"Education for Peace"
The annual Education Conference hosted by the University of Surrey
will this year include a special symposium on Maharishi's
Consciousness-Based Education (CBE). The three-day conference,
from 20 to 22 June, is ninth in a series on "Education, Spirituality
and the Whole Child". The overall theme for 2002 is "Education for Peace".
Organisers of the conference emphasise that the key questions to be
addressed by the conference include: What is the educational
response to terror? How do teachers help young people deal with
fear and achieve inner peace? What can schools do to promote
tolerance and good relations between different faiths and ethnic
groups? Isn't it time we took Peace Education seriously?
As readers of this newsletter will know, Maharishi's Consciousness-Based
System of Education addresses all of these issues very directly, and we
are pleased that the organisers of the conference have agreed to include
a special symposium on the topic.
The CBE Symposium, to take place on the morning of 22 June, will be
chaired by Dr Ian Birnbaum, Chief Education Officer of the London
Borough of Sutton. Speakers will include Dr Geoffrey Clements,
Chairman of Maharishi Foundation, Charles Cunningham, an expert
in the scientific research on Transcendental Meditation, and
Dr Alex Hankey, who taught the first undergraduate course at
Maharishi University of Management (MUM), USA, in 1973.
Subscribers to ths newsletter are cordially invited to attend the
conference and the CBE symposium - see end of this message
for application details.
Dr Hankey says: "In the light of last September's terrorist attack
in New York City, this conference is most timely, and follows on
well from the First Global Symposium on Consciousness-Based
Education held at MUM last October [see press articles on 26 and
31 October 2001 on our website - www.globalcountry.org.uk].
Questions without good answers are constantly being raised in
schools about the safety of life in western countries and our future
security. Consciousness Based-Education is unique in being able
to make a crucial contribution to resolving the problems of education
and society as a whole - based on excellent scientific research.
It truly is 'Education for Peace'."
Symposium speakers will show how Consciousness-Based Education
is suitable for all levels of education. Examples of its use in schools,
colleges and universities in many countries, including the UK, USA,
South Africa and India, will show that its benefits are universal and not
specific to one culture.
Dr Geoffrey Clements will talk about the responsibility of education in
the life of a nation, discussing two main tasks of education - to facilitate
development of creativity, intelligence, and learning ability of students,
and to provide meaningful knowledge of life. He will show the contrast
with modern education, which fails to develop the whole student.
Charles Cunningham will review research showing improved educational
performance and better behaviour in the classroom and out of school
when CBE is introduced, and discuss how this gives CBE systematic,
scientific advantages that are of unique benefit to modern education.
Mr Cunningham has recently conducted research at St George's Hospital
Medical School on the efficacy of Transcendental Meditation in the
treatment of heart disease.
Dr Alex Hankey will discuss research on brain coherence, showing
how CBE reverses the fragmenting effect of modern science-based
education, and improves creativity, intelligence, and emotional stability
and maturity. He will connect this to the Maharishi Effect, whereby
peace can be created for the community, the nation and the world.
According to Dr Clements: "The successes and failures of education
determine the quality of life of the whole community. It is vital that
education delivers maximum, and is based on thorough, scientific
knowledge of the mind and the brain. Consciousness-Based Education
offers precisely this."
You are welcome to attend the conference. For details please contact:
The CPD Office, University of Surrey, Roehampton, Froebel College,
Roehampton Lane, London SW15 5PJ. Tel: 020 8392 3383.
You may also arrange to attend just the final day of the conference,
including the CBE symposium and the summing up of the whole
conference - please contact Dr Alex Hankey for details on 020 8747 9010.