Public Attitudes Toward Public Schools

Phi Delta Kappan (a professional association for educators) and Gallup just released their 38th Annual Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.

While 56% of public school parents gave the public schools in their community an A or a B, only 21% of public school parents gave an A or B to the public schools in the nation as a whole. What's going on here? Are parents viewing their own schools through rose-colored glasses? Or are they being led to believe by the media that public schools "everywhere else" are a mess?

The pollsters asked: "Which is most at fault for the problems currently facing public education in this community — the performance of the local schools or the effect of societal problems?" Of the respondents, 22 % blamed the schools, while 70% blamed "societal problems." While 85% of parents think it is "very important" or "somewhat important" to close achievement gaps among groups of students, they are evenly split over whether it is the responsiblity of schools to do so.

Parents oppose vouchers while supporting charter schools. While they are concerned about the impact of testing, they believe students should be required to pass an exit exam in order to graduate.

Parents think high school kids should be asked to work harder. When the pollsters asked parents of public school children whether their local public high school was requiring students to work "too hard" or "not hard enough," only 18% of parents said "too hard," while 67% said "not hard enough."

And what should kids be working harder on? Math, for starters, say 76% of public school parents, who think that high schools should require four years of math, including a minimum of two years of algebra. And 62% of parents think that all kids should be required to take a college prep curriculum, even if they don't plan to attend college.

To make time for all of this (or to keep their kids out of their hair for longer), 68% of parents would like to see their local schools lengthen the school day by an hour per day.

And a final interesting tidbit: while 26% of respondents say that the federal No Child Left Behind Act is "helping" schools and 21% say it is "hurting" schools, a substantial 37% say that it is "making no difference." Could it be so?

Comments

[Jamie Deibel]

I have gone to a public school my whole life. Teachers have too many favorites when it comes to certain grade levels. It should be an equal playing field when it comes to their students in the classroom, but also help the kids who need to learn it. Parents should be involved more and stop blaming other people. Of course who were your kids with first of all and who did they learn from first hand? You the parent. My husband on the other hand went to a magnet high school for what he enjoyed and what he was good at. His mom actually knew what he enjoyed. I think parents need to re-think and find their children's passions.

[Lunch186]

A child is in school 6 hours a day.They do not need to bring homework home. Teach it to them there and let them run play and be children at home.

[cathyat]

Just typical...questions asked on the 'surveys' are way too simplistic and don't allow for reasonable comment. I like our public schools here in Colorado. I just don't like the political correctness ALL THE TIME. At great financial sacrifice I send both my kids to private schools...smaller classes, teacher actually KNOW their students, teachers actually know the parents! My son applied for admission to the local public school and was asked how many felonies he had!!??, even tho he qualified for all AP courses. Do I really want my son to attend this school?

Teachers in public schools are too concerned over wages, tenure, their 'right to free speech', and a host of other things that do not address students education.

Surveys do not show anything. It all revolves around the wording of the question. I found the questions in the abovementioned 'surveys' very questionable. Just who financed the surveys?

[Anne Menendez]

I think public schools are great, parents just want somebody to blame for the lack of their child's education. Remember, its' your child's education & you have to stay on top of it. Parents don't want to take responsiblity for thier offspring, kids are on automatic pilot. If you are a concerned & involved parent (an in your face parent in school) then your child will get the education they need. They need to give you what you pay for, it's your tax money that pays for their salaries. As far as charter schools go everyone thought of them as private schools but their accountability is not the same. I have heard some really negative stories from my friends who have their kids in charter schools (because they thought they were getting "Private Education" without paying a dime & now they are &/or have disenrolled their child.