KCBS: A unique Oakland elementary school is getting some high marks from the new district superintendent.
This comes as school district officials contemplate deeper cuts in education.
Students at Lafayette Elementary School in West Oakland begin each day with meditation and yoga. Principal Karen Haynes likes to take a holistic approach to education. “We start with the mind and the body and spirit and if you lay that foundation first then everything else falls into place,” she explained.
Peace signs adorn the hallways and classroom doors.
KCBS’ Dave Padilla reports (audio)
As he toured this unique school, new superintendent Tony Smith was thinking about the cuts he will have to make in education. “Leading into the upcoming year we’ll need to reduce next year’s budget by $25 million,” he explained.
Smith called Lafayette Elementary a community school that brings parents, children and volunteers together to make programs work, perhaps serving as a new model in the age of deep budget cuts.
1 Comment. Leave new
As a former teacher of TM, transcendental meditation, these practices are Hinduism, even Hindus know that. A good Hindu will tell you that who practices yoga is whether they realize it or not, changing their religion. That’s OK if that is what you want, but this subtle but persistant shift in awareness away from one’s beliefs into another “mind field” is under the radar for all but those who ought not to be lying to the public as to the true nature of the practice. As a Christian, I can no longer do or teach TM in all good conscience because the Hindu underpinnings AND the experiences are counter to what my Bible teaches and what Jesus Himself taught. We can agree to disagree, but please be informed before you bring yourself and others espec children under this deception. Know the facts. The mantras are the name of Hindu ‘gods’. As a Christian I am to worship only the one true God, Jesus Christ.