There are many different opinions of the type of school a student should attend and what is best for them. Usually students stick to one type of school throughout kindergarden and high school, but for me, I got to experience two very different schools.

Starting in Kindergarden and finishing in fifth grade, I attended a very small Waldorf school which wasn’t your average elementary school. Learning, of course was there main focus but in a very different way through physical activity, and hands-on tasks. While other schools tend to show off their technology and wired classrooms, Steiner appreciates their old fashioned classrooms and is even against use of screens at home. Teachers simply rely on their blackboards with chalk, wooden desks with handmade books inside and believe that technology prevents students from learning how to interact with others. While the basic skills of math, reading and writing were incorporated into our everyday curriculum, a big portion of our day was spent with knitting needles, colored pencils, musical instruments and a block of wood with sand paper. Even though Steiner guided me to become a well rounded person and learn the basics of interactions, My parents and I decided to make a tough decision to leave and focus on other parts of my education.

Which brought me to a school that was almost the exact opposite of the Waldorf school. Its main focus, even when I was a sixth grader was to prepare students for college. Before school even started, I immediately had to go buy the best calculator out, buy all my texts books and normal gray number 2 pencils. To say the least, I was beyond nervous. Every classroom I sat in, contained a computer, whiteboards with expo markers, hard metal desks, and a television with a projector. It was so strange for me to be watching movies in school, doing half of my work on computers and not making my own books to work out of. I had very much catching up to do, and on top of that the academics were a lot more rigorous. Hours of homework at night, whereas my old school had only assigned homework on very rare occasions, tests presented on computers and not very many art classes. The first couple weeks I was at my new school, I felt very lost and out of place. My mom had to hire tutors and on a regular basis I met with teachers to stay on top of my work.

My school transfer was a very significant experience in my life and a big risk for me to take because of the two very different learning styles each school presented me with and that I had to adapt too.