California Schools Teaching Thousands Of Children Eastern Meditative Practices
(Michael Allen Jones/mjones@sacbee.com)
I was shocked to read that California has made Eastern mediation a part of the school curriculum. Kindergartners are being taught Buddhist/Hindu New Age practices, and of course the children are spreading this new knowledge to their siblings and friends. I thought this nation was ruled by separation of church and state. Meditation is a pivotal part of these Eastern religions…and the instructor of these classes is an active Buddhist. What is going on here?!
Excerpts:
Math tests, soccer matches, the cafeteria bully. Grammar diagrams, global warming, dad losing his job. Now add this to some 8-year-olds’ schedules: a second- period class on dealing with stress.
Before graduating another generation of workaholic, road-raged adults, a number of California schools are intervening as early as kindergarten, reworking adult relaxation techniques for little ones.
Oren Sofer (a practicing Buddhist) is one of the instructors hired to deliver this new curriculum. On Wednesday, he navigated his way through the playground at Bridges Academy in east Oakland, arrived at Portable Classroom H and pushed open the door.
“Hi, Mr. Ooooooo,” the third-graders chimed, then began chanting, “mind-ful-ness, mind-ful-ness.”
Sofer asked the students to show him their mindful bodies. As the students quieted down, he held up a Tibetan singing bowl.
“Let’s begin by just listening to the sound of the bell,” he said gently. “Let your eyes close.”
He tapped the side of the bowl. “Raise your hand after you hear the whole bell.” He waited. “Now, take that hand down to your belly, and let’s take a few breaths together.” Sofer visits this class, and eight others, 15 minutes a day, three times a week for five weeks to teach mindfulness – the ability to be aware of what is happening in the present moment without judgment.
Based on an adult stress-reduction program, the rhythmic breathing and meditation exercises are adapted for elementary- school students’ vocabulary and attention spans. The Community Partnership for Mindfulness in Education, based at Park Day School in north Oakland, developed and funded the curriculum to teach students skills to calm down and pay attention.
“Right now, our country is facing extreme hardship,” said Laurie Grossman, one of the program’s founders. “And it trickles down to the kids.”
… “A lot of the kids have a lot of things going on in their lives, difficult family situations and poverty,” Kaplan added. “They bring that to school, and it’s hard to let all that go and be focused on learning things that can seem very abstract and not related to their lives.”
So Sofer teaches kids skills that help them set aside distracting thoughts and be in the moment.
“Last time, we talked about mindfulness and eating,” he said, referring to a session where students had to touch, smell and listen to a raisin before eating it. “Raise your hand if you ate something mindfully.” One boy mentioned a burrito. “What did you notice when you ate it mindfully?” Sofer asked him.
“I wanted to eat it faster,” the boy said.
“Right,” Sofer said. “When we slow down, we notice how much we rush.”
Many kids find themselves applying mindful awareness to all parts of their lives:on the playground, at home, at church and at the dentist’s office.
… In the past two years, 19 schools in Oakland, El Cerrito and Napa – and 4,600 kids – have completed the program.
… The south Sacramento school’s social worker, Mary Reilly, said she had little challenge persuading the principal and teachers to adopt the mindfulness curriculum. “It’s just a part of our culture now,” Reilly said.
… “I use it before my shows,” said Siena Bogatin, 11, who will play Veruca Salt in the Berkeley Playhouse Youth Company’s stage performance of “Willy Wonka Jr.” this month. “I go by myself and close my eyes and zone out of everything else that’s happening.”
… Almost all of the children report teaching their brothers, sisters, cousins, friends and parents about mindfulness.
So…Buddhists are indocrtinating our children with pagan, demonic rituals and the parents are fine with that?
Can Christians work something out to come into public schools and teach children about the peace that surpasses all understanding in Jesus the Christ?
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