Education from a child's angle

Leo Buscaglia's unique experience from his own childhood:
From http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/05/19/leo-buscaglia-love-labels/

I was born in Los Angeles, and my parents were Italian immigrants. A big family. Mama and Papa were obviously great lovers! They came from a tiny village at the base of the Italian Swiss Alps where everyone knew everyone. Everyone knew the names of the dogs, and the village priest came out and danced in the streets at the fiestas and got as drunk as everybody else. It was the most beautiful scene in the world and a pleasure to be raised by these people in this old way. But when I was taken, at five, to a public school, tested by some very official-looking person, the next thing I knew I was in a class for the mentally retarded! It didn’t matter that I was able to speak Italian and an Italian dialect. I also spoke some French and Spanish — but I didn’t speak English too well and so I was mentally retarded. I think the term now is “culturally disadvantaged.” I was put into the class for the mentally retarded, and I never had a more exciting educational experience in my life! Talk about a warm, pulsating, loving teacher. Her name was Miss Hunt, and I’m sure she was the only one in the school who would teach those “dumb” kids. She was a great bulbous woman. She liked me even if I smelled of garlic. I remember when she used to come and lean over me, how I used to cuddle! I did all kinds of learning for this woman because I really loved her. Then one day I made a tremendous mistake. I wrote a newspaper as if I were a Roman. I described how the gladiators would perform and so on. The next thing I knew I was being retested and was transferred to a regular classroom after which I was bored for the rest of my educational career.

The animal school story

The animals got together in the forest one day and decided to start a school. There was a rabbit, a bird, a squirrel, a fish and an eel, and they formed a Board of Education. The rabbit insisted that running be in the curriculum. The bird insisted that flying be in the curriculum. The fish insisted that swimming be in the curriculum, and the squirrel insisted that perpendicular tree climbing be in the curriculum. They put all of these things together and wrote a Curriculum Guide. Then they insisted that all of the animals take all of the subjects. Although the rabbit was getting an A in running perpendicular tree climbing was a real problem for him; he kept falling over backwards. Pretty soon he got to be sort of brain damaged, and he couldn’t run any more. He found that instead of making an A in running, he was making a C and, of course, he always made an F in perpendicular tree climbing. The bird was really beautiful at flying, but when it came to burrowing in the ground, he couldn’t do so well. He kept breaking his beak and wings. Pretty soon he was making a C in flying as well as an F in burrowing, and he had a hellava time with perpendicular tree climbing. The moral of the story is that the animal who was valedictorian of the class was a mentally retarded eel who did everything in a halfway fashion. But the educators were all happy because everybody was taking all of the subjects, and it was called a broad-based education.

A 1.5 in history

Well.. we were discussing children at home and my husband mentioned about an incident which affected him quite a bit in school. One of his classmates scored a 1.5 out of 100 in history. My husband himself was a poor reader and scored some 60 or 70. He was shocked at how low someone could score. He was trying to decipher what was wrong.
Either the student had no interest in studies or reading in general.
Maybe he was frightened that he could not study or frightened that he was lagging behind.


Given any of these cases, what helps? Maybe delivering the subject in an easy manner, helps. Maybe we could strengthen the boy's nature so that he gets rid of his fear for studies or fear of lagging behind. How many schools, atleast during our times, would do that? How many parents, would do that?

I know a lot of people who hate studying, who hate preparing for exams. I have no clue what kind of torture they go through in school. Their mind could be in arts or music or sports. I don't know how they would have dreaded each day, each class. We go through almost 21 or more years of education and it would be such a pity going through classes with fear and anxiety instead of joy and curiosity. 

When I saw a Waldorf lecture where a teacher spoke about a poor reader, I was astonished. This particular guy had no interest in reading, while his whole class read a lot. Suddenly in 7th grade or so, he looked around, found everyone around him reading and he started growing a desire to read and his life changed a lot. When you have an empathising teacher around - who instead of frightening you, empathises with you and helps you to overcome your own deficiency, that - is heaven... Most of us never had that fortune!

Anthroposophic medicine

The meaning of illness

Susan R. Johnson MD, FAAP, 8/1/2000

In Anthroposophical medicine our Spirit (our higher-self) is always healthy. It is our Soul that first becomes ill. If we do not pay attention to our Soul, then we start to lose our vitality (our etheric body becomes weak) and then our physical body becomes ill. Dr. Philip Incao, an Anthroposophical physician who practices in Denver, Colorado, spoke this Summer at the Artemesia Conference held at Rudolf Steiner College. He described a picture of health and illness that comes from a Dutch Anthroposophical physician.

Imagine health as a beautiful sunny day with a brillant blue sky and no clouds in sight. The earth is covered by a layer of green fields, plants, and trees springing up from a firm ground composed of minerals. The sun is our Spirit, the sky is our soul, the green living layer is our vitality (etheric body), and the mineralized earth is our physical body. We come to this earth with the purpose of purifying our soul. There are always clouds that form in our soul. Those issues in life (our needs, wants, and desires) that we are trying to work through and transform. At any given time, if our Spirit is strong enough, then like the sun we can often dissolve the clouds that come our way. Sometimes too many clouds form at the same time or a cloud grows too quickly and becomes too large, obscuring the sun's light. If we don't pay attention to the messages from our soul, the clouds can grow and merge into a huge thunderstorm and eventually pour down to earth as rain. After the rain, the sky will become clear again, but all the rain may have flooded the earth. If our etheric body is not strong enough to withstand the rain storm, then our physical body can become ill. Hereditary factors, destiny, and karma can all affect the physical body we have in this life, but there are things we can do to strengthen our etheric body to help us resist becoming ill during these rainstorms of our soul life.

The etheric body is formed during the first 7 years of our life. Routines and daily rhythms (especially around mealtimes, bedtimes, morning times, and holiday celebrations) all strengthen the etheric. Adequate sleep (usually around 11 hours for young children and teenagers), adequate clothing (so hands and feet stay warm), proper nutrition (that follows the cycle of our liver consuming fats and proteins before 3 pm, eating a hearty breakfast and hearty lunch with nutritious snacks and followed by a light dinner) all help our organs grow in a healthy way and strengthen our immune system. Minimizing the stressors in our culture (television, videos, computers, caffeine, sleep deprivation, prolonged car rides, and always hurrying from one place to another) can strengthen our etheric body. These stressors overstimulate our nervous systems and cause us all to release stress hormones that weaken our immune system and our vitality.

Nature is one of the greatest healers. Taking a long walk through a park lined with trees, in a quiet forest, or by water nourishes us. When my spirit and vitality needs strengthening, I hike in the mountains and sit under a redwood tree by a small flowing stream. When my soul feels in torment and too many thoughts and worries are flooding my consciousness, then I sit by a rushing waterfall or walk along the ocean and listen to the crashing waves. Finally, one of the greatest gifts we can give to ourselves and our children is to "SLOW DOWN" and remember that "less is often the best"