A large body of scholars is of the opinion that variations
among minds and differing degrees of perception are due to differences in
education, training and culture. That is, they believe that minds are equal to
begin with, but that training and education will result in mental variations
and differing levels of intelligence, and that such variations are not an
inherent component of the individuality but are the result of education: that
no one hath any inborn superiority over another....
The Manifestations of God are likewise in agreement with the
view that education exerteth the strongest possible influence on humankind.
They affirm, however, that differences in the level of intelligence are innate;
and this fact is obvious, and not worth debating. For we see that children of
the same age, the same country, the same race, indeed of the same family, and
trained by the same individual, still are different as to the degree of their
comprehension and intelligence. One will make rapid progress, one will receive
instruction only gradually, one will remain at the lowest stage of all… That is
to say, education cannot alter the inner essence of a man, but it doth exert
tremendous influence, and with this power it can bring forth from the individual
whatever perfections and capacities are deposited within him.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (‘Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’)
