Higher Ed: The Most Politically Polarized Institution In America

This past week, some of you may have caught my LinkedIn post and Forbes article where I highlighted new data on confidence in U.S. institutions. The lead story on InsideHigherEd was "American Confidence In Higher Ed Hits Historic Low." That is both a true and worthy headline. But all the education writers missed the bigger story. Even the researchers did. The biggest story wasn't that confidence had hit an all-time low, but rather higher ed is now tied with the presidency as the most politically polarized institution in America. It's almost impossible to believe!

I saw it coming in 2015 when Gallup first published findings about a partisan divide in views of higher education. In just eight short years since, confidence in U.S. higher education has plummeted from 57% to 36%. And higher education is now on par with the presidency as the most politically polarized institution in America. The gap in confidence ratings between Republicans vs. Democrats stands at 37 points for higher education - a statistical tie with the presidency at 39 points. And the partisan divide on public schools is close behind at 34 points. From a talent and economic development perspective, this partisan divide on education will go down as one of the most damaging trends in U.S. history.

To put the partisan divide on education into further perspective, the gap in views of the Supreme Court stands at 28 points, organized labor at 24 points and newspapers and the police at 22 and 20, respectively. On institutions such as small business (4), big business (7) and the military (7), there is barely a difference in views between Republicans and Democrats. It’s hard to fathom how we got to a place where education is now our most divisively viewed institution. When institutions and issues reach extreme divides, progress - regardless of which or any direction - gets stymied. We are now embarking on an unchartered era where the educational and developmental future of our next generation and workforce will now be embroiled in constant and contentious debate.

We are already seeing this take place in many forms across the country. The battle for school boards, university boards of trustees, school and university leadership, who teaches and what should and shouldn’t be taught is all up for politically-aligned grabs. Certainly, we have plenty of reasons why all of us should be concerned about improving public schools and higher education. U.S. competitiveness - in every dimension from the economy to national defense - depends on having the greatest educational system in the world. The devil will be in the details of how and why we believe it needs to improve.

Right now, we are divided on so many aspects of education - including our views of the very purpose of higher education. According to Pew research, “A majority of Republicans (58%) say it should be to teach specific skills and knowledge that can be used in the workplace, while only 28% say it should be to help an individual grow personally and intellectually. Democrats are more evenly divided on this: 43% say the main purpose of college should be developing skills and knowledge, while roughly the same share (42%) point to personal and intellectual growth.”

There are indeed aspects of education where we can build bi-partisan support. Lowering the cost of higher education is one. Creating an education system where students are both broadly educated and specifically skilled is another. So far, we have made ourselves believe these are mutually exclusive - when, in fact, every employer wants candidates who possess both attributes rather than a single dimension. Whatever we do, we desperately need to find more common ground on which to stand. In this case, common ground might not help. We need to look for higher ground.