Do You Love Your Teachers?

Eric Müller has accompanied his long career as a Waldorf teacher with his vocation as a writer. His published books include Rites of Rock(Adonis 2005); Meet me at the Met (2010); Drops on the Water (2014); and The Invisible Boat (2013), a children’s book, and four books of poetry. He currently teaches English and drama at the Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School and is a director of the Alkion Teacher Training Program in Ghent, NY. He is a recipient of the Kapteyn Prize for high school teachers who exemplify excellence in “whole child teaching.”

In Do You Love Your Teachers? Eric Müller recounts his experience with education beginning with his upbringing and schooling in South Africa, his youthful searching in Switzerland and Germany and finally Emerson College in England, where he finds what he has been looking for. In short sections he leads the reader on from episode to episode from his tender childhood and youthful rebelliousness in South Africa through his stint as a rock musician and the trial of his first teaching experience, his young family’s move from Germany to Eugene, Oregon, the growth and crisis of the Eugene Waldorf School to his work as a high school music, drama, and English teacher at the Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School. What emerges through this wide-ranging, well-crafted narrative is the true meaning of being a teacher and how the Waldorf approach and curriculum allow the teaching profession to blossom. 

Much has been written about Waldorf education, but this is the first memoir that describes the individual path and life experience of a Waldorf teacher. This book is a pleasure to read and will be of interest to other teachers, Waldorf parents, and anyone who wants to know more about education and Waldorf education in particular.