Does K-12 Education Give Students The Skills They Need As Adults?

As we noted last week, while much of the recent education policy debate has focused on cultural issues, voters believe that dealing with learning loss and boosting academic achievement should be the priority in education policy. This week, we take that theme a step farther by looking at two follow-up questions from our September survey for Winning the Issues (September 18-19): do voters think K-12 education gives students the skills they need to succeed as adults? And, will our current educational system allow the next generation to have the same quality of life as you had?

By a six-point margin, voters do not believe that K-12 education in the US gives students the skills they need to succeed as adults (41-47 believe-do not believe). Only Democrats (56-33) and to a slight extent parents (47-43) believe this statement, while Republicans (35-52) and independents (30-57) do not.

By an even larger margin, voters also did not believe our current educational system will allow the next generation to have the same quality of life as you had (30-53). Only Democrats believed this, but it was well shy of a majority view (44-38). Majorities of Republicans (22-62), independents (22-61) and a near majority of parents (35-47) did not believe the statement.

Not surprisingly, voters see the connection between “real world,” adult skills and quality of life. Among those who do said the US educational system does not give students the skills they need to succeed as adults, 83% say the current system will not allow the next generation to have the same quality of life (8-83 believe-do not believe).

Next week, we will take a look at what voters think would mean students were being provided with the skills they need, and a potential policy goal for lawmakers looking ahead to the next Congress.