Here is what I learned from clicking through a couple links on that thread. Children are apparently seated in class according to their temperaments. Everything here is quoted directly from
this website.
The Four Temperaments According to Rudolf Steiner- Melancholic (tall and slender): The physical body as such expresses itself only in itself.
- Phlegmatic (have protruding shoulders): The etheric body expresses itself in the glandular system.
- Sanguine (the sanguine are the most normal): The astral body expresses itself physically in the nervous system.
- Choleric (short stout build so that the head almost sinks down into the body): The ego expresses itself in the circulation of the blood.
At first, it may surprise you that Waldorf teachers are trained to consider the effect of past lives and karmic destiny of your child. However, it is important to be sensitive and keep an open mind with regards to this practice. You can learn more about reincarnation and karma on the
Anthroposophy page.
[sigh] As they say...do people really
believe this stuff?
I have an image of the Steiner phlegmatic as a catatonic Augustus Gloop sort who responds in monosyllables and needs to be spoken to loudly and s-l-o-w-l-y. His teacher sits him by the window and, as she prattles on to the class about gnomes, he cantilevers his limbless torso body over his desk in an exhausted act of desperation, his mouth engulfing a whole contraband cupcake lazily in one bite. He then returns his focus to a squirrel outside the window, silently willing his brain cells to replicate on each other the act he only just committed against his dessert.
