Learning to think with the fingers

In a world in which state of the art knowledge and information technology are at the same time accelerating and also becoming quickly obsolete, basic work skills, learning methods and all round practical abilities are needed that can be used later in the most diverse realms of work.

Doing with dexterous hands

We place particular attention on the education of the fine motor-skills, dexterity and the co-ordination of hands and feet. Even maths lessons contribute to this, if the times tables are practised rhythmically, with stepping, skipping and clapping, just as writing does, which is developed out of painting. Dexterity is especially exercised through crochet, embroidery, sewing, knitting and while playing the lyre and recorder in the lower classes.

Correction comes, not from the teacher, but from the deed:

Planning, doing and checking; sawing wood, chiselling , filing, planing; sowing seeds, pricking out, nurturing seedlings, grafting and valuing the produce; stone carving, sanding, polishing; forging iron, shaping it, plunging it in water and hardening …

Each school has different emphases in its craft lessons. Care, concentration, sensitivity, and perseverance are learned.

Translated by Britta Edwards