What’s It Like To Be a Teacher in America Today?
Public K-12 teachers express low job satisfaction and few are optimistic about the future of U.S. education.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Public K-12 teachers express low job satisfaction and few are optimistic about the future of U.S. education.
Republican and Democratic parents differ widely over what their children should learn at school about gender identity, slavery and other topics, but they are equally satisfied with the quality of education their children are receiving.
Many public K-12 teachers say people should know that teaching is hard job, and that teachers care about students and deserve respect.
Older Americans, those with more education and men tend to score better on our 12-question quiz about international knowledge. Republicans and Democrats have roughly the same levels of international knowledge, while conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats tend to score better than their more moderate counterparts.
About half of Asian adults who have heard of affirmative action (53%) say it is a good thing, 19% say it is a bad thing, and 27% say they don’t know whether it is good or bad. However, about three-quarters of all Asian adults (76%) say race or ethnicity should not factor into college admissions decisions.
The higher education pipeline suggests a long path is ahead for increasing diversity, especially in fields like computing and engineering.
Among married couples in the United States, women’s financial contributions have grown steadily over the last half century. Even when earnings are similar, husbands spend more time on paid work and leisure, while wives devote more time to caregiving and housework.
Most workers are highly satisfied with their relationship with their co-workers and manager, but relatively few feel the same about their pay or opportunities for promotion.
Workplace diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, or DEI, are increasingly becoming part of national political debates. For a majority of employed U.S. adults (56%), focusing on increasing DEI at work is a good thing. But relatively small shares of workers place a lot of importance on diversity at their workplace.
We asked public K-12 teachers, teens and U.S. adults how they see topics related to race and LGBTQ issues playing out in the classroom.
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