Metropolitan areas are, in most cases, largely populated by self-identified Democrat voters, and yet the results of a recent survey by The Manhattan Institute show that across racial lines, parents in metropolitan areas favor school choice and charter schools and oppose Critical Race Theory (CRT) being taught in schools.
The Manhattan Institute conducted the above survey by engaging 4,000 parents across 20 major metropolitan areas, giving the reader confidence in the results. Michael Hendrix, writing for The Manhattan Institute, noted that:
“Respondents have a broad array of ideologies, ethnicities, and living patterns. But on many important local issues, a diverse, multiethnic majority coalition emerges. The three priorities that appear for this Metropolitan Majority—prosperity, public safety, and education—are the mirror image of their concerns: costs, crime, and classrooms.”
In short, this survey revealed what most people understand to be a common-sense reality: Regardless of region, politics, or race, parents want what is best for their children. According to The Manhattan Institute, this means that even parents in metropolitan areas want more school choice, more charter schools, and less CRT.
The survey found that a “sizable, bipartisan majority,” or 71 percent, of survey respondents support allowing parents “to choose which public school they would like to send their children to, regardless of their zip code. Indeed, a plurality of respondents strongly support this proposal.”
The results also indicated that 78 percent of self-identified black respondents claimed to “strongly/somewhat support” 1) having the freedom to choose a public school for their child, regardless of zip code, and 2) having the funding for that student “to follow them to the school of their choice.” These are the key tenets of school-choice policies.
And, of particular interest, the survey results showed that most black, Hispanic, and Asian American parents want Critical Race Theory removed from schools. The survey noted, “More than half support removing lessons based on CRT—including concepts such as white privilege and systemic racism—from the public school curriculum, with a plurality strongly supporting this proposal.”
Interestingly, it wasn’t just education that showed minority respondents breaking with the media narrative. The majority of all respondents, regardless of race, favored increasing the police presence in their community or keeping it the same.
The survey shows that about 75 percent of respondents want the police presence in their area to grow or remain unchanged. Only 13 percent want a smaller police presence than currently exists. In fact, in Minneapolis, the location of the George Floyd incident, a resounding 74 percent oppose any reduction in police presence.
All ethnic groups surveyed supported establishing partnerships between police and community groups, recruiting more police officers with college degrees, empowering police to respond to quality-of-life issues, and empowering police to remove homeless encampments if the people there are offered social services and housing shelters.
While progressives and the mainstream media try to pretend otherwise, the truth is that ethnic minorities are not a simple, social monolith that unquestionably support leftist policies and oppose conservative solutions. Like all parents, blacks, Hispanics, and Asian Americans simply want the best education for their children that they can get.
Minorities are able to think for themselves, despite what the Left may believe. Yet when minorities don’t toe the line, whether on politics, as with Candace Owen, or on vaccines, like we just saw with Nicki Minaj, the Left attacks them. Larry Elder, for example, recently ran against California Gov. Gavin Newsom, D, in the recall election and was labeled “the black face of white supremacy.”
The correct response to this data would be to begin implementing school choice programs across America. According to the American Federation for Children, 26 states and D.C. currently offer private school choice programs. But according to this survey, a much higher percentage of Americans overall support school choice and charter schools. Parents clearly understand that increased educational options only help the education market, not hurt it.
Sadly, as it stands today, many metropolitan students are stuck in underachieving schools and subjected to the divisive ideology of Critical Race Theory because their municipalities are beholden to progressive, woke teacher unions.
One can only hope that as more and more surveys show who is really out of touch, that will begin to change.
