Interview published on 9.28.2015
Translated by Michelle E. Seo
“Brain Education is a method of brain development that blends mind-body training and science.”
I met with the president of the Global Cyber University, Ilchi Lee, at the Brain Education Conference held at Benjamin Cardozo High School in Bayside on September 13. This was the second conference held this year, and with “The Present and Future of US Education” as the topic and about 300 educators in attendance, I was able to witness vividly what a popular trend Brain Education has become in the US.
Since 2007, thousands educators and students in more than 150 schools in New York have experienced the effectiveness of Brain Education, and even in the state of Arizona, over 80 educators at 6 charter schools completed a Brain Education course and are teaching it to their students. Brain Education is being delivered to over 3 million people in a total of 16 countries including South Korea, the US, Japan, China, the UK, and El Salvador through the International Brain Education Association (IBREA), an NGO in consultative status in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Next is the Q & A with President Lee.
What is Brain Education, and what effects does it have?
▶ Simply put, Brain Education consists of brain utilization techniques. It’s an innovative method of brain development made by blending unique Korean mind-body training methods with modern neuroscience. Having gone through a process of over 30 years of research, Brain Education has now become established as an academic discipline. People are earning masters and doctorate degrees in Brain Education at the International Graduate University of Brain Education. The application of Brain Education is quite vast in scope. It is being implemented in a multitude of ways, as a method of self-development for adults, as well as educational programs in the workplace or at school. With increased awareness of its outstanding effectiveness with regard to developing focus, confidence, creativity, and strength of character, in Korea, approximately 2,100 programs have been implemented in the public school system alone. Thousands of teachers in places like New York and Arizona are applying Brain Education on site, in their classrooms. Globally, the response has been favorable, resulting even in a $10M license contract with an educational company in China called Youda.
What’s the status of Brain Education in New York?
▶ After Brain Education Day was proclaimed in New York in 2009, we made a great effort to introduce Brain Education to public schools in New York. Brain Education was implemented for all of the students at PS1 Elementary School for the past two years, and as a result, the students’ level of concentration and academic attitude became so markedly enhanced that the whole school’s overall grade went from level D to level A. The superintendent of District 7, who took note of that as it happened, decided to introduce Brain Education to 10 middle schools in New York, and with financial support from the New York City Department of Education, they began the program in September. I feel that this is the beginning.
What’s the story behind how you came to develop Brain Education?
▶ Many people go on with their lives having lost confidence in themselves. When you’re in kindergarten, you have big dreams. For example, at the very least, you want to be the president or a general, a doctor, or an artist. But as you go through elementary school, middle school, and high school, your dreams keep getting smaller, until, by the time you’re about to graduate from college, that changes into, “I just want to get hired.” It keeps you far too busy just to adjust to the environment, to fit in and get by. When that happens, people lose their sense of self-worth and value, and life becomes pointless. My own significance and value disappear, and everything that my environment demands from me causes stress. We’re living in a society where, regardless of whether they’re adults or children, people have lost their self-esteem. How can all those people have a life where they find what they want and make their dreams come true? I believe the answer to that is in the brain. The brain is the greatest asset and treasure that we have. There is limitless creative power in our brain. I created Brain Education to help people use that creativity to find their value and their dream and make a healthier and more peaceful world.
There are many problems in the current educational system. What alternatives or solutions do you have?
▶ The intellectual knowledge that you learn in school is important, but what puts that knowledge to use is each individual’s character and integrity. That’s because, depending on what values you have, knowledge and power could become weapons that harm other people. Though we have the terms “scientific prodigy” or “mathematical prodigy,” the terms “humanitarian prodigy (prodigy of character and integrity)” or “community service prodigy” don’t exist. Strength of character is more important than intellectual knowledge. When you’re doing business, you’d lend money to someone based on their honesty and diligence, not someone who only got good grades in school, right? With the idea that I should make a school that places integrity at the heart of education, I made many preparations over the past 10 years, and I founded the Benjamin School for Character Education four years ago. Fortunately, interest in character-building is increasing around the world. Just seeing how legislation for character-based education was passed in Korea shows that the axis of education is shifting from intellectual knowledge to integrity and strength of character.
Would you give some more details about the Benjamin School for Character Education?
▶ The Benjamin School for Character Education is a very unique school. There are five things this school doesn’t have: a school [building], teachers, textbooks, homework, and tests. Instead, there are 500 mentors from all walks of life and a diverse range of fields. It’s a one-year course, and there isn’t a predetermined academic curriculum or anything like that. The students completely leave the standard school environment and make their own plans about what they’re going to do, then carry them out. Because it’s so different from the typical school environment, at first, the students are extremely confused. But after about two or three months, they start to become self-directed and find what they need to do on their own. After about six months have passed, they come up with their own plans for specific projects designed to actualize their dreams. There’s a student who wants to be a film director and made her own short film, and some students formed a group and completed a long march across the country, from Seoul to Busan. During the process of designing and executing plans for their own projects, which are for actualizing their dreams, they receive help from the mentors. Through the experience of completing the project they chose for themselves, step by step, the students become more self-assured and build confidence. Respect for yourself and self-confidence—things like that last a lifetime. These are the things that change your destiny. The Benjamin School for Character Education is a school that lets you find your value and your dream and helps you to make your dream a reality. The school operates with Brain Education as its foundation. It started with one student at first, but the year after that, there were 27 students, and this year, that has increased to 479 students. Next year, the goal is to admit 1000 students.
The name of the school is unique. Where did the name, “Benjamin,” come from?
▶ One of the figures that I most respect is Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin only attended school up to second grade. He was the 15th out of 17 siblings, so he hardly got attention from his parents. However, he studied on his own and learned five languages, he was a self-made man, and he was also a scientist who discovered the principles of electrical discharge and made huge contributions to the development of electrical technology. He set the completion of his character as the goal of his life, and worked on self-development and self-discipline his whole life. He’s the person I think of as a model for humanitarian prodigies.
I heard a new book of yours recently came out.
▶ When I travel around the world for speaking engagements, I often ask the audience, “Do you feel that you’re healthy, happy, and peaceful right now?” There aren’t many people who can readily answer, “Yes.” Everyone wants to be healthy, happy, and peaceful, but they don’t really know where or how to start. I published The Solar Body: The Secret to Natural Healing in May in order to let people know that it starts with yourself. We need a change in awareness, that health, happiness, and peace aren’t something that somebody else brings to you, you have to keep and create them for yourself. It’s actually not hard to do. It doesn’t require tremendous intellectual knowledge. Even with just a few very simple principles and exercises, you can become healthy and happy. A Solar Body is someone who shares healthy and happy energy that feels good for yourself and the people around you. Simply put, it’s someone who is like the sun. Being a Solar Body starts with knowing your value and respecting yourself. It goes along the same lines of why I founded the Benjamin School for Character Education. We have natural healing power and we have our immunity, or resistance to illness. In our bodies, there is the power to do things not because we were taught, but to find what the problems are and solve them. When you recover this ability, your creative power is demonstrated. We’ve launched a campaign online where we give books for free if you just pay for the shipping so that anyone can learn how to become a Solar Body, so if you’re interested, please keep that in mind.
What are your future plans?
▶ The plan is to establish alternative schools like the Benjamin School for Character Education that we have in Korea in the various countries where Brain Education has been introduced. In the US, a project called the Earth Citizen School is underway. A 30-acre property has been procured in the Sedona area in Northern Arizona for this purpose. When a school for character education opens in the US, parents and children will develop closer relationships and there will also be huge changes in the family dynamic. When a student’s character changes, their parents’ character will change, and when many parents’ character changes, society will change. The reason I’m interested in the School for Character Education is that I believe that when our children have hopes and dreams, hopes and dreams will appear on the earth.