Transcript:Abu'l-Qasim Faizi/Faizi-Education of Children
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[0:00] [Female speaker from audience] Could you tell us about the education of children?
[0:15] [Faizi] You know it all depends upon two things, I believe if you understand these two things the whole program of education will be well understood. One is the definition of a child, what is a child given to a family? And the other one is the aim of this life here, what's the aim of this life given to this child? If we can understand these two ends then it will be very easy to join them together. The beginning and the end.
[0:54] According to the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh a child given to any family in the whole world is a treasure house of God. In this treasure house there are jewels, precious jewels entrusted by the hand of God. Each child is different from another one, therefore the duty of parents and educators will be to explore this treasure house, to find out the jewels, to polish them, and to make the whole would benefit by these jewels. These are the three processes of the first steps of the child education. By jewels I mean talents, capacities, potentiality given to a child.
[1:58] And how many thousands and millions of children have been buried without being explored, without manifesting themselves in this life at all. They never gave them a chance because of the cruel circumstances. Because of the very worldliness of the people of the world, because of wars and famines caused by the ignorance of man. By ignorance I mean, being ignorance of the faith of man in this life. They use men as animals, if they are killed by millions it's all right. For them I mean. But for God, no. Each one must become a fruitful tree, must express themselves in this life. And all the potentialities and talents must be manifested by the family and by education institutions.
[3:04] Now how very far this is from what the people today understand. Today they think that the child is a bundle of passions and desires and volitions, and all these things should be gratified. It's not true. They are not born to be fed and gratified, on the contrary they are born to be excavated, explored so that things will be manifested by them. When you plant a stem in the Earth it's true that we feed that stem, but we are waiting for the stem to grow, we are expecting the stem to be a fruitful tree and then give blossoms and fruits. The whole process of education is this and nothing else.
[3:56] And what is the aim of this life? What is the aim of the life of a child in the womb of the mother, what's the purpose of it? Why should it remain there for nine months and nine days or something? Why is the child given eyes there? Is there anything to look at? Never. Why is the child given two hands, two feet, is there any place for it to walk? Never. But by the destiny of God, by the plan of God that child in that concealed circumstance is given something, or many things that he need in here, when it comes to this world. If a child is born lacking one finger the whole family will lament and say my child born insufficiently equipped for the life here. But then they allow their children to be born in the next world without any equipment. The life of this world is the embryo of our spiritual birth to the life after. And this is the end of all education, all training, the whole life of man on this planet is to be prepared to be born in eternal life.
[5:25] Between these two, the birth of the child and the end of the life, we must always try to prepare the child for the spiritual birth in the eternal world of God. By eternal I mean endless words of God, endless worlds of God. This will prepare the child to make progress gradually, steadily from one world to the other and that progress should remain steadily and forever and endless. Is this clear?
[6:06] How precious dear children are to all of us, every child. You must never think that the children who are born in Persia or America are the [?]. Children who are born in India and the islands of the pacific, in Africa wherever they are, they are the gift of God to every family.
[6:27] You know the eyes are given to the children in the womb of the mother so that the child can see the whole world, the creation of God. The eyes that we carry with ourselves to the world to come will be our faith to the Manifestation of God in our age. The people who do not see, who do not recognize, who do not embrace the faith of the Manifestation of God in their own age, they will be born blind in the other world.
[7:04] [Male speaker from audience] Mr. Faizi, if the Local Spiritual Assembly is planning classes for children, to educate children in a Baha'i community, at what age should they begin to hold those classes, or what age should the children begin to attend those classes?
[7:21] [Faizi] ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says we must gather the children together at the age of five. It means that til the age of five the children must have home family, home education. Means the families should come together and gather the children together so that they will be always feeling well protected in the bosom of the family. And if the child is taken away from the family sooner than that he'll always lack something. Especially the very little ones, they don't have the tongue to say anything, but they show it with their attitude towards to us. A mother leaves the child for one day, for example, when she returns in the evening she will feel that the child is feeling stranger to her. They're extremely sensitive and they understand these things.
[8:15] Therefore ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says gather them at the age of five. And ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stresses very much on the difference between instruction and education. And when they are gathered at the age of five he doesn't say start with instructing them, no. He says gather them together and start with this: teach them manners, politeness and love. Manners, politeness and love. At present we don't have the universal manners of the Bahá’í Faith, but whatever manners are prevailing in their own society, in their own community and whatever manners which would be as near to the principles of the Bahá’í Faith as possible must be taught to the children. When politeness and above all, love. You see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá never says gather them and teach them, instruct them. Education [?] [?].
[9:29] The process of education is the exploration of the children and finding those talents, but instruction is the transfer of knowledge from one person to another. For example a teacher of mathematics will tell them how the process of two times two should be done by them. This is the easiest thing. And it's very much accepted by all the people of the world. But education is the hardest part of it, and if you'd be successful in educating our children within the spirit of the Bahá’í Faith, universalism of the Bahá’í Faith, the brotherhood of mankind, this is the real education that we are giving to the present generation; at the age of five.
[10:20] [Female speaker from audience] I was very interested in what you said about the little child being estranged from the mother when the mother has gone away for one day, do you mean by this that the mothers should be with the children as much as possible, [Faizi: As much as...] up until the age of five? [Faizi: Certainly.] And it would not be advisable if a mother had the choice to maybe go out and work and leave the child alone with someone else?
[10:53] [Faizi] You know the necessities of life these days will oblige us to break some of the rules. All these idealistic rules of education given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Bahá’u’lláh will be practiced when the means of living will be so cheap that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says three hours work a day will be sufficient for every family. Three hours. Then the mothers won't have any excuse, or fathers they do not. You know ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says that the very first instinct that children have is their sense of protection. Even a child of one day, hold the child like this and try to place the child in the cradle. Now move your hand all of the sudden down, you see, move this way. Child will [?] to protect himself against falling.
[12:00] He says it's one of the first first instincts given to the child, protection. He is always searching to be protected because out of all the creatures of the world the weakest child is the child of man. Other animals no, they are not as weak as the child of man. Other animals will grow to walk within a day or so, will provide themselves with anything is required but the child of man should be protected even at the age of eight [Laughter].
[12:37] Did I tell you the story of one of our friends in America? He had been here for about half century, from Persia. After fifty years he told me he went back to Tehran to visit his mother and the very first thing he did was to take a shower, for he had crossed the country and it was dusty and so on. The moment he went to the shower somebody knocked at the door [Knock, knock] and said I hope you will not catch cold and this was the voice of his mother. Fifty years away, and the boy told me 'I was just in tears'. The mother never thought that it's fifty years I'm taking care of my son. But still that's instinct of motherhood and protection of the child manifested and said without any restraint: 'I hope you will not catch cold'. [Faizi has been laughing while retelling this story]. This is the nature of mother and this is what children love, particularly small ones, and they must be fed with this sense of protection.
[13:48] [Female speaker from audience] Could I just ask one more thing about, the uh, you said at the age of five that the children should be gathered together for this moral instruction. [Faizi: Not moral, manners politeness and love]. And love... Well then when does training in reading and writing and sign... [Faizi: After that.] After that?
[14:13] [Faizi] Yes, he says the first requirement is to teach them these things, it's more important than reading and writing. And reading and writing He said it must be the sweetest way. Very easy, very loved[?], very much appealing to the nature of the child, not by force.
[14:37] [Female speaker from audience] Well speaking of force then, one more question in terms of discipline, I know we'd love to hear you talk a little bit about disciplining children, but I was also wondering if you could include forms of discipline because people wonder what forms are really allowable?
[14:55] [Faizi] Yeah. The word discipline and punishment is not used in our literature. You'll be surprised, beloved Master never said punish the child. He knows that the children will maybe apt to do things by mistake. Know, things which are unpleasant to the parents. But he very emphatically says never beat the children. The people of the world think that the child being beaten is well educated or well disciplined. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says: never. They will become outlaw in future. If at either infanthood, during the years of childhood, they can not revenge that beating they'll do it in the future when they become stronger.
[15:54] Now suppose a child breaks this flower pot, and the mother comes and beats the child, now two things are broken, the child and flower pot. We must do something that the mistake will be redressed. But what He says, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says emphatically, awaken the child, awakening is the word used by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Awaken the child to the situation by all the pleasant ways and means possible for the family. He emphasizes the fact that the Arabs educating horses, they never beat a horse. And if you ask them why, they say if I beat the horse the horse will never be trained. And then ‘Abdu’l-Bahá very lamentably asks, is our children less than animals? Why should they be beaten?
[17:03] You know, punishment which is used very often, is not true worth for the children, the child is in darkness, doesn't understand the value of this umbrella. And doesn't know why this is used here. If there is something happening to it the child is in darkness. What should we do? We must bring a light and show him this. Awaken the child, always awaken it. And the other very harmful results of beating is this: that the soul of the child will recoil within itself. The child will become introvert altogether. And God knows when and at what stage of his life or her life this soul will be unfolded again.
[17:55] That sense of inhibition will always... and in the class the teacher says who knows this? This child who had been beaten in the family is always afraid to raise his [?], always afraid that perhaps somebody else will beat him. Why should we do this to our children? Take in point[?] was this, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says after beating is tongue lashing. Tongue lashing is worse than beating. We should never use these words with a child, so that the child will be abashed, will be put to shame, will be belittled in front of others and in front of the family itself. Always will think that the mother doesn't like me, father doesn't like me, I'm unwanted in this family. When they use their tongue, sharp tongue against children, it's very bad, it kills the spirit of the child. [?] Gail told me: I often told my mother please take the whip and beat me, but don't talk like this to me. It's worse than beating.
[18:55] What has Bahá’u’lláh said in the Book of Íqán? He says if somebody is wounded by a sword the wound will be healed after some time. But if that person is wounded by the tongue of a man, it will not be healed even within centuries. Why? Because he relates the story in his family, the family will take it down to another family, generations will know that somebody had told their great grandfather such a word in front of such a community. That's why Bahá’u’lláh in all His writings, He gives a specific duties for hands, and eyes and tongue. Says tongue is given to you so that you will praise God and His creation. Eyes are given to you to see the glory of God in everything created. And hands are to be taught to be raised because God is so generous with us. But then why should we misuse all these things?
[20:14] [Female speaker from audience] Do you make a differentiation between, is there a difference between the beating and the tongue lashing which are so extreme, is there a difference between that and a spank, or a uh, brief stern telling?
[20:37] [Faizi] By beating or tongue lashing I mean this, it's meant like this: that which humiliate the child, will belittle the child, will demonstrate a certain despise in our hearts against the child, we must never do that.
[20:54] [Male speaker from audience] Mr. Faizi, there are theories of education today that say that the child contains all the knowledge of all the, uh, that everything is within the child and really the role of the teacher should be to really allow the child to express these things and the teacher should not really interfere, they call the teacher a facilitator, and umm, what should be the role of a teacher? In the instruction of Bahá’í children, in classes held... and maybe you could give some examples of your own work in schools, Bahá’í schools in Persia.
[21:31] [Faizi] You see first of all the knowledge of things does not exist in the child. But talents are given to the child to grasp that knowledge. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says look at the candles. We are sure there is light in this candle, but what does it need? It needs somebody to ignite it. And then there are candles which are ignited by themselves. They are specific creation of God, the people are genius or prodigious children who are just ignited by themselves. But usually, the power to have light is existing in the child. The power to understand exists in the child. The teachers function is to discover what this child made for, was she made be a great speaker, a great writer? A great organizer, a great dancer, pianist, violinist? All sorts of things must be tested and examined [til such time?] that the teacher may decide, and says this is excellent for this specific line of activity and that's the meaning of specialization. We must try all ways and means to find what is the special line of interest of the child and the talents given to the child.
[23:04] Now, it's impossible to do this because each good teacher is given more than thirty children in a class and as you see in Persia they must drive the cattle with one stick. [Laughter]. One lesson for all of them, one homework for all of them. And that's why the poor children get punishment. Some of them are not interested in some of the homework given to them, and they'll be punished. Will their punishment make them do this homework better in the future? It's impossible.
[23:37] Discovery is the work of the teacher. For example, we refer to my own experience, I was in a village of Persia where there were about two, three thousand Bahá’ís who had about one thousand children there, and they had no school. All the Bahá’í schools had been closed. And the Guardian expressed the desire that he wanted somebody to go there and start the tutorship, as it is mentioned in the five year plan of the House of Justice. Tutorship means a teacher and a group of students.
[24:20] Well in that village, I came to understand that this village particularly gave to the children the greatest power of concentration, and perseverance and reaching the aim that they had in life. They persevered to reach the aim, all these children. And the only thing I could do for them in those years was to teach them how to read and how to write, mathematics, a little bit of history, geography and so on and so forth. And many of them turned their path towards the line of mathematics. Some of them medicine. I could see in them that these children are interested in medicine. I could find in them that these children are blessed in mathematics. Now, after five years I had twenty teachers prepared for that village, and they continued the work. Now, do you know that many of those boys and girls who worked with me are scattered throughout the world, and are excellent doctors, mathematicians, engineers, architects? Those children. Because from the very childhood they were directed to the line in which they were interested.
[25:53] Now I'll give you some examples. The father of one of them came to me and said: I have prepared my suitcase to go to America. From that village. I said, how do you go there? What makes it you go there? He said, do you remember the youngest son born to me? I said yes, Behzad, his name was Behazd [?]. He said he had sent me tickets and money to go to America and he'll take me to the temple, to the Bahá’í meetings and centers in America and Canada and we'll return home. "Where is he working?" He said, in his own way, he said "in the satellites". Here he is so strong in mathematics that whatever department of satellites [?], they borrowed him from university, he is working there. He's one of the children. And I was in, what was the place? I've forgotten the name. Somebody came to receive me, and first said let me take you to the place where we sent satellites and [will he?] there. He is from another village. He's one of the engineers who work in that institution. And he took me [?] key to institution, opened it and showed me the huge building of forty stories where the satellite is made in between and how they sent it up and all the things, wonderful things that he had experienced himself, and he is one of the people who works there. Why? Because from childhood he was directed to this form of study.
[27:37] [Male speaker from audience] And he came from a small village in Persia?
[27:40] [Faizi] Yes. From small villages of Persia. There is another boy who is now in the university of America, and they paid his scholarship and everything, all from this village.
[27:56] [Female speaker from audience] Why do so many of the children excel in mathematics and science?
[28:00] [Faizi] I don't know, the nature of that village, something... I said they have great power of perseverance. There is no covenant breaker in that village. There is no [?] of covenant breaker. The village consists of thirty-two thousand people, only two thousand are Bahá’ís. This village is near Isfahan. The moment you say [Mejahavar?], they say "yes, yes, that village of the Bábís". All thirty-thousand people are forgotten. They only know [Mejahavar?] by two thousand Bahá’ís. It's the village of the Bábís.
[28:42] The doctors throughout Shiraz, Isfahan, Tehran in the hospitals, private clinics are from this village. Our great Pioneers in Persia are from this village. All the assemblies near Isfahan, near Shiraz, near [Abbas Abadan?] on the shores of Persia are made by these people. One will be surprised. And also another village of Persia [?], the third one is, I mention the villages so that we can a clear understanding of what the real Bahá’í education may prepare. I shouldn't say real, because it's far from real. There is a Bahá’í education in these villages. Under the canopy of the Faith they are grown, and they function because of that power given to them by the Faith. I never created competition amongst the children. Never tried to lift the hand of one child: this is the best child of the class. Never did I that, in all class. I never called names at the beginning of the—I knew everybody was in the class. Never. And whenever they brought me their homework, I just put the sign here for all of them. You'd be surprised that there was only one boy who cheated me, always, they never told him. He folded the paper like this, where I had done this, and I looked at it and said "it's alright". Gradually, gradually he became ashamed of himself, and he never did it again. If I had given one word of reprimand in front of the class he would become worse. But just not saying anything to him, I'm accepting this as the final homework of this boy. Something grew in him, he never repeated that.
[31:01] I'd like to tell you the story of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in this respect. On Friday ‘Abdu’l-Bahá expected the children stand in a row at about 11 o'clock in the morning and will come down from his room and will see their penmanship, and their weekly work of their lessons and everything. And each child had prepared things for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. One of them said to me [6 seconds of audio missing] and said one week I was truant, I didn't do anything and on the night before Friday I was tired and slept. In the morning I took the very same thing I had taken the week before to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. [?] always were standing like this and the moment he started to come downstairs he looked at me. [Mr. Faizi is laughing while retelling]. I bent down my head, he took my papers, he didn't say anything. He said [Persian phrase?] to everyone. And they were standing, they were severed tea and the prayers of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and everything. He said I was very happy to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá could not understand it, did not say anything to me in front of... then when he wanted to go out of the room He called him, He said "I don't think you made progress in writing, this week". [Laughter]. That was all. How beautiful, he really created something in the boy. He showed him that he is not deceived, but he overlooked his mistake. He never said anything in front of other children, but just remarked what the child should have known. Of course, he says travail, the work of each person must be appreciated. But in the class we must be very careful not to create any competition among the children, or God forbid, favoritism or something like that.
[33:30] [Male speaker from audience] Mr. Faizi could you say something about, or could you tell us a little about methods we could use to educate our children in spiritual and moral principles?
[33:39] [Faizi] Ah yes, I forgot the first thing I said was the second I feel the best means will be stories for children. Because when you tell stories to the children they always think that they must emulate this personality, go into the skin of this man or woman and become one of them. And the simplest the story the better for children so that they can understand. Sometimes I'm very sorry to hear the stories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which in nature, in its essence is very, very simple but is amplified, so amplified that the beauty is lost. Like a piece of sugar diluted in plenty of water, plenty of descriptions and things like that. I don't think it's right, really. For example if you tell them the story of Ṭáhirih we must tell it in its own purity, not [alter?] anything. Stories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the martyrs and the great teachers of the Cause and the illiterate people who became the greatest teacher of the Cause. And tell the children that the greatest thing is the purity of heart, always, not to know very much. Because no matter how much we learn still we lack something, but the purity of heart gives us an endless treasure house of God's mercy.
[35:03] For example, ask the children: Do you know Abu'l-Fazad[?] If they don't know, tell them that he's the greatest scholar ever accepted the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. The Guardian said he was specialist in history and in literature. He could write in Persian and Arabic just the same. If he would stand to talk, Persian or Arabic would be the same for him. Arabic is a very hard language but he wrote it so beautifully that even the Arabs were astounded. But who brought him to the Faith, who taught him? A blacksmith, illiterate all together, awakened him to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Such things which will really awaken the children also to the fact that there is a power, mysterious power, we must tackle in, we must use it, and when we use it properly it will come to our aid.
[36:21] The most difficult questions have been solved by the most illiterate believers. Because of an approach of simplicity and innocence that they had. There are thousands of examples. I very much appreciate the Baha'i News of America repeating the lives old believers. Some written by ? Waite?, they are wonderful. Let the children read, I hope day will come when all these things will be compiled in one book, and the children will have it. [Mr. Faizi seem to address the next part to one audience member in particular] Now I want you to ask some questions, could you? You can ask any question you like. And where is your sister? [Boy: Over there]. [Laughter from Mr. Faizi]. Go on with your question. Do you have any questions.
[37:18] [Child from audience] Well, um, I wanted to say a prayer.
[37:22] [Faizi] Yes, please say it, wonderful. It will refresh all of us.
[37:18] [Child] O my God, O my God. Unite the hearts of Thy servants and reveal to them Thy great purpose. May they follow Thy commandments and abide in Thy law. Help them O God in their endeavor, and grant them strength to serve Thee. O God, leave them not to themselves but guide their steps by the light of knowledge and cheer their hearts by Thy love. Verily Thou art their Helper and their Lord.
[37:54] [Faizi] Thank you very much. Why is this prayer so important? It's very important...
[38:00] [Child] Because it tells about the unity.
[37:54] [Faizi] Unity [My Faizi laughing happily] that's right. If we have we have everything. Unite the hearts of Thy servants. See He never called us generals, or heads of offices. He said servants, it's the highest station we can reach. How many prayers do you know by heart? [Child: About four.] That's wonderful, wonderful. And your question?
[38:32] [Another child] I would like to ask about memorization, like how much should you memorize and that kind of stuff.
[38:40] [Faizi] I wanted to say about this, something. There are people who have powerful memories [for them?] they must use it. But it's not a general instruction to the teacher that they should force everybody to memorize. There are people who cannot memorize probably. They are very weak in memorization, but they are excellent in solving a mathematical problem. When there is a power of memorization, therefore let him or her use it as much as he can. If there is a child in the class who cannot memorize he must not torture the child, we must not minimize his activities amongst others, said but he's excellent in something else for example. I'm sure he'll be excellent in something else.
[39:34] ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gives the secrets of human life very often in prayers. We must pay very much attention to the prayers of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá because these are the qualities of human soul that he puts in form of prayer. In one of them he says "Well be to those who are awakened in the morning." When I ponder upon this and see human nature different, some people work at the night, the whole night and sleep in the morning til about noontime. What does ‘Abdu’l-Bahá mean here? I found out really, it's my own interpretation, he means well be it to those people who are awakened in the morning of their life. At your ages, if you will be awakened to the responsibilities of life, to the prospects of your life, to what is awaiting you, you will better prepare yourself for that future than any other one. But there are people who will be awakened at sunset of their life when they have lost all opportunities and talents and capacities, they will not be able to do... [Audio ends abruptly].
