror images in children, especially in these years, or, if they do not create faithful mirror images, they create terrible revolutions. More important than any calculated method in relation to this or that subject is that one does not expose oneself in relation to judgment, and that one enters into this thoroughly moral relationship with the students.

What I have discussed today raises the possibility that even in girls' education, the thing that people make such a terrible fuss about today, eroticism, will easily recede into the background. If, nevertheless, eroticism emerges in a particularly alarming way in young people at this age, then the teachers are to blame for being boring and failing to arouse interest. And if children have no interest in the world, what are they supposed to think about? Nothing else but what is going on in their bodies, in their hearts, their stomachs, their lungs, when they are bored by talk of mathematics, history, and so on. The only way to prevent this is to distract their interest from the world, and this is extremely important. Basically, when eroticism prevails, when too much consideration is given to the eroticism of children of this age, when they are still in school, then it is always the school that is to blame. For you see, basically this pathological eroticism, which has already taken on such terrible proportions today, is only present in the urban population, and again in those urban people who have become educators or doctors. And it was only when the city became completely dominant in our civilization that these things came to such terrible fruition — I don't want to say “fruition” — to such terrible degeneration. Of course, one must not look at appearances, but at the real essence. For example, it is by no means necessary to regard rural boarding schools as non-urban institutions — nothing should be said against rural boarding schools — but such a thing can only be an appearance in the countryside. When teachers and students all carry out to the countryside the contrary feelings that are actually imbued with urban views—they may call it a rural boarding school, but it is a product of the city. Everywhere, one must see through appearances to the true reality.

In this regard, what Moriz Benedikt, the criminal psychologist and otherwise excellent doctor, once said with regard to all the talk about youthful perversities, including homosexuality, and in general with regard to everything that is talked about and talked about as if it were to be observed again, is correct. Moriz Benedikt said a decade ago: said a decade ago: Thirty years ago, we young doctors did not know as much about this subject as young boarding school girls do today.

These are things that are particularly important from an educational point of view and should be given serious consideration, especially for the age group we have been looking at today. We will continue tomorrow.