Most Voters Want Schools to Teach Traditional Western Values: Rasmussen Poll

Third grade students practice grammar at an elementary school in Woodland, Washington. Nathan Howard/Getty Images

More than three-quarters of voters believe it’s important that traditional values of Western civilization to be taught in schools, a new poll revealed on Thursday.

According to the result of a Rasmussen Report survey, 78 percent of respondents said they believe that it is at least “somewhat important” for schools to “teach the traditional values of Western civilization,” including 52 percent that said it is “very important.”

By contrast, only 14 percent of respondents said they don’t believe it is important to teach traditional Western values, while four percent said it is “not at all important.”

The results also show a difference along party lines. While most of respondents identifying as Democrats (73 percent) and Republicans (86 percent) believe teaching Western values is important, Republicans (66 percent) are more likely than Democrats (42 percent) to say it is “very important.”

Meanwhile, strong majorities of black (74 percent), white (78 percent) and of other minorities (77 percent) all said it’s important for children to be taught traditional Western values at school.

When it comes to whether schools are currently doing a good job teaching students these values, however, 47 percent of respondents didn’t agree, 29 percent agreed, and the remaining 24 percent said they’re “not sure” how good a job public schools are doing.

The survey was conducted by Rasmussen on July 6 via telephone and the internet among 1,000 likely U.S. voters, with a plus or minus 3 percent margin of error and 95 percent level of confidence.

According to Rasmussen, the percentage of support for traditional Western values in schools “is virtually unchanged from four years ago, and in line with surveys dating back to 2013.”

“At a time when many schools are embroiled in controversy over the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT), voters still think it is important that kids learn traditional values in school,” the polling company said.

An outgrowth of the Marxist critical theory, CRT interprets society through the lens of a struggle between whites, who it claims are “oppressors,” and minorities, who it calls the “oppressed.” Critical race theorists see inherent racism in the foundations of Western society, such as legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and constitutional law, and seek to fundamentally transform those societies to end this perceived racial oppression.

The ongoing effort to incorporate CRT into American schools is being pushed by progressive activists, politicians, and major teachers’ unions. The National Education Association (NEA), which represents more than 3 million employees in public education, has recently vowed to assist members who want to “fight back against anti-CRT rhetoric,” while calling CRT an “appropriate and reasonable” framework for educators to approach the history of the United States.