Bush proposed mandatory state testing of students and said he would tie federal education money to such testing. Bush also proposed requiring all states to develop and administer annual tests for students in grades three to eight, and said he would require the states to participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which tests a random sampling of students every two to four years. No one questions the importance of education in a complex modern society. Education is the process by which we impart moral values to our children, make them part of our particular culture, develop their ability to think, and give them specific kinds of information that they will need to be productive adults, good citizens, and civilized human beings. Today there is great concern about the quality of American education.
Every month brings another study on how poorly American students fare in international competition.
The Third International Mathematics and Science Study, released in November 1996, found that U.S. eighth-graders scored below the average of students from 40 nations on math and just above average on science. U.S. students scored lower than students from Singapore, Korea, Japan, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. But neither the importance of education nor its poor quality means that education is an important function of the federal government. In fact, education is not mentioned in the Constitution of the United States, and for good reason. The Founders wanted most aspects of life managed by those who were closest to them, either by state or local government or by families, businesses, and other elements of civil society.