Book Review of Educating Through Art by Agnes Nobel

Welcome to our first book review!  We just finished reading the book Educating Through Art by Agnes Nobel. It was recommended to us by Paul White, the Faculty Director at Taruna College. We hope to review more Waldorf related books as we finish reading them.

Here is our quick review:  

Educating Through Art provides an interesting perspective on Waldorf -- that of an outsider looking in. We too are outsiders. Who are ready to dive in!

Here is our longer review for those with more time on your hands:

In Educating Through Art, Agnes Nobel investigates why Waldorf schools attach so much importance to art education. Nobel is an educational psychologist at Uppsala University in Sweden. She received a grant from the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences to study “art and knowledge with a particular reference to the theory of practice of Waldorf Education.” (Isn’t grant language a joy to read!) She got to study Waldorf Education for six years and was paid for it. Boy, are we jealous.

She states that the central theme of Waldorf education is to narrow the gap between theory and practice. She quotes Steiner as saying “No one can become a great philosopher if he cannot sew a button on his trousers.” (Bungling college professors of the early 1900’s were up in arms and demanded that their wives write a note of protest after they finished fixing their husband’s professorial gowns.)

Here is a taste of the book: “I have in mind [in writing this book] those who have seen for the themselves or who have read about anthroposophical activities – in education, health care, environmental care, architecture and so on -- and who have been impressed and wondered about it, but who at the same time feel a wavering skepticism about the theoretical background on which all this [Waldorf Education] is said to rest.” A long, possibly confusing statement that (we think) describes us very well!

 There is an interesting note in the book about the complexities of translation when considering Steiner’s ideas. Steiner termed his philosophy “Spiritual Science,” (also known as Anthroposophy -- say that 3 times fast!). The word “Spiritual” is translated from the Steiner’s native German word “geisteswissenschaft.” In English this word can mean both “spirit” and  “arts and humanities.” Is it possible that he meant to name his philosophy “Arts and Humanities Science? (Or as we call it, “Social Science”?) Or did he mean to include consideration of the spiritual along with the arts, humanities, and science. The idea to keep in mind, as presented in the book, is that you do not need to proceed in fear when you encounter the word “spiritual” in Anthroposophy.

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2 Stars and a Wish!

This method of critical analysis was taught to us by our mentor, Rae Takemoto.  It works like this – you state two things you like and one thing you would do differently, if you were to do it. It works great for reflective discussion in the classroom. 

Here are our 2 stars and a wish.

Star 1: By learning more about Steiner’s predecessors, Goethe and Schiller, we better understand Steiner’s concerns about our dependence on science and technology. Modern science has made amazing discoveries though methodical observation and objectification of our world. For example, scientists were able to reduce the material world into smaller and smaller components from compounds to elements to atoms. This knowledge gave us the ability to create energy through nuclear fission. But if we completely remove the subject-object relationship when learning about the world, it is possible to gain knowledge without wisdom. We applied our knowledge of the atom to create powerful reactions. We did not consider how it could be used. The horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are a result. Students who acquire information without relating it to their lives and the world at large are in danger of making the same types of mistakes.

Star 2: Nobel states that art is used in Waldorf education is to help students navigate in a dualistic world – right and wrong, light and dark, male and female, science and religion. Our understanding after reading the book is that by realizing we are part of a whole we can make better choices for ourselves and for the world around us. A scientist can be a moral being. A priest can be an objective observer. We can all be artists by expressing what is special with in each of us.  

One Wish: An editor. Her writing, although very informative, is lengthy and at times academic. Maybe she can get Dan Brown to make a page turning revision!

Thanks for reading!

Will and Jess

Click here to read about the book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Educating-Through-Art-Steiner-Approach/dp/0863151876/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1294801540&sr=8-1