OPINION:
Blue state “woke” indoctrination of students in public schools will no longer be tolerated in Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education has teamed up with the conservative organization PragerU to develop an assessment for teachers “relocating from states with progressive education policies,” which they must pass to get a license to teach in Oklahoma.
According to a news release Wednesday, the new assessment will evaluate educators on three main aspects: knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, “understanding of American exceptionalism,” and “grasp of fundamental biological differences between boys and girls.”
“We’re sending a clear message: Oklahoma’s schools will not be a haven for woke agendas pushed in places like California and New York,” said Superintendent Ryan Walters. “If you want to teach here, you’d better know the Constitution, respect what makes America great, and understand basic biology. We’re raising a generation of patriots, not activists, and I’ll fight tooth and nail to keep leftist propaganda out of our classrooms.”
Amen.
Just this week, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, the National Education Association (NEA), held its annual convention, where it adopted several progressive measures.
Included was a business item “to defend against [President Donald] Trump’s embrace of fascism by using the term fascism in NEA materials,” to “oppose any move to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education as an illegal, anti-Democratic, and racist attempt to destroy public education and privatize it in the interests of billionaires,” to “defend birthright citizenship and oppose the attempt to revert to pre-civil rights movement — Jim Crow — legal concepts of ‘states rights’ in order to deny citizenship to the children of immigrants,” and to support student efforts to organize “against ICE raids and deportations.”
The NEA committed to sending out a “Know Your Rights” document, so teachers can work around a Supreme Court ruling this year that allows parents to opt their children out of gender indoctrination. It also said it will hold “Speak Up, Speak Out,” LGBTQ+ conferences. It pledged not to “use, endorse, or publicize any materials from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL),” an organization founded to fight antisemitism.
Although the union kept its resolutions private this year, school-choice advocate Corey A. DeAngelis obtained a copy and made them public.
Is it any wonder why this year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that 70% of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72% were below proficient in math? Why patriotism among Generation Z has reached a record low? Or why 45% of Americans aged 18-24 agree that socialism is the ideal economic system for the United States?
Oklahoma is trying to right these wrongs.
In addition to developing an ‘America First’ test for teachers to pass to be accredited to teach in the state, Mr. Walters has instituted other reforms to combat woke indoctrination.
Last year, the state said a copy of the Bible must be available in every classroom and its teachings incorporated as instructional support for grades 5 through 12.
“The Bible is one of the most historically significant books and a cornerstone of Western civilization, along with the Ten Commandments,” Mr. Walters wrote in a letter to local superintendents. “This is not merely an educational directive but a crucial step in ensuring our students grasp the core values and historical context of our country.”
Mr. Walters’ decision piggybacked on a Louisiana law requiring every classroom to display the Ten Commandments, which is currently being contested in the courts.
There’s no doubt Mr. Walters’ mandates will also come under legal scrutiny; still, Oklahoma remains at the forefront of pushing back against leftist propaganda in our educational system, even if some of its efforts fail in court.
In May, the Supreme Court was deadlocked in a 4-4 decision, which prevented Oklahoma from launching the nation’s first religious public charter school by upholding the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision that chartering such a school would “evangelize” a particular faith and violate the separation of church and state.
The school argued that under the Free Exercise Clause, states cannot bar religious groups from government programs that are open to everyone else.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case. Although she gave no explanation, many suspect it is because she is good friends with an early adviser for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, the school in question. She’s also a devout Catholic with seven children, several of whom were educated at a private Catholic school.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt wrote on X that the Supreme Court deadlock was a “non-decision” that did not resolve the issue, as no nationwide precedent was set.
“This is far from a settled issue,” wrote Mr. Stitt. “We are going to keep fighting for parents’ rights to instill their values in their children and against religious discrimination.”
Soldier on, Oklahoma, soldier on.
• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at the Washington Times.
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