K-12 Domestic Realists Chart an Agenda to Go Beyond Education’s Culture Wars

“K-12 education’s collective illusions divert attention away from the dogged fact that most Americans, including policymakers and young people, agree on important K-12 issues.“

The daily news on K-12 education is filled with stories about culture wars on issues such as critical race theory, teaching American history, banning books in libraries, and gay and transgender rights. While these disagreements exist, focusing on them creates collective illusions (or false narratives) about what Americans want from K-12 education. Collective illusions exist because a majority of individuals privately reject an opinion but go along with it because they incorrectly believe that is what most people want.

K-12 education’s collective illusions divert attention away from the dogged fact that most Americans, including policymakers and young people, agree on important K-12 issues. This other K-12 story about agreement on central issues creates an ideological heartland that exists not as a physical location but as a state of mind not subject to ideological culture wars. Domestic realists live in this ideological heartland occupied by roughly two-thirds of Americans. They may lean Left or Right or are from that forgotten group called moderates. They share a desire for practical solutions rather than culture wars.

A Different Story

Today’s domestic realists in K-12 education’s ideological heartland agree on three things.

First, K-12 is a top-of-mind issue and needs a priority reset. A bipartisan poll of 2022 midterm voters reports that nearly three in four (seventy-two percent) say their top 2023 priority for state lawmakers is “improving K-12 education,” surpassed only by over three in four (seventy-six percent) whose top priority is “improving the economy and job situation.”