...Thou hast written about the girls' school. What was
previously written still holdeth true. There can be no improvement unless the
girls are brought up in schools and centres of learning, unless they are taught
the sciences and other branches of knowledge, and unless they acquire the
manifold arts, as necessary, and are divinely trained. For the day will come
when these girls will become mothers. Mothers are the first educators of children,
who establish virtues in the child's inner nature. They encourage the child to
acquire perfections and goodly manners, warn him against unbecoming qualities,
and encourage him to show forth resolve, firmness, and endurance under
hardship, and to advance on the high road to progress. Due regard for the
education of girls is, therefore, necessary. This is a very important subject,
and it should be administered and organized under the aegis of the Spiritual
Assembly....
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a Tablet, The Compilation of Compilations,
vol. II, Women)
