FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Trice Atchison (413) 528-4779. triceatchison@verizon.net
February 12, 2013
Helping adolescents find meaning, connection, and the will to make a difference
“Young people are longing for inspiration, for affirmation of their ideas,” says Waldorf high school teacher, author and poet David Sloan, who has worked with adolescents for more than thirty years. On Wednesday, March 6, at 7 p.m., he will talk with parents about ways to foster the natural idealism of youth as an antidote to apathy, self-absorption and criticalness, and how a Waldorf high school education meets the adolescent’s search for self. The talk—which will take place in the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School (GBRSS) auditorium, 35 West Plain Road, Great Barrington—is open to the community and sponsored by the Great Barrington Waldorf High School, with support from GBRSS and the Christopher Reynolds Foundation.
Adolescents are at the precipice between childhood and adulthood, a tremendous life change, says Mr. Sloan, who sees himself as both a midwife and grief counselor. But in the midst of these often traumatic life changes, ideals are welling up. Fundamental to preserving them are helping adolescents to:
- find meaning in their lives;
- find human relationships and a sense of connectedness to the world; and
- feel that they can make a difference in the world.
“The quest for a sense of selfhood is what underlies so much of what young people are searching for,” says Mr. Sloan. “We can support that quest not by telling them what is meaningful, but by providing opportunities for them to discover meaning within themselves. We can’t make the connections for them, but we can encourage them to see connections.” The Waldorf high school curriculum is designed to help students become keen observers, make connections, and discover their own sense of meaning and purpose. When meaning, connectedness and insight are fostered, he affirms, empowerment—the will to act with resolve to make a contribution to the world—arises naturally.
“Young people in the modern world need ideals to arm themselves against the onslaught of cynicism, materialism and empty amusements,” says Mr. Sloan. “With guidance and support, young people can direct the heat and passion of adolescence toward forging their identities, fashioning their own values, and awakening to the world.”
David Sloan, a Waldorf high school teacher for nearly three decades, helped to found the Shining Mountain Waldorf High School in Boulder, CO and the Merriconeag Waldorf High School in New Gloucester, ME. He is a graduate of Harvard University and was a longtime faculty member of the Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge, NY. He is on the faculty of the Center for Anthroposophy, which offers summer sequence high school teacher training. Mr. Sloan is the author of Stages of Imagination: Working Dramatically with Adolescents, and Life Lessons: Reaching Teenagers through Literature, and he recently completed an MFA program in poetry. His book of poetry, The Irresistible In-Between, will be published in 2013.
The Great Barrington Waldorf High School provides an education that seeks truth, develops imagination, nurtures growth, fosters responsibility and honors inner freedom in an atmosphere of academic excellence, artistic fulfillment, openness, and mutual respect. For more information, visit www.waldorfhigh.org or call (413) 528-8833.
For directions to the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School, visit www.rudolfsteinerschool.org.