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Author : Steiner Rudolf
Title : Balance in teaching
Year : 1920-1923

Link download : Steiner_Rudolf_-_Balance_in_teaching.zip

Introduction by Douglas Gerwin. HIGH up in the wooded mountains of Phokis stands a circle of tall fluted columns marking the secluded temple of Delphi. According to legend, Zeus released two eagles from opposite ends of the world, and the craggy olive grove where these two mighty messengers converged he designated as being the Omphalus, the navel of the world. Eventually this meeting place became the sacred precinct for two Greek deities, who occupied a temple erected on this quiet mountainside. It was said that Apollo and Dionysus took up residence at Delphi during each year; first Apollo and then Dionysus, but never both at the same time. These two gods - Apollo and Dionysus - embody polar complementary forces that work in opposite ways to develop the child and young adult, but they also help teachers educate children to grow into strong and, above all, healthy human beings. Rudolf Steiner describes how children first come into the world primarily under the radiant formative guidance of Apollo; but already in the early years, and certainly by the second dentition, the turbulent stirrings of Dionysus begin to arise in these increasingly independent young human beings. The central task of teachers is to permit these alternating forces to play themselves out in the developing children and adolescents without overwhelming them. How to do this ? ...