The data also reveal severe polarization among teachers, parents, and students over issues concerning race, gender and sexuality. Some of the sharpest divides were between Democrats and Republicans, according to Pew’s lengthy Feb. 22 report, “Race and LGBTQ Issues in K-12 Schools.” Most of the findings in the report come from a Oct. 17 - Nov. 14 survey of 2,531 U.S. public K-12 teachers. Issues Surrounding Race Overall, U.S. adults are more likely to support parents being able to opt their children out of lessons about sexual orientation or gender identity (54 percent) than they are lessons about racism or racial inequality (34 percent). Most public school K-12 teachers (60 percent) say parents should not be able to opt children out of studying racism or racial inequality in school, even if the way the subjects are covered conflicts with parents’ beliefs. That gap widens when similar questions were posed to teachers. Among elementary, middle, and high school teachers, a majority (64 percent) believe students should be taught that the legacy of slavery still effects the position of black Americans today. Just 23 percent say that students should study slavery, but be taught that it no longer affects black Americans today. Eight percent say students should not cover this topic in school at all. “Teens, like parents, are more divided than teachers on these questions,” the report notes. “About half of teens (48 percent) say they’d rather learn that the legacy of slavery still affects the position of Black Americans today. Four-in-ten would prefer to learn that slavery no longer affects Black Americans.” According to Pew, teachers’ views on race differ widely by political affiliation. Eighty-five percent of left-leaning teachers say students should learn that the legacy of slavery still impacts black Americans today, compared to just 35 percent of conservative-leaning teachers. The survey also addressed the frequency with which these topics came up during school. Most teachers (56 percent) say that topics related to racism and racial inequality came up “at least sometimes.” Again, there was a split by political affiliation with how often such topics arose during class time, with Democrat teachers (67 percent) being more likely than Republican teachers (36 percent) to say these topics are discussed at least sometimes. Additionally, teachers in school districts where a majority of residents backed President Joe Biden in the 2020 election were more likely to discuss racism and racial inequality than in districts won by former President Donald Trump. LGBTQ/Gender Identity Issues “Among the American public, more say parents should be able to opt their children out of learning about LGBTQ issues than say the same about topics related to race (54 percent vs. 34 percent),” according to the report. While 38 percent of teens say they are comfortable with topics related to racism or racial inequality, only 29 percent say they feel comfortable when topics of sexual orientation or gender identity arise. On the topic of whether a person’s gender can differ from their biological sex, half of public K-12 teachers say students shouldn’t learn about this in school — a figure driven by elementary school teachers (62 percent) who agree, compared to middle and high school teachers (45 percent and 35 percent). A third believe students should learn gender is fluid and disconnected from sex, while 14 percent say students should learn that whether someone is a boy or girl is determined by sex at birth. Among parents, when it comes to gender identity, 31 percent said they would rather their children learn that gender can differ from sex at birth. “An identical share said they would rather their children learn gender is determined by sex at birth. Another 37 percent of parents said their children shouldn’t learn about gender identity in school,” Pew stated. About half of teens (48 percent) say they should not learn about gender identity in school. A quarter say they would rather learn that gender can be separate from biological sex, while 26 percent prefer to learn that gender is determined by sex at birth. A majority of teachers who have been teaching for more than a year (68 percent) say the topics of sexual orientation and gender identity “rarely or never” came up in the classroom during the 2022-23 school year. About a fifth (21 percent) say these topics came up sometimes, while 8 percent say they came up often or extremely often.A new survey from Pew Research Center shows the 71 percent of teachers say that teachers themselves do not have enough influence over the material that is taught in schools.
