What Was Bequeathed Us

Dear Members of The Waldorf School of Santa Barbara Community,

"The beauty of the Waldorf School," says Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of The Magical Child, "is that it is designed entirely to keep children intact until they are ready to move out into the world as whole individuals."

But how, you may be asking, does Waldorf education do this, keep the child intact, especially in a time of storm and stress like ours? Rudolf Steiner -- the man who founded this education (in the aftermath of World War 1, a time of storm and stress) -- spoke about particular conditions required for the healthy development of the child. They are the following:

  • Love and warmth;

  • An environment that nourishes the senses;

  • Creative, artistic experiences;

  • Meaningful adult activity to be imitated;

  • Free imaginative play;

  • Protection of the forces of childhood;

  • Gratitude, reverence, wonder; and

  • Adult caregivers pursuing a path of inner development, heart-work.

Should some of these gifts be granted to the child (at school and at home), the child is more apt to settle into a life-trust, a sense of at-home-ness in her skin and in the world; and this, we know, can greatly help her on her journey, can serve as a provisioner against hardship.

At WSSB we are committed -- humbly and to the best of our abilities -- to providing a space to keep children intact. We stand by our order. And we know that as our world becomes faster, louder, and more harried, such a space becomes more important. And we appreciate our partnership with you, the caregivers, as we do this work.

With gratitude,

The WSSB Admin Team

PS The word of the day is nidify: to build a nest.

PPS The poem of the day is by Gregory Orr:

Untitled [This is what was bequeathed us]

This is what was bequeathed us:
This earth the beloved left
And, leaving,
Left to us.

No other world
But this one:
Willows and the river
And the factory
With its black smokestacks.

No other shore, only this bank
On which the living gather.

No meaning but what we find here.
No purpose but what we make.

That, and the beloved’s clear instructions:
Turn me into song; sing me awake.

Alexis Schoppe