A new poll by the Pew Research Center suggests the two big far-left teacher's unions don't represent most teachers when it comes to explicit sex and gender curriculum in the classroom.
The National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have been aggressively promoting LGBTQ ideology inside and outside the classroom for years. Both unions claim that bringing explicit gender identity and sexual orientation material into classrooms, over the objection of parents, is good for children and education. JDFI has been exposing this radical agenda for years.
Apparently, the two unions have never asked actual teachers, whom they claim to represent, what they prefer. The Pew poll found that by 41% negative to 4% positive, teachers believe the debates about these subjects "have had a negative impact on their ability to do their job." Fifty percent of teachers don't believe issues about gender identity should be taught in school.
Many teachers also agreed with parents that the younger the child, the more teachers don't want explicit sex and gender material to be included in their classes. Thus, 62% of elementary school teachers rejected transgender ideology in their classes. Forty-five percent of middle school teachers agreed. That figure drops to only 35% of high school teachers.
In schools where these controversial gender subjects are being taught, nearly one-half of teachers (48%), unlike their unions, embrace parental rights and say parents should be able to opt their children out. One-third of teachers reject parental rights and think students should be forced to learn LGBTQ and trans ideology regardless of what their families think. Among parents themselves, 54% believe it should be their decision whether their children are exposed to trans propaganda.
Not surprisingly, there is a partisan divide over what's appropriate to teach in the classroom, as well as parental rights. Sixty-nine percent of Republican teachers do not want to teach LGBTQ issues in school, and a whopping 80% support the parental right to opt their children out of such classes. Self-described Democrat teachers support LGBTQ curriculum and want it to be mandatory. (Fifty-eight percent of teachers identify as Democrats.)
We are encouraged that significant percentages of American teachers reject gender and homosexual curriculum in the classroom. There is no such diversity of thought at union headquarters, however. The NEA and AFT teach their own members to embrace radical gender ideology. They actually battle against parental rights and regularly label parents who are trying to protect their children as "extremists," "book burners" and worse. Both leftist unions know that whoever molds the minds of our youth will control America's future.
JDFI will continue to support parents who are under siege by powerful forces that control American education. We strongly urge states to pass school choice laws that give parents greater ability to select educational options that reflect their values.