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Young Americans Want More Parental Control Over Education By 2-To-1 Margin, New Survey Finds

   DailyWire.com
Muhlenberg twp., PA - October 20: The school bus stop on Masison Ave. at Jefferson Street in Muhlenberg Township Wednesday morning October 20, 2021. (Photo by Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images)
Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images

Young Americans are overwhelmingly in support of more parental control over education, a comprehensive survey released Tuesday reveals.

In a national poll of 18 to 29-year-olds from the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, 46% of respondents agree with the statement that “parents should have more control over their children’s education than they do now,” while only 23% disagreed.

Republicans were far more in support of the assertion, with 64% agreeing and 14% disagreeing. Meanwhile, 35% of Democrats agreed while 31% disagreed. Independent and unaffiliated young voters also showed a high degree of support for parental rights in education, with 44% agreeing and 20% disagreeing.

The poll therefore shows broad support for the parental rights movement across party lines for young Americans, which has gained steam following the revelation of leftist agendas in many curricula and government schools closing their doors over COVID-19.

As The Daily Wire previously reported, homeschooling rates across the United States grew between 5.4% and 11% from March 2020 to September 2020 alone. By the summer of 2021, 5 million American children were receiving their education at home.

However, many progressives still insist that rising support for parental rights is only attributable to conservative activism. “Instead of everybody joining together in America to get us out of the effects of the pandemic,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten recently claimed, “these right-wing ideologues are just trying to create fear and anxiety and anger exploiting the fear that parents already have in order to win elections and end public education as we know it.”

The Harvard Kennedy School poll also shows that 85% of young Americans support government measures to address student debt. While 38% approve of full debt cancellation, 27% agree with the government assisting with repayment options that do not involve debt cancellation; 21% prefer debt cancellation for those with the most need, and 13% believe that the government should not alter its current policy.

Although support for full cancellation increased by 5% since 2020, preference for the government helping with repayment fell by 8%.

Prominent Democrats — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — pin President Joe Biden’s dropping poll numbers on his neglect of issues relevant to young Americans, including student debt cancellation. 

“It’s actually young people who have not really been served,” Ocasio-Cortez recently told Fox Business. “And their priorities were in BBB, which Sen. Manchin has essentially stalled. And yet, you know, student loan debt and significant forgiveness of student loans, what the president can do to serve them.”

Indeed, the Harvard Kennedy School poll shows that support for President Biden among young people has fallen 18% in the past year. While 36% of respondents referred to Biden’s “ineffectiveness,” 14% pointed to “not following through on campaign promises” and 10% referenced “not sharing my values.”

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