804 N. Third Street • Fairfield, Iowa 52556 • Ph. 641-472-9400 • www.maharishischooliowa.org

For Immediate Release: Contact: Cynthia Arenander,
April 16, 2002 Ph. 1-641-472-0955

Everybody knows about the problems plaguing education today—lagging test scores, school violence, ADD, binge drinking, drug abuse. Despite sincere efforts to solve these problems, they persist and smolder, periodically flaring up into full-blown crises.

In a welcome contrast, a truly innovative school in America’s heartland, nestled among the cornfields of Iowa, is defying the odds, producing a whole new generation of students—or super kids—who are sweeping state competitions and making top marks on standardized achievement tests.

This is the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment where, as part of the curriculum, students practice the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique twice a day to optimize brain functioning and promote world peace.

It’s a school with an open admissions policy and single-gender classes with about 430 students in kindergarten through 12^th grade. Maharishi School has produced a remarkable 12 National Merit Scholar Finalists in the past six years. In addition, grades 10-12 have consistently scored in the top 1% on the Iowa Tests of Educational Development, both nationally and in Iowa.

The benefits of optimizing brain functioning, according to School Director Dr. Ashley Deans, can be seen in the Maharishi School’s more than 90 state championships in the sciences, arts, and athletics in the past decade (see summary list).

• Science—This year, Maharishi Upper School students won the overall Team State Championship at the Iowa State Science Fair, and Maharishi Middle School students won two of three Grand Champion Awards in the junior division at the Eastern Iowa Science and Engineering Fair (EISEF). In the past several years, Maharishi Upper School students have won 11 state science fair first-place awards, which have qualified the winners to represent Iowa at the annual International Science and Engineering Fair. Over the past three years, Maharishi Middle School students have won five out of the nine Grand Champion Awards at EISEF. Maharishi School students have also received national science awards from the U.S. Navy, Intel Intelligence and N.A.C.E. International—the Corrosion Society.

• Speech—Maharishi School won two Critics Choice Awards at this year’s All-State Speech Competitions—the second time Maharishi School achieved this unique distinction. In fact, Maharishi School has won the Critics Choice Award (best of the best) nine times in the past nine years—more than any other school in the state. Maharishi School was recently selected from 480 high school drama department nominees to represent the U.S. at the 2002 American High School Theatre Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, the world’s largest performing arts spectacular for secondary schools.

• Math—In the American High School Math Exam, Iowa Division, Maharishi School won first place for four years in row from 1996-1999.

• Art—In the state’s Congressional Art Competition, An Artistic Discovery, Maharishi School has won Grand Prize for the past three years (1999-2001).

• Sports—Maharishi School has won the Triple Crown (singles, doubles, and team titles) in tennis twice in the past three years—only one other high school has ever won the Triple Crown in the 70-year history of state competitions. Maharishi School has won a total of 14 State Tennis Class 1A titles, two State Golf 1A titles, and two chess championships, junior division.

• Problem Solving—Maharishi School has also won nine Iowa State Championships in Odyssey of the Mind (OM) and 12 in Destination ImagiNation (DIN), two international problem-solving com-petitions. It is the only school in the history of OM and DIN World Final competitions to place three or more teams in the top ten and it has done this twice, last year (2001) placing 1^st, 2^nd, 6^th and 10^th.

Yet, for all this extraordinary success, Maharishi School has scarcely been heard of outside the state.

Why? Obviously, because Maharishi School doesn’t fit into the conventional educational mode or paradigm, Dr. Deans says. After all, we do call ourselves the Maharishi School ‘Pioneers.’

The achievements of our students—in so many areas year after year—is a by-product of our Consciousness-Based education. All the students practice Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation technique, and the older students also practice the advanced TM-Sidhi program, including Yogic Flying. These and other ‘Vedic technologies of consciousness’ prepare our students for greater success by increasing EEG coherence in brain functioning and by rejuvenating the whole physiology, says Dr. Deans.

During the past 30 years, over 600 scientific studies conducted at more than 200 research institutions in 33 countries have verified these Vedic technologies’ wide range of benefits to mind, body, behavior and society (see summary at: www.mum.edu/sr_intro.html). In the U.S., during the past 12 years, the National Institutes of Health and leading private foundations have awarded more than $20 million in research grants to study the effects of these Vedic technologies.

It’s a very simple formula for success, says Dr. Deans. If students come to the classroom tired, dull, worried, etc., their ability to learn is obstructed. Our students at Maharishi School have a competitive advantage because they are practicing these Vedic technologies of consciousness. Extensive research shows that these technologies increase intelligence and EEG brain wave coherence, improve cognitive functions such as mental alertness and ability to focus, and reduce anxiety and stress. If students feel better in mind and body, they are going to perform better, at a higher level of achievement.

Maharishi School’s motto is Knowledge is structured in consciousness. Dr. Deans says that this means that the student’s state of consciousness is primary to learning, and therefore developing higher consciousness—the genius within every student—is the key to higher education. This is the new frontier of education in this new millennium, says Dr. Deans.

Patrick Bassett, president of the National Association of Independent Schools in Washington, D.C., commented: Maharishi School is routinely recognized as outstanding in Iowa, since its students frequently take top prizes in statewide academic competitions. It is an independent school of the highest caliber academically.

The success of Consciousness-Based education can also be seen in other Maharishi Schools around the world.

For example, in Great Britain, Maharishi School in Skelmersdale recently drew national attention when it scored among an academic elite—being one of a few schools in the country to achieve a 100% top pass rate on the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams. Maharishi School-Skelmersdale topped the Lancashire GCSE league again this year, ranking it consistently in the top 2.5% nationwide in league tables.

According to an article in the Daily Mail, a National Health Service director who visited Maharishi School in Skelmersdale said that all schools should teach meditation as a way to combat teenage stress and keep children off drugs.

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