No faith in public education

Americans have little confidence—near record-low confidence, actually—in U.S. public schools. In a recent poll, only 34 percent of respondents had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in public schools. That’s 1 percent higher than the lowest-recorded confidence level from a couple of years ago. It should be noted that a majority of Americans had confidence in public education for most of the’70s and ’80s.

Here’s how confidence varied by age and education level:

<style type="text/css"> </style>

18- to 29-year-olds 40% 30- to 49-year-olds 31% 50- to 64-year-olds 34% 65-year-olds and older 35%     High school or less 41% Some college 28% College graduates 29% Postgraduates 32%

Source: Gallup.com