It is ironical that Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has invested in education as a means of accelerating the development process; the current economic crisis and the structural adjustment programs (SAP's) have greatly affected the strides made in education. During the 1980's many countries in SSA significantly had to cut their budgets in education. In Zaire, for example, 46,000 teachers lost their jobs due to the devaluations during 1983 and 84 and these cutbacks had a strong effect on the educational system. Free education was only available after independence--it was quickly abandoned due to the burden of the expense on the budget and the rapidly growing demographic problem. Today school is only available for those who can pay for it, and this financial constraint has enabled boys to become better educated than girls. However, once educated, graduates can no longer find employment. SAP's did not take into account the short-term needs of the newly educated Africans and the public sector in countries such as Liberia, Mali and Benin have not been able to pay their employees their salaries. Africa faces additional constraints where 80% of the population is rural and working in agricultural activities which are at the opposite end of the process of development and modernization. The lack of opportunities have forced urban and rural youth alike to return to working the land. If the majority of African children never get beyond primary school, why should they even go to school? For what purpose? Perhaps more efforts should be made to integrate the educational system with the needs of the rural population to begin developing appropriate infrastructure and personnel in the rural areas. Such vision would give millions of African youth a new found confidence lost in today's world.