Waldorf Education and Steiner's new thinking

As a Waldorf graduate and former teacher, I have always wondered why the organic trinity of grammar, logic, and presentations (rhetoric and forensics) are so neglected in the pedagogy. There is also a ferocious lack of non-fiction books in the American Waldorf curriculum, - a problem which may have its roots in the translation efforts of the English-speaking Waldorf pioneers who possibly simplified Steiner’s educational work for America. The final consideration is how Steiner used a rarely mentioned four-level organizing principle in aspects of his pedagogy, called “organic thinking.”

Point of view: Rudolf Steiner wanted his Waldorf School to teach a new form of dynamic, organic thinking. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, Steiner employed this ‘new thinking’ in the organic style in which he wrote his books and designed his Waldorf School. Steiner never gave a systematic account of his new thinking but instead gave examples particularly in his Waldorf School lectures and in remarks he made about his writing style about his Philosophy of Freedom. Read more in the essay....