# Poll: 3 in 4 Americans Dissatisfied With Public Education

by Alex Newman Posted on February 19, 2025
FreedomProject Media
Article audio sponsored by The John Birch Society

Almost three out of four Americans are dissatisfied with the government schools being funded by their taxes, the highest level of dissatisfaction ever reported, according to a new “Mood of the Nation” survey by Gallup released this month. Fewer than one in four reports being satisfied with the quality of the system.

The devastating survey on support for “public education” was released right around the time the latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was. The U.S. government’s standardized academic testing results show U.S. students are getting dumber and dumber, with fewer than one in three even “proficient” in any core subject.

Once almost universally respected by Americans across the spectrum, public education is now one of the least popular institutions or programs in America, the new Gallup data show. Government schools ranked 29 out of 31 in public satisfaction with key areas of society ranging from military and healthcare to race issues and the environment.

The hostility toward government schools crosses party lines in a stunning way. Just 16 percent of Republicans or those who lean toward the GOP report being satisfied with the school system. Interestingly, though, even among Democrats and left-leaning voters, the traditional support base for public schools, less than a third approve of the system.

Satisfaction with government schools has been in steep decline in recent years. In fact, just five years ago, less than two thirds of Americans — 62 percent — reported being dissatisfied with government schools in a similar Gallup poll. In 2001, about 57 percent were dissatisfied with the system, while 40 percent expressed satisfaction with it.

While the pollsters did not ask respondents why they were so dissatisfied with government schools, a number of issues have been raised by analysts. These include the left-wing indoctrination, the hostility toward Christianity, the massively dumbed-down standards, the sexualization and gender confusion, the perverted books, and more.

“Precisely what is driving the findings is unclear,” observed Education Week Deputy Managing Editor Kevin Bushweller. “It could be related to the falling test scores, parents’ lingering dissatisfaction with months of remote and hybrid schooling that led to learning loss, or the negative discourse about race and gender and charges of indoctrination that have been leveled at teachers since 2020.”

Gallup Director of U.S. Social Research Lydia Saad was quoted by Education Week pointing to the government’s response to Covid. Among other concerns, Saad said, the “remote and hybrid learning” brought about in response to the pandemic may have “set the ball rolling for this heightened dissatisfaction.”

It may also have to do with increased awareness. Powerful groups such as Moms for Liberty have reached tens of millions of Americans with horrific details about what is going on in government schools. And a series of major documentaries and docuseries, including Fox’s Miseducation of America (featuring this writer), have exposed what is really going on to many millions.

Even President Donald Trump has been sounding the alarm, fueling more awareness. “We’re ranked number 40 out of 40 schools, right? We’re ranked number one in cost per pupil, so we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, and we’re ranked at the bottom of the list,” he explained in the oval office this month while touting his efforts to decentralize control of public education. “We’re ranked very badly.”

Former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, who held virtually every position in public-school leadership before realizing reform was impossible, was not surprised by the findings. But she urged dissatisfied parents to take the plunge and remove their children from the system.

“It is no surprise to me that parents are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with government schools,” she told The Newman Report. “What is shocking to me is how few make the move to get their children out. It was bad enough when academics were failing but now we have boys in girls’ sports and restrooms, children being groomed for sexual activity at ever younger ages.”

“Parents get your children out — whatever it takes,” added Douglas, who led Arizona’s public school system until turning against the whole apparatus in 2019 and working to encourage families to get out. “What sacrifice is too big for the health and safety of your children?”

Indeed, a key question left unaddressed was why so many parents who are dissatisfied with the system continue sending their children — especially when there are so many proven, cost-effective alternatives such as home education, private schools, co-ops, microschools, online schools such as FreedomProject Academy, and more. Over 80 percent of school-age children are in government schools in most of the country.

Part of the reason could be that parents do not get as much information about the dangers of their local government schools from the news media, falsely believing they may be better. “Parents don’t know that all public schools are basically the same with regards to the indoctrination,” said Richard Hawkins, who leads an alliance of Christian education ministries known as the Christian Education Initiative.

Fear of the unknown may also play a role. “Many parents remain in public schools despite being dissatisfied because the alternative, such as homeschooling, feels overwhelming,” argued Dran Reese, a former homeschooling mother and president of the group Public School Exit that works to get children out of government schools.

“Instead of exploring other options, they often turn a blind eye and convince themselves that the issues don’t affect their own children,” Reese continued. “However, the day will come when parents realize that homeschooling can be one of the most enjoyable and fulfilling family activities they could ever experience.” That may be happening already.

As The Newman Report documented a few months ago, professional forecasters are predicting the exodus from government schools will accelerate dramatically in the years ahead. According to the Learning Counsel, only about half of students will remain in government schools by 2030, though the lines between private and public will be blurrier.

“This loss [of students in the public system] is despite massive new enrollments of new immigrants, and will be cataclysmic for traditional schools, politics, and the vendors that rely on sales to this sector,” the report said. “Some of this loss is due to lower birth rates. By far the majority of the loss will be due to inflexibility in both schedule and inability to be remote.”

Exodus Mandate Founder Lt. Col. E. Ray Moore (Ret.), who has been urging Christian parents to remove their children from government education for decades, celebrated the Gallup findings. “Dissatisfaction with the public school status quo must precede positive change,” he told The Newman Report in an emailed statement, arguing that this shift could precede a new age of revival in the United States as parents flee the system.

“This poll shows the inevitable trend of rapid growth of K-12 Christian schools and home schooling will continue and accelerate,” Moore added, promoting Christian education and a free market. “It’s now up to the churches and many Christian policy groups to push this happy trend along until we reach the tipping point. This is not an impossible dream now, but realistic that the culture will shift.”

The growing public awareness about the horrors of government education is welcome news. The system is literally destroying children on an industrial scale. However, contrary to the agenda of the United Nations and billionaires such as Bill Gates, expanding government funding and control of private options is not the answer — freedom is.

This article, from FreedomProject Media, is reprinted here with permission.

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#### Alex Newman

Alex Newman is a senior editor for The New American. He can be reached at anewman@thenewamerican.com or through Liberty Sentinel Media. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU or on Facebook.

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