Currents

Seeing Eye to Eye?

Volume 6 / Issue 4 / Summer 2006

An Associated Press–America Online poll of 1,085 parents and 810 teachers of kindergarten through 12th-grade students finds that they disagree on many aspects of education, from homework and the Internet to standardized testing and discipline. When asked about the subject area that students should be studying more, teachers place English at the top of the list, while parents cite math. However, 67 percent of teachers and only 40 percent of parents indicate that math poses the greatest homework challenge. Moreover, 16 percent of parents of elementary schoolers, 34 percent of parents of middle schoolers, and 43 percent of parents of high schoolers report difficulty in helping their children with homework. When asked, 73 percent of teachers and 57 percent of parents indicate that they know more about the Internet than children do. In regard to standardized testing, 72 percent of teachers say that it is overemphasized at their schools; only 48 percent of parents agree. Teachers were more likely than parents to say that disciplinary issues are a problem in schools. Teachers (66 percent) and parents (57 percent) agree, however, that finding and keeping good teachers is a serious problem today.