社区黑料

This is the latest article in 社区黑料鈥檚 ongoing 鈥�Big Picture鈥� series, bringing American education into sharper focus through new numbers, research, and reporting. Go Deeper:聽See our full series.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a thankless job.鈥�

鈥淭oo much chaos in public schools.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 dangerous being a teacher.鈥�

The majority of Americans do not want their children to聽become a public school teacher 鈥� and these quotes are just some of the reasons why. They come from the 50th annual on public attitudes toward education, and it鈥檚 the first time that the majority of people 鈥� 54 percent 鈥� want their offspring to steer clear of a career in education.

鈥淭he pay is low. The conditions are tough. It鈥檚 not that much of a surprise,鈥� said Joshua Starr, CEO of PDK International.

That鈥檚 not to say the public doesn鈥檛 like teachers 鈥� quite the opposite. The majority of poll respondents have confidence in teachers, want them to be paid more, and support their efforts to strike.

But in an open-ended question, respondents listed several reasons they didn鈥檛 want their children to enter the profession, the most common being poor pay and benefits and the challenges of dealing with student behavior. Democrats were more likely to list pay, while Republicans were more likely to list behavior.

“We cannot be comfortable with the stunning contradiction that a majority of Americans both recognize the importance of the teaching profession and want their own kids nowhere near it,” said聽JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, in a prepared statement. “The recent series of teacher strikes and the public support for more should wake us up to the need to invest more purposefully and creatively in the professionals who do nothing less than build our collective future.”

Not all parents felt this way, however. Hispanic parents were much more likely to want their children to become teachers, at 67 percent, followed by black parents, at 51 percent. Only 40 percent of white respondents wanted their children to be teachers.

The PDK poll also saw a new high in the proportion of people who think teacher salaries are inadequate 鈥� at two-thirds. Only 6 percent think teacher salaries are too high, and one-quarter think they are just right. Three-quarters also said they鈥檇 support a teacher strike, though those who live in the South and the West are more likely to support walkouts than residents of the Midwest and the Northeast.

Teachers across the country this past spring walked out of their classrooms demanding higher pay. A significant number are also running for office this fall to address years of declining funding for education. Starr noted a disconnect between how policymakers are funding schools and how the public feels about the importance of adequate funding.

鈥淧arents and the public feel in many ways very different than the discourse that鈥檚 happening today, which is a real concern for us,鈥� Starr said.

This poll鈥檚 findings are similar to those in the Education Next national poll released last week, which found a 13-point rise over the past year in support for increasing educator pay.

Other PDK Poll findings include support for college affordability, with three-quarters of respondents favoring free tuition at community colleges and 68 percent supporting more federal funding for four-year schools.

The poll also found that most Americans 鈥� 60 percent 鈥斅爐hink more funding should be spent on the neediest students, while 39 percent believe the same amount should be spent on every student.

PDK previously released early poll results regarding school safety, which found that even though schools are safer than ever, the number of Americans who fear for their children鈥檚 safety has tripled over the past five years.

The survey includes responses from a random national sample of 1,042 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 points. GfK Custom Research collected the data through an online survey and provided free Wi-Fi and devices to households that didn鈥檛 have internet connections.

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