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monday
11.01.04
the shedd
687.6526
Schools test out
higher learning
Private and public schools using Transcendental
Meditation report high standardized test scores
BY PATRICK CONDON
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FAIRFIELD, Iowa — Here in the
American headquarters of Transcen
dental Meditation, people like to brag
that, much as in Garrison Keillor's
fictional Lake Wobegon, "all the chil
dren are above average. ”
“The children are so enthusiastic
to do things: competitions, academ
ics, and so on,” said Ashley Deans,
headmaster of Maharishi School of
the Age of Enlightenment, a private
K-12 academy with about 300 stu
dents. “And when they enter it, they
win it... time and time again.”
The secret, school officials say, is
Transcendental Meditation — the
practice of invoking a state of deep
relaxation by mentally repeating a
word, or mantra.
Advocates say TM can spread suc
cess at other schools, and groups
promoting it recently have appeared
at public schools in New York, Cali
fornia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania,
Kentucky and other places.
But critics, and there are plenty,
say Transcendental Meditation in
public schools straddles the line be
tween church and state, and that oth
er forms of meditation would be just
as effective for students.
“I would call it a stealth religion,”
said Barry Markovsky, a University of
South Carolina sociologist who re
searches social networks. “I would
ask whether this is a group I would
want to have teaching my children
stress-reduction techniques.”
Transcendental Meditation is a
trademark technique brought to the
United States by Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi, a Hindu monk who became
guru to The Beatles, Mia Farrow and
other celebrities in the 1960s. In the
70s, he bought the bankrupt Parsons
College in this southeastern Iowa city
of about 10,000 and established Ma
harishi University of Management.
Followers recently formed the
Consciousness-Based Education As
sociation to provide “scientifically
validated educational programs,
technologies, and consulting service
for new schools, existing schools and
after-school organizations,” accord
ing to the group's Web site.
“You have 10 million kids on anti
depressants, one in five black kids
with hypertension, America not lead
ing the world in test scores,” said
Bob Roth, spokesman for the Con
sciousness-Based Education Associ
ation. “Transcendental Meditation is
not just a way to reduce stress, it's a
way to prepare a student to learn. ”
Roth said his group is not actively
approaching schools, but rather pro
viding information when asked.
“A school day can get pretty stress
ful,” Maharishi School sophomore
Cooper Rose said during a break
from math class. “Being able to med
itate every day gives you a chance to
settle, and to get a nice basis for the
day on your mind.”
Security:
Mail-ins also
under watch
Continued from page 1A
that there is not much potential for bal
lot fraud.
“The drop box in my county — Polk
County — looks a lot like an old mail
box and it’s picked up a couple times
every day,” Corbin said. “If someone
was trying to jimmy the lock on that
drop box, someone would notice. I’m
a believer in the system, and I person
ally love voting on the couch. ”
But Oregon election officials don’t
discuss security beyond that for confi
dentiality purposes. Newingham said
the extent of security does not cover
constant surveillance or at least a drop
box official who can guard against po
tential fraud.
“We can’t post people outside for
these drop sites because many of them
are available 24 hours a day,” Newing
ham said. “We’ve used these drop sites
since the mid-’90s and people have
liked the availability and location of
these sites, and it’s gone without much
of a hitch. ”
Yet concerns do not end with drop
boxes. The mail-in ballot system in the
state may offer fraudulent voters the
potential to create false or even multi
ple addresses in order to receive extra
ballots, but Newingham says that pos
sibility is rare at best.
“We use the 911-emergency data
base to verify our addresses,” she said.
“We catch some fraudulent addresses,
but that’s the nature of the beast, and
we remove those addresses. ”
anthonyhicero@ daily emerald, com
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• You do the math!
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• Provide smart, fresh solutions in Iraq
• Never mislead our country into war
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