Belief12

BOOK 2 INTRODUCING BAHA'I BELIEFS SECTION 12: Universal education
	The final passage you arc being asked to study is on the subject of universal education: One of the principles that Baha'u'llah has emphasized in His Teachings is universal education. The promotion of education is a most urgent requirement of our time. No nation can achieve prosperity unless it makes education one of its central concerns. The primary reason for the decline of peoples is ignorance. Education brings honor, prosperity, independence and freedom to a government and its people. Education must begin at infancy. It is the duty of the father and mother to strive with every means to educate their children, refine their characters according to spiritual and moral laws, and train them in the arts and sciences. Mothers are the first educators of humankind; they watch over the child in the cradle and nurse him at the breast of knowledge. Every child must be educated; this is not a matter that can be neglected. If the parents are able to take care of the expense, they must do so. Otherwise the community must provide the means for the education of the child. Education should develop in every human being the desire to achieve excellence. Man should become enamored of human perfection and pursue it with passion. He should aspire to spiritual distinction, to become known for the virtues of the human world—for sincerity, loyalty, service to humanity, love and justice. He must seek to be distinguished by his efforts to promote peace and unity and to foster learning. To guide people on such a path is the real task of education.
1)	After studying this passage in your group, mark the topics of conversation below into which you would be most likely to introduce the above ideas. Discuss in your group how you would weave the ideas into the conversation. ____ Child-rearing ____ Social progress ____ The power of science ____ The school system
2)	What would you answer if someone asked you the following question: "How do you propose to bring education to the billions of people that inhabit the earth today?"
3)	It is suggested that you memorize the following quotations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: "It is not desirable that a man be left without knowledge or skills, for he is then but a barren tree." "Bend your minds and wills to the education of the peoples and kindreds of the earth..." "Arts, crafts and sciences uplift the world of being, and are conducive to its exaltation. Knowledge is as wings to man's life, and a ladder for his ascent." "In truth, knowledge is a veritable treasure for man, and a source of glory, of bounty, of joy, of exaltation, of cheer and gladness unto him."


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