Analysis: Democrats want to teach kids sex education. Republicans want to teach them patriotism.
Americans hold for classroom instruction. The pollsters asked respondents to evaluate eight typical subjects of instruction and four broader theoretical goals, such as inculcating respect for authority or independent thinking.Democrats and Republicans were in agreement on expected subjects. Members of both parties agreed that reading, writing and arithmetic were an essential part of education. You can see the responses below, in order from most important overall to the least important.
Going down the list, what changes is at first less whether subjects should be taught at all but how important they are. Republicans, for example, are more likely to say that budgeting and home economics are essential. Democrats are more likely to say that teaching kids to be independent thinkers is.
Then we get to the bottom, to those last two issues. Democrats are far more likely to say that sex education is important; more than half said it was essential. Only about twice as many Republicans said sex education was essential as said it shouldn’t be taught at all.And then there’s patriotism. Democrats were about equally likely to say it shouldn’t be taught as to say that it was essential. Meanwhile, nearly all Republicans think it’s important, with more than half saying it’s essential.
Which is where we started. Democrats and Republicans agree that schools are headed in the wrong direction and even broadly agree on what schools should be teaching. In an era where consensus is rare, it’s worth lifting that up.