Not only did education provide a means for Africans to rise above their traditional ways (as the colonial powers wanted), but it also created a class divide. As Cooper states: "The sudden effort to promote secondary and university education in the 1950s and 1960s gave Africa a significant class of people knowledgeable in literature, science and technology, and with the ambition to know more… At the start of the 21st century, education of sufficient quality to open up professional opportunities has increasingly become a privilege for the children of those already in such a position. Although there was a “significant class of people” in the 1950s and 1960s who were receiving an education, there were still quite a few people who were not. The trend observed is that of a growing gap between those who can afford a decent education and those who cannot. Clearly, education was a form of social