- The Role & Goal of Education
- [Some thoughts for Students, Parents &
Teachers]
Thoughts for Teachers
- 1. Teachers as Transmitters of Morality :
In order to do this, teachers must be restored to their
traditional role as the transmitters of morality, the builders of character and the
custodians of culture.
2. PARTNERSHIP between TEACHERS & STUDENTS :
Teachers must relinquish the idea that they are fountains of all
knowledge. Rather, they should form a partnership with their students in a shared learning
process, demonstrating by their example that they too, are learners. This can have a
liberating effect on students in that it helps them to see themselves as directors of
their own learning and as individuals, who can determine the course their lives will take.
3. Teachers deserve respect:
A corollary is that the teacher must enjoy the support of the greater
community, a respect that flows logically from recognizing the teachers' true station.
4. Teachers behaviour to encourage children:
Teachers need to practise patterns of behaviour that create a climate
of encouragement in the classroom.
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- 5. All humankind are as children in a school and
the dawning-points of light, the sources of divine revelation, are the teachers, wonderous
and without peer. In the school of realities they educate these sons and daughters,
according to teachings from God, and foster them in the bosom of grace, so that they may
develop along every line, show forth the excellent gifts and blessings of the Lord, and
combine human perfections, that they may advance in all aspects of human endeavour,
whether outward or inward, hidden or visible, material or spiritual, until they make of
this mortal world a wide-spread mirror, to reflect that other world which dieth not.
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- 6. Therefore, O loved ones of God! Make a mighty
effort till you yourselves become tokens of his advancement and of all these
confirmations, and become focal centres of God’s blessings and promoters of the gifts
and graces of civilized life. Be the vanguards of the perfections of humankind; carry
forward the various branches of knowledge, be active and progressive in the field of
inventions and the arts. Endeavour to rectify the conduct of men, and seek to excel the
whole world in moral character.
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- 7. While the children are yet in their infancy feed
them from the breast of heavenly grace, foster them in the cradle of all excellence, rear
them in the embrace of bounty. Give them the advantage of every useful kind of knowledge.
Let them share in every new, rare and wonderous craft and art. Bring them up to work and
strive, and accustom them to hardship. Teach them to dedicate their lives to matters of
great import, and inspire them to undertake studies that will benefit mankind.
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- 8. It is clear that learning is the greatest bestowal
of God; that knowledge and the acquirement thereof is a blessing from Heaven. Thus it is
incumbent upon the friends of God to exert such an effort and strive with such eagerness
to promote divine knowledge, culture and the sciences, that for long those who are school
children today will become the most erudite of all the fraternity of the wise. This is a
service rendered unto God Himself, and it is one of His inescapable commandments.
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- 9. Utilize Every Means to make this school a garden
of the All-Merciful, from which the lights of learning will cast their beams, and wherein
the children will be educated to such a degree as to become God’s gifts to mankind,
and the pride of the human race. Let them make the greatest progress in the shortest span
of time, let them open wide their eyes and uncover the inner realities of all things,
become proficient in every art and skill, and learn to comprehend the secrets of all
things even as they are/this faculty being one of the clearly evident effects of servitude
to God’s Threshold.
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- 10. EDUCATE LIKE A GARDENER :
- Cultivation by the farmer maketh of the grain the harvest,
and the efforts of the gardener maketh of the seed a noble tree. The gentle teacher
promoteth the children of the school to a lofty altitude and the bestowal of the trainer
placeth the little child upon the throne of ether. Therefore, it is demonstrated and
proved that minds are different in the original entity or nature and that education
commandeth a decided and great influence. Where there is no educator all would remain
savage and were it not for the teacher the children would be ignorant creatures.
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- 11. SPIRITUAL EDUCATION :
- From the very beginning, the children must receive divine
education and must continually be reminded to remember their God. Let the love of God
pervade their innermost being, co-mingled with their mother's milk.
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- 12. Pursuit of Knowledge :
- Although to acquire the sciences and arts is the greatest
glory of mankind, this is so only on condition that man's river flows into the mighty sea,
and draws from God's ancient source His inspiration. When this cometh to pass, then every
teacher is as a shoreless ocean, every pupil a prodigal fountain of knowledge. If, then,
the pursuit of knowledge lead to the beauty of Him Who is the Object of all Knowledge, how
excellent that goal; but if not, a mere drop will perhaps shut a man off from flooding
grace, for with learning cometh arrogance and pride, and it bringeth on error and
indifference to God.
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- 13. SCIENCES ARE BRIDGES TO REALITY :
- The sciences of today are bridges to reality; if then they
lead not to reality, naught remains but fruitless illusion. By the one true God! If
learning be not a means of access to Him, the Most Manifest, it is nothing but evident
loss.
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- 14. FOUNDATION OF HUMAN EXCELLENCE :
- The education and training of children is among the most
meritorious acts of humankind and draweth down the grace and favour of the All Merciful,
for education is the indispensable foundation of all human excellence and alloweth man to
work his way to the heights of abiding glory. If a child be trained from his infancy, he
will, through the loving care of the Holy Gardener, drink in the crystal waters of the
spirit and of knowledge, like a young tree amid the rolling brooks. And certainly he will
gather to himself the bright rays of the Sun of Truth, and through its light and heat will
grow ever fresh and fair in the garden of life.
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- 15. DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER :
- We must favour character and conduct above the sciences
and arts. Good behaviour and high moral character must come first, for unless the
character be trained, acquiring knowledge will only prove injurious. Knowledge is praise
worthy when it is coupled with ethical conduct and a virtuous character; otherwise it is a
deadly poison, a frightful danger.
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- 16. AIM OF EDUCATION : CHARACTER:
- These children must know that high moral character must
come first, for unless the character be trained, acquiring knowledge will only prove
injurious. Knowledge is praise worthy when it is coupled with ethical conduct and a
virtuous character; otherwise it is a deadly poison, a frightful danger.
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- 17. SPIRITUAL BEHAVIOUR :
- In a time to come, morals will degenerate to an extreme
degree. It is essential that children be reared in the God's way, that they may find
happiness both in this world and the next. If not, they shall be beset by sorrows and
troubles, for human happiness is founded upon spiritual behaviour.
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- 18. SPIRITUAL EDUCATION :
- Education is of various kinds. There is a training and
development of the physical body which ensures strength and growth. There is intellectual
education or mental training for which schools and colleges are founded. The third kind of
education is that of the spirit. Through the breaths of the Holy Spirit man is uplifted
into the world of moralities and illumined by the lights of divine bestowals. The moral
world is only attained through the effulgence of the Sun of Reality and the quickening
life of the divine spirit. For this reason the holy Manifestations of God appear in the
human world. They come to educate and illuminate mankind, to bestow spiritual
susceptibilities, to quicken inner perceptions and thereby adorn the reality of man, the
human temple with divine graces.
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- 19. TEACHER AS GUIDE :
- Blessed is that teacher who shall arise to instruct the
children, and to guide the people to the pathways of God, the Bestower, the Well-Beloved.
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