Oprah Winfrey is at it again. She's using her vast wealth to help promote children's education. This time, Oprah is giving $1.5 million to Ron Clark Academy, a private middle school in Atlanta.

The students there are from diverse economic backgrounds, but the school relies almost entirely on donations for its $2.8 million budget. When the economy struggles, donations drop. All of this comes as the school, in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, is trying to add a cafeteria, gymnasium and theater to provide its students with the best educational experience possible. Last year, the kids from the academy hit YouTube with their "You Can Vote However You Like" video.

"We work so hard to provide scholarships for students of all academic backgrounds and to share our successful teaching methods with the world," co-founder Kim Beardon told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "We are incredibly thankful for Ms. Winfrey's support."

This is not the first time Oprah has doled out her largess to educational causes. Earlier this year, Winfrey gave out $1.5 million to several non-profits in Newark, including a couple of schools. In 2008, Winfrey gave $4 million to educational groups.

Winfrey also opened up the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for girls in South Africa in 2007. She's said to have given $46 million to that project despite the criticism she received. Some questioned whether the school was too lavish and whether her $40 million investment could have gone further. .

There were also complaints that Winfrey could do more here in the United States.

Newsweek wrote in 2007:

Oprah also knows that some people will complain that charity should begin at home, even though she has provided millions of dollars to educate poor children in the United States, especially via her Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program. But she sees the two situations as entirely different. "Say what you will about the American educational system--it does work," she says. "If you are a child in the United States, you can get an education." And she doesn't think that American students--who, unlike Africans, go to school free of charge--appreciate what they have. "I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn't there," she says. "If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school."

For all the criticism that Oprah receives, the amount of money she donates to education shouldn't be one of them.

First of all, it's her money. The fact that she's giving away millions of dollars is always a good place to start.

Second, Oprah wants to give her money where she can see results. The leadership academy was designed to pluck girls with the most potential. Those are the young women who will eventually be giving back to the entire country through their assumption of important roles in South Africa. The next Nelson Mandela may be a woman, and don't forget the saying, "If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a nation."

Schools like Ron Clark Academy provide the type of learning environment where many future leaders will develop.

"Education can determine what type of life a person will lead," Stephen Adubato, founder of the Robert Treat Academy in Newark, New Jersey told Aol Black voices in an interview.

Robert Treat Academy is a charter school that received a $500,000 donation from Winfrey's foundation earlier this year. Adubato said the money will be used to help students at the middle school garner scholarships to the nation's best preparatory schools. They expect Winfrey's donation to produce between $12 and $16 million in scholarships over five years.

"She's so generous. She just wants to work with the kids," Adubato said.