Teachers, American public both pessimistic about future of education

Neither teachers nor the American public are optimistic about the present state of education, new research reveals.

Pew Research Center has released two new studies that found general dissatisfaction with public education – though not necessarily for the same reasons.

The first poll found half of U.S. adults believe K-12 education is going in the wrong direction. Only 12% said it was on the right path, while others were undecided.

This trend held true even across the partisan divide.

Similarly, a whopping 82% of teachers agree education has gotten worse in the past five years, and 53% expect it to continue getting worse over the next five years.  

Educators had a particularly dim view of student academics and behavior, with nearly 50% rating it “fair/poor” and around 15% saying it was excellent or very good.  

There’s also widespread frustration with parents not holding students accountable for misbehavior (79%), not helping children with homework (68%) and not ensuring their children regularly attend school (63%).  

Moreover, citizens – particularly Republicans – say schools aren’t spending enough time on core academic subjects, and they worry teachers are bringing their own personal views into the classroom.  

Democrats’ main concerns are lack of funding and resources for schools and parents playing too large a role in determining school curriculum.  

Meanwhile, 58% of teachers report having to address student behavior issues every single day and 28% say the same of mental health problems.  

Many also say poverty, chronic absenteeism and bullying are major problems at their school.