Schooling also uncovers the nation-state presence in students’ lives. During the twentieth century, schooling became a function of the state. Regardless of the amount of years students are schooled in any particular country around the world, schooling for the most part is a compulsory process and, as such, it is sponsored and organized in some way by the state (despite the level of governance) through funding, curriculum guidelines, mandated textbooks, teacher certification or training, high stakes examinations, etc. Consequently, schooling is a product of state mandates and actions or inactions and the immediate environment in which schools operate.