How Solving for 4 Can Change the World

LIFE’S LESSONS

Proving that there is more than one right answer

“The Sun with loving light
Makes bright for me each day
The soul with — ”

“What is soul?” shouts out my new second grader.

I and ten second-graders stood in a circle in a Waldorf classroom. We are just beginning our daily centering verse, before we start our movement portion of the morning, when we sing, skip count, recite tongue twisters, play a pattycake game, folk dance. We have been doing this for months now, and this was Jimmy’s first day. He looked anxious, and his hands fluttered in front of his face as though they were birds ready to fly.

His question stopped the recitation of the verse, a verse that is said more or less the same around 1000 or so Waldorf schools in the world, grades 1st through 4th. Fifth through 8th has another verse.

I stopped and said, “Good question.” I prayed for a good age-appropriate answer. You see, no child has asked me this before. In Waldorf education, we try to leave intellectual discussions when puberty sets in. Instead, we use imagery to stoke the imagination of the young child.

“The soul is like the heart — ”

“The heart is a pumping organ,” he immediately replied in his staccato voice.

Okay, this child is smart, I thought. His mother warned me that he loved science and math and grammatical rules; that he can become fixated on particular topics.

Shit, I thought to myself, what do I say now?

“Yes, that is true. What does four equal?” I said, inspiration hitting me.

“Two squared.”

“Okay,” I said calmly. “Ten minus six. Eight divided by two. Which one is correct?”

“They are all correct!” He shouted excitedly.

I turned to the window. “What is outside the window?”

“A tree.”

“It is a home for a squirrel. It is a place where a swing could be attached. It is a shelter providing shade…

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