Six alumni sat as a panel and responded to questions from prospective parents attending an Open House on January 12, 2013. View video of this panel session here.
The Waldorf School of Princeton nurtures enthusiasm, curiosity, and a deep love for knowledge. The word academy comes from the Greek which meansthe grove or garden. Waldorf is a true academy; it educates not just the head but the whole human being.
Many schools focus on memorization and morestandardskills whereas the Waldorf School promotes an environment where the mind can cultivate itself, at its own pace. Ultimately, this process is longer lasting and more important for creating a unique and truly creative mind.
Waldorf provides a very integrated approach to education. Though in the beginning, students appear to move slowly with reading; they are learning much inwardly, emotionally, and artistically, and the academic learning follows and is enhanced by this foundation.
I believe I've come away from Waldorf with a real interdisciplinary view of the world and therefore of learning. I make connections between all kinds of subjects readily. I was never taught to think in a box but to branch out as far as possible and then to connect those branches.
My Waldorf teachers showed me, by example, that everyone can find something fascinating in every subject and with that comes a respect for every discipline, a stance I’ve found to be very uncommon among my peers both in college and graduate school.
