Education saw new light last Sunday, August 23, 2015, at the Brain Education Conference at Arizona State University hosted by Body & Brain and Power Brain Education. These two mind-body training organizations gathered a crowd of approximately 150 people to listen to a panel of educators speak on how Brain Education enhances and provides an alternative to traditional education.
The founder of Brain Education, Ilchi Lee, served as the keynote speaker. He shared the success of his alternative high school in South Korea, the
Benjamin School for Character Education, which concentrates on building human character and integrity. Lee saw the direct psychological effects of South Korea’s rigorous academic system, which does not foster creativity, leadership, or high moral character and integrity. He said, “Within the high demands of the current education system, these children have lost their dreams, because for years, they have been shackled down by countless tests and evaluations that have made them lose their sense of self-value.”
The Benjamin School, on the other hand, administers no tests, gives no homework and offers no school building. Instead, the students learn through online education as well as a year-long “Dream Project,” for which students design concrete plans that span a school year to achieve a dream that they’ve always had in their hearts. Five hundred professionals in various fields serve as mentors to advise the students along their journney.
The Benjamin School started with just a single student mentored by Ilchi Lee himself. Now in its second term, it has grown to include 470 youth. Lee and other conference attendees expressed their enthusiasm and hope for the future of education from examples such as the Benjamin School for Character Education.
Other conference speakers included Dave Beal, the Director and Head National Trainer for Power Brain Education (PBE). Beal shared his personal journey of starting out as an elementary school teacher in New York City to experiencing and seeing the value of Brain Education to eventually dedicating himself full-time to implementing Brain Education in schools across the U.S. Beal also led the audience in experiencing interactive Brain Education games for themselves. The audience laughed as they focused on the simple movements designed to build mental flexibility and new neural connections.
Rodney James, the VP of Education for Skyline Education, shared his direct experience implementing Brain Education in the 6 charter schools that he manages in Arizona. At Vector Prep in Chandler, AZ, where James oversees the education, PBE conducted a pilot study to see the effects of Brain Education in the fourth grade class. BE students were four times better than the control group at processing information and memory recall. The BE kids also had two times better sequential and quantitative reasoning skills.
Lastly, Dr. James Westphal, MD, the Clinical Professor of Psychiatry with the University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine, offered a scientific perspective on Brain Education. He shared his insight on the potential of Brain Education from a health professional’s perspective.
Body & Brain and Power Brain Education are offering another Brain Education Conference in New York City on September 12th. For more information, please visit
braineducationconference.com/newyork.