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Activity of the Will by Lauren Burger, First Year [ Ed. In The Younger Generation Rudolf Steiner describes how the teacher must draw out the inner abilities of the children. First year students were asked to write an essay based on their reading. ]Before the fifteenth century, teachers viewed education as an art form and strove to impart a sense of beauty and artistry in their presentations to their students. The teacher gave instruction in a way that fostered a strong connection with the students, and elicited from them a feeling of respect. All this was experienced before actual knowledge was imparted. This set the stage for the intellectual soul of one to meet the intellectual soul of another, in a truly meaningful way. Since the last third of the fifteenth century, when Man began to lose the ability to learn and understand with his whole being, and objective, abstract science began to permeate humanity's thinking, it has become increasingly difficult for human beings to know each other and the world around them on a soul level. Approaching life in an instinctive and artistic way has become an increasingly rare ability. Man no longer feels connected to his inner world and learns to distrust or close off this part of himself, causing a major blockage to his whole being. Thoughts are simply stuck in one's head, and inner strength and individuality fail to thrive, so that more and more, Man lives in a world of dead concepts and superficial relationships. By the end of the nineteenth century, the link between the spiritual realm, the heart, the will, and the head had been broken, and the younger generation no longer felt respect for their elders, because all was taught through intellectualism, which could be mastered by the young just as well as the old. At the same time, the younger generation was longing for something more meaningful and began to search for spiritual experience to escape the deadness of what they were learning. It is at this point that Steiner talks about the path that needs to be taken in order to break free of a dry and abstract approach to knowledge, which will eventually deaden humanity. The role of teacher needs to be that of an artist once again, in order to help younger generation see the world as a magnificent place of beauty. In this way, the artistic emphasis creates activity of the will, a fundamental element in bringing back one's sense of aliveness. An education permeated with artistic beauty will feed the head, heart and will, so that the path to meaning and truth, and ultimately, the supersensible world, can be known. In the primary school years, between the change of teeth and puberty, the child is even more able to sense in his heart that his individuality comes from a pre-earthly existence. This feeling in his soul is experienced intensely as a powerful quality of his human existence. Great inner work is required by the teacher, who undertakes the task of drawing out the innermost abilities of children. The teacher must be awakened through art. He will then be able to move closer to the students as he offers them who he is as a human being. It is not of primary importance to be full of knowledge, but rather to bring the child to a place inside himself, where he will, over time, be able to experience his whole life as it unfolds on earth. It is through the teacher that the direction taken by humanity can be changed. Our own deep experience of the art necessary for creating a truly living education is the answer. |
 
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