Preparing for Life, a documentary film about the Waldorf School of the Peninsula.
“Beautiful, dynamic, and joyous!”
— Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, Drive, and To Sell Is Human
The New York Times sparked national media coverage with a story on why Silicon Valley parents are turning to Waldorf education. “Preparing for Life” takes viewers inside the Waldorf School of the Peninsula where the focus is on creativity, resilience, innovative thinking, and social and emotional intelligence over rote learning. Entrepreneurs, Stanford researchers, investment bankers, and parents who run some of the largest high tech companies in the world, weigh in on what children need to navigate the challenges of the 21st Century in order to find success, purpose, and happiness in their lives.
DVDs of this film, both the online 17 minute version and an extended version of the film (with additional alumni clips), as well other features including extended interviews with Denise Pope of Stanford’s Graduate School of Education and Betty Staley of Rudolf Steiner College are available for bulk purchase here.
Watch more films about Waldorf education below.
Interview with Denise Pope
Stanford University Graduate School of Education lecturer and Challenge Success co-founder, Denise Pope, discusses the pressures of education and how to meet the fundamental needs of students.
Math at Waldorf
Dr. Babinet taught math for 15 years in various traditional and progressive high schools. She describes the specificity of the Waldorf method in Math.
Learning How to Read
Learning how to read happens before we learn how to decode, and movement plays a role. Interview with Ramona Budrys, WSP class teacher.
The Role of a Class Teacher
Long time Waldorf teacher and WSP class teacher, Anna Rainville describes what it means to be a teacher.
Why Teach Music
One of the goals of Waldorf education is to foster multiple modes of inquiry (scientific, humanistic, experiential …) into the world. Music and art play a role in reaching that goal. Interview with Jason Childs.
Developing Scientists
The goal of science education in a Waldorf School is to develop the thinking activity rather than only knowing scientific facts, so students can begin asking questions that have never been asked before and open new findings. Interview with Michael D’Aleo and Denise McCluskey.
High-Tech Fathers
Why do high tech executives send their children to a Waldorf school that eschews computers in the grades? High tech executives’ testimonials.
Stages of Development
Interview with Betty Staley, author, Sacramento Waldorf School founder, and Rudolf Steiner College Waldorf High School Teacher Education program founder.
The Role of Drama in High School
High School Drama teacher Jen Rathner discusses the particular role of drama in the high school curriculum.
Relevance of Waldorf Education in the 21st Century
WSP Founder Mary Jane Di Piero discusses how the initial impulse for founding WSP is relevant now more than ever.
The following films have been created as part of the Waldorf 100 year celebration, and sponsored by Waldorf100. We hope you will enjoy them as well:
Waldorf 100 Film “Becoming…”
No age has a deeper impact on the whole of life than the first years of childhood.
Waldorf 100 Film “Learn to Change the World”
The film “Learn to Change the World” shows people from around the world who work on the big pedagogical tasks of our time based on Waldorf/Steiner pedagogy.
“Learn to Change the World – Part 2”
Encounter, engagement and inclusion: learning that goes beyond merely accumulating information can be understood as an individual way to seek the truth.
