Brian Kisida, Colyn G. Ritter, Hanes Shuls and Gary Ritter:
Polling finds that teachers, more than the general public, believe schools should
The Beliefs of Parents, the General Public, and Teachers
We recently fielded a set of surveys to a representative sample of American parents, the general public, and teachers about education’s role in teaching about America. In general, we find broad agreement among these three groups. Notably, teachers appear to be more optimistic than parents and the general public when it comes to portraying America in a positive light and imparting democratic values (see Figure 1).
For example, 62 percent of teachers express that it is “very” or “extremely” important for schools to teach that the United States is a fundamentally good country, more than the general public (55 percent) and parents (59 percent). It is also encouraging that most people appreciate nuance enough to recognize the difference between blind veneration and enlightened notions of democratic citizenship. A majority of each group believe it is “very” or “extremely” important that schools teach students to be patriotic and loyal to the United States, yet higher shares of all three groups believe it is “very” or “extremely” important to teach that it is good to question the policies and actions of the U.S. government. When it comes to issues of race and education that have received so much attention over the past decade, teachers are less likely to support teaching that the United States is a fundamentally racist nation than are members of the general public or parents. Finally, most Americans believe it is “very” or “extremely” important that students learn about the U.S. Constitution and its core values, with teachers believing this at a higher rate (82 percent) than parents or the general public (75 percent).