Americans are more pessimistic than optimistic about many aspects of the country’s future
63% of Americans are pessimistic about the country’s moral and ethical standards, and 59% are pessimistic about its education system.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
63% of Americans are pessimistic about the country’s moral and ethical standards, and 59% are pessimistic about its education system.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to limit affirmative action in higher education is likely to have the biggest impact on a relatively small group of schools.
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.
Around a third of U.S. school districts mention the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in their mission statements. But these references are far more common in parts of the country won by Joe Biden in 2020 than in areas won by Donald Trump.
40% of U.S. adults say there’s a lot of discrimination against Jews in society, and 44% say there’s a lot of discrimination against Muslims.
More Black Americans say health outcomes for Black people in the United States have improved over the past 20 years than say outcomes have worsened.
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.
Most Americans say Martin Luther King Jr. has had a positive impact on the country, with 47% saying he has had a very positive impact. 52% say the country has made a great deal or a fair amount of progress on racial equality in the past six decades.
Hispanic enrollment at postsecondary institutions in the U.S. has risen from 1.5 million in 2000 to a new high of 3.8 million in 2019.
53% of U.S. adults say people overlooking racial discrimination is a bigger problem than people seeing it where it really didn’t exist.
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