Education can facilitate the transmission to members of the new generation of ideas, sentiments, attitudes, and habits. The importance of the educational process within society it is not surprising that there has been much competition for its control. The chief claimants have been the family, the church, and the state. In modern times the tension has been particularly acute between churches and states. The amount and quality of education which a child will receive on the basis of its abilities, on the basis of the wealth and social status of its parents, perhaps according to the political and religious views of its parents. In this country all children receive some education; exceptional ability may secure a long and good education for the child of poor parents; a special type of school is maintained for the children of the upper classes; and there are schools of special types to meet the wishes of members of particular religious bodies.