Yeah, sounds like a real nice place:
http://tmfree.blogspot.com/2007/02/program-pedophilia.html
One lovely young girl in elementary school was refused admittance to
Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment (MSAE), after thorough
interogation before an all male board of well-suited MSAE faculty.
They interogated her in detail about a prior childhood sexual
molestation. Her mother's presence was forbidden for this unique
"admissions interview," as the interview board wanted an objective
evaluation of the child. The panel asked detailed questions and
listened attentively to her history. Of course, none of the interview
panel were child therapists, as Maharishi abhors therapy. After this
grueling voyeristic experience, the child was denied admitance to
MSAE as "her impurity would taint the rest of the student body." She
said that experience of blame-the-victim was more traumatic than was
the original sexual molestation.
---
http://tmfree.blogspot.com/2007/01/letter-to-san-rafael-school-
boardor-how.html
The Transcendental Meditation community of Fairfield, Iowa is as-if
my extended family. I harbor no ill will toward individuals in the TM
Movement; in fact I love many of them. To this day, some graduates of
MSAE request my guidance as they strive to function in the real
world, outside of their protected meditation society. Their
intentions are noble, as are those of any True Believer.
On Sep 5, 2007, at 12:59 PM, Duveyoung wrote:
Education at MSAE -- in the 80's -- was catch as catch can. Some good
teachers, some nice people who shouldn't be teachers, and some anal
types that were true believers who tried their hardest to sound like
Bevan.
It was mostly rich folks' kids mixed with the kids of poor folks who
worked for their kids' tuitions by being MSAE crossing guards etc.
None of the teachers were "real world" in that they toed the party
line on most issues. Try to get them to whisper about where all the
money goes and you'd better be a close friend for them to open up.
Politics played big with who was in charge, and arbitrary abuse was
common -- teachers were sometimes just fired for obscure reasons or
"Maharishi said" reasons. And if the teacher is a good one, it was
stressing to see them mistreated.
The kids came out pretty good though -- meaning, they weren't
brainwashed cultists and saw TM for what it is really worth, saw the
MSAE curricula as about 30% mood making crappola and/or not usable in
the real world -- like Vedic math, memorized Sanskrit passages, five
minute meditations before class starts, etc. I'd say maybe 20% of the
kids were obviously there only because their parents made them go
there -- they tried to get out of meditation, skipped dome, etc.
I think MSAE works good enough, because the parents are motivated to
keep the kids churning on the homework etc. For a small school it
"tests well," and it has lots of success in inter-school activities
like sports, drama, science fairs, etc. There was a family feel in
many scenarios. I was happy to drop the kids off.
The bad parts are that the teachers are "slaves" for the most part --
working for a free trailer on campus, free kids' tuitions, small cash
stipend. This reward package attracts only a certain type of teacher.
I don't know the MSAE of today -- it might be much more goofy-assed
with King Tony Nadar running around -- don't know how his status is
explained -- how do you tell kids to talk about His Highness in a way
that wouldn't get the snickers and guffaws going in any non-TM group?
I feel sorry for the kids in how little they are offered that's real
world -- something they can use to actually identify with the movement
that's defensible to non-TMers. My son quit MUM so that his degree
wouldn't be from there, so that instead is diploma would be from
another institution with his credits from MUM transferred. It's tough
to explain to a prospective employer, ya know? There's a palpable
disconnect in the stance of the teachers regarding the quality of
MSAE's education -- they pump the kids up with a ton of "we're the
best," but it leads to an isolationist POV and a snobbishness towards
townies.
And it costs way too much, because half the dough goes for Girish's
lavish parties in India donchaknow. The people with school-aged kids
are the hardest pressed to make ends meet, yet the movement (Girish)
treats MSAE as just another cash cow instead of, you know, buying more
books for the library, giving teachers decent salaries, subsidizing
uniform purchases, gym equipment, etc.
I don't know, but I would bet that most of the rich kids don't end up
going to MUM....a tell that the rich folks understand the real world.
All that said, I moved to California with the family, but my daughter
was in her senior year, so we rented a house in Fairfield for her
(next to a sister-in-law,) and she graduated from MSAE. MSAE never
knew that she was "living on her own with scant supervision" heh heh.
But don't miss the point, my daughter had so many friendships there
that she just couldn't do anything else. That's a testament for the
quality of personalities in the community -- my daughter is very big
hearted but not a push over, but she had dozens of friends and a very
big social life. I think Fairfield can offer an actual "home town" of
some merit just because somehow the MSAE kids are coming out with a
real world clarity due to their having been subjected to the MSAE
delusions which imbues a certain level of cynicism in them towards
cultish mindsets. A good thing, I guess.
Other parents will tell other stories. The rich folks will be much
more positive about it. The poor folks will have been shamed many
times by having to contort their lives to afford the uniforms, field
trip fees, etc.
The separation of the genders is probably a good thing, but that's
just me.
And MSAE, back then, was a real pill if you tried to take your kid
somewhere that didn't mesh with the MSAE schedule. But only for the
poor kids. The rich kids got to go anywhere anytime and the teachers
even taught them "long distance" -- Chris Hartnett's daughter
graduated from MSAE, but she spent a ton of time in Europe during that
time. These special dispensations were all too common and all too
visible. Classism was the result to some degree.
Following the lives of the friends of my kids for the last three
decades has lead me to believe that most of them are able to integrate
with the real world after graduation, but I wonder how many of them
brag -- as opposed to "not mention" -- about their cult education.
