The brilliant stars: the Bahá'í faith and the education of children

By H.T.D. Rost and ED.D. ROST, H.T.D., M.A.

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0853980837
• ISBN13: 9780853980834
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: George Ronald
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.6" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

we need to instill values, morals, ethics, spirituality

At the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development it was decided to declare a decade of Education for Sustainable Development, starting in 2005. Reintroducing values back into the curriculum for school children is an important part of education for a better world and the Oxfordshire Education Authority is paving the way as described in the book "The Quiet Revolution: Encouraging Positive Values in our Children" by Frances Farrer. I turned to "Brilliant Stars" to determine if Dr. Rost's ideas, taken from the writings of the Bahai Faith, might be a worthy contribution to education for sustainable development. The author starts by looking at some of the things which are wrong in the world today and which have brought the world into crisis. Many of our problems have their root in two things - our loss of spirituality and our education system. A growing number of thinkers agree that if mankind is to survive we must have better human beings in a world of peace, in a world of unity. In fact we need a new world order. Education must address itself to these problems, with child education playing a key role. It seems to me that this quotation, taken from the Bahai writings clearly identifies the problem: "In man there are two natures: his spiritual or higher nature and his material or lower nature. If he allows his lower nature to overcome him, he is no better than an animal. The child must be lifted up from his lower nature through education. Spiritual education is essential for the victory of man's spiritual nature over his lower nature." Our current education system is obsolete in that it has given such great emphasis to our material or lower nature that many on the fringe of Enron-type fiascoes feel that the only thing that is wrong is getting caught. We really must redress the balance and that is what this book is all about.It is still unfashionable to talk about ethics, morals and spirituality and most people are afraid to stick their neck out by using such words. However, at the Johannesburg Summit there were a handful of papers such as "Globalization and Sustainable Development: Is Ethics The Missing Link?" and "Sustainable Development: the Spiritual Dimension" showing that leading-edge thinkers have identified the lack of the spiritual dimension as the underlying reason for the world's troubles. The chapters "Education and the Nature of Man" and "Education for Perfections" and "Education for a Unified World" get down to the nitty gritty, the author telling us that the basic purpose of man is to know and to love God and to acquire qualities, attributes and characteristics needed when we pass to the heavenly kingdom. Our attainment of love of God is the key to our attainment of love of mankind. We need to agree on a general picture of the future of mankind and an educational approach to match. Society is ill and is in need of a highly skilled physician - but who is the physician who can prescribe the remedies for the illness? Unlike