Poverty programs in the USA try to remedy the evils of poverty with food stamps, educational affirmative action, and health programs. All this is very good. However, few people would say, as the Venezuelan educator, Luis Alberto Machado states in his book The Right to be Intelligent, "Give them back the most violated of all human rights, The Right to be Intelligent."

"Cognitive learning increases when self concept increases," wrote William W. Purke, in Self Concept and School Achievement (Englewood Cliff, N.J. 1970). Low self esteem is reduced, in what Erik Erickson called, "basic trust," thus including a low level of acceptance that interferes with the acceptance of information. The development of thinking at its optimum, is today, a possibility.

This book proposes a low cost educational program, combining academic excellence and reciprocal co-counseling, under competent supervision, to extinguish experiences that trap units of awareness and interfere with the level of acceptance necessary for the attainment of enlightenment and authenticity. There is a need for low cost education, without sacrificing excellence, to assist students in the eternal ascent to knowledge and the abolition of emotional illiteracy.

Dr. Augustin Lombana, Executive Director of the Educational Commission of Exchange, between Colombia and th United States, comments, "our proposal is not only for the present time, nor only for Colombia. It has relevance for all humanity. Human values are universal. For this reason, this proposal is very useful for all of us."