| The great
means on which He relies for bringing about the emancipation of women is universal
education. Girls are to receive as good an education as boys. In fact, the education of
girls is even more important than that of boys, for in time these girls will become
mothers, and, as mothers, they will be the first teachers of the next generation. Children
are like green and tender branches; if the early training is right they grow straight, and
if it is wrong they grow crooked; and to the end of their lives they are affected by the
training of their earliest years. How important, then, that girls should be well and
wisely educated! |
-- Esslemont, Baha'u'llah
and the New Era |
| * The cause of
universal education deserves the utmost support, for no nation can achieve success unless
education is accorded all its citizens. Such an education should promote the consciousness
of both the oneness of humanity and the integral connection between humankind and the
world of nature. By nurturing a sense of world citizenship, education can prepare the
youth of the world for the organic changes in the structure of society which the principle
of oneness implies. |
-- Bahá'í
International Community, Earth Charter |
| The cause of
universal education deserves the utmost support that the governments of the world can lend
it. For ignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples
and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success unless education is
accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits the ability of many nations to fulfill
this necessity, imposing a certain ordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies
involved would do well to consider giving first priority to the education of women and
girls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge can be most
effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. |
-- Bahá'í
International Community, The Girl Child |
|