Religion & Politics in Education? Not in Oklahoma!

During its most recent quarterly survey, SoonerPoll asked voters their opinion of teachers expressing their religious or political views in Oklahoma classrooms.  The results were interesting.  On the question of whether or not Oklahoma school teachers should be allowed to express their religious views in the classroom, the results were a statistical tie.  Of the 509 voters surveyed, 46.8% said teachers should not express their religious views while in the classroom, while 46.6% said they should be allowed to do so.

With a margin of error of +/- 4.34%, the difference is not enough to say which side voters truly come down on.  All that can be said with certainty is that voters appear to be evenly divided on this issue.  You can see SoonerPoll's analysis of this issue here. 

The response to whether or not teacher's should be allowed to express their political opinions in the classroom was much more clear, with a substantial majority (58.3%) opposing such actions.  Oklahoma voters seem uniformly opposed to teachers inserting their own political beliefs into their instruction of school children.

Some, such as University of Central Oklahoma professor and political blogger Kurt Hochenauer, are surprised that such a politically and religiously conservative state as Oklahoma would not have a stronger support for the expression of religious or political views in the classroom.  Professor Hochenauer wonders what results would be revealed if voters were given the opportunity to choose from various religions.  Would voters be more likely to support a "Christian" expression than a "Muslim" or "Jewish" expression?  Quite possibly so.

But where Professor Hochenauer veers off into trying to imply that a lack of support for teachers expressing their political views could also reveal a lack of support for broader public policy issues relating to religion and morality (see Professor Hochenauer's complete analysis here), I want to stay on point and examine this issue more deeply.

How has the rise of alternatives to public education impacted the public's thinking on this issue?  In a previous poll, SoonerPoll confirmed the growing trend toward opting out of the public school system.  During that survey, 55.7% of respondents said they personally knew someone who home schooled their child (see SoonerPoll's analysis here).  Oklahoma has become one of the leading states in offering a variety options to public education through charter schools, private and parochial schools, and home schooling.

Given the vast majority of parents who opt to place their child in a parochial school or to home school their child do so because they believe religion is an important aspect in their child's education, could this impact their response to a question about religious views expressed by public school teachers?  While I believe it does, further research is needed for any definitive conclusions.

As for political expression in public schools, I believe Professor Hochenauer is correct when he states that "teachers are often claimed to be less conservative than the overall general public."  This is even more true of the leadership of teachers' unions such as the American Federation of Teachers and the American Education Association, both of whom have dominated the public school system for the last forty years, along with what is taught in that system.

The one thing that both liberals and conservatives appear to agree on is that they don't want someone else pushing their political agenda on to the state's public school children.

These questions are interesting, but are just the start of assessing what voters think about religion and politics in education.  Professor Hochenauer believes that asking the question slightly different might yield differing results.  I tend to think that's somewhat correct.  But I think the continuing trend of families who want religion to be an important aspect to their child's education leaving the public school system will keep those numbers lower than what others think they might be.