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Have Politics Hijacked Education Policy Opinion

Leo Migdal
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have politics hijacked education policy opinion

Vladimir Kogan is a professor of political science at Ohio State University and the author of the new book No Adult Left Behind: How Politics Hijacks Education Policy and Hurts Kids. The book drew attention for its tough-minded critique of school boards and call for reforming school governance. Kogan is a scholar of American politics, democracy, and education, all of which make him especially well-suited for this thorny conversation. I reached out to chat with him about his take. Here’s what he had to say.—Rick Rick: Recently, you published a new book, No Adult Left Behind: How Politics Hijacks Education Policy and Hurts Kids.

That’s a no-holds-barred title. What are you arguing? Vladimir: My thesis is that the core problem in public education is local voter control. Most of the voters who participate in school board elections don’t have school-age children. This produces a governance system gerrymandered to serve the interests of adults rather than students. And adult voting behavior is influenced by all sorts of considerations that are either unrelated to the quality of education or even in conflict with running effective schools.

Rick: Where did your interest in school boards come from? Vladimir: I’ve been sort of obsessed with school boards since I first attended meetings as the editor of my high school newspaper. This book builds on academic research that I’ve been doing with my colleagues here at Ohio State and at Emory. We received a grant from the Spencer Foundation to collect data on school board elections and school tax referenda in about 20 states, which resulted in several published studies. This book hopes to make the key findings more accessible to the general public. Alabamians of a certain age grew up hearing that getting an education was the track to follow to lead a life better than the adults who were before us.

Our parents, teachers, pastors, neighbors and friends all drilled it into our heads that going to college would allow us to “get a good job,” and thereby lead to a better life. ​​Public education in the United States has long been celebrated as a pillar of democracy and a means for social mobility. Yet, beneath this ideal, schools have persistently served as battlegrounds for political, cultural, and ideological conflicts. From their earliest days, when classrooms served as instruments for spreading Protestant values, to the current clashes over race, gender, and inclusion, public schools have mirrored—and at times magnified—the nation’s deepest divisions. The Historical Foundations of Political Influence in American Schools The origins of public education in the United States were far from neutral.

In the 19th century, public schools were established with a clear mission: to instill Protestant moral values in children and promote a unified national identity. This vision marginalized immigrant and minority populations, particularly Catholics, who resisted what they viewed as forced religious indoctrination. Legal battles such as Pierce v. Society of Sisters in 1925, which affirmed the right of parents to choose private schooling, arose from these early tensions and helped establish clearer boundaries between church and state in education. Vladimir: My thesis is that the core problem in public education is local voter control. Most of the voters who participate in school board elections …​Vladimir: My thesis is that the core problem in public education is local voter control.

Most of the voters who participate in school board elections … Google Alert – education Amid an ‘all-time high’ in partisan polarization in the U.S., get background and tips to better cover the politicization of education and how it affects students. Photo credit: James Minichello, AASA, The School Superintendents Association Political influence over what students are learning in the classroom has been at the forefront in recent years, but its impact goes back decades. Panelists discussed how public school districts and higher education institutions are handling the current political climate during the 2022 National Seminar in Orlando last July. Educators are dealing with fatigue related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and political stress, including accusations of teaching critical race theory to school children, researchers said.

K-12 education is shaping up to be a key issue in the 2024 election cycle. Several prominent Republican leaders, including GOP presidential candidates, have sought to limit discussion of gender identity and race in schools, while the Biden administration has called for expanded protections for transgender students. The coronavirus pandemic also brought out partisan divides on many issues related to K-12 schools. Today, the public is sharply divided along partisan lines on topics ranging from what should be taught in schools to how much influence parents should have over the curriculum. Here are eight charts that highlight partisan differences over K-12 education, based on recent surveys by Pew Research Center and external data. Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to provide a snapshot of partisan divides in K-12 education in the run-up to the 2024 election.

The analysis is based on data from various Center surveys and analyses conducted from 2021 to 2023, as well as survey data from Education Next, a research journal about education policy. Links to the methodology and questions for each survey or analysis can be found in the text of this analysis. Most Democrats say K-12 schools are having a positive effect on the country, but a majority of Republicans say schools are having a negative effect, according to a Pew Research Center survey from October... About seven-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (72%) said K-12 public schools were having a positive effect on the way things were going in the United States. About six-in-ten Republicans and GOP leaners (61%) said K-12 schools were having a negative effect. About six-in-ten Democrats (62%) have a favorable opinion of the U.S.

Department of Education, while a similar share of Republicans (65%) see it negatively, according to a March 2023 survey by the Center. Democrats and Republicans were more divided over the Department of Education than most of the other 15 federal departments and agencies the Center asked about.

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Vladimir Kogan is a professor of political science at Ohio State University and the author of the new book No Adult Left Behind: How Politics Hijacks Education Policy and Hurts Kids. The book drew attention for its tough-minded critique of school boards and call for reforming school governance. Kogan is a scholar of American politics, democracy, and education, all of which make him especially well...

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Our parents, teachers, pastors, neighbors and friends all drilled it into our heads that going to college would allow us to “get a good job,” and thereby lead to a better life. ​​Public education in the United States has long been celebrated as a pillar of democracy and a means for social mobility. Yet, beneath this ideal, schools have persistently served as battlegrounds for political, cultural, ...

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In the 19th century, public schools were established with a clear mission: to instill Protestant moral values in children and promote a unified national identity. This vision marginalized immigrant and minority populations, particularly Catholics, who resisted what they viewed as forced religious indoctrination. Legal battles such as Pierce v. Society of Sisters in 1925, which affirmed the right o...