Oklahoma Educational System Makes Anti-Woke Decision: Who’s Next?

State Education Superintendent Ryan Walters clarified what the change means.

"We offered the largest signing bonuses for teachers in the country. If you’re in the top ten percent of teachers in the country, we give you $50,000 in Oklahoma. So, we’ve seen teachers come from blue states, red states, and everywhere in between to come to Oklahoma. They especially are fleeing the teacher’s unions, and the grip that they’ve had on them in these blue states."

Oklahoma has partnered with Prager U to develop a new test for teachers. The test will include straightforward questions, such as "What is a woman?" along with questions about American history and civics. For instance, teachers might be asked to state the year of America's founding, which is 1776. Any teacher who answers with 1619 will be disqualified from a position in the state.

In America, there is no national curriculum. While the Department of Education provides some guidance, there is no fixed course of study that all schools must follow. This guidance often comes in the form of funding. Despite our discussions about standards of excellence, we lack concrete standards in education. However, the Department of Education still enforces its guidance by threatening to withhold funding.

Under the Biden administration, schools that refused to implement gender ideology—such as allowing boys to access girls' sex-segregated facilities—faced threats of losing federal funding. This pressure came not only from the Department of Education (DOE) but unbelievably also from the Department of Agriculture, which threatened to withhold free lunch assistance for low-income students.

Unfortunately, because of its size, California dictates guidance regarding K-12 education. With nearly seven million students, it has the largest student population in the country as well as the distinction of being one of the most liberal states. As a result, the curriculum guidelines set by California's legislators are often adopted by textbook publishers aiming to sell their materials. Once the textbooks are published for sale in California, they tend to be distributed across the entire country, essentially bringing those perverted leftist views to states that don’t hold the same.

This is what Oklahoma is opposing? California has adopted new educational guidelines that label math as discriminatory. The state Department of Education requires that students be taught about gender, gender expression, and gender identity, as well as the negative impact of harmful gender stereotypes. Additionally, schools are mandated to educate students about all sexual orientations and to explain what it means to be LGBTQ.

Walters was understandably outraged. This is not what Oklahoma wants in its education system. In fact, he stated, "We put the Bible back into our history standards." This approach is not what California, New York, or Illinois want. However, there are no national curriculum standards. If California is going to influence textbook publishing with unreasonable lesson requirements—such as denying the existence of women—then Oklahoma is perfectly within its rights to create its own standards.

California is not the only state teaching absurdities to students and calling it education. Oregon has also promoted critical race theory in mathematics. Additionally, Disney has actively supported LGBTQ curriculum initiatives by funding GLSEN (pronounced 'glisten'). This support aims to help teachers incorporate concepts related to gender identity and transgender advocacy into their lessons, not only in the United States but also globally.

In California, a major history textbook called "History Alive: The Medieval World and Beyond" downplays jihad and Sharia law while being highly critical of Judaism. This textbook is published by the Teachers' Curriculum Institute, which creates educational materials for all core disciplines. It is also used in other states, including Oregon, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio.

American students should not be misled, and it's time for more states to resist the trends set by the most progressive states in the country. There is no reason for states that want to promote strong values and meaningful lessons to adopt textbooks created in California. Additionally, teachers should not believe they can bring misguided ideologies across state lines.

Oklahoma is reclaiming its roots of true education. The sexual orientation of any student should never be discussed for the simple reason that it is outside the limits of the teacher’s union and the government's moral rights.

The left has pushed the limits of sanity to the breaking point, and Oklahoma is the first to require teachers to represent American standards and not become another patsy for the fascist Democrats' agenda.

The fuse for rational common sense to return to American schools has been lit. Let’s keep it growing, our future depends on the hearts and minds of the youth, it’s time to save our future.

M. Harris