While most Americans strongly support civics education in schools, partisan divide on DEI policies and free speech on college campuses remains

(Press-News.org) A new report looking at adults’ views on education topics shows more partisan agreement about how to educate students for citizenship than many might think, yet sharp partisan divide around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion policies on college campuses and free speech. 

The report, published by the USC Center for Applied Research in Education, a center housed within USC Dornsife’s Center for Economic and Social Research, in partnership with the USC EdPolicy Hub, is based on a nationally representative, probability-based survey of adults across the United States. This third annual survey, which took place from October through December 2024, included questions on K–12 civics education, managing disagreements about education within communities, and free speech and DEI initiatives on college campuses.  

Lead authors of the report, USC Dornsife Research Scientist Anna Saavedra and USC Rossier Professor of Education Morgan Polikoff, provide detailed analysis of the survey’s findings in the new report titled, “Agreement Across the Aisle: Schools Should Prepare Students for the Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship.”

Common ground about preparing students to be good citizens 

With a response rate of 81%, the survey sample of 4,200 adults was carefully designed to show perspectives across the political spectrum. Respondents included 36% who identified as Republican or lean Republican, 37% who identified as Democrat or lean Democrat and 26% who identified as Independent or belonging to another political party. Nearly half of the respondents, 44%, have a school-aged child in the home.

Across political party divides there was agreement on several issues.

Of those surveyed, less than a third think that U.S. public schools are currently doing a good job of preparing students for citizenship. But across political parties, there is also high support for the inclusion of civics education in schools and near-universal support—97%—for the belief that preparing students to be good citizens should be an educational priority.

Countering political rhetoric, partisan agreement has increased since USC last administered the same questions about civics in 2021. Greater proportions of Republicans and those with other political affiliations supporting the teaching of most topics in 2024 compared to 2021 is driving the increase, according to Saavedra. 

Notably, the majority of respondents believe teaching about racism in school is important, with 93% of Democrats in agreement and 58% of Republicans, up from 54% in 2021. Respondents were also in agreement for their support of various civics-related learning activities, with strong bipartisan support for learning about the U.S. Constitution, learning to detect false information and learning about the importance of voting.

Respondents also share strong support for students learning about opposing viewpoints, with 79% of those surveyed in agreement that it is important for students to debate topics from opposite points of view and 84% indicating they believe it is important for students to evaluate different agreements about a topic. And, in the same vein, there is also bipartisan agreement on how to resolve disagreements about education topics within communities. A majority of respondents said they support shared decision-making that involves community members when it comes to settling disputes in education. The approaches that received strong support were public meetings with public input (82%), committees made up of community members and the school board (77%) and town residents contributing input through a formal voting process (76%)

These findings are encouraging. “Common ground about the civics topics students should be learning in school and how they learn them, along with strong bipartisan agreement that students should be learning multiple perspectives, holds promise for the future health of U.S. democracy,” said Saavedra.

Sharper divides on college issues

When it comes to two hot-button issues on college campuses: student free speech/protest rights and diversity, equity and inclusion policies, the political divide between Republicans and Democrats is much wider.

The survey found that while respondents expressed limited support for students’ right to protest, views across political parties were especially strong on the most disruptive forms of protest. For instance, 65-80% of respondents think it is never appropriate for students to shout down invited speakers they disagree with, write protest messages on university property or disrupt graduation ceremonies to protest. Every university response to student protest was more widely supported than even the most tolerated form of student protest (demanding financial divestment), and neither Democrats nor Republicans support institutions taking an official position on current events. 

Despite this area of agreement, Republicans were more supportive of university crackdowns on student speech than Democrats. Sixty percent of Republicans believe it is never appropriate for students to protest by walking out of class, versus 33% of Democrats; and 59% of Republicans say it is always appropriate for universities to shut down protests if they interfere with learning, versus 30% of Democrats.

While the majority of Republicans (51%) do support DEI training for faculty and staff at universities, Democrats reported much higher support for DEI training (76%). Furthermore, 58% of Republicans reported that they believed it was never appropriate for job applicants to be required to submit a statement about their commitment to DEI, but only 23% of Democrats reported the same beliefs. Nearly half of Republicans (47%) said they do not support requiring DEI coursework at universities, while only 10% of Democrats reported the same.

“Despite all the media and political attention on DEI, there seem to be a lot of unformed views on the issue, probably because it’s a jargony term that many people don’t understand,” said Polikoff. “In contrast, the strength of Americans’ views—and their hostility to student free speech on campus—surprised me.” 

What was learned

The report provides a fascinating look into the views of everyday U.S. adults on civics education. The many areas of bipartisan support show that perhaps the political divide in the nation is not quite as deep as some may believe. 

The report reveals that the majority of U.S. adults support civics education and believe it is important for students to learn about what it means to be a good citizen. The strong support for collective decision-making and including community voices in decision-making related to school policies also shows there is a unifying belief that Americans must work together and respect opposing viewpoints while making decisions that affect students in our public education systems.

“Overall, these results indicate adults want students to know and practice their rights and responsibilities as citizens in U.S. democracy, though within certain bounds at the university level,” said Saavedra. “Included in this hopeful result, adults across the political spectrum want students to learn about and be able to evaluate differing viewpoints, and think practicing this skill is the best way to resolve disagreements about education within local communities. Civics education has taken a backseat for far too long. Now is the time to prioritize it, so the next generation will be prepared to carry forward the gift of democracy.”

Civics Education in Schools: Video
USC Dornsife Research Scientist Anna Saavedra and USC Rossier Professor of Education Morgan Polikoff dicuss the survey's findings.

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