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A new paradigm for our schools—Education for enlightenment Summerhill. Up the Down Staircase. Education and Ecstasy. These were books of the early seventies that started a revolution in education, away from desk-centered learning to child-centered. When I was a student in high school, these books beckoned me into a career in teaching. Thirty-five years later, a new revolution is taking place, called Consciousness-Based Education. And the book to galvanize students and educators across the nation is A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment (M.U.M. Press; 161 pages) by Ashley Deans, PhD The director of the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment in Fairfield for the past 15 years, Deans tells the remarkable story of a school that graduates ten times the national average of National Merit Scholar Finalists, has seen 95% of graduates accepted at four-year colleges, and whose grades 10–12 consistently score in the top 1% of the nation on standardized tests of educational development. And that's just for starters. Countless interviews with teachers, students, and parents of the Maharishi School and with outside educators and visitors paint a picture of school that focuses on developing every student's full potential through Consciousness-Based technologies such as the The strength of the book lies in its stories. Deans, who has lectured throughout the country and overseas, writes from his own experience as a lifelong educator. Each chapter starts with an anecdote, like the time he saw his students perform a choral reading at a state speech competition. Not only did the students win, but they captivated the audience. One of the judges said, 'I wish I could just sit in silence without having to comment.' A parent walking out of the competition said, 'Maybe it's because they have a class every day devoted to speech,' to which her friend replied, 'Maybe it's because this meditation thing really works.' One of the most moving chapters of the book includes an interview with George Rutherford, the former principal of the Fletcher Johnson Educational Center, a public school in the most crime-ridden area of Washington, DC. He learnt the Transcendental Meditation Technique while searching for a way to help his students, whose lives were endangered on a daily basis. Gradually he inspired 150 students and 85% of his staff to practise the technique together before and after school. He describes how schoolyard fights disappeared, how test scores went up. And most remarkably, the violence in the surrounding neighbourhood also abated. A research study confirmed these perceptions. No educator can afford to overlook the research presented in the book, which verifies how Consciousness-Based Education raises IQ, boosts test scores, lowers hypertension and other health risk factors, reduces violence, and contributes to a peaceful world. I know one thing. If I had read this book as a young educator, I would have immediately made a pilgrimage to this school to see it for myself. Even now, after years of living in this community and experiencing the technologies of consciousness, this book has made me realize, all over again, how precious is a child, and how sacred the responsibility of educators to give children the best possible start in life. This book offers us a roadmap, the way to raise every child to the full limits of human potential. Linda Egenes is an educator and book author who lives in Fairfield, Iowa. This book can be ordered through Maharishi University of Management Press at 1-641-472-1101, For more information about the Maharishi School, visit www.maharishischooliowa.org. © Copyright 2008 www.enlightenmenttoday.com © Copyright 2008 Global Good News®
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