An Education Which Bears The Future Within It
Dear Member of The Waldorf School of Santa Barbara Community,
In his book Discussions with Teachers, founder of Waldorf education Rudolf Steiner wrote: "Today we shall be considering not so much how to acquire the actual subject matter of our work, but rather how to cherish and cultivate within ourselves the spirit of an education which bears the future within it."
The spirit of an education which bears the future within it. This is a statement for us to ponder. And how might we care for our future? We care for our future by taking care of the present. And how might we care for the present? By joining your WSSB community tomorrow, August 20th, from 9 a.m to 1 p.m., for a work party. (Drop-ins welcome.)
Let us together ready the campus for another year in service of awe, merriment, rigor, and growth; another year of a slow, screen-free, love-based education that honors the whole of the child; another year in service of the future of the great beautiful mystery of which we all are part.
And no work tomorrow is too little! Tomorrow we need sweepers and smilers, weeders, joketellers, and scrubbers. (And please note that our next work party is August 27th, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
In gratitude,
The WSSB Admin Team
PS The two thoughts of the day:
"Eating leisurely is especially important where children are concerned. They are not only assimilating their oatmeal, they are absorbing everything they see and hear. It is a great disservice to try to hurry them through a meal. We need to give them time to ask questions that cannot be answered, to tell stories punctuated by long pauses while they search for a particular word, even to upset a glass of milk, and still get off to school on time; all this is part of a loving breakfast... for children we need to slow down so that we can give them our attention, which they require as much as food and sleep."
-- Eknath Easwaran from his book Love Never Faileth
"The Indian knows that even the smallest animal has great importance and can teach us great things. So too, all the little things we do every day have great importance. Our life is full of many little things in each day and in every moment. We should not concentrate on some great event that we expect to come in the future, but in the correct performance of all our daily obligations. In this way, we will show respect for all created things and for Acbadadea [the Creator]."
-- Thomas Yellowtail from his book Yellowtail: An Autobiography