Education is the most powerful tool for change. Sadly, our education system has actually been holding us back. It has failed to provide the same quality to the rich and the middle-classes. The latter are often forced to pay high tuition fees just to send their children to a mediocre private school. Ultimately, middle-class graduates often find that they cannot secure a good job despite all the money their parents paid. When it comes to the poor, even basic access to education is not guaranteed. In many cases, the children of the poor attend schools where teachers either do not come to work or do next to nothing when they are there.

If many of this country’s poor tend towards violence, crime, extremism and resentment, the way they are treated by their own government during their childhood might explain why. Our government is not ashamed to see boys and girls well under 13 sweeping the streets, washing cars and repairing bikes. Many go on to become criminals. Out of all the security threats we face, our woeful education system might just be the greatest.