School Subjects For Higher Intelligence & Quality Performance with Inner Calmness & Reduced Aggressiveness

 

Also refer :

https://sites.google.com/view/swatiraoshiv/policy-papers/education-for-higher-quality-of-life-by-neurophysiolocal-balance

https://sites.google.com/view/swatiraoshiv/policy-papers/education-for-higher-quality-of-life-by-neurophysiolocal-balance

Children today are increasingly trained to cope with stress, rather than to learn with joy and curiosity. Neuroscience clearly shows that this approach is counterproductive.

The human brain learns best when it is emotionally regulated, curious, and relaxed. When fear, pressure, and excessive competition dominate classrooms, the brain shifts into survival mode. In this state, memory formation reduces, attention drops, and learning becomes mechanical rather than meaningful.

A curriculum designed around fun, engagement, and emotional balance, rather than stress and coping, aligns naturally with how the brain is biologically structured.

Why Stress-Based Schooling Fails

Chronic academic pressure activates the body’s stress system, releasing cortisol. While short-term stress may temporarily sharpen focus, repeated stress blocks the brain’s learning centres, particularly those responsible for memory and creativity.

This explains why much school learning:

• is forgotten in adult life

• does not translate into real-world skills

• produces anxiety rather than confidence

• Stress based schooling creates obedience with repressed aggression. The aim of sc hooling is to create innovators and peacekeepers who can maintain the economy with harmony now. Hence shock based stress creatinhg schooling does not help anymore as it did earlier when the internet did not exist and the aim of schooling was to create warriors or industrail workers who obey more than think. 

Foundational Morning Practice (All Grades)

Prayer / Reflection Time (Non-Religious & Inclusive)

Morning grounding may include:

• Thanking the Earth

• Thanking sunlight

• Thanking God or the Universe (individual choice)

Simple Positivity & Focus Exercises

• Look upward and smile for one minute (increases oxygen flow to the brain)

• Look sideways—right and left—to improve eye focus

• Gently focus attention on the bridge between the nose and mouth to improve silence and mental clarity

• Breathing Exercises for one-five minutes with hands up-down 

These exercises prepare the nervous system for learning without requiring meditation postures.

Class-Wise Curriculum Structure

Class 1: Start the Day by Calming the Mind

A few minutes of guided relaxation, positive intentions, or quiet reflection settles the nervous system and prepares the brain for learning.

---

Class 2: Train Attention and Positive Focus Daily

In a 30–45 minute session, children learn:

• mindfulness and focus for at least 10 minutes to stabilise inner calm

• gratitude counting (e.g., listing ten good things in life)

• solution-oriented thinking by linking thoughts → emotions → outcomes

Example exercise:
Visualise eating an apple. Identify the object (apple) and the emotion (contentment).
Then visualise eating a mango. Compare which brings more contentment.

At higher grades, students visualise the feeling of contentment itself and observe:

• what actions arise from that feeling

• whether fighting, complaining, or violence increases stress or contentment

• whether goals can be achieved without aggression

These activities teach children to reject stress-creating actions such as fighting or abuse and recognise violence only as a last resort.

• Positive self-talk is practised daily about self, friends, parents, teachers, school, and home

• Writing can be done in any language; focus is on positive emotional focus, not language perfection

• Grammar and translation tools (including digital tools) may be used

This builds emotional stability rather than emotional chaos.
Neurophysiological balance (allostasis) depends on emotional movement underlying thoughts—not on the number of languages learned. Positive focus enhances intelligence more than linguistic complexity alone.

Class 3: Learn Logic Through Application, Scientific & Financial Studies

Mathematics and science must be taught as thinking tools, not memory tests.

• Facts need not be memorised excessively; information is readily accessible

• In higher classes, arranging funds and budget making , assigning priorities in real life projects

• Advertising and marketing strategies that follow logic with research of outcomes

• Memory should be reserved for conceptual understanding & procedures , Facual learning does not help in practical life eg. names of authors, names of warriors , ways to do business , formulas of chemistry etc. Application of theories  is fun and hence, it maybe retained. The emotion of positivity and usefulness of the task at that school age needs to be generated while teaching for retention of memory. 

• Rote learning is ineffective under work stress and does not survive into adulthood

Research shows that nearly 90% of school syllabus content disappears in adult years, while conceptual understanding survives. Therefore:

• reduce theory load (even to 10%)

• prioritise application, invention, and innovation

• focus on one problem deeply rather than many problems superficially

• remove content that cannot be applied

War-centred history should be avoided, as it increases aggressive tendencies. History taught should be re-applicable to school and social contexts, fostering cooperation and learning.

Class 4: Teach Communication and Public Speaking Early

Confidence develops when children are encouraged to express, question, and think aloud without fear.

Communication training should include:

• understanding multiple perspectives than just own perspectove 

• Encourage differences & agreements to move from inner fear and chaos to inner sanctity and safety. The exercise of parts integration from NLP can also be applied to calm agitations. 

• role-play based on real-life situations

• calm expression of disagreement withut losing cool 

• listening before responding

Simple principles from Gestalt and Dialectical Behaviour approaches can be adapted for schools.
Public speaking should be encouraged through motivational participation, not pressure to outperform others. Rewards must recognise collective growth rather than individual dominance.

Class 5: Art, Music, Movement, and Play

Creativity through art, music, dance, yoga, and play:

• regulates emotions

• improves concentration

• enhances joy in learning

Students should be given choices based on what feels positive. These creative ctivities should evoke emotions such as delight, excitement, curiosity, and exploration, not contentment as creativity ha sto grow . Contentment is for a finished outcome not a growwing outcome. Such distinctions have to be kept in mind while pairing activities with emotions for inner calmness. 
Students are encouraged to label emotions and learn how to recreate positive emotional states intentionally.

Class 6: Sports, Yoga, and Physical Activity

Physical activity must be a separate, protected subject.

• focus is on participation and joy, not winning or losing

• aim is emotional regulation and collective happiness

• grievances and complaints are minimised through guided reflection

• Naturral play and field work has to be encouraged also especially in primary years . 

This approach helps  the children appreciate and connect with nature, which releases serotenin and noraadrenaline that reduce aggression and contributes to long-term inner peace , needed for higher productivity and less complaining in adult life. 

---

End the Day with Positive Reflection

Each day ends with reflection:

• Ask each student to count or write three positive experiences and one negative experience in the day . Let it be a group activity . 

• Ensure that co-operation and ability to understand different opinions is higher in group work than loud speaking, bullying or arguments. 

• the 3:1 ratio helps recalibrate the brain toward positivity while acknowledging reality

• Help in increasing self love with calmness- Ask the students to count 8 good things in self and 2 bad things. These will change daily .

• Help the students feel motivated to go home - you may ask count three things and two bad things about going home . 

This improves intelligence, creativity, emotional balance, and future performance.

Outcomes: Learning Without Fear

A joyful, emotionally intelligent curriculum results in:

• improved attention and memory

• reduced anxiety

• higher confidence

• stronger communication skills

• compassion over competition

• discovery of individual strengths

Most importantly, students learn how to think, feel, and adapt—skills that extend far beyond school.

Education Should Build Lives, Not Just Degrees

When education focuses only on examinations, children learn to cope with stress.
When education focuses on the brain, emotions, and curiosity, children learn to love learning.

A fun curriculum is not less serious.
It is more effective, more human, and more aligned with real life.

Qualifications should reflect passion and purpose, not ritual compliance—because passion leads to better work and happier lives.

References

• Shiva Swati (2016). Spirituality in Education, Chapter 14.

• McEwen, B. S. (2007). Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation. Physiological Reviews, 87(3), 873–904.

• Lupien, S. J., McEwen, B. S., Gunnar, M. R., & Heim, C. (2009). Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on the brain, behaviour and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10, 434–445.

• Immordino-Yang, M. H., & Damasio, A. (2007). We feel, therefore we learn. Mind, Brain, and Education, 1(1), 3 Immordino-Yang, M. H., & Damasio, A. (2007). We feel, therefore we learn. Mind, Brain, and Education, 1(1), 3–10

Happy emotions vs Stressful Emotions underlying activities

For Higher Intelligence and Better Learning, Schools Need to Start Later

 

The human mind requires rested neural networks to perform with quality.
Four hours of focused, emotionally regulated learning produces far better outcomes than eight hours of distracted, stressed activity.

Modern education systems often overlook a fundamental truth of neuropsychology: the brain does not learn well under chronic stress.

https://www.swatiraoshiv.com/policy-papers/education-which-raises-intelligence-vs-education-which-raises-stress-a-psy

The Brain Learns Through Repetition of Emotional States

From a psychoneurophysiological perspective, feelings repeat vibrationally.
This means that dominant emotional states repeatedly activate the same neural pathways, neurotransmitters, and hormonal responses.

• Repeated calm → stable neural pathways → improved cognition
• Repeated stress → cortisol dominance → reduced attention, memory, and emotional regulation

The more a child remains in a dominant emotional state, the more that neural chemistry reproduces itself, shaping not only intelligence but also the long-term functioning of organs and immune responses.

Why Mornings Matter So Deeply

Early morning hours have been extensively studied for their impact on the subconscious mind.
This is the phase when the brain transitions from rest to wakefulness, and the emotional tone of this transition often determines the stress baseline for the entire day.

A calm awakening supports:

• better emotional regulation
• stable attention
• improved learning receptivity

A stressed awakening imprints stress onto the nervous system for hours.

Three Major Causes of Stressful Mornings for Children

1. Parental Stress Transferred to the Child

Many parents wake up already exhausted—due to late work hours, poor sleep, or emotional pressure.
This stress is unconsciously transferred to the child through hurried routines.

When children:

• eat quickly
• bathe in haste
• prepare under pressure

the body releases cortisol instead of relaxation-associated neurotransmitters.

Eating and bathing are biologically designed to be slow, calming activities.
When rushed repeatedly, they condition the nervous system toward restlessness, poor digestion, weakened immunity, and long-term stress habits.

Education systems should aim to create peacekeepers and balanced thinkers, not merely exhausted labourers trained to function under pressure.

2. Late-Night Digital Exposure and Sleep Deprivation

The internet is now deeply embedded in daily life and cannot be eliminated by force.
Many adolescents sleep extremely late—sometimes as late as 3–4 a.m.—and are then expected to wake up at 6 a.m. for school.

Chronic sleep deprivation results in:

• irritability and aggression
• poor impulse control
• reduced attention and learning capacity

For emotional stability, children require 7–8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Later school timings—or even afternoon academic schedules—align far better with adolescent neurobiology.

3. Exhausted Teachers Cannot Inspire Relaxed Learning

Teachers are required to function from very early mornings, often with long commutes and insufficient rest.
Despite carrying the responsibility of shaping future adults, school teachers are frequently underpaid and overworked.

A relaxed, fairly compensated teacher:

• is more emotionally available
• teaches with patience and creativity
• encourages curiosity rather than fear

An exhausted teacher, no matter how dedicated, struggles to offer flexibility and emotional containment.

Evidence from School Timing Experiments

Experiments conducted in parts of the UK, including London, have shown that later school start times significantly reduced absenteeism and improved student engagement.
When children and teachers are rested, the education system naturally becomes more efficient and humane.

Conclusion: Education Needs a Neuropsychological Reset

Learning does not improve by adding more hours.
It improves by aligning education with human neurobiology, emotional regulation, and rest cycles.

Starting school later is not a luxury—it is a science-based necessity for:

• healthier children
• emotionally balanced adults
• a more peaceful and intelligent society

True education begins where the mind is calm enough to receive it.

Scientific Evidence Summary (Neurotransmitter Perspective)

Neuroscientific research shows that learning efficiency and emotional regulation are strongly influenced by the balance of neurotransmitters released during wake–rest cycles. Calm, well-rested states promote optimal levels of dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine, and GABA, which support attention, memory consolidation, motivation, and emotional stability. In contrast, chronic early-morning stress and sleep deprivation elevate cortisol and norepinephrine, impairing hippocampal memory formation, executive functioning, and impulse control.

Repeated exposure to stress during formative years reinforces stress-dominant neural pathways, as neurotransmitter patterns tend to reproduce themselves through repeated emotional states. This neurochemical repetition explains why rushed mornings, inadequate sleep, and emotionally strained learning environments lead to reduced academic engagement and increased behavioural dysregulation. Aligning school schedules with biological sleep rhythms allows neurotransmitter systems to stabilise, supporting higher cognitive performance, emotional well-being, and long-term brain health.

---

 References (Neurotransmitters & Learning)

• McEwen, B. S. (2007). Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation: Central role of the brain. Physiological Reviews, 87(3), 873–904. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00041.2006
• Goldstein, A. N., & Walker, M. P. (2014). The role of sleep in emotional brain function. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 10, 679–708. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032813-153716
• Robbins, T. W., & Everitt, B. J. (1996). Neurobehavioural mechanisms of reward and motivation. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 6(2), 228–236. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-4388(96)80077-8
• Arnsten, A. F. T. (2009). Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10, 410–422. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2648

A separate policy analysis explores the broader implications of replacing the traditional 8-hour workday with shorter, neuroscience-aligned office schedules.

---