Colloquium on English - Research Institute for Waldorf Education

the details Burdach cites, since they may be useful. However, you will probably arrive at a different conclusion,
probably that Schiller would have created something quite different from The Bride of Messina had he
really swum in that stream. That essay belongs with the series of things Burdach has produced. He has an
idée fixe. He wants to show that a theme arises out of a subhuman source. All these things are similar, so you
need to be cautious with Burdach. He also wrote other things where he derives the minstrel from Arabic
provincials by finding the original impulse in the middle of the Middle Ages and using it as the beginning
of the literary stream. Faust and Moses also belong in this group, as do Shakespeare’s dramas. Faculty Meetings
with Rudolf Steiner II (600-602)
The students are about eighteen, and at that age it is best if they attain an overall understanding of
history and art. We should give them an understanding of the spirit of literature, art, and history subjects,
not only in the content but also in the way we present them. Faculty Meetings with Rudolf Steiner II (607)
They discuss a letter to the Ministry of Education about the students who will take the final examination.
Dr. Steiner: Why was it necessary to add that it lies in the nature of block instruction that some subjects
have not been taught? In such official things, the smartest thing to do is not to get people upset by telling
them things they don’t want to hear. What still needs to be done in literature?
You need to proceed efficiently. Some of the things you want to teach should be taught, but for the
examination you do not need to teach the students anything about Goethe as a natural scientist, nor will
they be asked questions about his letters on aesthetic education. His poetry will cause them some pain
because it is not so easy. Hauptmann’s Hannele is better than Die Weber. They don’t have any idea about
Goethe as a natural scientist. For such examinations it would be a mistake to feel you need to set up such a
curriculum. Those things are not expected even for someone who is working toward a doctorate. They
cannot be done in two years in school. Look here, here we have Faust, Part I. I would like to know how you
could do all that in school. Do you think you will find some themes for German in them? You need to cover
what will come up in written examinations. If you go to the ministry too often, they will think you have a
bad conscience, and will get the feeling that things are not going right here. You should not go into such
things so much, but only answer when the ministry writes. We will see how things go, we can always
withdraw. In the last part of school, you need to be sure that the students write and answer as much as
possible themselves. They need to be much more active individually. If a student does not already know
something, you should not be so quick to help. They need to develop their will and find the answers
themselves. This is much better than it was before, when the students had to do nothing more than listen.
I need to go through all the classes again and will do so at the next opportunity. Faculty Meetings with
Rudolf Steiner II (689-690)
Dr. Steiner: The first thing I would like to discuss is my discussion today with the present twelfth-grade
students. With one exception, the students stated they did not need to take their final examinations at the
end of this year, but could wait a year. At the end of the Waldorf School, they would go through a cramming
class. It was important to them, however, that this cramming for the final examination be taught by
the Waldorf School….
The point is that we said we wanted to resolve this matter after meeting with the twelfth-grade
students…. In general, we should teach the class in a way appropriate to a twelfth-grade Waldorf School
class. The first thing we need to consider for the curriculum is literary history. Yesterday, I mentioned that,
in general, they should have already covered the main content of literary history. A cursory survey will have
to suffice for the things they have not learned. On the other hand, you should undertake a complete survey
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