Chapter 1: Introduction: Towards a Brighter Tomorrow: College Barriers, Hopes and Plans of Black, Latino/a and Asian American Students in California

Historically, public education has been considered the Great Equalizer of societal imbalances between rich and poor (Kozol, 2005; Stanton-Salazar, 2001). Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States and the founder America’s first state-sponsored postsecondary institution, the University of Virginia, was vocal in his support of public education. In 1810, he was quoted as saying, “I have indeed two great measures at heart, without which no republic can maintain itself in strength: (1) that of general education, to enable every man to judge for himself what will secure or endanger his freedom; (2) to divide every county into hundreds, of such size that all the children of each will be within reach of a central school in it” (http:// etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1370.htm).