Education is, no doubt, valuable in its own right, but it also is enabling in the sense that it serves (however imperfectly) as the gateway for obtaining other social goods, such as desirable employment, adequate income, and political power (Howe, 34). Only through education does one achieve a social standing as a participating citizen entitled to the benefits of equal rights and say in life. Through education does one uplift one self from poverty, discrimination, glass-ceiling jobs, and a realization that many injustices can be accomplished by the knowledge of what is right or not. Yet, education by itself will only accomplish so much in this day and age. Equality of education, equality of superior curriculum, equal treatment and environmental conditions in learning institutions; sense of community and belonging, cultural and language identification and acceptance; as well as the destruction of the social and class barriers that often hold back those who have much to gain. Those are essential tools in the process of enlightenment for students who have no chance in the educational systems they are now exposed to. In order for an America to be composed of citizens who participate in the political arena and contribute to the better good of society an America that has an equal system of education for all is needed.Aristotle states that for a citizen to act as the title given to him he must have knowledge, age, and wisdom. He must have intelligence to contribute to the administration of justice. If that must be true, then what becomes of those citizens who do not have the time or luxury of getting an education? A piece written by Jonathan Kozal speaks of the disadvantage of those who do not have the means to afford a good education and are set behind those who do. In Children of the City Invincible: Camden, New Jersey, he speaks of students who do not even have enough textbooks to go around being set back from mainstream society....
