The School Where There Is More Meditation And Less Punishment
At Robert W. Coleman Elementary School in Baltimore, they discovered an excellent alternative to punishment: meditation. It is an ingenious proposal, but one that no one would have expected to have the positive results that it has. Students at this innovative school are not punished for their bad behavior; Let’s see what this is about.
It is hard to believe that elementary school children would know what meditation is and how to apply it. However, through the initiative of the Holistic Life Foundation, this Baltimore school has succeeded in transforming its students. The main tools of transformation are meditation and yoga.
The importance of this decision is based on the possibility of transforming minds. It is not just about correcting an attitude or disciplining them at specific times. The experience could be transformative at greater levels. Some parents claim that their children have brought this learning home, something that may last in their lives.
Those who disobey go to meditation
A group of researchers from the aforementioned non-profit foundation has put into practice an interesting alternative to punishment. Instead of punishing them with boring sermons or arrests, they are invited to meditate. As we can imagine, this is not something that children know how to do, even it costs us adults.
Instead, at Robert W. Coleman Elementary, children are taught the art of meditation. Inside the institution they have a room very different from the director’s office. In this case we are talking about what they call the Room of the Conscious Moment, an enclosure full of relaxing elements.
We find in this meditation area, a purple carpet on which the “punished” must sit, there are lights and decoration typical of the activity. Although we know that meditation can promote multiple benefits to the mind and body, it has never been used for this purpose. However, the children have managed to relax and enter mindfulness meditation.
The experts explain that the place and time are conducive for the little ones to calm down, from now on, they can reflect on their actions. Recent studies have shown that meditation is capable of improving our memories and emotions. That is, it encourages disturbing situations from the past to be banished.
It is also known that through mindful meditation, a person can focus better and attend to circumstances promptly. That is why this technique has been put into practice in some psychological therapies successfully.
The innovative classroom, promoted by the foundation, runs the Yo Holístico program, through which children learn to exercise their mind and also practice yoga. It was designed for children from preschool age to approximately 10 years old.
School as a synonym for punishment
Traditional education has mainly opted for punishment to control the misbehavior of children. Even if they are small corrections, they can greatly affect the students. The most serious suspensions or sanctions threaten the academic and emotional development of the little ones.
During punishments that involve detention for a few hours or the typical isolation towards the corner, it does not provide opportunities for growth. Sometimes it is not even an alternative capable of helping the child to reflect on his action. Therefore, they soon cease to be effective, and may even become harmful.
In this sense, acting violently is not an option either. So school punishment has ceased to have the desired effect, but it still exists. In schools, children are still being punished and they are aware that this will continue to be the case.
