More resources for Consensus Decision Making

The following are excellent resources to learn more about the why and how of meeting process and facilitation for consensus decision-making. All of these articles are available in the LeadTogether resource collection.

A Short Guide to Consensus Building
By the Public Disputes Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School   

This article on consensus offers a brief look at some aspects of consensus decision-making, definitions of the difference between consensus, facilitation, and mediation, and a look at what’s wrong with Robert’s rules of order. –Lted

A Checklist for the Consensus Process
Edited by Randy Schutt

This one page checklist outlines the various aspects of the consensus process and offers a list of tasks and responsibilities for the various roles in the process along with a listing of various tools for facilitation. –Lted

Short Guide to Consensus Decision Making
Seeds of Change

This 8-page booklet is a very readable summary (with lots of charts and graphics) describing the consensus process. This, and its longer version below, would be helpful basic reading for any group. -Lted

Consensus Decision Making
Seeds of Change

This 24-page booklet goes more into depth about the background tools and practice of consensus decision making. It is a very helpful study for anyone in a position leading a group through consensus decisions. It offers sound experienced advice for consensus leaders along with troubleshooting tips.–LTed

Functional Consensus
www.functionconsensus.org

This three-page set of discussion, charts and diagrams is a very helpful overview of the consensus process. It has a good section on when consensus is most effective and when other forms of decision-making might be better. A quick read and handy guide taken from the Function Consensus website, which has lots of detailed information on consensus and is a good resource for those leaders and students of consensus. –Lted

On Conflict and Consensus: A handbook on Formal Consensus decision-making
CT Lawrence Butler and Amy Rothstein

This little booklet (63pp) is the one definitive guide to Consensus decision-making. It has chapters on conflict, decision-making, roles, evaluation, techniques, and a good intro chapter on the advantages of consensus. -LTed

The Living and Learning Organization – May Focus

“We shape our buildings. Thereafter they shape us.” This is equally true of organizational structures. We create our organizations out of our vision, values and relationships, and thereafter, they shape us in our development. So how does one work within an organization to create and sustain healthy development? A first step in understanding this process requires developing an imagination about living organizations.

To understand a living being, one needs to know its physiology, its environment and connection to the rest of the world, the phases of its general development and its individual biography. It is the same with an organization. All organizations are complex sets of relationships evolving over time. Like living organisms, they have a birth, a purpose, an unfolding life story, internal processes, social dynamics and a relationship to their environment that evolves over time. They also have certain processes and principles that guide them, affect them and that determine their success, health and longevity. Rudolf Steiner articulated a number of fundamental principles or social laws that can act as guides for understanding individual and organizational dynamics.

 

Three articles this month focus on specific aspects of how to understand and work with the life in our organizations.

The Phases of School Development by Chris Schaefer explores the life phases of organizations, their qualities and challenges.

Emerging Hypothesis by Rea Gill explores the background of her attempts to bring new imagination to organizational life in a Waldorf school.

Organizational Integrity by Torin Finser explores the relationship of human physiology to organizational development, especially how the functions of organs provide insight into the processes in an organization.

 

We have also posted in the forums a list of other related articles and resources that provide insight and further explore the living nature of organizations.

Organizations as Living Organisms by Magda Lissau which looks at a school in light of life processes and the elements.

School as a Living Entity by Rea Gill, an ebook exploring the story of Rea's work in Vancouver and the dynamics of creating a school as a living entity.

Theory U and Presencing by Otto Scharmer from MIT, a creative new approach to living systems.

Learning and Organizations by Mark Smith is a scholarly exploration of the definition and principles of a learning organization and the wide range of perspectives on what is meant by a learning organization.

Sociocracy, a new approach to organizational life and health being used worldwide to develop communities which is very congruent with the life of Waldorf schools.

 

Basic Principles of a Living Organization

There are two major challenges to the ongoing creative activity of an evolving organization.  These two challenges are similar to the two elements we must deal with in managing our individual lives. We must deal within each moment and each day with what is living, growing and evolving immediately before us and widely around us. We must also look at the present moment in relationship to the whole of our lives and our lives in the whole of culture and humanity’s evolution.

It is actually easier to perceive and understand the form, processes and evolution of a human being than it is an organization. The principles of human development are a part of us and as educators, it is something we have trained ourselves to perceive and that we continue to develop with our colleagues every day. We experience theses principles through our lives.

In our organizations, especially in schools, the principles of organizational development can also be evident.  But because organizations are social creations involving numerous people and have greater levels of complexity, it is harder to see and work with the processes that guide our organizations.

In our role as teachers, we have classes and a student body. But, unlike other organizational structures we are part of, students stand before us as objective reality and we are outside them. As teachers we know it can be helpful at times to try to find ways to “walk in a student’s shoes” to gain insight about their nature. As social creators, it is equally as helpful to try to step outside the organization to gain perspective.

Once we step outside, we take a step towards becoming social scientists.

Listed below are basic principles related to the school as a living entity with thoughts on how these principles and ideas can be helpful in practicality.

The school is a living entity

Just like our approach to the nurturing of the students in our care, it changes things to think of the life of the school, not as a problem to solve, but as a mystery that is unfolding. Once we start to see the school as a set of problems to be solved, it is easy to forget that it is the wholeness of the being that must be the place of our attention.

Diagnosing and trying to solve school problems is similar to diagnosing and trying to change the behavior of the students. We need to consider the whole being. It is much more effective to look at the constitution and development of the student or the school. The use of metaphors is most helpful in this realm. How would you describe your organization if it were a person? How would you draw a picture of your organization as a landscape? Often a creative exercise helps reveal insights about the quality and nature of the whole school.

The school has a biography

The birth and founding impulse of the school, much like the conditions around the birth of a child, provide a signature to understand the unfolding life of the being or the school. Every beginning has three basic elements: parents (or founders), family heredity (or culture), and the individuality(or vision). It is important for those in leadership positions in an organization to regularly reconnect with the founding of that organization (celebrate founder’s day, recognize founders, retell the founding story) so that the signature of the organization will be discernable and shared.

Just like the significant turning points in a life have an effect on the growing being -- whether they are accidents or expected phases of opportunities --, so, too, do the major events in an organization’s life: major crises, conflicts and cultural shifts. I have worked with a number of schools where the lack of resolution or healing of a past crisis was actually holding the community back, and where a conscious effort toward healing, resolution and understanding allowed the school community to move forward with more trust and unity.  There are times throughout the year when a review of events and how they fit into the ongoing biography of the school can yield insights into the next steps in development.

The school grows and develops through phases in relationship to social laws

While each school is a unique endeavor, (not like a franchise that is intended to be exactly like its siblings) Waldorf schools move through phases that can be observed and understood. The character of these phases is both general and at the same time uniquely connected to one institution. A good description of the phases and their qualities, challenges and opportunities, is offered in Chris Schaefer’s “Phases of School Development” posted in this newsletter.  A school, like any organization, is a social creation made by people and therefore it follows social laws.

The school is a social organism made by people 

The founders of  any Waldorf school, and their ongoing relationship to that school, have a profound impact on the unfolding life of the institution. But each new school also grows gradually through the gifts of those who are involved over time. Therefore, it is important to understand that the entire organism changes (to a greater or lesser degree) with the addition of one new member. As teachers know this is true in their classes, the addition of one child changes the entire configuration of the class in subtle or not-so-subtle ways. With this understanding, it becomes more important how we incorporate (orient, invite and socialize) people into the organization and how we support and encourage their development and participation in the organization. As organizations grow in size, it is helpful to consider forming a group or organ that has as one of its primary responsibilities the incorporation of new families into the school.

The school has body, soul and spirit

All three aspects of the being of the school – body, soul and spirit -- need attention. Behind each aspect there are principles that are uniquely important.  There are physical structures and resources needing to be sustained;  there are people and relationships woven into a community and culture needing to be nurtured; and there are ideas, principles, policies and processes that need conscious attention, ongoing renewal and re-creation. What’s more, it is very important in the ongoing renewal of the organization that the spiritual dimension is attended to regularly, which will support organizational harmony. This spiritual dimension should occur in each meeting to help develop a culture of inspiration, and also annually, on a more comprehensive basis,  in reviewing the mission and staying connected to the vision.

The school is part of its environment and the greater culture

Like any being, the school is an integral part of its environment and has an ecological importance. The health of the organism is related to the quality of the relationships it has with the world around it. How an organization participates and takes an interest in the community out of which it was born contributes much to its success. Unfortunately, this aspect of board work is quite often the one most frequently moved aside to deal with more pressing issues. One way of understanding this would be to do a community assessment that looks at the major relationships the school has with the community and identifies areas for growth. This is very much related to the many aspects of sustainability we explored in our April Newsletter.

The school has a physiology

The school’s physiology includes a physical form and substance, a set of processes connected to its life in the world, organs for supporting the processes, a set of ideas and principles that continually shape and recreate it and a purpose/individuality that guides it. And all of these elements of the physiology are created by people and thus reflect social ideals. Torin Finser explores these relationships and qualities in depth in his book, “Organizational Integrity.”

A school learns as it grows

Over time, a school can take its experiences and learn from them, turning the lessons into institutional wisdom. The wisdom lives both in the individuals and in the policies and procedures established. Like all life, the challenges that come from the future as opportunities for change test our core beliefs. It is very helpful for the school community to commit to articulating its core beliefs/values and to regularly come back to renew and evolve them. The way that the school gathers its wisdom has a significant effect on the parents and the students of the community.

A school has a lifespan

An organization’s lifespan is affected by the initial purpose and the changing nature of the culture. Ecologically if there is no longer a need for or support for the organism, then the organism cannot continue. This is important to keep in mind as we look into the future and explore aspects of sustainability. We already see a change in the culture of education since 2000. From 1980-2000 almost 100 new schools were founded. Since 2000 there have been, in North America, relatively few.

Below is a chart that begins to outline some of the key aspects of the above principles.

Principle Notes
Every organization is a social creation with a unique purpose The ongoing role of founders has a significant effect on organization.
Every organization has a biography The biography of an organization does not follow the life phases of a person. It has unique patterns and transition points.
There are social laws that govern the life of organizations Rudolf Steiner outlined a number of important social ideals, laws and phenomena.
An organization is born out of its surrounding community Its relationship with the community determines to a great degree how strong its roots are.
An organization grow, lives and learns in relations to its leadership An ongoing review of leadership and a commitment to supporting and developing leadership can make a big difference in the growth and development of the organization.
An organization has a physiology of structures, ideas, principles, and processes Policy development and review is an important part of sustaining the organizational culture.
An organization has a relationship to the threefold nature of social life A school is a cultural organization to promote and support  human development. This understanding should guide the school in its development even as some aspects of the school are related to the economic and social political realms.
An organization expresses healthy or not so healthy effects. Developing indices of health and reviewing them regularly helps an organization identify areas to take care of.
An organization grows and learns through mistakes and crisis A school experiences the equivalent of inflammation (heat) and Sclerosis (hardening, or being overly fixed) Both sclerosis and inflammation are important aspects of its healthy life.

Phases of School Development

Ch. 2 from Partnerships of Hope, Building Waldorf School Communities by Christopher Schaefer

Underlying this description of the life cycle of Waldorf schools are a number of principles.  The first is that all institutions are human creations; they are created by people with an idea in response to a perceived need.  In the case of Waldorf schools, this need is a sense that the children in a given community or region want Waldorf education. The second principle is that schools, and indeed all organizations, are living entities, with phases of adaptation, growth, crisis and development .  This means that organic metaphors such as seed, stalk, bud and flower; or birth childhood, adulthood and old age are more relevant to the biography of schools than mechanical images such as that of an input-output system, a clockwork mechanism or a well- running engine. (View as PDF...)

School as a living Entity : Emerging Hypothesis

by Rea Gill

As modern human beings we have an opportunity—maybe even a responsibility—to find sustainable ways to exist in and be in relationship with our environment . This is just as true in the social realm as it is in relationship to our physical environment, and we need to invent, discover and utilize socially responsible forms . In fact, creating new effective forms of  leadership and management that honor the relationships of the human beings and that also respect the living nature of an organization could possibly provide a model for social health in all organizations and in society in general. (Full Text)

Organizational Integrity

Organizational Integrity: How to apply the wisdom of the body to develop healthy organizations by Torin Finser

All around us, we see living systems in plants, animals, and human beings. Our environment is alive, vibrant, and full of innate wisdom. Even the stars and planets speak in the language of ancient folklore to those who have ears to hear. Our very lives depend on this interdependence and on the myriad connections that surround us. Nonetheless, many people experience organizations as inert, bureaucratic, inflexible obstacles to innovation and human initiative. People have struggled for years under the weight of apathy in organizations such as large school systems, corporations, and government agencies such as FEMA.

Organizational Integrity attempts to reclaim and reconcile organizational dynamics with living systems. The wisdom found in human organs, minerals, planets, and even sacred geometry is used to reinvent organizations. Organizations are supposed to serve, and their forms and structures should mirror the living systems of those who have come together with common purpose. We need to change our ideas of organizations and establish a new paradigm so that future organizations will be worthy of the people in them.

This book makes the case that we need a new ecology of organizations, and that now is time for a new revolution that creates dynamic, living organizations by the people and for the people. Moreover, it shows us how to achieve this seemingly impossible task by “organ-izing” organizations. Just as democracy has transformed much of the world, through the genius of the human body we can transform organizations into living systems that serve and protect human interests.

Here is a truly unique approach to the age-old process of bringing people together in healthy, effective organizations to better the world we live in.    (from the book)

Contents: 

  • Part I: Foundation Studies in Anthroposophy
  • The Complete Human Being
  • Beyond Memories
  • Vocation
  • The Long Journey
  • Part II: Organs and Organ-izations (with a few indications of qualities related to each)
  • Heart Knowledge

Balance, Harmonizing, Selflessness, Transformation, Warmth, Personality, Consciousness of the center, Striving towards equilibrium

  • The Kidney

Emotional Dynamics, excitability and apathy, Fear and Anxiety, Assimilation, Differentiation, Inner and outer seeing

  • The Liver

Heat, Life, Regulation of ebb and flow, Analysis, Irritabiltiy/anger/conflict, Will power, Planning, Rest and regeneration

  • The Spleen

Separation and redirection, Intermediation, Equalizer, Separation and harmony, Surrender, Inflation and depletion, Memory

  • The Lungs

Earth, Old renews, Thinking and Speech, Breathing and Rhythm, Fixedness, Accuracy and Honesty, Differentiated thinking

  • Dual Organs
  • Corpus Callosum and Other Matters
  • Part III: Other Aspects of Human Physiology
  • Is there a Skeleton in your Closet?
  • Salt, Mercury, Sulfur
  • Sense Perception: Eye and Ear
  • Part IV: Leadership
  • Testing Our Metal as Leaders
  • Planetary Influences
  • The Geometry of Groups
  • Systems Thinking
  • Part V: Healthy Organ-izations
  • What is a Healthy Organ-ization?
  • The Consultation Process
  • The Lily and the Rose
  • Appendices

 

Other Resources on Living Organizations

Here are a few more interesting resources related to Living Organizations:

Organizations as Living Organisms by Magda Lissau which looks at a school in light of life processes and the elements.

School as a Living Entity by Rea Gill, an ebook exploring the story of Rea's work in Vancouver and the dynamics of creating a school as a living entity.

Theory U and Presencing by Otto Scharmer from MIT, a creative new approach to living systems.

Learning and Organizations by Mark Smith is a scholarly exploration of the definition and principles of a learning organization and the wide range of perspectives on what is meant by a learning organization.

Sociocracy, a new approach to organizational life and health being used worldwide to develop communities which is very congruent with the life of Waldorf schools.

Sustainability

Waldorf schools have three primary challenges as they move into the future:

To keep the education vibrant;

To maintain healthy relationships throughout the organization;

To create financial stability through creative relationships to the greater culture

The sustainability of our organizations depends upon how we face these challenges. In the same way that we need to maintain a healthy balance between our body, soul and spirit or our thinking, feeling and willing as individuals, in our organizations we need to find a healthy balance between the education, the community and the culture.

Because financial resilience and sustainability are essential to the future of our schools, we are devoting the April newsletter to this important topic.

In this newsletter you will find several articles on various aspects of financial security and sustainability.  We encourage you to read them, share them with your school leaders and add your own comments and ideas in our Forum Section.

Since the beginning of Waldorf education 100 years ago, each school, depending on its size, age and location, has followed its own path to achieve its funding goals.  Today, there are three basic methods used by most Waldorf school --– the cultivation of relationships with the business world, the sharing of costs with parents and the alignment with government educational systems.

Each of these paths has its benefits and challenges. For example, in the past decade, it has been harder and harder to get grants, more difficult to attract contributions, and more challenging for parents to pay tuition in the face of an uncertain economic picture.

In light of these challenges, what can Waldorf schools do to develop sustainable funding streams?

First, let’s look at the meaning of sustainability.

The key to sustainability of any organization rests with its capacity to:

  • Prepare for and adapt to changes,
  • Develop a diverse range of funding sources,
  • Create healthy systems and
  • Foster a strong enough sense of community.

Through these actions, creativity and mutual support can emerge to meet the financial challenges in rougher times.

The idea of what constitutes organizational sustainability is relatively new and is going through its own evolution. Basically the common definition is the ability to act in the present in ways that do not jeopardize the organization’s capacity to continue in the future. Much discussion about sustainability grew out of the environmental movement of the 1970’s as an attempt to encourage longer term planning and consideration of the environmental impacts of business and government decisions further into the future.

Consideration of the future is at the heart of Rudolf Steiner’s work and especially in the impulse and practice of Waldorf Education. Steiner pointed to the will as the seat of the future and that education should always be focused on the training of the will in the growing human being. Waldorf education was an education created to nurture the capacity for sustainable thinking, feeling and willing in the students. He saw the need for a new generation of people that could grasp sustainability in a new way and bring this into their work in the world for the transformation of humanity and the earth.

In Steiner’s lifetime, sustainable financing of schools did not come to fruition. The closest thing we have today in the US is the practice of tax credits, a system of funding education that puts power in the hands of parents and allows them to send their child to the school of their choice. One of the articles below explores the promise of tax credits and vouchers for education.

Other emerging initiatives similarly allow for funding from the government to flow into independent schools. And while the fight to create these alternatives is stronger than ever and is drawing the attention of anyone serious about transforming education, changes are slow in coming.

In the meantime, as we support these efforts, independent schools are left with less than ideal models for creating funding streams. Another article below explores the work of Gary Lamb and Bob Munson in pioneering ways to make schools “Accessible To All.” Their work is being applied with positive results in many schools in the movement.

There is also a wealth of resources to help school leaders understand creative ways to work with tuition, to educate parents about new social financial ideas and to strengthen development and fundraising work to support the school.

The articles below are intended to give school leaders a better understanding of three fundamental aspects of sustainability:

  • Steiner’s insights about funding for schools,
  • Ways to get involved in promoting tax credits and vouchers, and
  • Ideas for creative approaches for managing current financial situations.

In everything we do in the financial realm we are strengthened by the realization that our success depends on our relationships. This is what truly makes our lives and our organizations sustainable – that we continue to take an interest in one other, be committed to one another’s growth and development and be grateful that we are dependent not only on ourselves, but also on everyone else for our own well being. If that understanding and feeling can pervade all of our work around the financial sustainability of our schools and organizations, then we will have support from unseen places and will be able to grow the kind of communities that will, in spite of the swings of outer culture, be able to sustain themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seven Keys to Sustainability

In order for an independent non-profit educational organization to become financially sustainable in a culture and environment that is highly consumer driven, leaders in schools will need to become increasingly creative in how they view and work with finances and the resource landscape (economic) in which they are embedded. Here are seven keys that every leader could consciously consider for their schools as they chart their financial future. (For a full version of this article without breaks, click here.)

1. Associative Economics

 The idea behind associative economics arose from the work and insights of Rudolf Steiner in 1922 through his work with the first Waldorf School, and in a series of lectures on economics. Steiner’s visionary capacity brought to light a new imagination about economic life and money; that consciousness applied to the nature of transactions in the conduct of financial life would allow us to transform our relationships with each other and with money and provide a new basis for transforming the entire economic system. Understanding this is essential in the development of a school. (read more…)

2. The Intersection of School Finances and School Choice

 Initiatives in the US around School Choice offer a wealth of insights into ways we can support the transformation of educational funding. The School Choice movement imagines a possible future where the social impulse of Waldorf education and its accessibility to more families of all economic levels might be realized. (read more…)

3. Rethinking Tuition

 How we think about tuition, whether it is viewed as a payment, a mandatory contribution or a gift, has a significant effect on the financial relationships in the school and especially on development work and fundraising. The whole avenue of concerted, intentional, and value-driven development work is longing for further evolution. In many schools currently using a tuition-based model for financing their operation, we can find creative ways to think about and manage tuition. (read more…)

4.  Government Support and Charter Schools’ Work to Reach a Wider Population.

In some countries, the separation between public funding and independent schools is less of an issue that in the US. In Australia and Canada, for instance,  independent schools operate with significant support from the government. An article due later this month will explore the dynamics of government funding in Australia. (read more…)

 5.Waldorf Movement Successes to Strengthen Enrollment and Fundraising

 It is generally true that schools with more students have a stronger financial picture and that schools that are more effective at development work and fundraising also feel a reduction in the pressure that high tuitions place on parents. While these two areas, enrollment and fundraising, are important, they alone will not solve the primary financial challenges of schools. Nonetheless, we must do all that we can to increase our success in both areas. (read more…)

6.  The history and challenges of school financing in the Waldorf Movement

It is essential to have an understanding of the history and context for the challenges of funding for Waldorf Education since the beginning. (read more…)

7. The Reality of Interdependence

All the resources you need for your school to thrive are already present in your community. The work is to recognize and support the needed capacities, not just in the classroom and across the faculty, but also in the parent body and in others in the local/regional economic community. The economic life, as re-imagined through Steiner’s and other’s insights, can help us to appreciate more and more the value of our relationships and interdependence with each other. Gradually, successful schools are finding new ways to create and nurture partnerships within the school and in the greater community that are based on a commitment to a healthy community and are mutually beneficial.

Seven Keys to Sustainability –Michael Soule, comments and input by John Bloom

 

Waldorf Tuition: Gift or Investment or Something In Between?

Strong gusts of wind drive sheets of rain against the rhythmi­cally moving wind­shield wipers as Brenda and I drive from Cambridge to Lexington. We are going to an open meeting at the Lexington Waldorf School to discuss school finances. The meeting is to be chaired by the president of the Board, and in attendance to answer questions will be the school's Finance Committee. Siegfried Finser is a guest and will open the meeting with some thoughts on Waldorf financing.  Brenda is the full-time director of development at the school, and I am a parent of a third-grade boy and a kindergarten girl.

My wife is at home, tending to the important bedtime hour. We take turns going to meetings, and this one seemed more in my domain of interest. Eventually thirty-five persons are assembled in the Eurythmy room. In a handout entitled "Finance Committee and the Forming of the Budget," the sources of revenue and the expenditures are described. Special effort is made to clarify how the anticipated addition of a ninth grade in the fall will affect the budget and tuition costs. The handout asks, "How can parents help the school's financial picture?" and suggests that parents need to inform themselves about the school's finances, pay tuition in a timely fashion, and contribute to the Annual Giving Campaign. The inevitable budgetary pie charts show that for 1995-96, tuition and fees account for 96 percent of the revenue, and that of the expenses, 51 percent is for faculty, 18 percent for tuition waiver and assistance, and 20 percent for general and administrative purposes.

Siegfried Finser opens the meeting with a story. He is a veteran Waldorf teacher with much experience in school start-ups and financing, but also with much experience in the corporate world. Suppose, Siegfried proposes, we go into a furniture store to buy a sofa. We take our time examining the selection, and as we perhaps sit down on a sofa to test it, a salesman says, "Comfortable, isn't it?" This is the start of a process of selling and buying. You, the buyer, probably have some idea of what you want to spend. Because you want the sofa, you bargain with the salesman and eventually agree to a figure.

Siegfried's story then takes an unexpected turn. After you have paid and are leaving, the salesman runs after you and exclaims, "I was impressed with you and our transaction. May I borrow two thousand dollars from you for a project which is likely to yield large profits in a short time?" Siegfried notes that most of us would be surprised and probably put off by such a request. It would seem inappropriate and would probably be dismissed at once. However, someone might be willing to listen, and this would probably lead to asking the salesman personal questions concerning his education, training, competence to pursue the project in question, his place of residence, marital status, and so on.

Siegfried does not make explicit the moral of his story. To me he is suggesting the different ways that we can relate to money. In purchasing something, we have a right to purchase only what we truly desire. It would be a paradox in North American culture if we went into a furniture store and were told that we must purchase a particular sofa. Purchasing something should be a voluntary act, both with regard to choice of object and to price. A different relationship, however, is involved in borrowing or lending money. In this case, we, if we are the lender, or the bank - which is more likely the case - have a right to check out the borrower to safeguard our loan. We will want evidence the person is capable of paying back the loan, and we will want the loan backed up by collateral.

Having presented his story, Siegfried raises the question, "What type of money transaction is paying Waldorf tuition?"

My mind scans the possibilities. "Am I purchasing something?" I ask myself, and respond, "Well, yes, to some extent."  And I ask myself further, "Am I giving a loan?" "No," I answer right away, because my tuition is a payment for something, and I expect to get that "something" in return, rather than money back with interest.

At last, Siegfried reveals the point of his story. Waldorf tuition, he asserts, is a gift. It is a gift that we give to the school to support the teachers to whom we entrust our children. "Waldorf schools," Siegfried exclaims, "are buoyed up by gifts."

Initially, I am carried away by the graciousness of the idea of gift-giving and by the warmth and conviction of Siegfried's manner. But very quickly I begin to feel uncomfortable. "Wait a minute," I say to myself. "It is true I have entrusted my children to Waldorf teachers, but the tuition is not a gift. I do give gifts to the school, in the form of monetary gifts to the Annual Fund Drive, in the form of pro bono professional hours spent training mediation teams for the school; being a member of the Parent Council, and in other ways. These are gifts because there are no strings attached. To me, the primary feature of a gift is that it is given as free as possible of any expectation of return. Given what we are as humans - self-oriented beings driven by a host of conscious and unconscious needs - we probably seldom give a gift in this ideal sense. Pure altruistic giving is no more likely than pure altruism. Nevertheless, I feel the highest gift I can give is one free of any expectation of return."

If we see our tuition as an investment, and we see ourselves as active, rather than passive, investors ... then we take on the responsibility to ensure that our investment yields the results we seek.

As I run these ideas through my mind it becomes clear that the tuition I pay is an investment. However, I make this investment not in the hardnosed, self-protective way that I might purchase stocks or bonds or property. My Waldorf tuition is an investment made in goodwill, with a lot of trust, and with a certain spirit of giving. (read more)

At this point I share my thoughts with the group, pointing out that I see the tuition I pay as an investment and not as a gift. The investment, I point out, is in the future of my children and, by extension, in the future of the world. As an investor, I am concerned with how my money is used to achieve certain purposes I have in mind. Whereas one can give a gift with no other motive than to express love and caring, in making an investment one always has an explicit objective.

The discussion then turns to the topic of the projected ninth grade, which dominates the rest of the meeting. Except for two speakers who support the idea of tuition as investment, no one discusses further the distinction between gift and investment.
I feel compelled to write on this distinction, however, because it raises some of the most fundamental questions regarding the governance of Waldorf schools and the role of parents in the decision-making process.

To whom is Waldorf faculty responsible? Are they responsible to the parents who provide, in the case of the Lexington Waldorf School, 96 percent of the revenues? And what does it mean to be "re­sponsible?"

Parents sign a contract with the school each year. In the current year at the Lexington Waldorf School each parent is even assigned a "Customer Number." The contract consists entirely of an itemization of the tuition and fees, with totals and with payment terms. In legal terms, it is a poor contract at best in that it does not spell out the conditions that both parties are to meet or the safeguards both parties have against default. So although the word "contract" is used, it appears to be a euphemism for "bill" or "bill of sale." It states simply what I, the parent ­"customer," owe the school and states nothing about what the school is giving in return.

We are entering murky and difficult waters here. Historically, teaching contracts have differed from commercial or fiduciary contracts. At the college level, where I have taught for over thirty years, a teaching contract spells out the number of teaching hours and of weekly office hours, the minimum number of student advisees, as well as committee assignments and other special services to the institution. It specifies the length of the contract and the conditions for renewal and for abrogation. It may even explicitly note the type and extent of scholarly contributions expected. The contract also states that the institution in return agrees to reimburse the teacher a per annum amount in specified installments. Usually accompanying the contract is a faculty handbook that spells out in more detail all of these condi­tions, plus what behaviors on the part of the teacher would release the institution from its contractual obligations.

The danger - the downside - of thinking of Waldorf teaching as a gift is that it implies an unrealistic and, in my judgment, an undesirable carte blanche given to Waldorf teachers. "Here," it may imply, "you take my child and do what, in your Anthroposophical wisdom, you think is best for him. I give you this salary with no expectations and with total trust."
Certainly there needs to be trust, for trust is at the very heart of any voluntary organization, particularly one to which we entrust our precious children. But the fact is that our tuition is an investment of a most complex kind. For me, I am investing first of all in a philosophy and practice of education that embraces the whole child - his body, heart, and soul, as well as his mind. Second, I am investing in maintaining and strengthening a community of parents, teachers, and staff - a community dedicated to a vision of human life and of the world that I can personally support. Third, I am investing in a special type of education that provides a corrective to the reductionism, the escapism, the "virtual" reality that progressively pervades North American society and the industrialized East and West. Fourth, I am investing not only in my children's future, but in the future of generations yet unborn who will have an opportunity to attend the Lexington Waldorf School. And fifth, I am investing in maintaining a physical school, a building with desks, chairs, books, and supplies, and a physical school that is attractive and functional and is an expression of Anthroposophy.

If we see our tuition as an investment, and we see ourselves as active, rather than passive, investors - which some Waldorf parents may choose to be - then we take on the responsibility to ensure that our investment yields the results we seek. This means that we, as parents, need to be as clear as possible about what we seek for our children. We need to understand the Anthroposophical worldview that undergirds Waldorf Education. We need to understand our own motives, our own inner needs that are being met through our children. We need to become involved in the life of the school in whatever way we can, to tune into its pulse, to respond to the ebb and flow of energy. It is no coincidence that many Waldorf teachers begin as parents of Waldorf children and through their children come to appreciate the important way of being that Waldorf Education offers.

By the time the meeting at the school ends, the wind and rain have ceased. A calm, slightly foggy New England night makes one look forward to the warmth of hearth and of quiet time for thought. Driving home, I realize that the tuition I pay is somewhere between an investment and a gift. It is at a balancing point on the continuum between my right to expect accountability from the faculty and to have my expectations met, and their right to be trusted to make sound decisions in all of the domains affecting my child's developing mind, heart, and soul. It is perhaps our greatest responsibility as Waldorf parents to find where we stand on that con­tinuum and then to act energetically and in good faith to have our expectations met.

Waldorf Tuition: Gift or Investment or Something In Between?       Written by George Eastman

Published in Renewal, A Journal for Waldorf Education, Volume 5, #1 (Fall/Winter 1996).

George Eastman has had a varied career as college teacher and administrator. as clinical psychologist, and as an organizational consultant, primarily to the nonprofit sector. He holds an EdD from Harvard University and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from New York University. He was one of the founders of The Independent School of Buffalo and is active on the Board of Trustees and the Parent Council of the Waldorf School of Lexington, Massachusetts He is in private practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and teaches at Berkley College of Music, Boston.