As state legislatures continue to restrict topics that can be discussed in classrooms, 58 percent of teachers say their government has too much influence over what is taught in public schools, according to a new survey of 2,531 public school teachers conducted by the Pew Research Center. What's more, 71 percent say teachers don't have enough influence over the subjects taught in public schools in their area.
While the majority, 53%, say that the controversy over school curricula did not negatively or positively affect their ability to do their work, a large percentage of 41% say that the discourse negatively affected them. Only 4% said there was a positive impact.
Moreover, many teachers support curricula that include topics prohibited by lawmakers. The majority, 64%, believe that students should learn about the legacy of slavery and how it still affects the position of blacks in American society today. Only 23% said students should learn the history of slavery, but that it had no lasting impact on black Americans. Only 8% said this topic should not be taught in schools.
Teachers were less likely to defend lessons on gender identity, with half of those surveyed saying the subject should not be taught in schools. However, a significant 33% said students should learn that “anyone can be a boy or a girl even if they are.” Different of the sex assigned to them at birth.” Only 14 percent said students should learn someone's gender determined According to their sex at birth, a view opposed by all major medical organizations.
Support for teaching gender identity also increased among teachers of higher age groups. While 62% of elementary teachers and 45% of middle school teachers said gender identity should not be taught in schools, only 35% of high school teachers said the same. Most high school teachers, 45%, believe students should be taught that gender identity is not determined by one's sex.
While a majority of K-12 public educators, 60 percent, say parents should not be able to choose their children from learning about racism or racial inequity in school, 48 percent of parents say He should To be able to choose their children from learning about sexual orientation or gender identity. Among parents, 54% agree that they should be able to opt their children out of LGBTQ+ classes, but only 34% say they should be able to opt out of topics related to racism or racial inequality.
Despite the culture war surrounding LGBTQ+ topics in schools, 68 percent of teachers said sexual orientation and gender identity rarely or never came up in their classrooms in the 2022-23 school year. Topics related to racism or racial inequality came up frequently, with 56% saying they came up at least sometimes in their classes, and 21% saying they came up often or very often.
