Op. Ed.

CfA’s Online Op. Ed. We invite you to browse through a collection of articles on current topics composed by authors and writers associated with the Center for Anthroposophy (CfA) and the educational programs it sponsors. Some articles appear for the first time on these pages, while others are adapted from essays recently published elsewhere. They offer their own anthroposophical perspectives on the cultural and social conditions of our times. Out of the Classroom and into Nature Sarah Davidson It’s 4 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon in late January. Snow has started to fall and the wind picks up as the 7th grade class from Northeast Woodland Chartered Public School in Conway, NH crosses the frozen ponds of Carter Notch. Read More Breaking Hearts, Opening Hearts David Barham Waldorf education for adolescents can meet the outer and inner, spoken and unspoken needs of young people. And yet, like every generation of teenagers, Waldorf education needs reimagining. Read More How can we use pedagogy to deal with the consequences of war and trauma? Franka Henn An Introduction to Emergency Pedagogy by Franka Henn (May 5, 2023) How can we use pedagogy to deal with the consequences of war and trauma? At the Rudolf Steiner House on May […] Read More Leading through Change Torin Finser The last few years have brought unprecedented challenges to schools, especially to our teachers and administrators. Layered over long-standing issues of low pay, long hours, helicopter parents, shared governance (and confusion over roles and authority), schools have had to navigate a third year of covid while enhancing their DEI activities and working with new financial constraints, to name but a few issues. Read More Lighting Up the Darkness Beth Robbins This is the season of light. Which is a paradoxical way to describe––at least here in the northern hemisphere––the darkest time of the year. So, what does it mean to refer to this time as the season of light? To use an example you all will know: you enter a dark room, light a match or click the flashlight button on your phone, and suddenly the room is illuminated. The light overcomes, in other words, the darkness. Read More