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Originally Posted by Serena Blaue
Come again? Who on this board has complained that the teacher or school made it clear that they (the teacher or school) had a stronger karmic connection to the child than the parent(s)? Once again, I have to say that I have never heard of this being taught in WE training or practiced in a Waldorf School.
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Once again, I have to say your experience is different than mine.
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Can you point us to where Steiner said that teachers should work out of the assumption or knowledge that they could/should have or aim for a karmic connection that trumps the parents' connection to the child? |
Sure...
"In the second stage, that is, the four upper grades, we need to discuss the concepts of fate and human destiny with the children. Thus, we need to give the children a picture of destiny so that they truly feel that human beings have a destiny. It is important to teach the child the difference between a simple chance occurrence and
destiny. Thus, you will need to go through the concept of destiny with the children. You cannot use definitions to explain when something destined occurs or when something occurs only by chance. You can, however, perhaps explain it through examples. What I mean is that when something happens to me, if I feel that the event is in some way something I sought, then that is destiny. If I do not have the feeling that it was something I sought, but have a particularly strong feeling that it overcame me, surprised me, and that I can learn a great deal for the future from it, then that is a chance event. You need to gradually teach the children about something they can experience only through feeling, namely the difference between finished karma and arising or developing karma. You need to gradually teach children about the questions of fate in the sense of karmic questions. You can find more about the differences in feeling in my book "Theosophy." For the newest edition, I rewrote the chapter, "Reincarnation and Karma", where I discuss this question. There, I tried to show how you can feel the difference. You can certainly make it clear to the children that there are actually two kinds of occurrences. In the one case, you feel that you sought it. For example, when you meet someone, you usually feel that you sought that person. In the other case, when you are involved in a natural event, you have the feeling you can learn something from it for the future. If something happens to you because of some other person, that is usually a case of fulfilled karma. Even such things as the fact that we find ourselves together in this faculty at the Waldorf School are fulfilled karma. We find ourselves here because we sought each other. We cannot comprehend that through definitions, only through feeling. You will need to speak with the children about all kinds of fates, perhaps in stories where the question of fate plays a role. You can even repeat many of the fairy tales in which questions of fate play a role. You can also find historical examples where you can show how an individual's fate was fulfilled. You should discuss the question of fate, therefore, to indicate the seriousness of life from that perspective."
[From "Faculty Meetings with Rudlof Steiner" -September 26, 1919 Page 86]
I apologize for the long quote - the text of which was retrieved from the public domain - but some people have been receiving criticism lately for splitting up long quotes and removing Steiner's frequent wanderings off the topic.
Personally, I also find it a little concerning that teachers would be instructed to discuss these types of things with children AT ALL. I wonder how many parents have been told that these types of discussions occur in Waldorf schools.
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That said, in the life of every growing child there will (hopefully) be people to whom he or she looks up to, admires, etc. Perhaps one or the other will be a teacher, or perhaps a friend of the family, an older relative, or someone who is doing exactly what the child aspires to do. I recently heard a wonderful story on NPR about a specialist in ants who told the story of that moment when he (as a child) finally met the man at the museum who was in charge of all the ant collections. When he was finally able to meet with him and help him one summer it changed his life and he is now himself a scientific authority on ants. |
That's not what we're talking about here Serena. Nobody is saying teachers shouldn't be role models. What I've proposed is that teachers take Steiner's words, above, and from other sources and truly believe they are connected to the child through karma - and that this connection, to them, rivals the connection of the parents and yes, I've heard it described as more significant than the child's connection to their own parents by teachers.
Pete