Poll Says Parents Biggest Concern Is Politics In Education
A recent survey found that of parents pressing concerns, politics weaving its way into education is of the utmost concern.
Politics have entered the classroom and teaching practices at unprecedented rates. Instead of learning their ABCs and 123s even young children are being taught identity politics and other opinion-based rhetoric. While some politicians and educators consider this appropriate, the majority of parents are more concerned with this approach to teaching.
A survey conducted by the Learning Heroes educational support nonprofit revealed that some 68% of parents are concerned about politicians inserting political ideology into classrooms. This worry trumped fears over children’s mental health status, happiness, and overall well-being, likely because how children see the world is shaped through many of their educational lessons. To date, The Biden Administration has pushed liberal progressive politics into public schools. From equity movements, which work to control success rates regardless of how hard students do or don’t work, to a recent proposal to expand Title IX — that award the LGBTQ+ community extra protections and even reduce due process protocols for sexual assault cases — many schools are being led to enact one-sided politically driven policies.
What may be fueling some of these concerns over politics in school is the fact that last year a study from the PEW Research Institute displayed that white liberals have significantly higher rates of mental illness than conservatives and moderates. While 62% of white liberals were reported to suffer from some sort of mental illness, 26% of conservatives and 20% of moderates had mental issues. Knowing this, some are said to have correlated modern liberal ideology with unhealthy mindsets that can be harmful to an individual’s mental state.
In addition, 87% of teachers also noted in the poll that having parents’ trust is of great importance to them. This directly conflicts with current federal initiatives which incentivize teaching politics and even controversial doctrines that parents oppose. A whopping 93% of parents polled wished to remain an active presence in their children’s education and to potentially get more involved.
What these numbers tell Americans is that politics are causing problems in communities and that schools which wish to serve the families that utilize them are better apt to bridge gaps by leaving politics out of the curriculum. So many parents are upset with how the education system is working that they have even admitted that they will vote across party lines and even switch political affiliations over educational viewpoints. 82% of voters are so concerned about what is being taught in schools and how public education is handled that they will walk away from their previous political party in an effort to ensure that learning material is appropriate and accurate.
This news comes as many new policies are being pressed by the Department of Education, led by The Biden Administration. While playing politics in Washington is commonplace, parents are proving that bringing that ball game into schools will not be tolerated. Families who are fed up with biased political ideologies and practices that harm the learning process are preparing for the fall elections. Last fall many school board upsets were experienced and it is likely that that trend will expand to include house seats, senate seats, and other political positions solely based on the state of education.
