Federal Government Role in Education Essay Sample

The United States' democratic structure allows for the encompassment of numerous political opinions throughout the vast nation. This composition leaves room for interests to be expressed at the state and national levels of government. Typically, education has been an issue discussed at the state and local levels due to the intimate nature of schooling. However, if American wishes to progress formally as a unified national, the federal government's role in education should be increased. Due to the federal government's capability to regulate the fraught relationship between interest groups, provide funding, and exercise its power over state governments,  the federal government has the ability to foster a better education for American children and young adults, and its role in the issue should be expanded. Education is crucial to the progress of this country, and this world, so it is vital that education is a baseline that is the same for all young people across America. The federal government has the ability to regulate education nationwide, and control the interests of factions at the state level that could change what education means to the people within that state. According to The Federalist 10  by James Madison, "From this view of the subject it may be concluded that a pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, whoassemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction." Here, Madison is recognizing the idea that the smaller scale of democracy, in this situation the state level, has no answer for a group mindset, which can be dangerous when it comes to education since these groups would have the ability to change what is required to teach within public schools. This would make the playing field, per se, of young adult life, as a young person would build their opinion based on different information than another person. Some may say it is good to have differing opinions, and this, of course, is true, however, those opinions should be based on the same information from the start of the educational journey. In order to assure that all young people receive the same caliber of education, the federal government can step in, exercise its power over the state governments, and set regulations upon state education policies. This would achieve the goal of ensuring that America's younger generations are informed on the issues that they need to be, rather than fed specific information based on the interests of the groups in power at the time of the policymakingMoving on, due to the nature of the Constitution the federal government has absolute power over state governments, as stated in Article VI, Clause 2, also known as the Supremacy Clause, the Constitution is the "supreme Law of the Land." In order to regulate education, in such a way that provides similar, if not the same, information to all of America's students, the federal government must expand its role in the issue, as it has the ability to not only set standards for state education systems, but it can also provide and take away funding to schools that do not comply. Since the federal government has the ability to coin and distribute money, it also has the ability to take that money away. The use of funding, combined with the Article I Section *, the Necessary and Proper Clause, which states, "[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof," the federal government has the power to regulate education in such a way allows for American students to be near-guaranteed the same education, at the public level, in every area of the country. Not only would this foster a better education for American children, but it would also guarantee the stability of the democratic structure of the U.S since students would see the federal structure working before their very eyes during their education, which now, is not all that common. In conclusion, the federal government should expand its role in the education of America's students, because it has the ability to ensure that the information provided to students is not filtered by the interests of political groups, it has the funding available to take away or give money to the states or education systems following the federal regulations set forth, and finally, it has the ability to exercise its power of the smaller state governments, which allows for regulations that could better education for all of America's students, rather than smaller groups within the states. Overall, the American federal government has the ability to better the education of its young minds, creating a pathway for better communication and life in this country.