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Conversations at CSE - The
Children’s School of Excellence
May 25, 2007 - Interview by Jean Isaacs
for MastersConnection© All Rights Reserved

The Children’s School of Excellence in Rainier, WA opened its doors in February of 1999. Although it has no official affiliation with Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment, students and teachers at this K-8 private school start each day with the disciplines that Ramtha has taught.
     While the school is geared to academic excellence, the development of individual choice and focused mind are strongly encouraged. Even the smallest children at CSE are aware of the workings of their own brains as receivers in an unlimited quantum field. They are encouraged to maintain a lofty perspective and to align themselves with nature, as well as knowledge of science, literature, and the arts. They are encouraged to experience practical results of mind over matter in their daily lives by intentionally focusing on their own creations.
     How does this work in today’s hi-tech world where most children are bombarded by influences that threaten their innocence and wellbeing? MastersConnection (in the form of Jean Isaacs and a tape recorder) visited CSE to talk with some of its teachers and students.
     This week, MastersConnection is happy to present Jean’s conversation with middle school teacher Diane D’Acuti. In the coming weeks, watch for what the children themselves have to say; and after that, the breathtaking project of The Book of the Soul.

Diane: I teach the sixth and seventh graders English and science; I have them most of the day. I also teach English to the eighth and ninth graders. There’s lots to do each day. And I can see the coming of age; even the sixth graders are coming into their hormones.

Jean: Many years ago, when my son Jesse was fourteen, Ramtha stopped me on the field one day. He said, “There are things about puberty I wish for you to know. At this time in life, their energy is rising. They have the energy to crack the walls, pierce the ceiling, and melt the paint off of some pictures.”
I got to see what Ramtha meant when my boy was able to heal sick people with one touch. He healed broken bones in his wrist within three days. We had the X-rays for proof.
And, there was much more- whatever he focused on, the results were phenomenal, and it all came to him easily. We also had some difficulties because there was no CSE in those days. There was not a lot to occupy his mind, to really inspire him on a day-to-day basis.

Diane: I can see that same rising of energy in my students, and those great potentials in them. There are differences with their questioning in class - and also with their cliques, their awareness of one another, and the world “out there,” and who’s going to
do what.
At an event this spring I asked Ramtha what I could do to inspire them and maintain them at their greatest potential. Basically Ramtha said to keep their minds active. He called the kids 'hurricanes'! He listed so many things to keep them developing in righteous, healthy ways – he talked extensively about being with nature, swimming with the dolphins. He said take them on long hikes in the mountains, nature walks. He said to go south and pick the sponges, to go north and look at the tulips.
And the next day he spoke to me again and said, “To add to your list, to add to your hurricanes, take them to Microsoft to find out how computers are made.” He talked about bowling. He talked about golf, miniature golf - everybody laughed when he said golf, and
he said, "that’s focus too!"

Jean: Golf is said to be the initiates’ sport.

Diane: Absolutely. We’ve been studying pendulums, force, motion, angles – when an object goes at a particular angle and if it bounces off of something - what direction does it go? How much force is needed for an object to go so far? What happens if you’re going up a hill, how much force do you need to keep the momentum? Pendulums, where does their swing come from?
So, I decided to do a little review with my students. I asked them to recall what they’d learned, and we went over everything about angles, force and motion. I asked, “Would you like to experiment with this?” Of course they like to do experiments - and they were absolutely thrilled to go play miniature golf! We had our little science quiz at the miniature golf course, and they were awesome!

Jean: What was the connection, how did that work?

Diane: The pendulum, meaning the club with their arm, was swinging from their shoulder; but the angle of the club itself had to move in a perfectly parallel motion to the cup, otherwise the ball was going to go in the motion that the club was angled. How hard they hit it determined how far it would go. If they had to hit the side of the particular number course they were on and had to hit the angle, where did they have to hit it; and what direction to keep it so that it would ricochet at the appropriate angle towards the cup. It was great! And yes we had a good time but they stopped and they looked and related it back to what they had learned in class. They understood, they could see. Even using the club as a pendulum, using their shoulder – it was great! We were there for a couple of hours. They did really well.

Jean: It became a part of them. You know, that’s how the father of Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman trained his son to be a scientist.

Diane: Oh really?

Jean: Yes, by cultivating his natural curiosity, teaching him to understand the meaning of things, how things work and why they happen. Feynman’s father taught him to pay attention to everything, to patterns, even the smallest details.
For example, why does the ball in the wagon keep rolling even after the wagon stops? Why does a bird peck underneath its wing – it’s getting rid of mites! Everything always had to have a meaning and a connection. So Feynman grew up like the kids in your class, where everyday was all filled up not just with knowledge but with new associations, new understanding and fun learning. He kept up the spirit of play, always finding joy in learning. That’s how Richard Feynman came up with the Feynman Diagrams, that famous organized handful of squiggly lines that brought the first one hundred years of quantum physics together into a coherent whole. His overview was all a big “aha!” even for the scientists. They had never been able to see a coherent picture in the work they had been doing. He won the Nobel Prize for that, and is well remembered for his wonderful teaching style – always meaningful, always fun. And that is what you are doing with your students.

Diane: I believe that’s what Ramtha was saying – they have so much energy right now and it’s moving – and to keep their minds occupied and to keep their consciousness close to nature. And what’s been awesome, too, is they’ve been asking me to go to the library. We’ve made trips to the library, so we can do lots of study that way.

Jean: So you’re teaching them how to do research, how to use a bibliography, the internet to their best advantage, cross-referencing?

Diane: Yes, and to find particular things - and how many books can you find under this particular subject - or if we want to take it one step further, where would we go?
They are learning how to look up something, to cross-reference and that type of thing.
I’m really pleased with them. They also can see what happens with choices, that there are consequences to choices.

Jean: Can you give examples?

Diane: Well, (laughing) going down to the root level is if they don’t do their work, if they don’t listen, if they choose not to do homework or to put any effort into anything, then there is no spontaneous field trip. They know if they stay focused with me and if they perform and if they show and if they offer, if they come up with great ideas, then it works that way too. They were the first ones to say, “Can we go to the library and work on thus and so?” I said, “You know that’s a great idea. Let’s see if we can find somebody else to drive, and we’ll go down to the library for an hour.” So they’re expanding their minds too – it may be, quote, fun to them, but you know what, it’s still learning.

Jean: So they are being proactive in their own education?

Diane: Yes – which is really awesome. So we’ve had great fun, they like it, and it’s an exciting way to learn.

Original Artwork by Jean Isaacs

Jean: Are there other things Ramtha told you to do with them?

Diane: He listed – between learning how the computers are built, he had me make a bargain with him, about four times, to take the students swimming with the dolphins. So that’s going to be a definite! We just didn’t have enough time before the end of this school year. So what the CSE Board has done, is set up a field trip fund. Therefore, people can donate to CSE for the field trips that require X amount of dollars – transportation, accommodations, the whole thing.
After Ramtha spoke that night a couple people came forward and said they wanted to put money in for that project. Many other people have asked to help, people who plan dolphin trips want to help set this up. And I’ve also had people who do backpacking, wilderness survival training, those kinds of things, and they are willing to lead that which is awesome. It’s all part of a whole education.

Jean: Another question for you about puberty. Thirty years ago, even fifteen years ago, most children weren’t hit by hormones until they were fourteen or so. Do you think kids are starting puberty earlier now than they did?

Diane: AB-SO-LUTELY!!!

Jean: What do you think are the influences and causes for the change?

Diane: In my opinion, television, movies, and I know we’re a technical society, but the internet, the games, video games. It’s tremendous, they are powerful influences, powerful programming.

Jean: Yes, a lot of teachers in public schools have said that as well. I’ve met teachers all over Washington who talked about the sex and violence that go into their students’ frontal lobes. They are troubled about the thoughts and behavior of these kids, how harshness is part of their common thought. Many educators can see what is going on but don’t have solutions for it.
Others have said that the growth hormones found in milk products and in meats speed up the rate of growth in children who eat those things.
But back to the programming. Do your students watch TV and play video games?

Diane: They do, it’s a part of their culture and they are sorting through those influences in their lives.

Jean: How do you as their teacher instill awareness in them so they observe their own thoughts and actions?

Diane: First of all we do C&E® every morning before school starts, and we’ll either do C&E® or a Neighborhood Walk^SM, and we create our day just as Ramtha has taught. During the course of the day, if I hear them say something like, “I’m so stupid, I can’t do that,” I just say, “Hold on a second, did you just hear what you said? Can we change that?” And it’s so unconscious when they’re doing it, it takes diligence to make them aware of what they speak, and to remind them that what they speak and what they think really matters, that every thought matters. To be really aware of what they are saying and not to use the “I hate, I can’t, it’s stupid, I’m stupid,” that what they are doing is creating that. And they understand that. If you pause them enough and say, “Wait a minute, did you just hear what you said? Did you really mean that?” Well no, that’s not what they wanted, and they’ll change it into something that “I have always been.”
I happen to have the same kids for a length of time, and even if I had them all day long, the fact that it’s almost a self-contained classroom I think is awesome. The fact that we have the opportunity of our RSE background is awesome because if they are not quite with the program, we can pause and say, “Let’s go take a walk. Let’s go take a walk and let’s change this.” Or we go do Fieldwork^SM. “Make yourself a card of something you really want and focus on it.” And we have archery here, we have the freedom to do that. We can pause for a minute and because the classes are small enough you can pause and say let’s go outside for a minute, let’s go hug a tree. It’s those little things that make a difference. They are aware enough so they can ask, “Could I just go for a quick walk and come back?”

Jean: On a scale of 1 to 10, how aware would you say they are that their thoughts are creating their lives?

Diane: It depends on if they are really focused – when they’re on, they’re on. The wind was blowing one time and it looked like it was going to storm, and they wanted school to be out. So they said, “Let’s focus on the electricity going out.” I’m telling you, they all closed their eyes and focused, and the electricity went out! It came back on again, but it went out and they were so excited! How are you going to argue with that?
So when they’re on, they’re on, and you can watch them – you can hear their conversations, and they’ll say, “You know you don’t want to say that.” They’ll remind each other, which is really awesome. And if things aren’t quite right they’ll say, “Let’s find a lofty thought, let’s focus on that. What can we say to make it different? How can we help? How can we change it?” So that’s another plus because you can say to these kids, “Wait a minute - what did you just say?” And they say, “Oh yeah, I forgot,” and they understand, because they know that what they say creates their own reality. They’ve seen the results of too many things they’ve chosen. You can hear them sometimes when they get together and they whisper, “Let’s focus on it,” and “We can.” They’ve been remarkable with their focus.

Jean: I also wanted to ask you about reading because I heard that you’ve really gotten your group very enthusiastic and very focused with reading.

Diane: I had two things that I do with them. One is I give at least ten minutes or more silent reading as soon as they come in - when they walk in the classroom, they get their books and start reading. It can be anything they want to read. Every time they complete a book we put their names up on the board. Sometimes they get little surprises, but they’re not reading to get the prize. They want to read; they love what reading offers them.
The other thing I do with them is speed-reading which focuses on word recognition and word fluency. What we do is, they have these passages that are geared to particular grade levels – so students partner up, and each partner has the same passage. One reads while the other follows along and listens for any mistakes or stumbles. Each person reads for one minute; then they stop to check for any mistakes; then they swap and take turns. “You read a minute, I read a minute.” It’s for word recognition and word fluency. And it’s not about doing good bad or otherwise, its all for the purpose of recognizing where the word is – it you stumble, look at it and say it again. This has helped them - I’ve watched their reading levels go up. They’re not afraid to read out loud. I am in Toastmasters so I have a little baby Toastmasters with them where they’re learning to stand up and speak, they’re not afraid to stand up in front . . .

Jean: What do you think are the benefits of that to them?

Diane: It makes all the difference, they have no fears, they can stand up and they’re not afraid to read out loud because we read out loud almost everyday. When we do stand up and speak in front of the class I have done things like they do in Toastmasters. I might say, “Pick something in the room, you have one minute to tell everyone why they should own this.” They have to think on their feet, to be specific, explicit, and succinct in what they are saying because they aren’t allowed to do, “Ah, um, uh, well, you know.” They have to use correct English language and complete sentences. They are awesome, they really do well and you can see the whole shift, their stance is different, their confidence comes back so they’re not afraid to express themselves. They do it clearly.

Jean: Do you notice different learning styles - the Gardner intelligences - kinesthetic, visual, interpersonal, intrapersonal, auditory and other learning styles?

Diane: Yes, we have a few that are very obviously auditory learners, have a difficult time with writing things down but if you ask them verbally they’ll get it every time. So being aware of that, I handle things just a little differently with those particular students. But the other thing – anything hands on, for the most part, it’s been awesome for each one of them. If they can touch it, really see it, experience it, it makes a big difference.
I see that with our FOSS (“Full Option Science System”) science program that we have – it’s an awesome learning program, because everything is hands on: “You build, you look at, you create, you come up with, you change the variables.” This type of learning makes a big difference from the old textbook/take-a-test program.

Jean: How do you think this particular little school is shaping who they see themselves to be and what they perceive their future may be - as individuals and in the world?

Diane: I have to say – most of them are current or have been at RSE – they recognize that they have the confidence to pursue and that wherever they put their focus, it’s a possibility, so they are not afraid to dream big dreams. They dream it and it’s not out of reach to them, they’re not going to back down – if they want to be president of a corporation, that’s a fact, period. It’s not like, “Oh I’ll never get that because to get that I’ll have to do this.” They don’t think that way. If they want something they realize they’ll just have to put their mind to it and they’ll create it happening.
I think that they also realize that they can make a difference. Even little ways in helping somebody. They’re aware of respect of others, they’re aware that opening the door for someone who had their hands full is worth doing. They don’t need to be recognized for those little things, but they know that that was probably a help. They’re respectful that way and it’s a big difference from many kids in other schools.
They do make a difference and I think they recognize that, because they’re very helpful. They’re aware of other people and different things – and by being aware, they’re more apt to help rather than to say, “Oh too bad, you did it,” and that’s part of the learning at this school. We even talk about the respect of the grounds, “You may not have dropped that piece of paper on the ground but it’s okay for you to pick it up.” And they respect their environment, they respect nature, they respect and consider other people in those ways. By so doing that’s respecting themselves also.

Jean: I think that by working here you get less pay and less benefits than you would teaching out in the world.

Diane: The green stuff, absolutely.

Jean: So why do you do it?

Diane: As I stated before there are so many freedoms that come with this working situation. I have two Masters degrees and I have twenty years’ experience; and I would be making a lot more money out there in the public schools. But I had a choice, and it is so fabulous to have Ramtha’s School behind us. What we’ve learned at RSE, that we can incorporate what we’ve learned, we can utilize what we’ve learned. That is awesome. As teachers we have so much freedom. I can say to them, let’s go on the swings and see how a pendulum works, or we can take off for the miniature golf course! I have the freedom to take this class – they want to go to the library, great – let’s go! If I was in a public school,
I could not do that. And that’s the kinds of freedoms of having them really be able to experience life and to know that what they think matters, and to see that they can make a difference.
You know, there’s always the dollar amount - of course I’d love to see that improve – but right now I’d rather be happy and enjoy myself every single day. And that makes a difference to me, I come to school happy, we have fun.

Jean: And you’ve learned, yourself?

Diane: Absolutely! I’ve learned from them everyday.

Jean: What do you and have you learned? Example?

Diane: Where I might be a little narrow minded and they say, “Well gosh Miss D, that doesn’t matter, we can do - - ” and I have to say, “You know what, you’re right!” And I’m not afraid to tell them they are right. To say, “That’s a good idea and we’ll do it next time and thank you for sharing.” And they don’t do it disrespectfully. You know it’s like from their point of view it’s, “Can’t you see? Don’t you see?” And I realize at that point I was a little narrow because the way I have been brought up to do things, “This is the way you’re supposed to . . ” and they’re very open, they can see that I too am in the process of learning and growing.

Jean: What is your dream for the school overall for the next year - or ten years - and what would you like to ask the world community who are going to be seeing this?

Diane: What would be awesome here, the biggest thing, is to have a building with classrooms, maybe a common area where they could go so that we would have utilization for indoor PE, for example, if it’s raining outside, that we could utilize drama and theater, that we could have electives coming in. I would absolutely love a laboratory, even a computer room. Obviously, donations are number one!

Jean: A library?

Diane: Yes! A real library where we have all the books and references in a central location would be awesome. These portable classrooms have been beautiful, but the noise level is high because there are two classes going on with no solid wall dividing them and sometimes it can be a distraction. I call this school ‘the little volcano waiting to erupt’ because it’s becoming more and more and more. The potentials of what we can do here, the creative learning – it’s enormous. We can pull in any expert in any field.

Jean: There are a lot of experts in different fields in this community, architects, scientists, musicians, writers, artists.

Diane: And I look at the possible science fairs and productions if they had an absolute place - there’s not room in the classrooms. And basketball courts, an area for ten classrooms – if we had an overflow of students, I’d teach out at the picnic table, but it would be great to have the buildings we need.

Jean: What else comes to mind that you would like to say?

Diane: Like I said, I think this school is awesome. I have enjoyed this year of watching the kids grow, seeing that they understand that they do make a difference. You can see what the social consciousness does, and they even recognize social consciousness.

Jean: Do they realize they may be addicted to some things in social consciousness?

Diane: Yes, especially if you question them: “This is the latest thing, but why would you do that? Do you really like it?”
“I’m not sure.”
So I say again, “Well then, why would you do that?”
And then they’ll pause. Many of them are not afraid to not join the group, even though at that moment they could be ostracized.
But it’s like, “No I choose not to do that, I’m not going to do that anymore.” And it’s okay. That’s pretty awesome coming from a twelve or thirteen year old. Because social pressure is pretty incredible, and I think they recognize how much fun it can be.
I watch the eighth graders getting ready to move on – and as much as they can’t wait for the public school routine, you can see they recognize the beauty and the freedoms that we’ve had here and it’s a new step for them and they recognize they’re on a new chapter. But they love what they’ve done, they’re excited about something new but they also realize how much they’ve had.
I think what I’m looking at – yes a wish list – they love electives – art, music, cooking, PE with a real facility, drama and theater absolutely. And we’ve had people come to give much time, bless their hearts, to give in some of these areas – they’ve had a taste of it and they love it.

Jean: So we could have people donating supplies for a lab, donating easels and art supplies and a kiln for pottery, donating microphones and mixers and musical instruments, donating fur coats and satin gowns and high heels and . . .

Diane: Yes, all of that and more! . . . theater, doing productions – they would love it. We do it in reading, even when we’re reading plays they will take on a character and at least read their part. At Christmas we realized we could’ve done something for the younger kids and that’s where they get excited. We just need the space for these things. We’ve gone in a couple times and they’ve read to the younger kids, stories, they get to practice that way too and they recognize there’s a difference in story telling and just reading.

Jean: They understand and can explain quite a bit of brain science and genetics and quantum physics? I heard a three-year-old the other day told her mother she needed to change her neuronet on something!

Diane: That’s correct, we do all that. Two of our kinder kids won the brain contest at the University of Washington. Almost every classroom has a picture of the brain. Everyone at CSE has the understanding of opening up a new part of the brain, creating new neuronets. In my group, we’ve gone back to that again and again. And sometimes in the morning I might play the song If You Wanna Be Somebody Else Change Your Mind, and they rock out to that and they understand that. Or What Have You Done Today to Make Yourself Proud? If you want something to be different, make it so! Those are the kinds of things that you can do with the kids at CSE, and they accept and know it can happen. They can’t say, “Oh yeah right that’ll never happen,” because they know better.

Jean: As children in a difficult society they have many things working against them; but in this school there are many things that help them to abate those influences.

Diane: They know they can change it, or it doesn’t have to affect them . . . they get the two hundred year plan!

So be it!

....Check In For Next Week's Interview With CSE Students + Teachers