Enlightened Educator

Ending School Violence

Excerpts from EducationGuardian.co.uk

Friday October 21, 2005

Classroom violence

Teachers will be given the clear legal right to discipline unruly pupils and restrain them through the use of "reasonable force", ministers announced today. The plans include a new law setting out teachers' "clear and unambiguous right" to discipline pupils and restrain them through reasonable force

Ms Kelly said: "There is still too much low-level disruption to lessons - backchat, rudeness, calling out in class - that makes teaching and learning more difficult. These proposals can help bring change not just to the rules, but to the culture, reaffirming respect in classrooms and putting teachers firmly in charge."

Ms Kelly (the education secretary) added that poor behaviour would not simply disappear if there was legislation. "Heads and teachers must use these new powers with the backing of parents - only then can we make good behavior the norm in every classroom," she said.

Meanwhile, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, Mick Brookes, said, "It is reprehensible that a minority of parents condone negative and loutish behavior which causes distress in the school environment."

Comment: Combating negative behavior in school by use of “reasonable force” is a continuance of a policy that has consistently proven a failure i.e. fighting violence with violence. The only effective way to restore a love of learning and respect for authority is by having schools teach Total Knowledge rather than partial knowledge. Total Knowledge can only be gained through Consciousness-Based education, which gives the student the experience of Transcendental Consciousness, the Unified Field of All the Laws of Nature. This experience enlivens the unified, coherent functioning of the whole brain physiology, resulting in increased intelligence and creativity, and reduced stress and antisocial behavior. For more information visit http://www.arecordofexcellence.com to find out how to order A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment

Schools Damaging to Student Health

It is very important for parents to realize that school buildings can be hazardous to their childrens' health. Schools today are often cleaned with toxic chemicals and are built from toxic buiding materials. In addition, schools are also serving poisonous non-organic foods. Furthermore, the orientation and the dimensions of the building have a profound effect on thinking and behavior according to Maharishi Sthapatya Veda, the ancient science of Vastu Vidya-building in accord with Natural Law. The effect of orientation and the importance on quality of life of having an east entrance and not a south entrance has now been confirmed by scientific research. Today, at Maharishi University of Management and Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, students are served organic food and live in buildings designed according to Vastu Vidya, the knowledge of how to build in harmony with Natural Law. For more information visit http://www.mum.edu
and read http://www.arecordofexcellence.com Visit our website http://maharishischooliowa.org

Education can Improve Brain Functioning

During a recent tour of east-coast universities with film-maker David Lynch, Dr. Fred Travis gave a series of dramatic public demonstrations showing how the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique increases the orderliness of brain functioning as measured by EEG coherence.

Increased EEG coherence is associated with increased creativity, intelligence, and higher states of consciousness. When schools have added the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique to the curriculum the results have been unprecedented educational outcomes both in higher academic achievement and in improved health and social behavior.

To learn more, read A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment http://Arecordofexcellence.com and visit http://mum.edu

Reducing Stress in Schools

National Public Radio reports that a Christian group in Raleigh, N.C., is objecting to stress relief and breathing exercise classes offered by elementary schools. They say the classes promote New Age and Hindu beliefs and violate students' constitutional right to freedom of religion.

Comment: At Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, which is open to students from all religious and cultural backgrounds, students practice the simple, natural, effortless technique of Transcendental Meditation, which has been shown in hundreds of published research studies to be the most effective means to prevent the harmful effects of stress. In addition, students practice simple Yoga postures and breathing techniques to develop neuromuscular and neurorespiratory integration. The result is better health for the students and unprecedented educational outcomes. For example, in the creative problem solving competition DestinationImagination, Maharishi School students won more first and second place prizes at the 2005 Global Finals than every school in North Carolina combined! As more and more schools adopt Consciousness-Based education, parents, teachers, and students everywhere will be able to breath more easily. For more information on Maharishi School read A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment http://www.arecordofexcellence.com

BRITISH PM VOWS FIGHT AGAINST HOODLUMS

Fight against yobs to target children

Gaby Hinsliff, political editor
December 11, 2005
The Observer

Tony Blair today launches a new war on yobbery with a crackdown on inadequate parents, aimed at tackling even the tiniest tearaways too young to face prosecution.

Parents of anti-social under-10s who cannot be taken to court, or of older children who have not yet offended but are deemed at risk, will face orders compelling them to attend behavioral classes or comply with standards in a dramatic widening of the concept of anti-social behavior.

Comment: The most effective, scientifically proven method to culture coherent social behavior in both parents and children is the Transcendental Meditation technique. More than 600 scientific studies performed at over 250 universities and research institutes in 30 countries, have reported benefits in all areas of life including increased creativity and intelligence, reduced levels of stress, and improved social behavior. When groups of individuals exceeding the square root of one percent of the population practice the TM-Sidhi program, including Yogic Flying, acute social stress is dissolved, and crime, violence, terrorism, and war are reduced and eliminated. To learn more about how to culture ideal citizens read A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment. http://www.arecordofexcellence.com 

WHY DOES COLLEGE DRIVE STUDENTS TO DRINK?

       

USA TODAY 11/16/2005 reports that “the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimated in March that alcohol consumption accounted for more than 1,700 deaths among college-age students in 2001, the most recent year for which such figures are available.”

Meanwhile, on the west coast, Reuters 12/2/2005 reports, “Berkeley lifts fraternity alcohol ban” and on the east coast Yale Alumni magazine reports, “Administrators say that Yale and other colleges cannot stop underage drinking: they can only hope to check its excesses.”

This phemomena seems to be international,with David Mitchell (The Observer, 12/4/2005) recalling his years as a Cambridge undergraduate in an article entitled “Through my rose-tinted beer goggles.”

Comment: Why do students feel the need to drink so much? One reason is that the current system of “fact-based” education overloads students with information. Moreover, because specialization only delivers partial knowledge the student sees the field of the unknown growing more rapidly than the field of the known. In this sense “fact-based” education increases ignorance more than knowledge. This inevitably leads to stress, dissatisfaction, and partial brain development. The solution is to offer Consciousness-Based education, which develops the brain holistically, reduces stress levels, and provides the student with the experience of the field of Total Knowledge deep within at the source of thought. To learn more about Consciousness-Based education read A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment http://www.arecordofexcellence.com

Developing Ideal Citizens

A Brief Excerpt from
The New York Times Week in Review
Judith Warner
November 27, 2005

CHILDREN should be seen and not heard" may be due for a comeback. After decades of indulgence, American society seems to have reached some kind of tipping point, as far as tolerance for wild and woolly kid behavior is concerned.

"These kids are so extremely stressed from the academic load they're carrying and how cloistered they are and how they have to live under the watchful eye of their parents," Dr. Mogel said. "They have no kid space."

If stress and strain, self-centeredness and competition are the pathogens underlying the rash of rudeness perceived to be endemic among children in America today, then the cure, some experts said, has to be systemic and not topical.

Comment: The best systemic approach to culturing respectful students who display the qualities of ideal citizenship is to introduce Consciousness-Based education into the school system. By enlivening the holistic functioning of the brain, reducing the harmful effects of stress, and giving the students the experience of Total Knowledge within their own awareness, Consciousness-Based education develops students who naturally respect their parents and teachers. Read about the ideal students and Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment in A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment. http://www.arecordofexcellence.com

British Schools to Adopt 'Phonics' Style of Teaching Reading

Back to Basics

The Guardian
December 1, 2005

The education secretary, Ruth Kelly, today announced an overhaul of the way children are taught to read with a return to a "back to basics" approach.

A teaching style known "synthetic phonics", where children learn the letter sounds as the building blocks to words, was recommended in a review of the teaching of reading published today by the former schools inspector Jim Rose.

Comment: This is just another case where educators have come full circle in their teaching methods as they try to correct the persistent problems in education. Why did teachers turn away from “the basics” in the first place? Because the results obtained were not satisfactory. Why are they going “back to basics” again? Because the results obtained with the current methods are not satisfactory. Einstein defined insanity as trying the same thing over again and expecting a different result.

It is time for a completely new approach to education, a Consciousness-Based approach, which enlivens the most basic field of life—the field of pure intelligence within the student—pure consciousness. This results in greater creativity, intelligence, and comprehension so that the student learns everything more easily.

To learn more about how Consciousness-Based education results in unprecedented educational outcomes read A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment. http://arecordofexcellence.com

Transcendental Meditation: The Best Way to Prevent Bullying

Schools urged to use array of approaches to tackle bullying

Lucy Ward, social affairs correspondent
Tuesday November 22, 2005
The Guardian

Schools should be prepared to use punishment as part of their policy on tackling bullying, the schools minister said yesterday as she made clear the "no blame" approach endorsed by some experts is not supported by the government.

The ABA yesterday launched anti-bullying week by calling on children and young people to urge their schools to do more to tackle the problem, and to put forward practical suggestions such as peer support programmes or "bully boxes" in which children could report bullying anonymously.

Comment: The Transcendental Meditation program has been found to be the most effective way to dissolve the acute social stress that lies at the basis of bullying. The side benefits of teaching this program in schools are that the students become more creative, intelligent, and harmonious, thereby bringing fulfillment to their own aspirations as well as those of their parents and teachers. To learn more about the unprecedented educational outcomes that result from the Transcendental Meditation program read A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment. http://www.arecordofexcellence.com

Making the grade on 'stealth drugs'

Adderall is quickly becoming the drug of choice at colleges

Special to The Examiner, By Lindsay Applebaum
Sunday, November 6, 2005
http://www.dcexaminer.com/articles/2005/11/06/top_news/01top07adderall.txt

It's late Tuesday afternoon, and Carey, 19, hasn't started her English term paper. "Not a big deal," a Maryland college student says. "I'll get it done; I always do." Her secret? Drugs.

The white powder is not cocaine - it's Adderall. Much like athletes taking steroids, some students are turning to 10 or 20 milligram pills that provide hours of intense concentration. Students see Adderall as an academic performance-enhancing drug that can get them the coveted 4.0 grade point average.

Comment: Educators must wake up to the fact that the “fact-based” system of education they are offering today creates stress in the lives of their students, driving some of them to substance abuse in an attempt to relieve stress. The most effective way to combat this disturbing trend is by offering Consciousness-Based education. Study after study has reported that students who practice the Transcendental Meditation technique have higher levels of alertness, creativity, and intelligence, and naturally get better grades. They also have fewer symptoms of the harmful effects of stress and show significantly reduced levels of substance abuse. To learn more about the Transcendental Meditation and its successful use in schools read A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment. http://www.arecordofexcellence.com