Survey Shows Public Believes Teachers’ Personal Politics Negatively Impacting K-12 Education

Over half of the country believes public K-12 education is heading in the wrong direction, with a majority of those concerned thinking teachers espousing their personal politics in the classroom is standing in the way, according to a new survey.

The Pew Research survey, published Thursday, found that 51% of U.S. adults say the public education system is headed in the wrong direction, while a small 16% say it is going in the right direction.

Of those who see education as headed in the wrong direction, 54% said one of the reasons why is teachers inserting their personal politics and social views in the classroom, which was coupled with 69% of U.S. adults who believe students are not learning core competencies such as math, reading, science, and civics.

“There is no question that time spent on the fundamentals of reading, writing, and math has decreased, and parents are right to be concerned,” Erika Sanzi, outreach director for Parents Defending Education, told the Washington Examiner. “One reason for this shift away from a focus on fundamentals is that politics, ideology, and activism have made their way into our classrooms, and they take up a lot of time.”

“Required lessons in ‘social-emotional learning’ also eat up classroom time that was once dedicated to spelling, times tables, and grammar,” Sanzi added. “Schools have strayed too far afield from their primary responsibility, and parents have seen it firsthand.”

Of those who see public education going in the wrong direction, only 26% thought that parents have too much influence on what schools are teaching.

The political breakdown of those who believe education is going in the wrong direction is lopsided, with 65% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents agreeing, but a large portion of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents agree at 40%. Only 10% of Republicans and 23% of Democrats say education is going in the right direction.

Along ideological lines, conservative Republicans are more likely to believe education is headed in the wrong direction at 75%, but a majority of moderate and liberal Republicans agree at 52%. According to Pew, there is not much of an ideological difference across the Democratic spectrum.

While a modest 52% majority of all those who see education moving in the wrong direction cited a lack of funding and resources as a reason, Democrats were far more likely to point to that as an issue, with 78% of Democrats blaming it compared to 33% of Republicans.

Forty-six percent of Democrats also believe that parents have too much say in what schools are teaching, while only 13% of Republicans agree.

However, Republicans were far more likely to point to a teacher’s personal politics in the classroom as an issue than Democrats.

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However, Republicans were far more likely to point to a teacher’s personal politics in the classroom as an issue than Democrats.

The poll was conducted from Nov. 9-16, 2023, among 5,029 adults.