I'm a big fan of our constitution. I see in it amazing wisdom and foresight, an incredible balance of powers between the branches and between the federal and state governments. It has led to an oddly stable democracy, but has also allowed the country to change substantially over the course of the 20th century.

However, there are some areas where the general sentiment has changed considerably, but the letter of the constitution and perhaps more importantly the principle behind it has not changed at all. A prime example is education. In 1787, when the constitution was adopted, education was not by any means a universal right. Compulsory education was not adopted anywhere in the country until the 1850s and not until 1918 was compulsory education adopted in all states. At the time, there was no question of the federal government being involved in education - it had no business in it, since states were better equipped to decide what to teach, owing to the sometimes drastic differences in societal standards between states.

Now the situation is quite a bit different. The right of each citizen to complete a comprehensive secondary education is enshrined in international law and generally expected by the American public, despite it not being a part of any federal law. What is the best way to ensure a uniform education to all? A centralized system with equal funding guaranteed to each student. The only way to accomplish that is on the federal level. The current system is woefully unequal, with those in the richest states and richest districts receiving the most funding, despite the fact that those living in the poorest districts are the ones who need the most help and specialized training to overcome the steep gap between poor, minority, often English language learners and the middle-to upper class, white, native English speakers.

If one were to draft a constitution today, it would almost certainly recognize the need to provide an adequate education to each and every child in the country and it would almost certainly do that by providing at least some control for Congress to fund education. However, education funding is primarily unconstitutional, especially to the level really required to guarantee universal education. More importantly, there is a strong philosophical opposition to funding education federally. As recently as 1996, the removal of the Department of Education as a cabinet level office was on the Republican platform. This opposition is based on the false assumption that states know best and that it is more important for states to control education than for every child to get a good education.