THE EDUCATION
OF CHILDREN
FROM THE STANDPOINT
OF THEOSOPHY
BY
RUDOLF STEINER
PH. D. (VIENNA)
AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION
FROM THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION
AMERICAN EDITION
THE RAJPUT PRESS.
CHICAGO.
1911
COPYRIGHT 1911, BY WELLER VAN HOOK, IN THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
IN VIEW OF THE MANY UNAUTHORIZED TRANSLATIONSOF DR. RUDOLF STEINER’S WORKS, THEPUBLISHER BEGS TO GIVE NOTICE THAT ALLAUTHORISED EDITIONS, ISSUED UNDER THEEDITORSHIP OF MR. MAX GYSI, BEAR THE SYMBOLOVERLEAF (CROSS IN PENTAGRAM).
MAX GYSI, Editor,
“Adyar,” Park Drive,
Hampstead, London, N. W.
THE
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
FROM THE STANDPOINT OF THEOSOPHY
(TRANSLATED BY W. B.)
Present day life calls into questionmany things which man hasinherited from his ancestorshence the numberless questionsof the day, as for example: theSocial Problem, the Woman’sMovement, Education and SchoolQuestions, Law Reform, Hygiene,Sanitation, and so forth. We tryto grapple with these questions inmanifold ways. The number ofthose who bring forward this orthat remedy in order to solve thisor that question, or at least to contributesomething towards its solution,is immeasurably great, and6every possible shade of opinion ismanifested in these endeavors;radicalism, carrying itself with arevolutionary air; the moderateview, full of respect for existingthings and desirous of fashioningout of them something new; orconservatism, up in arms, wheneverold institutions and traditionsare tampered with; andbesides these main attitudes, thereare all sorts of intermediary pointsof view.
He who is able to probe deeplyinto life cannot help feeling onething with regard to these phenomena—thatthe claims which areplaced before men in our time aremet repeatedly by inadequatemeans. Many would like to re-formlife, without really knowingit from its foundations. He whowould put forth a proposition as7to life in the future, must not contenthimself with merely learningto know life superficially. Hemust probe it to its depths.
Life is like a plant that containsnot only that which is visible tothe eye, but also a future conditionconcealed within its secret depths.He who has before him a plantthat is just in leaf, is well awarethat later on blossoms and fruitwill be added to the leaf-bearingstem. The germs of these blossomsand fruit are already concealedwithin the plant. But it is impossiblefor one who merely regardsit in its present condition tosay how these organs will ultimatelyappear. Only he who is acquaintedwith the nature of theplant can do so.
Human life also contains withinitself the germs for its future.8But to be able to say anythingabout this future one must penetrateinto the hidden nature ofman, and this, the present age,has no real incl