The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy surveyed just over 1,000 U.S. adults about their opinions on topics related to higher education and the topic of politics in college classrooms.
The results of the poll are as follows:
Americans don’t want politicians to interfere with campus teaching, and they don’t want universities involved in politics.
Public opinion remains sharply divided on controversial research areas such as gender identity and same-sex marriage. In contrast, the general public sees merit in universities tackling issues like slavery.
“The closer you get to topics and content that are relevant to today’s political divisions, the more visible the cracks in public support become. People want universities and professors to teach students how to think, not what to think,” said Josh Clinton, co-director of the Vanderbilt poll.
Clinton said polling data also showed that 71% of the public felt strongly that universities should not take public positions on controversial political issues.
When it comes to keeping political issues out of the classroom, 66% don’t think state elected officials should oversee what is taught in subjects like U.S. history. 68% said the same about capitalism and socialism. 70% said no to evolution, and 74% said they would stay away from gender identity or sexual orientation.
65% said the federal government should not try to dictate how professors teach at universities.
“Overwhelmingly, people want politics out of the classroom,” Clinton said. “They don’t want professors using the classroom to impose their political views, and they don’t want politicians trying to dictate what happens in higher education. People want education to be about education.”
When you ask your child how important each of these things they get in college is:
90% say “the ability to think more logically” is most or very important
85% say “the ability to get along and understand people” is most or very important
80% say “the desire and ability to become a more useful citizen” is most or very important
79% say training tailored to a specific job or profession is most or very important
77% say “a lot of factual information” is most or very important
77% say “moral growth” is most or very important
