Constitution Day is September 17th.  It celebrates the signing and officiating of the US Constitution. This day recognizes when the US passed the Amendments that would protect American rights for hundreds of years. This year, for the first time at Kennesaw Mountain High School, our school is celebrating this All-American holiday in our social studies classes and dressing up in red, white and blue to show our spirit. In the spirit of Constitution Day, we asked some of our social studies teachers their opinions on the US Constitution.

What is your favorite amendment? Why?

Coach Mayr: The 3rd Amendment- I would not do well with random strangers in my home!

Coach Reason: My favorite Amendment is the 10th Amendment because it gives the states a sense of autonomy and lets their citizens decide what’s best for their state in certain issues which the federal government has no say-so according to the Constitution and the 2nd Amendment which gives citizens the rights to bear arms for our protection as well as protection from the anarchy of a federal government.

Coach Stewart: My favorite Amendment is the 10th  Amendment, Reserved Powers of the States.  This Amendment cements our separation of powers and federalism.

Ms. Pike: My favorite amendment is the 1st , which establishes personal liberties, upon which so many of the others are foundationally based.  Freedom of religion prevents a theocracy and was created to keep government out of religion, not religion out of government.

What does the Constitution mean to you?

Coach Mayr: The Constitution means an endless supply of debates for me and Coach Bettis to engage in.

Coach Reason: The Constitution means to me that it is the foundation in which our government and society is structured around. The Constitution means to me that all individuals in our nation have the ability to succeed and be protected under the laws which our founding fathers gave us. The Constitution is the document in which all that we have and all that we do is based on and, I believe, is the envy of the world, because of our stable government even as we change issues and even as we change

Coach Stewart: The Constitution creates our system of government. It creates a system of government that has seen 200  plus years of peaceful transition of power as well as giving us not only a foundation but a framework  that everyone regardless of ideology has to work inside of.

Ms. Pike: Without the Constitution, a written plan of government, anarchy would ensue, based on the ancient ‘eye for an eye’ system of justice.  There is nothing in this world, that has more control over an individual that its government, and to have a written guarantee of essential human rights is tantamount to the existence of a free people.

If you were to propose an Amendment 28, how should it read? Why should this amendment be passed?

Coach Mayr: I don’t know how this would ever be worded in a way that would functionally work as intended, but if we passed an amendment that outlawed factions (political parties) I think our Founding Fathers would strongly approve (Washington warned about parties as early as the 1790’s) and our country as a whole would be better off.

Coach Reason: If I had to propose a 28th Amendment it would be to allow the states to use their electoral votes by congressional district, which means as the congressmen elected to the US House of Representatives the presidential candidate that wins each congressional district is awarded one electoral vote and those the presidential candidate that wins the whole state’s popular vote gets the two senator votes. I think this is a better way of representation that acknowledges where the country stands on a candidate rather than having six or eight large cities that dominate a state and have that population elect the president, whereas in the larger portions of the state, geographically by district, the state elects another candidate. So, I would do presidential elections via the congressional district, not winner-takes-all.

Coach Stewart: My 28^th Amendment would be a repeal of the 16th and 17th. The 16th, who likes paying income tax? With the 17th, I think we lose a little bit of our separation of powers and how our federalism works with the direct election of senators.

Ms. Pike: To propose an additional amendment would be to clarify those issues already addressed; to that end, I would propose that the electoral college not be bound, as it is in some states, to cast their ballots in direct proportion to that of the people, in order to prevent the ‘ignorant masses’ from potentially electing a non-qualified candidate….which, perhaps, leads to another amendment:  should the presidential qualifications include more than the three mentioned?