Education for Nonviolence The Waldorf Way by Torin M. Finser

SteinerBooks
Paperback
Published:  September 2017
Education for Nonviolence describes how we can actually do something about our increasingly violent world. Few in the media draw a clear connection between the all-too-frequent tragedies we hear and read about in the news each day and the way as parents and teachers we raise and educate our children. Abstract concepts, rote learning, and standardized tests cannot develop the emotional and social intelligence our children need later in life to build relationships, contribute to society, and succeed in the workplace. The author describes how Waldorf independent and charter schools provide much-needed pathways toward wholeness—sensory and nature-based education; the arts; character education; community building; traditions of hospitality; meeting the needs of boys...to name just a few of the topics covered in this book.

Waldorf schools are founded on the social ideals grounded in an abiding belief that our schools can make a crucial difference in building a future society that is less violent, more just, and truly compassionate.

May this book help us rededicate ourselves to our social mission as we celebrate a century of Waldorf education in 2019

• “In many schools today, there are a variety of specialists, and children are yanked in and out of classes regardless of what they are missing or what it does to the social context of the group. Children today are deprived of quiet time to play without interruption, to dream while gazing out a window, or to make up imaginative games. One little boy in a local kindergarten endured several math and reading classes while waiting for a chance to dress up and play a game that had been promised for later that morning. Finally, the time arrived, and he began to put on a costume and imagine the wonderful things he would do and say. Just as he started to play, the speech pathologist arrived and pulled him out of the class. He cried and cried—so much, in fact, that the entire speech session was wasted; nothing was accomplished. When he was finally returned to the class, the play session was over, and he was plunged into another reading group. Who can advocate for our children?” (chapter 1, “Loss of Childhood”)

1. Loss of Childhood
2. Ethical Judgment
3. Evil
4. Transformation through Sacrifice
5. Character Education through Waldorf Education
6. Sustainability
7. Boys
8. Education through the Senses
9. Inclusive Recreation: Play
10. Will
11. Peace through Wholeness
12. Unconditional Hospitality
13. Forgiveness and the Last Supper
14. Advocates of Nonviolence
15. A Bill of Rights for Children