Meditators in Fairfield are finding academic success by breaking out of the mold cast by other Iowa schools. A visitor to the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment finds plenty of differences—but also finds that kids will always be kids.

Cars pull slowly up to the curb, one following another in a familiar morning ritual. Doors open and youngsters spill out—waving good-bye to their drivers, chattering with one another, rearranging books and backpacks as they head up the hill to class.

It's how school days begin all across Iowa.

But this is one of two private schools in Fairfield, and that's where the similarity ends. Because these particular children are heading up the hill to Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, a pre-kindergarten through twelfth-grade system unlike any other in the state.

The School is an outgrowth of Maharishi University of Management, located just north of this three-building complex. Both the School and University are run by people who practice Transcendental Meditation. TM, in fact, is basic to the whole educational system. Students, even the youngest, begin their day in meditation. Some high schoolers engage in yogic flying, an advanced form of meditation.

There are other differences, too. These kids wear uniforms—green and gold jumpers or sweaters and skirts for the girls and white shirts, ties and tan trousers for boys. Although uniforms are found in some private schools, public schools at the most have dress codes to discourage clothing related to gangs.

The students study Sanskrit, an ancient language that originated in the area of India. They begin the study in kindergarten, learning first the alphabet, then the sounds and, finally, in tenth grade, grammar.

Except for a few upper level courses, the students are in gender-separate classes all day long, a practice that is rare in public schools in the state.

Want more? The high school athletic roster excludes football because of the injuries it produces. Students stand when called upon to recite in class. They watch little television. And it appears that they take their studies very seriously.

In 1971, the Maharishi International University opened in Santa Barbara, CA, but soon administrators were looking for a bigger campus. In 1974, they purchased the defunct Parsons College campus in Fairfield. That same year, Maharishi School opened for 12 elementary-age children of University faculty. Nine years later, the first class graduated. Today, enrollment is 600, with 150 in the high school. Graduates numbered 11 in 1996 and 33 in 1997. In May 1998, there were 50.

Growth on campus is rapid, too. Fairfield's Telegroup, Inc., an international long-distance telecommunications provider, wired classrooms for the ethernet (a networked system that hooks all the computers together). A combined computer lab, library, and media center opened in late 1997. Yet to come is a high-tech greenhouse where students will grow crops based on the principles of Maharishi Vedic agriculture which includes organic techniques. A long-term goal is to have one school for the girls, another for the boys.

Maharishi curriculum includes the usual—math, science, language arts, social studies. It also includes the unusual—the Science of Creative Intelligence, a subject taught at all grade levels. Dr. Chris Jones, associate professor of education and chair of the Department of Education at the University, says a central principle of the Science of Creative Intelligence is that "everything undergoes orderly growth—the human body, the star system, a tree. It's the creative drive of nature to expand and grow. We can't know less tomorrow than we do today."

Jones calls this a "holistic approach to learning because students relate subjects to each other and, ultimately, to themselves. The subject matter must be meaningful to them," he says. "Otherwise, students have no interest in learning about it."

Classes are quiet, orderly. The older the students, the more focused they seem.

The boys in Tom Fishback's fourth grade stand to answer questions. The teacher says that helps build students' ability to speak on their feet. "Plus," he adds, "if someone is standing, the others are less likely to start talking." Fishback finds that in an all-boys class, everyone feels free to respond to questions. "There's not the dynamics going on like there are when both sexes are in the room," he says.

A fifth grade girl responds to a visitor's question about gender-separate classes. "I like not being in class with the boys," she says. "When we used to be in class together, if you gave a wrong answer, they made fun of you."

We intended to keep some classes co-educational," says Dr. Ashley Deans, Director of the Maharishi School, "but after a few years, we couldn't find parents who wanted their children in them any longer."

Approximately 95 percent of the Maharishi graduates will continue on to a college or university; 50 percent will go to Maharishi University of Management, another 20 percent to the University of Iowa. Obviously, the School is successful academically. Consider:
Grades 9-12 score in the 99th percentile on the Iowa Test of Educational Development—both  nationally and in Iowa.

Two seniors out of last year's class were named National Merit Scholars.

Students place first in the American High School Math Exam in their Iowa division.

Students win or place in Academic Decathlon, Junior Physical Science, Iowa History Day,  Odyssey of the Mind and Iowa High School Speech Association contests.

As far as athletics is concerned, Maharishi students bring home golf and tennis state championships. The use of meditation before golf meets was featured in a story in Sports Illustrated.Maharishi graduation will be in mid-June. For many of the graduates leaving home, next fall will be their first experience outside of a TM program community. No one seems daunted. "I look at what I have to do in college and I know I am really strong inside and always will have that strength," one senior girl shares. "I feel connected with myself and with the world. Meditating gave me that, and no matter where I go, I'll always feel that way."

Mary Kay Shanley is a Des Moines writer and the author of several books. Reprinted with permission of The Iowan. The complete article is available on the Internet at www.iowan.com.