“The teacher is implying that it’s cool to be a liberal.”

Public high school teachers in Connecticut have been ordered to stop giving students a ridiculous and insulting survey that claims to determine their political beliefs.



The controversial quiz was given to students by multiple teachers in several sections of a tenth grade honors civics class at Wolcott High School. Titled “Liberal or Conservative?” the assignment purports to deduce an individual’s political beliefs from a series of eight “yes” or “no” questions.



One might think that such questions—especially when distributed in a high school honors civics class—would pertain to political concepts such as individual liberty, the legitimate purposes of government, the regressive tax code, and so forth. But the assignment handed out at Wolcott High instead queried students on whether “Kids should be able to listen to any music they want,” “Kids should be able to wear ripped clothes to school,” “Kids should be able to watch anything they want on TV,” and “Kids should sit down and eat dinner with the family.” According to the assignment, affirmative answers to any of these questions indicate a politically liberal disposition, while negative responses indicate that one is a political conservative. Apparently, eating dinner with one’s family is now an exclusive indication of politically leftist households.



“It’s a political spectrum test, but the questions have nothing to do with politics,” Republican State Senator Rob Sampson told the Hartford Courant. “Any 15-year-old, regardless of their home situation, whether they were brought up in a liberal or conservative household, will probably answer yes to those questions. ... I would probably come out as a liberal on that test.”



Sampson, a member of the Conservative Caucus of the Connecticut Legislature, learned about the controversial assignment from a parent and was instrumental in bringing it to public attention. After posting the assignment to his personal Facebook page, it quickly generated over 900 comments and nearly as many shares.



“It’s like the answers are designed for the cool kids,” Sampson added. “The teacher is implying that it’s cool to be a liberal, and if you’re conservative, you’re a square.”



State Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, a Republican and colleague of Sampson’s in the state legislature, echoed his comments. “It is unacceptable for any teacher or public school to impose their political beliefs into the classroom regardless of party affiliation,” she posted on Facebook. “The questions on this quiz are clearly leaning towards ones political belief and bias and does not belong in a public school.”

“While we feel that there was no malicious or political intent in the assignment, we understand that in the current, highly-polarized political environment of our country that some parents may have found it concerning,” Wolcott Superintendent of Schools Tony Gasper wrote in a statement addressing the issue. “Nonetheless, a meeting with the teachers of this course was convened, and the assignment will not be used in the future.”

To learn more about the Freedom Center's campaign to halt indoctrination in K-12 schools, please visit www.stopk12indoctrination.org. To read the K-12 Code of Ethics CLICK HERE. To order the Freedom Center’s new pamphlet, “Leftist Indoctrination in Our K-12 Public Schools,” CLICK HERE. To donate to the Stop K-12 Indoctrination campaign, CLICK HERE.