Time for the School Choice Movement to Embrace the Culture War. Backgrounder. No. 3683

Critical race theory (CRT) and the high-profile projects pushing the radical ideology's discriminatory ideas are trying to divide Americans by skin color and pit them against each other. The cultural fissures are manifesting in education, with heated arguments about curricula and classroom activism. This "Backgrounder" estimates how engaging in cultural issues facing this country could produce important gains for school choice advocates. It analyzes results of a nationally representative survey that asks a variety of questions about both cultural issues and school choice. Overall, respondents are supportive of school choice and strongly oppose social justice ideology. These findings are consistent with other surveys. Moreover, respondents who are skeptical about the woke agenda tend to be most supportive of school choice. This "Backgrounder" presents three important findings. First, that support for school choice is moderately high. Second, that radical cultural critiques of American values are extremely unpopular. And third, that respondents who are unsure about cultural issues are a potentially valuable source of support for school choice advocates. If people who do not have opinions about social justice ideology could be informed about the issues and come to see them as problematic, there are reasons to believe that school choice support would grow meaningfully. [This report was produced with efi (Electronics for Imaging, Inc.).]