Back-to-Basics Education Reform Gains 96% Parent Support in National Poll

Parents overwhelmingly support back-to-basics educational reform, according to a recent national poll conducted by Parents Defending Education.

• The vast majority of respondents (roughly 96 percent) believe parents should have the freedom to decide what kind of schooling is best for their children.

• Sixty percent of parents would keep their child’s current school if given the choice.

• Almost 20 percent would opt for a different school, and 16 percent would opt to educate their children at home.

• Reading, writing and arithmetic should be the primary priorities of public schools, according to 90 percent of parents.

“These results highlight that parents are dissatisfied with a number of elements of the modern American education system,” the group’s president, Nicole Neily, told The Epoch Times. “For far too long, federal bureaucrats have sacrificed the needs of students and families in order to appease unions’ and activists’ insatiable demands for money and power.”

The poll found that 56 percent of parents oppose the establishment of school organizations based on race or ethnicity, as well as the recruitment of teachers to reflect the demographics of their students. Additionally, 82 percent of respondents concurred that the race of a pupil should not be a determining factor in disciplinary decisions.

Although the LGBT movement’s integration into the classroom over the past decade has been a frequently debated topic in public institutions, an overwhelming 80 percent majority of respondents said schools should not assist students in altering their gender identity without informing their parents. Additionally, 77 percent of those polled believe district personnel should be obligated to notify parents if their child employs a different name or pronoun at school.

Seventy-four percent of respondents oppose elementary students receiving instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity or assisting students in transitioning. Three out of four parents concur that males should not participate in girls’ sports teams, use girls’ facilities or share accommodations with their peers based on their gender identity during overnight trips.

–Alan Goforth