“I was twenty years old, and had just started to work as a primary school teacher when I was faced with this reality of lots of stress in our educational system,“ school counselor Franz Rutz says. “I wanted to understand it, and change it, and make sure that all the pupils could succeed.“
Born in Central Switzerland, Franz Rutz developed a deep bond to his native place. Nevertheless, already early in his life his critical mind made him aware of the problems in society. 
After becoming a school teacher Franz was driven by his desire for change and was seeking for opportunities to develop his consciousness. He learned and regularly practiced twice a day Transcendental Meditation (TM) as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. 30 years ago he also got trained as a TM teacher.
“Those who succeed at school and life seem to have access to deeper, more profound levels of consciousness. They don’t just float – or should I say, fight – on the surface level. Scientists speak of the stress mode of the brain as the flight-or-fight response in which our brain is not able to think properly, evaluate clearly and take good decisions.
“I asked myself, ’If the school system was incapable of supporting students in this depressing situation, then how could it be considered good?’
“A good school system must correspond to the meaning of the Latin word, educare – to bring up, not to press down. Bring out the knowledge, instead of cramming it into the head of students and measuring the success by the amount of correct answers given by the student during an exam.
“Somehow, by coincidence, I found a senctence in ancient Vedic texts: ’You don’t have to learn, you only have to remember!’“
In his TEDx lecture, Rutz focusses on this ancient wisdom and explains its meaning and significance in today’s context.
