Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters has made a name for himself as a cultural warrior of far-right politics. He has been vocal in proposing or implementing policy in accordance with Conservative talk-points, and has often railed against assorted bugbears known to rile up Republican ire, including trans children or anything deemed “woke.” Now, amid an ongoing teacher shortage in his state, Walters has declared In an unprecedented move, Walters has declared that educators coming to Oklahoma from a handful of more liberal states would have to take a test to ensure that they’re not too “woke.”
“If you’re coming from these states, you will take a test through the state department to show you’re aligned to our standards,” Walters said in a press conference in late July. “You’re not going to come here and teach that there’s 27 genders … you’re not going to undermine American exceptionalism by teaching anti-American and anti-semitic hate.”
Though Scary Mommy is unaware of any state that teaches anti-semitism, anti-Americanism, or the specifics of 27 genders, Walters specifically called out educators from New York and California as needing to pass the test. He also mentioned “seven or eight” other states officials were “look[ing] at” that may also be subjected to the new test.
While Walter’s predicted roll-out has not occurred in the two weeks he predicted in July, and he has not disclosed the content of the test itself, he did share that it was being developed by PragerU, a conservative media company that has been pushing (sometimes successfully) to have its ideologically-rooted curricula included in public school classrooms.
Walters has not shied from political controversy. From requiring Bibles to and prayer in schools to being so against “critical race theory” that he felt “skin color” should not be part of the discussion of the Tulsa Massacre, Walters has established himself as a conservative firebrand. More recently, he spearheaded new curriculum standards in Oklahoma schools that require teaching of the unproven (and likely false) “Lab Leak” theory of Covid-19 and the (demonstrably false) idea that the 2020 election was subjected to rampant fraud.
Oklahoma consistently comes in near the very bottom of the lists that rank public education by state. Blue states consistently dominate the Top 10 spots.
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