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A Journey to the East : Waldorf Education in Thailand and China
by Christopher Schaefer and Signe Schaefer
For many years at Sunbridge College we had students from different parts of Asia, and they would often and repeatedly invite us to visit . After retiring from our full-time work at the College we were finally ready to say yes and to plan a journey to the East.
We went in March and April of 2009, spending two weeks in Thailand and another five weeks in China. While in Bangkok we visited and taught at the Panyotai Waldorf School started by Porn Panosat and his wife Jan Pen. The school was just finishing its 13th year and has now begun its first 12th grade . They have just completed a beautiful purpose-built campus on the outskirts of Bangkok and are a thriving and successful Waldorf School, an amazing accomplishment in such a short time. Then we were off to Chengdu, China, to visit Harry Wong and Zhang Li, students and friends who spent many years in Spring Valley.
Waldorf education is booming in China! Everything is booming in China! There is tremendous energy, made visible by the building projects and enormous cranes everywhere you look. It is a country on the move. After their own cramped experiences of school, many parents are searching for a true education for their precious only child. Those who find Waldorf embrace it with a devotion and a hunger to learn more. Many of them first found their way to Montessori kindergartens and schools and are now wanting more. Things happen fast in China, and so there are already over 20 Waldorf kindergarten initiatives in cities all over the country.
The work in Chengdu is the most developed with an eighth grade that began in the autumn of 2009, a beautiful campus with five kindergartens and both teacher education and kindergarten trainings. The Guangzhou Waldorf initiative is also quite strong with a capable initiative group and a new school building with several grades. In cities like Beijing there are multiple initiatives, and like in many places cooperation between them is limited .There is a great need for more understanding of what Waldorf education is, including its spiritual foundations. While there are people getting training in Australia, the U.S. and England, the need for help and support from abroad is still very real. It is important, however, to remember that China is an ancient culture with its own long imperial history and its unique philosophical and spiritual traditions. These need to be understood and appreciated by foreigners, as does the complex history of 20th century China. The Chinese people are proud, and they need to feel respected by those who would help them now.
We had the privilege of working in four different cities where Waldorf initiatives are developing: Chengdu, Xi'an (and yes, the Terracotta Warriors are truly amazing!), Guangzhou and Zhengzhou. We gave three to six day workshops for from 30 to 90 participants. We met with different school groups. We spoke with many individuals. It was hard not speaking Chinese, but we had wonderful translators; and we found people to be very open and sincere in their eagerness to learn – for their parenting and also for their own inner growth. Often we were working with questions of human development, and it was wonderful to discover that life phases and temperaments are as real in Asia as in the west. Their unique stories were, of course, fascinating and deeply moving. We ended up having many individual helping conversations which were inadvertently, but perhaps accurately, referred to as “biography consoling “.
People had warned us about pollution, and traffic, but life in New York had not prepared us for what we met. We saw blue sky one time during all of our five weeks in China. On any express highway you might see a speeding Mercedes, three wheeled moped trucks loaded with ducks and chickens, old buses spewing smoke, bicycle taxis, jaywalkers, bikers and a frustrated driver heading the wrong way on the busy street. One person said about the traffic: “We see red lights as polite suggestions” and another added “you have to remember that very few drivers have had a license for more than two years -- and they may not have taken a test to get it.” So we were in for an exciting slow merge at all intersections.
Throughout our time in China we rarely saw other Westerners. In fact we had to get used to being stared at wherever we went. We were a novelty, and one older woman we passed in a park was even overheard to say, “They're so white!” Often strangers on the street would ask to have their pictures taken with us. We also experienced how people wanted to share their country with us; this was often done through extraordinary meals (well, we could have done without the spiced donkey...) People were generous, interested, and in some way innocent in their eagerness to know about a broader world. So much of the heritage of ancient China was destroyed through the many struggles of the 20th century. What you experience everywhere is a rush for the 'new' and a drive for personal success and lifestyle improvement. The goals of a good job, an apartment, a car and a better education for their child are strong motivations for hard work. Many of the parents and teachers we met had come from the villages, and their way out was through education. China has a population of over 1.3 billion people with over half still living in the villages. Factory jobs are bringing people to the cities in ever greater numbers, creating an unbelievable frenzy of building on the outskirts of every city. China has over a hundred cities of over two million people and ten of over ten million. The Waldorf parents and teachers have achieved a modest middle class lifestyle, and they are proud of what their country has achieved in the last thirty years. They are looking for a creative education for their children and also for psychological and spiritual understanding for themselves . This creates an opening for both Waldorf education and anthroposophy to be of real service in supporting the re-emergence of China as a world culture and a world power, not only materially.
We were both very moved by our time in Asia, and we are returning to China in the autumn of 2009 and perhaps also in the spring or summer of the following year. If any of you feel drawn to the openness with which Chinese people are seeking Waldorf education and anthroposophy, and you have a real interest in what China has to offer, there is a great opportunity awaiting there. Sabbatical or retired Waldorf teachers who can mentor and inspire are so needed. Please contact us if you are interested, and we will make a connection for you. <christopherschaefer7@gmail.com>; <sschaefer@sunbridge.edu>
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