“The principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples is ignorance”

The primary, the most urgent requirement is the promotion of education. It is inconceivable that any nation should achieve prosperity and success unless this paramount, this fundamental concern is carried forward. The principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples is ignorance. Today the mass of the people are uniformed even as to ordinary affairs, how much less do they grasp the core of the important problems and complex needs of the time. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘The Secret of Divine Civilization’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1, Baha’i Education)