Warren Lee Cohen

Paulo Freire had a passion for education and its potential to educate towards freedom. He was responsible for a huge surge in literacy in 20th century Brazil. In particular he saw how cultivating critical thinking can lift people out of situations of oppression and give them the moral character and inner strength they need. Interestingly, Waldorf education, inspired by Rudolf Steiner has also been called an “education towards freedom” because it too fosters independent and essentially moral thinking for its students and encourages them not only to think out of the box but also to have the inner resouces to be able do what they set out to do. In this I am referring to the balanced development of thinking, feeling and willing, the head, heart and hands of Waldorf education.

While the methods these two educational pioneers vary, their aims clearly run in parallel streams and I have found it inspiring to read again their work. Here is a link to an excellent article about Paulo Freire entitled: Rethinking Education as the Practice of Freedom: Paulo Freire and the Promise of C. To find out more about Waldorf education please look at Why Waldorf Works