"First Things First"

Most people are not especially worked up about the issues that figure in the so-called school wars.

We often hear we are in the midst of "school wars" that foreshadow the end of public education. Parents, like U.S. society in general, we're told, are increasingly divided along racial and religious lines. As a result, there are constant battles over issues like sex education, teaching values and multi-culturalism, with the schools caught in the middle. But a recent study by the Public Agenda Foundation, a non-partisan research group, suggests just the opposite. While there are people with extreme views, most Americans are far more concerned about holding students to basic standards of conduct and achievement. Moreover, there is considerable agreement about even some of the most controversial questions. 

The study, "First Things First: What Americans Expect for the Public Schools," surveys the general adult population and public school parents who are white, African-American and traditional Christians (defined as people who agree that "The Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally" and/or who describe themselves as "born-again Christians").

As I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, most people said they are extremely concerned with having safe schools where discipline is enforced and students master the basics before moving on to other things. But most -- and that includes African-American and traditional Christian parents -- are not especially worked up about the issues that figure in the so-called school wars:

Despite the attention they have attracted in the press and the genuine turmoil they have created in some school districts, "values" disputes about how history and science should be taught, about how minorities are portrayed, about what textbooks should be used and about what moral traditions should be conveyed in sex education and AIDS prevention programs are not at the top of the public's list of concerns about the schools.

For example, 24 percent of all Americans (and 30 percent of traditional Christian parents) believe that schools "are too graphic and explicit when teaching sex education" and think that this is a serious problem. These are not insignificant percentages, but they pale in comparison with the percentages that consider drugs and violence a serious school problem (72 percent of all Americans; 66 percent of traditional Christian parents; and 80 percent of African-American parents). And though we hear a lot about disputes over "inappropriate" material in textbooks and lessons, relatively few parents identify this as a serious concern: Fifteen percent of parents (and 23 percent of traditional Christian parents) say they have seen something that "struck them as very inappropriate" in their child's textbooks or lessons. Nor is the public worried that children will be corrupted by the people who teach them. Seventy-six percent say teachers' values are "close to their own."

There is broad agreement among all groups that schools should teach values, and they are in substantial agreement about what values should be taught: tolerance and equality. For example,

• 95 percent of Americans say that schools should teach "respect for others regardless of their racial or ethnic background."

• 84 percent believe students should learn that "having friends from different racial backgrounds and living in a racially integrated neighborhood is good."

• 76 percent say students should be taught about "the struggle for black civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s."

• Even in an area as controversial as homosexuality, 61 percent of traditional Christian parents believe it is appropriate for the schools to teach "respect for people who are homosexual" -- the same percentage as the general public.

Moreover, people tend to reject views that are extreme and divisive: Most would oppose a school's inviting a speaker who "argues that the Holocaust never happened" or one who advocates black separatism.

In other words, most Americans are not interested in making the schools vehicles for private beliefs. Rather, they believe that the job of the schools if to teach kids "the values that allow a diverse society to live together peacefully."

Of course, there are areas of disagreement. For example, traditional Christian parents are more likely than other groups to object to sex education that is value-neutral. But even in this controversial area, researchers found that participants in focus groups did not try to impose their views on others. In fact, they looked for "areas of agreement" and for ways of reaching a decision acceptable to everyone.

The Public Agenda research reveals broad agreement among Americans about school issues often considered flash points. And it should reassure those who fear the "takeover" of schools and school boards by extreme right-wing groups. As "First Things First" shows, extreme elements will have a chance to gain leadership only when a school district deviates from the middle-of-the-road values held by the majority of white, African-
American and traditional Christian parents.