Confidence up! Discipline down!

Have US public schools earned the confidence of the public? Would you answer ''no'' to that question? Or are you among the 74 percent in the 1980 Gallup poll who said they did have confidence in the public schools.

Who thinks the public schools are doing the better job - those with children in those schools or those who don't have school-age children?

Parents, it seems, generally rate schools in general higher than those who haven't direct involvement in public elementary or secondary schools.

But both groups agree, once again, that discipline is still an annoying problem. In fact, discipline rates as problem No. 1 with those polled over financing, busing, and good teaching.