Students in Consciousness-Based Education schools expand their receptivity and enjoyment by knowing their Self.

The silent cure for the silent epidemic
by Global Good News staff writer
1 July 2008

On an Air India flight from Delhi to Chicago, I picked up a Delhi newspaper and read about the large dropout rate of high school students across Delhi. Two days later, back in the USA, half way around the world, I read a report, written for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on the USA dropout problem. Across the globe, students are expressing their dissatisfaction with modern education by dropping out. Clearly, some new knowledge is needed to entice students to stay in school and unfold their full potential.

Looking more closely at the USA
Were you aware that the dropout rate in American public high schools has reached epidemic proportions and has been called 'the silent epidemic'? Fortunately there is a simple solution—a silent cure for the 'silent epidemic'. Here are some interesting details about the big problem and its simple solution:

In the school year 2004-2005, there were 540,382 public school students who dropped out of grades 9–12 in the 50 states. California, New York, and Texas had the highest number of dropouts, with more than 43,000 dropouts each.

In April, 2008, Global Good News reported that 'Seventeen of the US's 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 per cent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis, and Cleveland. The article quoted a report, issued by America's Promise Alliance, which found that about half of the students served by public school systems in the nation's largest cities receive diplomas.' (see www.globalgoodnews.com April 1, 2008, 'Low high school graduation rates in US cities.') Some US schools, where the dropout rate is over 60% are now being labeled 'dropout factories'. (see www.globalgoodnews.com, October 29, 2007: One in 10 schools are 'dropout factories'.)

According to the March 2006 report by Civic Enterprises in association with Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, entitled, The Silent Epidemic (See www.gatesfoundation.org/United States/Education ), the public high school dropout rate is 33 % or more. In the report, written by John M. Bridgeland, John J. Dilulio, Jr., and Karen Burke Morison, there is An open letter to the American People. This letter labels the 'high school dropout epidemic in America' and states:

'Each year, almost one third of all public high school students—and nearly one half of all blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans—fail to graduate from public high school with their class. Many of these students abandon school with less than two years to complete their high school education.' The letter continues, 'This tragic cycle has not substantially improved during the past decades when education reform has been high on the public agenda.'

Dropout students wish they had stayed in school
Unlike other reports on the dropout problem, this report summarizes a survey made by asking the dropout students themselves why they dropped out and how they feel about it. These answers show that most (all) dropout students felt they could have completed school, and wish they could return to finish their education. The summary states:

'The central message of this report is that while some students drop out because of significant academic challenges, most dropouts are students who could have, and believe they could have succeeded in school.' The survey, which may not mirror national statistics in all cases, provides the surprising data that '88 percent of the high school dropouts had passing grades, with 62% having "C's and above"'

The summary points out that, 'In hindsight, the young people who dropped out of school almost universally expressed great remorse for having left high school and expressed strong interest in re-entering school with students their age.' The report also says that, 'As adults, the overwhelming majority of poll participants (81%) said that graduating from high school was important to success in life.' 'Three-fourths (74%) said that if they were able to relive the experience, they would have stayed in school and 76% said they would definitely or probably re-enroll in a high school for people their age if they could.'

The report summarizes five main reasons the students cited for dropping out: 'Classes were not interesting (47%), Missed too many days and could not catch up (43%), Spent time with people who were not interested in school (42%), Had too much freedom and not enough rules in my life (38%), and was failing in school (35%)'.

Looking at the above five reasons, two general requirements for effective education stand out:

1) The need to make school more interesting and relevant to the students and
2) The need to increase the student's ability to learn and perform.

More students would stay in school, enjoy it, and succeed, if there was a way to improve the school curriculum, teaching approaches, and learning environment; and if there was some way to increase students' mental potential, ability to cope with external and internal stresses, and ability to focus and succeed academically.

Education must teach more than just information
An interview with dropout expert, Franklin P. Schargel by Education World underscores these needs. Franklin P. Schargel, co-author of Strategies to Help Solve Our School Dropout Problem (along with Dr Jay Smink, the executive director of the National Dropout Prevention Center), is chairman-elect of the Education Division of the American Society of Quality. A former teacher and assistant principal, Schargel also served on the Guidelines Development Committee for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in Education and, for two years, was an examiner for the Baldrige award. *

In the interview with Education World, March 11, 2002, Schargel points out that educators need to regard dropping out as a long-term process which begins early in the child's education. Schargel says, 'Educators—and others—believe that dropping out of school is a high school problem. In fact, there's no such thing as a high school dropout! Dropping out of school is not an event; it's a process—and data indicates that that process begins as early as third grade.'

Looking at ways to improve the dropout situation, Schargel points out the need to change the teacher-learning paradigm. Schargel suggests that educators should focus on 'enabling' the students rather than just giving them information: 'enabling the children to obtain information and turn it into a usable
resource—knowledge'.

Schargel says, 'We must get away from the concept of only teaching information.' Schargel's analysis highlights a key problem: the need to get away from information-based education. Consciousness-Based Education provides a simple solution for this problem.

Introducing a simple solution to a complex problem
There are many reports, books, and interviews, analysing the dropout problem and offering complex solutions to cover the many facets of the 'silent epidemic'. His Holiness Maharsihi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Consciousness-Based Education and the Transcendental Meditation Programme, takes a simple, effective approach: When there is darkness, don't spend time analysing the darkness; instead, bring in the light. Consciousness-Based Education offers to dispel the darkness of the dropout problem by adding the missing element to education.

Education that expands the students' ability to learn and enjoy
What is the missing element (lacking) in education? Up to now education has been mainly information-based, or fact-based. Education has emphasized the information of knowledge, and has ignored the knower. Consciousness-Based Education provides the missing element: knowledge and experience of the knower's own consciousness. Consciousness-Based Education expands the student's capacity to learn and enjoy—his wakefulness, receptivity, and consciousness.

When schools add Consciousness-Based Education to their curriculum, students learn Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Technique. During class time, students meditate together for about ten minutes. During this time, they experience a level of silence, peace, and happiness within. Within minutes, the school environment gets transformed. The usual din, confusion, and disorder in the school atmosphere turns into a peaceful, orderly air of silent stillness.

Students sit with closed eyes, while their attention settles deep within. By taking their attention inside, students find a treasure— one that eliminates stress, restlessness, and the desire to drop out. By taking their attention within through the practice of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Technique, students connect with who they really are, with their Self—an ocean of inner happiness and calm. Students tap their inner reserve of creativity and intelligence, increase their academic performance and intelligence. They begin to feel confident that they can achieve in school, and no longer have feelings of failure and defeat.

There can be innumerable different challenges facing a group of students. The simple solution for giving each student what he or she needs is to strengthen each one from within. Students allow their minds to settle and draw upon their own inner reserve of calm, intelligence, and energy. Fatigue and stresses dissolve; while wakefulness, ability to focus, energy, and positive attitude increase.

Consciousness-Based Education gives each student the direct experience of his own consciousness, the basis of all learning. Education is no longer information-based, but consciousness-based. The knower expands his ability to know and learn so that information becomes exciting, useful, and relevant.

Education that is relevant to the student
When Consciousness-Based Education includes a class period on the Science of Creative Intelligence, or Maharishi's Vedic Science, then students also learn how every subject they study relates directly to themselves. They learn how the Unified Field of Consciousness, at the source of their minds, is also the source of all the Laws of Nature, at the basis of Nature.

Students attune themselves with this Unified Field of Natural Law during their practice of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Programme and they learn how this field expresses itself in all creation during their study of traditional disciplines of biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, literature, the arts, etc. Nothing is found outside the students' Self. Every subject is relevant to the student and he enjoys discovering more and more details of his own reality.

Making Consciousness-Based Education available
Scientific Research on Maharish's Transcendental Meditation Programme and Consciousness-Based Education provides impressive results. As a result, more and more schools around the world are adopting Consciousness-Based Education. Aided by the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace, schools are providing free training in the Transcendental Meditation Programme for students. The results are noteworthy. On May 9, 2006, Global Good News reported on an article in the Providence Journal: 'When the Transcendental Meditation Programme was introduced in a highly stressed Washington, DC school, the transformation was 'nothing short of extraordinary'. 'Principal Dr George Rutherford said that from daily outbreaks of shooting and other violence, the school became a 'safe haven'. (See global Good News article May 9, 2006.)

In schools, where violence and stress are not a problem, such as the Maharishi School in Fairfield, Iowa, students report increased happiness and peace, and demonstrate a high level of achievement in state and national competitions.

And what about other parts of the world, such as India? Now Consciousness-Based Education is being offered in many countries, including many countries of Latin America, Europe, and Asia. In India, Consciousness-Based Education is offered at Maharishi Vidya Mandirs—the largest chain of privately owned public schools in India, with over 100,000 students in 143 branches across 16 states of India. Consciousness Based Education is catching on across the world because it works. Here is a method for students to become happier and better equipped to meet the demands of our complex society.

* See www. Schargel.com, 'Stop Dropping Out! (An interview with Education World)' Article by Ellen R. Delisio, reprinted with permission of Education World. It was published by Education World on March 11, 2002 as part of the site's Wire Side Chat series.Copyright © 2002 Education World.

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