How Not To Teach Painting

52 Weeks of Steiner – Week 25  (This is part of a weekly serial started on Michaelmas 2023. To see the other entries, please see the post linked HERE and scroll down to the bottom for individual links)

An Example of How not to Teach Painting

Dr. Steiner: “A Mr. X has appeared in town X. He is teaching at a school. He looks like an arch-pedant. He has acquired the ability to make elementary school children paint pictures that are perfect—in the sense understood by people who know nothing about art. It is really remarkable what perfect things these children can do. But this ability disappears at the age of fourteen to fifteen; it comes to an end. The children are unable to do it after that … The fact that it disappears is connected with the ‘demon’ of the chest, of the circulatory system. It stops as soon as the human being begins to wake up to himself. People must realize what mischief there is in doing such things as these. It is outrageous. We are opposing this in the Waldorf school through the principle that the children should paint artistically. The children in town X are painting Madonnas with all appurtenances. They are painting battle scenes, and Constantine and the Caesars. It is incredible; they are absolutely perfect.”

Frl. Y: “This teacher X will not accept older children.”

Dr. Steiner: “You can see that in him there is the counter-demon, which arouses the demons in the children. Here you see what is really happening in the educational world today. It is essential for our teachers to learn to recognize more and more clearly the false paths taken by education in the present day, so that they may possess clear insight into what the human being really is.

Rudolf Steiner
Faculty Meetings, April 28, 1922
via Handwork Indications

I’m still over here, reading random quotes from Steiner contained in Handwork Indications. This one is a good one. While I’m not really one to start throwing around the word demon when speaking about children, I will say that the perfection discussed in this quote can really be paralleled to modern day school.

Children are expected to “perform” and “recreate” in perfection, and much of what is taught is lost, if not by the end of the school year, certainly by the end of their lower education. It brings it into a brighter light when Steiner connects it to the waking up. If we are keeping children asleep to themselves by not allowing teaching to the soul or allowing critical thought, keeping them really from waking up to themselves until they are finally left alone at age 18, what are the consequences? What are the compensations that will need to be made so they can “catch up” to themselves?

When are we going to change things?

The word demon actually had me thinking so I looked up the history of the word. This is what I found:
“The term demon is derived from the Greek word daimōn, which means a “supernatural being” or “spirit.” Though it has commonly been associated with an evil or malevolent spirit, the term originally meant a spiritual being that influenced a person’s character.” – Britannica.com

I can’t find when the association with evil started, and Steiner’s words are pretty strong, but I wonder what his original word was in German, before the translation. Maybe some more digging is needed.

Until next time,
Marina

ps: FRL in the quote above is short for Fräulein (an unmarried woman)