A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of Maharishi School of
the Age of Enlightenment
Ashley Deans, Ph.D.
Reviewed by Sabrina Williams
The Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment in Iowa is directed by
Ashley Deans, Ph.D. and was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a native
of India who has endeavored to teach a specific form of Vedic
meditation around the globe for fifty years. In his 2005 release A
Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of the Maharishi School of
the Age of Enlightenment , Deans explains the extraordinary success of
the school and why Maharishi students excel in virtually all areas of
academic study. The answer, predictably, is meditation, but the
simplicity of the regiment makes it a practice that could be
implemented worldwide to benefit all of humanity.
The entire student body and staff members spend 20 minutes twice daily
practicing Maharishi Transcendental Meditation. This form of
"Consciousness-Based" education provides the students with a sense of
clarity in a world of overstimulation. "This experience brings
unprecendented benefits for students--total brain development,
increased alertness, full blossoming of creative intelligence,
extraordinary academic achievements, more energy and better health,
growth of inner peace and happiness, harmony with fellow students and
teachers, and enlightened social behavior" writes Deans.
The tremendous amount of awards and honors earned by Maharishi students
denotes an usual degree of focus and discipline that students of highly
criticized American public schools typically lack. These children excel
in every area of competition, from science to photography to golf.
Visitors to the school are amazed to see children alert and attentive,
eager to learn and completely respectful of those around them.
Deans repeats several times that Maharishi Transcendental Meditation is
incredibly easy to implement in any school and requires no additional
resources. He touts the benefits of the practice in school performance,
health, conflict resolution and stress management. He encourages the
reader to visualize a peaceful world, where the entire population has
mastered Transcendental Meditation and societal problems are a thing of
the past. Disappointingly, this is where he leaves off, providing no
instruction in this specific type of meditation. He states that
Maharishi Transcendental Meditation should be taught by someone fully
trained in the process, as in the seven-step course offered by the
Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation ( www.tm.org), and
provides a list of websites and books for reference.
The text flows nicely and an added feature is a section of full color
photographs of Maharishi students in action. These young adults are
glowing with a confidence and serenity that people twice their age have
yet to find. Deans uses a chapter to compare the values of the standing
public school system with priciples of Maharishi education. The book
serves as a teaser into the possibilities of a "Consciousness-Based"
education, especially to a public weary of the deterioration of the
American public school system. The reader will definitely want to
explore further.