Book excerpt: Short Route to Chaos develops a series of specific suggestions for reform based on the principle that education, like religion, is a matter of conscience in which families should be free to select their children's schools and public funding should be allocated equally for each child, regardless of wealth or geographic location. The author goes on to propose public debate about a possible education amendment to the U.S. Constitution. His book is an impassioned call for a pragmatic and populist re-constitution of American schooling - one that respects conscience, supports community, and reinvigorates the principles of constitutional democracy.