What most Baha’is do not know today, is that `Abdu’l-Bahā had prohibited his followers from sending their children to non-Baha’i schools. It was because of this order that Baha’i schools like Madrisiy-i Tarbiyat were established in Tehran:

It is absolutely prohibited for the children of the friends to go to the schools of others (meaning non-Baha’is) for this is [a cause of] humiliation (dhillat) for the Cause of God and they will be completely deprived of the Blessed Beauty’s graces. Because they will be educated/nurtured elsewise and they will disgrace the Baha’is.[1]

`Abdu’l-Bahā prohibits his followers in the strictest sense and using threatening language from sending their children to non-Baha’i schools. Apparently, Baha’i children must be prevented from learning anything non-Baha’i while they are still in an age in which they cannot decide for themselves about what is right and wrong. They must be induced to think that the Baha’i creed is the only source of salvation for mankind and its teachings are unique and better than all other teachings. When these children grow up, they will be biased towards the Baha’i creed and their investigation of the truth will be influenced by the teachings that have been firmly established in their minds since childhood.

[1] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (probably Tehran: n.p., n.d.), vol. 5, p. 170.