11: Ida Oberman: Centering Love, Story, and Art for Social Change in a Public School?

Special Thanks to Camila Guiza-Chavez for her beautiful performance of "Over the Rainbow" that introduces this episode. Threshold Questions & Delicious QuotesWhat is the role of the imagination in the development of the child?I think that now we more and more feel it, as particularly now, under COVID, when we're all pressed against our screens, how life-giving imagination is. And sometimes it feels ephemeral. But, if we realize that imagination is really at heart, thinking about the relationship amongst things that have not been yet, that's when you create new things.What distinguishes Waldorf education?So that imaginative power means not only preparing the children, this distinguishes our school and Waldorf schools overall, it's not just to prepare the children to succeed against the benchmarks that have been set to win on in the race that has already been outlined. It is to think of new benchmarks, it's to blaze new trails to build a better tomorrow to build something that has not yet been yet. And that is creating a better future. That's the ultimate purpose of education.How does Waldorf education prepare its students for an increasingly ambiguous and unpredictable future?Really, that is the heart of Waldorf education is to start to hear more and more clearly your purpose in your path in the world and feel … your agency to quest for it and then fulfill it, which is of course a lifelong journey.How can creative education best respond to the significant changes that have been taking place in our society?I'm thinking of an elder who said that fabric of our society has been rent asunder. And as we sew it back together, we want to sew a stronger cloth, and more tightly woven cloth that will hold us all better. And in that spirit, everything that I just described to you should be true. Even when we return back to brick and mortar, we really need to think about parents as partners, the privilege of working intimately with our parents, them working intimately with us.What is the role of story in the education of the whole person?There's one thing I want to lift up that runs through all of this from kindergarten on. And that is the power of the story. That power of story is such a heart piece of the imagination. And for those starting to critically think, but always having your thinking be deeply connected to moral thinking. Because, the stories are not just to teach you the facts of history, to teach you the facts of algebra, to teach you the facts of science. They will also teach you the purposes of life and that there is something like good and bad and courage and meeting challenge.TranscriptBill Cleveland:  Imagine this, the camera zooms in on a vibrant, festive scene that somehow matches up perfectly with that rainbow soundtrack. We see kids dancing, playing with puppets parading in costume laughing and singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” You know, kind of Disney-like only, unlike the Disney I grew up with, this rainbow movie is not all white. Quite the contrary. There is no dominant hue here either playing games or on the walls and windows which are truly beautiful -- awash in subtly shifting colors, textures, and fairy tale images. But this isn't just a kid movie. There are adults here too. Quite a few actually moving purposefully watching joining in and leading -- yeah, well, teaching. That's right, you guessed it, it's a school, K through 8 to be exact. And given all the fun and games and extras, you're probably thinking it's a special school. One with a curriculum that caters to the uniquely special needs of the special students who are privileged to go there; clearly one of those schools they call public in Great Britain and private here in the USA. But there, you would be mistaken.The Community School for Creative Education was authorized by the Alameda County Board of Education to operate as a Waldorf inspired charter in the fall of 2010.Alejandra Baez: We all embrace what Community School is about. It's about equity. It's about love. It's about caring. It's about bringing the best to the children, especially in San Antonio, that we're so proud of. This is a dream come true.BC: That was Alejandra Baez in the school's front office describing the impact the community school has had on Oakland San Antonio neighborhood.Today, like most public schools in California, the Community School is currently serving its students from a distance. To learn more about the school's unique history and approach I spoke with Ida Oberman, the school's founder and executive director in late September of 2020.From the Center for the Study of art and community, this is changed the story changed the world, a chronicle of art and transformation. I'm Bill Cleveland.Part One: Free and Proud.BC: Good morning.I O: Good morning. I'm sorry, I'm late.BC: No problem. No problem. You know, time is, is a completely different construct in the in the digital universe. We could be any place and anytimeI O: Were you playing your guitar this morning?BC: I play my guitar in between everything I do. Yeah. Yeah. So first of all, thank you so much for taking the time to share your story. And as you know, I've spent a good part of my adult life being associated with Waldorf education. So I'm particularly excited because your brand of this educational journey is different than the typical one and particularly here in the Bay Area. So I'm just going to begin with a question I start off with everybody, which is what is it that you do in the world what's what's your work? What's your mission?I O: So my mission is to work with others to ensure that an intercultural Waldorf option is available to any community of families who so choose, regardless of income, regardless of race, or class or color, returning to Waldorf education's original intent almost to the month 101 years ago.BC: Yes, because the first Waldorf school was in fact, a publicly available school for factory workers?I O: It was an openly available school. That title free Waldorf education was then proudly held. And when I went to the Waldorf school in Tubingen, in Germany, very close to Stuttgart, the founding site in the 1960s. We were always so proud of those letters "free" "frie" by the free Waldorf school. And it was not just freedom of heart in mind, but also of pocketbook.BC: So for those people who are listening who are going, Waldorf Yeah, what, what is that? What? Could you just do an elevator description of what Waldorf and the Waldorf movement is all about? Yes,I O: Of course, I'd be glad to. While their education is cousinly related to Montessori, which many of your viewers might be more familiar with. They were from the same time about 100 years ago, Dr. Maria Montessori in inner city, Rome, Italy and Dr. Rudolf Steiner in inner city Stuttgart, Germany. And what brought them to the fore is that they recognize that education was not just a matter of educating the head, but it was educating the heart in the hand.And, just one more point of reference, when Maria Montessori really understood learning by hand and all project-based learning very much grows out of that. Dr. Steiner added to that the emphasis of the heart that everything is a matter of the heart. And we have brain research now that confirms that if we do not have relational trust, if we are not engaged with our heart, then learning can't occur with the head. So 100 years ago, Rudolf Steiner focused on head heart and hand. The other important thing is that children are not shrunk adults, but that there's actually a developmental arc to learning and to living, and that children should learn in different ways, in sequential ways, in scaffolded ways, and meaningfully scaffolded ways as we go through the years of our lives. So it's head heart and hand. It's developmental. And it's deeply relational -- that if we do not have a relationship, we will not learn. So at the heart of Waldorf education is relationship which actually means love.BC: So most Waldorf schools are, in fact, like Montessori, private schools, but your school is a little different. Could you describe how it's different and how that came about?I O: Gladly, so many Montessori and Waldorf schools became private school options, contrary to the intent of either founder, we should say. And when Waldorf education came to America in 1928, it was beautifully and thankfully bankrolled by a couple of deep pocketed funders, and first with intent of large scholarships, but then money's dried up and as things changed and it became a much sought after private school option. What we did from our founding on (before founding) is say let us return to the original intent as you say, it was for the children of the workers of this Waldorf Astoria cigarette factory, it