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Americans want civics 鈥� even the role of politically charged topics like immigration and gun control 鈥� taught in school. Since 2021, there鈥檚 been increasing bipartisan support for students to learn about how the government works, finds.

The increases, while modest, are being driven by Republicans. Greater percentages of GOP voters say they want students to study social safety net programs like welfare and Medicaid. While there鈥檚 still a partisan divide on such topics, 51% of Republicans support students learning about income inequality, compared to 46% in 2021. Support among Democrats held steady at 87%.

鈥淧eople are supportive of schools teaching about controversial topics from multiple perspectives,鈥� said Morgan Polikoff, a University of Southern California education professor and co-author of the study, drawn from a sample of 4,200 adults, including almost half with school-age children. 鈥淭hey don’t want teachers to be putting their thumb on the scale in terms of one perspective being better than the other.鈥�

The shift comes even as Americans of all political stripes give schools low marks on preparing students to be good citizens, with just 29% offering them an A or B grade. 

But the increasing support among Republicans for teaching issues frequently labelled divisive surprised researchers, suggesting that many conservatives don鈥檛 necessarily want to limit what children learn in school 鈥� a frequent criticism lodged by critics on the left. Most have either banned or considered legislation outlawing the teaching of what Republicans consider divisive concepts. the mandates have silenced teachers interested in presenting a full account of American history, including its darker chapters. 

The survey also shows Republicans want more attention paid to current events, such as the benefits and challenges of Medicare and Social Security (69%, up from 62% in 2021). The share of Republicans who believe schools should teach about racism also increased, from 54% to 58%. 

鈥淐ontrary to the conventional wisdom, there are still plenty of educational issues that garner bipartisan support in this polarized era,鈥� said David Houston, an assistant education professor at George Mason University. 鈥淔inding these points of convergence is an important and necessary step toward building broad and durable support for public education in both red and blue communities and from one presidential administration to the next.鈥�

Jonathan Butcher, a senior research fellow at the right-wing Heritage Foundation, said he prefers a 鈥渕ore conservative approach鈥� to civics that would focus on the Constitution and structures like the electoral college. But he said it鈥檚 also 鈥渃ertainly justifiable鈥� for schools to teach students how to interpret the news of the day 鈥� like why Democrats held up signs reading 鈥淪ave Medicaid鈥� during speech to Congress Tuesday night. 

鈥淎s we teach students about civics, they should understand how Medicaid came to be, what the relationship is between taxpayers and Medicaid,鈥� he said. 鈥淪tudents should have enough background knowledge and an understanding of how policies have been formed that they can understand what was happening.鈥� 

Teaching 鈥榳ith nuance鈥�

Florida is among the red states that prohibit teachers from discussing topics like institutional prejudice or gender equity. bans educators from teaching that someone might be 鈥渋nherently racist, sexist, or oppressive.鈥� 

The law is 鈥渃ommonly known for restricting instruction,鈥� said Stephen Masyada, director of the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship at the University of Central Florida. But he thinks that characterization ignores that the legislation also requires students to learn about 鈥渢he ramifications of prejudice, racism and stereotyping on individual freedoms.鈥� 

The state mandates lessons, for example, on the in 1920, when a white mob killed dozens of Black citizens and ran hundreds more out of town in a violent attempt to keep them from voting. 

Many conservatives want schools to address those topics 鈥渨ith nuance,鈥� Masyada said, and to connect 鈥渢he promises of the founding era鈥� to overcoming oppression and bias. 

鈥榁ery nationalistic鈥�

Some current examples of civics education remain too liberal for many Republicans. 鈥淲e the People: Civics that Empower All Students,” a in grades four through eight, was among the programs eliminated in the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 sweeping cancellations of teacher preparation grants last month. The program equips teachers to focus on topics like the Bill of Rights, but also encourages civic engagement. Some conservatives argue that such projects emphasize liberal causes like abortion rights or climate activism. grantees 鈥渨ere using taxpayer funds to train teachers and education agencies on divisive ideologies.鈥�

The USC survey shows that the percentages of Republicans saying schools should teach the contributions of women and minorities throughout history 鈥� topics that could be construed as promoting diversity, equity and inclusion 鈥� were relatively flat or saw a small decline. Among Democrats, however, there were increases.

鈥淓verybody likes civic education, but they like it for different reasons,鈥� said Marcie Taylor-Thoma, director of the Maryland Council for Civic and History and a former social studies coordinator for the state. Democrats, she said, think students should learn about their civil rights and 鈥渃ritically analyze what鈥檚 going on in our country.鈥� But Republicans鈥� view of civics is 鈥渧ery nationalistic鈥� she said.

There鈥檚 little disagreement, however, over teaching students about the U.S. Constitution. Ninety-three percent of Democrats and 95% of Republicans said it鈥檚 important for any civics curriculum to cover the rights and principles outlined in the founding document. It鈥檚 that many chapters of Moms for Liberty, a conservative advocacy group, have taken up in recent years, and a Trump executive order calls for schools to recognize annually on Sept. 17.

There was scant support in the survey for students participating in protests during school hours 鈥� only 24% liked the idea 鈥� but the largest partisan split was over reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Forty-four percent of Democrats support that tradition, compared with 84% of Republicans. Debates over requiring students to recite the pledge have erupted in recent years in and .

Given the negative attitudes of many respondents toward the role schools play in preparing students for civic life, researchers thought support would be higher for a common political proving ground: student government. But less than three-fourths of respondents favor student participation in school elections, like voting for student council leaders.

That finding was unexpected, said Anna Saavedra, lead author and a research scientist at USC鈥檚 Center for Applied Research in Education.

鈥淗aving a class president is a pretty standard part of most schools,鈥� she said. 鈥淪eeing such low support was a little surprising. It鈥檚 a way for kids to practice voting, running a platform and participating in a democratic process.鈥�

Polikoff said it鈥檚 not surprising that there are differences of opinion over activities like requiring community service as part of classwork (73% of Republicans compared with 80% of Democrats) or honoring veterans and military service (92% of Republicans and 78% of Democrats). Local context, he said, will continue to influence how deep teachers can take classroom discussions on potentially controversial topics. 

鈥淚 don’t think that we would expect that the civics curriculum is going to look exactly the same in rural Republican Wisconsin as it’s going to look in Oakland Unified [in California],鈥� he said. 鈥淚n both places, there is room for diverse perspectives. The reality is, every classroom is purple to at least some extent.鈥�

鈥楢 challenge to teach鈥�

Some educators, however, still tiptoe around topics in the news.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a challenge to teach lately,鈥� said Jenny Morgan, a veteran eighth grade U.S. History teacher in the West Salem, Wisconsin, district, which she described as 鈥渧ery, very Republican.鈥� 

She鈥檚 tried to avoid discussing President Donald Trump鈥檚 and Elon Musk鈥檚 makeover of the executive branch, but she did recently teach a lesson on , which Trump is charging Canada, China and Mexico.

The discussion prompted a recent debate between two students on opposite sides of the political spectrum.

鈥淭he Democratic student was trying to explain why tariffs aren’t good and talked about how prices are going to go up. The other kid was saying 鈥極h no, they won’t go up,鈥� 鈥� Morgan said. 鈥淚t was just an interesting conversation between the two eighth grade boys. You could tell they were getting current events at home.鈥�

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