A new research conducted by researchers at the University of Arkansas and the University of Buckingham, which analyzed 57 foreign studies, found that religious schools are far more effective at teaching children to be engaged citizens than liberal public schools, leading to students who design political compassion, understanding, and skills greater than their formally educated peers.
The review found that democratic tolerance and knowledge were increased by 12 percent of a standard deviation after receiving a personal, faith-based education. In turn, receiving this kind of training led to more volunteerism and civic engagement, which are both desirable traits for a healthier world.
The leftist leaders of teachers ‘ unions, such as the National Education Association ( NEA ) and the American Federation of Teachers ( AFT), who have propagated the company’s claim that private religious schools promote bigotry and intolerance, are not in good company with this news.
As Patrick J. Wolf, an training policy , professor , at the University of Arkansas and carbon- author of the study,  , puts , it,” We may worry about these findings because completely countries establish public school systems for the express purpose of preparing their youthful citizens for the responsibilities of self- government”.
Private school choice policies are opposed by some organizations, including the NEA and AFT, because they contend that private education is privatizing and undermines civic engagement, especially if private schools are religious. ” Students do n’t have to choose between God and country. They can support both with fervor.
Yet, our current public education system, ostensibly set up to produce good citizens, does the exact opposite. It has expelled God and the virtue-based doctrine. Meanwhile, teaching civics is basically ignored, as the study’s authors note,  , citing , statistics showing that only 22 percent of eighth graders are proficient in the topic.
Another recent , survey , of Americans aged 18–24 found that only 4 percent of them answered four standard civics questions correctly and only 48 percent of them responded that they planned to vote in the 2024 election.
After reviewing a New York report calling for K-12 curricula to address “racial and ethnic oppression” and place a focus on group identities rather than collective culture, the late liberal historian Arthur Schlesinger raised the alarm about the state of civics instruction in public schools in 1991.
While the study did indicate that students in private and public schools engage in similar levels of political engagement, we should also know what kind of political engagement it entails.
Unfortunately, given the left-wing climate that Schlesinger warned about and is supported by organizations like the NEA and AFT, our public schools are frequently little more than training facilities for enraged students activists who are taught to reject other views while keeping kids ignorant about our country’s history and encouraging incivility.
Is it possible that Americans no longer have a sense of the common good and a hope for the future?
As I write in my recent , book,  , Toward a More Perfect Union: The Moral and Cultural Case for Teaching the Great American Story:” … young people leave our education system cynical, entitled, and aggrieved. Rather than being thankful, they are indignant. Rather than proud, they feel ashamed. Rather than feeling free, they feel oppressed. Rather than wanting to fix America’s faults, they want to burn it down. They demand to know what their country can do for them rather than what they can do for them.
Not exactly the recipe for a civilized and engaged society.
Meanwhile, faith- based schools are more likely to focus on civic duty and public civility, including, as mentioned, tolerance of other views, which is the proper recipe to create a society that is truly “e pluribus unum” or “out of many, one”. That is hardly a message of bigotry and intolerance.
Jonathan Zimmerman, a self- described liberal professor of history of education at the University of Pennsylvania,  , states:  ,” This study … suggests religious schools promote more tolerance of differences than secular institutions do. Americans are increasingly turning to politics for identity and meaning as religious practices and practices decline. But the churches of red and blue do n’t teach us to love our neighbors”.
In fact, we end up in our current state of hostility and division when we emphasize accusing our neighbor of not loving them. Perhaps this is why the best way to foster a civil society that is engaged, as President Reagan referred to it, is to return to the very values that are taught in private religious schools. Which is to treat all, even those with whom we may disagree, with respect and dignity. That is the key to reviving civic discourse and bridging the current social and political divides we face.
Timothy S. Goeglein is the author of the book Toward a More Perfect Union: The Cultural and Moral Case for Teaching the Great American Story ( Fidelis, 2023 ). He serves as the vice president of Focus on the Family in Washington.
