As a family doctor in the Capital Region, I rarely pass a day without some patient asking me for a quick solution to a problem, whether it’s a sore throat or an ear ache. “Just give me some antibiotics,” they say, or “that new painkiller everyone’s talking about.”
I tell them it’s not so simple. Then I start asking them a lot of questions about their overall condition – their diets, stress levels, exercise, family relationships. But how is this related to an ear ache, they ask?
It’s very related, I insist. In my mind, there’s no substitute for looking at the whole patient, the universe in which we live, in order to make judgments about health and suggest ways to improve it. I take a holistic approach to challenges – and not just in the doctor’s office.
For the past three years, my daughter, who just turned six, has attended the Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs, which embraces a philosophy that takes a complete view of a child’s physical, emotional and intellectual growth – and shapes her education accordingly.
Public schools typically look at a narrow slice of children – intellect, for instance, is measured by test scores, but the tests can’t measure initiative, imagination, curiosity and other intellectual assets. A child’s physical development is usually relegated to outdoor time at the playground and gym class. Appreciation of the arts, meanwhile, is fostered during separate classes for music and drawing.
But a Waldorf education merges or overlaps these traditionally distinct areas. After all, how a child thinks or dreams can’t be neatly compartmentalized – and neither should how they’re taught.
We’ve all heard the typical student complaint: Why am I bothering with this math problem, when I can just press my calculator buttons? Waldorf exists in that why. In learning how to read and write, first graders practice drawing typographically beautiful letters, learning a love of letters that endures for life. The sixth grade math curriculum mirrors the emerging teen-ager’s interest in money and purchases. Seventh graders’ preoccupation with their bodies is addressed in the subject of health and hygiene.
Waldorf instructors use art to teach science, writing to teach math, math to teach music, and stories and literature to teach history and geography. Values such as truth, beauty, and goodness are not just taught, but practiced every day in class. While the school is non-religious, it draws from Western and Eastern traditions to give children a sense of spirituality and connection to the natural environment.
When my daughter Sophie enters first grade at Waldorf this September, her journey will touch on what it means to be a human being; knowing the fullness of her humanity. That, to my mind, is the essence of a holistic education. Just as I refuse to diagnose and treat a patient based on a sliver of information, I believe that my daughter’s education should engage all parts of her: body, mind, and soul.
Dr. Ingrid Bermudez, a Waldorf parent, practices family medicine in the Mechanicville, N.Y., office of Northeast Health.
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