MillennialChild.com

Demystifying Adolescence

Waldorf educator returns to Anchorage to share philosophy with parents

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Schwartz, author of several other books, including "Millennial Child," is a classroom teacher at the Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Creek, N.Y. He was drawn to the Waldorf philosophy after working with the elderly and dying and noticing a connection between cognitive abilities and the ways in which people were educated. In an informal study, he came to believe that people who were force-fed their educations, made to absorb a lot of information quickly and according to a schedule, seemed more prone to premature senility than people who were raised on an education rich in stories, songs and experience.

When his own children reached school age, he not only enrolled them in Waldorf schools, he went back to school himself to become a Waldorf educator.

Austrian philosopher and natural scientist Rudolf Steiner created the first Waldorf curriculum in 1919 for children whose parents worked at the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart, Germany. Waldorf is a unique blend of progressive and traditional methods that nurtures the whole child, "head, heart and hands," relying heavily on the arts and creative expression. The goal is "to produce individuals who are able, in and of themselves, to impart meaning to their lives," according to a Waldorf Web site.

This won't be Schwartz's first trip to Alaska.

Jeanne Larsen was a new mother, with babe in arms, when she first heard him speak here about 12 years ago. She was vaguely aware of Waldorf education, and the school here was still in its "prenatal stages." What Larsen heard that night, sitting in the audience with her 6-week-old daughter, set her on a course that's led her in deep.

Now, Larsen's daughter Molly is in sixth grade and her younger daughter, Frances, is in second at Aurora Waldorf. Larsen isn't just a Waldorf mom; she teaches movement at the school, is on its board of trustees and is chairwoman of the Beyond Sixth Grade committee, a team working to extend the school to include seventh and eighth grades.

Last fall, Larsen wrote to Schwartz asking him if he'd come back to help prepare Waldorf parents and teachers -- as well as Anchorage parents and teachers in general -- for this complicated stage in life. Because he's teaching full time in addition to his other duties, he agreed to come up on his school's spring break.

Heather Johnson, another Waldorf parent, calls Schwartz a "world-class resource" for parents wondering how tightly to hold the reins. His ideas, she said, "can be applied to make the journey a little easier.

"This can be a really challenging but exciting time. It can be very exciting to look on the side of what the possibilities are instead of going, 'Oh my God, I've got this kid I don't know what to do with.'

"I'm really hoping that ... parents and teachers who come will feel supported by his talk and his message. It's a time when we have to work together to ensure the best for our children."

Daily News reporter Debra McKinney can be reached at dmckinney@adn.com.

Adolescence: The Search for the Self will be presented from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at Alaska Pacific University's Atwood Center and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Aurora Waldorf School Auditorium, 3250 Baxter Road. Cost is $18 per lecture. For information, call 333-9062.


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