Upper Grades

Adolescents need a community of specialists and parents should look for outside sources for them to further their learning. During this time, instead of relying largely on textbooks, Waldorf teachers choose specific subject matter for the students in the class. They create living, breathing pictures of biographies, events, facts and phenomena. Adolescents need freedom to move around the city, even outside it, for a farming block, for example. Broad indications given by Dr. Steiner, and expanded upon by other Waldorf high schools, determine the curriculum best suited for the vital questions facing all ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth graders.

Competitive sports play an active role in the life of the Waldorf teenager and this is a healthy time for outside sports or teams. Adolescents should also have opportunities to be of service in their larger community.

Adolescents need to be guided through the exciting, sometimes challenging transition from childhood to adulthood. Their ideals, emerging with such heat and passion must be recognized and supported. The unfolding young person is helped to find meaning in the world, in his or her own life, and feels that he or she can make a difference in the world.

Polarities
Ninth graders think in polarities; the world is black or white. Contrasts interest them, and they seek to define, summarize and form opinions about the here and now of the modern world. They are fascinated with power and beauty, especially in their thinking.

Process
Tenth graders’ thinking capacities begin to loosen and become more flexible. They gain the ability to compare and find similarities, where once they saw only differences. They grasp the process of transformation, and wonder how the world around them–language, laws, culture, the earth itself, and even their capacity to think–developed into what they experience today.

Identity
By the eleventh grade, the students are fully developed thinkers–quick to analyze and synthesize information, and to utilize their power to reason. Eleventh graders want to know why things are as they are. They need to know the intentions that lay behind the world in order to define themselves, their opinions and ideals. They are ready to think about what is invisible to the eye and transparent to thinking. They also begin to take responsibility for themselves, to explore and find their identities as individuals.

World Consciousness
Twelfth graders gain perspective in their thinking. From their new-found sense of individuality they are capable of finding their place within the community. Their consciousness of self expands into a world consciousness. They are able to use their powerful thinking to see the world from many vantage points and, at the same time, to recognize their own. As they begin to understand the complexity of the world, they look to understand the individuals responsible for working with society’s issues. In this way, the students will define their own point of view, make judgments and define their ideals.

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What is Science?

Do you wonder? here are some viewpoints from the theory of science. A very interesting read.   click here