When Vice President Kamala Harris paid a visit to Florida in July 2023, she lambasted a state-approved Black history lesson that claimed “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
“Come on – adults know what slavery involved,” Harris said in Jacksonville. “How is it that anyone could suggest that in the midst of these atrocities, that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization?”
Donald Trump also delved into how race is dealt with in K-12 classrooms, but from a different angle. In January 2023, he called for eliminating federal funding for any school or program that pushes “critical race theory, gender ideology or other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content onto our children.” Critical race theory holds that racism is embedded in American society and law.
When U.S. presidents and presidential candidates inject themselves into K-12 education policy debates – as several have done over the course of the nation’s history – the results are often polarizing.
At least that’s what we found in our new study that examines the effects of presidents’ rhetoric on public education. We are researchers who study education politics and policy. We found that presidents are generally unable to persuade the public as a whole, but they are tremendously effective at sharpening divisions in public opinion along party lines.
There is, however, one key exception. When a president endorses a policy that is traditionally more popular with members of the other party, partisan polarization on that issue tends to lessen slightly. Also, public opinion as a whole tends to shift in the direction of the president’s position.
Education policy and presidential politics
There is no shortage of examples of presidents extolling the value of their respective education agendas.
For instance, at the signing ceremony of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which directed federal dollars to schools serving low-income students, Lyndon B. Johnson remarked, “I believe deeply no law I have signed or will ever sign means more to the future of America.” More than 20 years later, on the campaign trail in 1988, George H.W. Bush declared: “I want to be the education president. I want to lead a renaissance of quality in our schools.” In 2011, while discussing the Race to the Top program, which incentivized states to adopt reforms such as common academic standards and charter schools, Barack Obama claimed that “this is probably the most significant education reform initiative that we’ve seen in a generation.”
When Vice President Kamala Harris paid a visit to Florida in July 2023, she lambasted a state-approved Black history lesson that claimed “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
“Come on – adults know what slavery involved,” Harris said in Jacksonville. “How is it that anyone could suggest that in the midst of these atrocities, that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization?”
Donald Trump also delved into how race is dealt with in K-12 classrooms, but from a different angle. In January 2023, he called for eliminating federal funding for any school or program that pushes “critical race theory, gender ideology or other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content onto our children.” Critical race theory holds that racism is embedded in American society and law.
When U.S. presidents and presidential candidates inject themselves into K-12 education policy debates – as several have done over the course of the nation’s history – the results are often polarizing.
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