Oklahoma’s Education Department has approved plans to force teachers from California or New York to
pass an ideology test to ensure that they aren’t too “woke” before they hire
them.
The test was created by
right-wing think-tank Prager University, which has made headlines recently for
developing education material that minimizes
American slavery. It
features 50 questions about the government, gender, and religion. The Education Department posted five sample questions from the exam, including, “What are the first three words of the Constitution?”
and a question about the biological differences between men and
women.
Teaching
applicants from California and
New York were notified that they will not be accepted without completing the
test.
“We’re not bringing in
woke indoctrinators into the classroom,” said Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction
Ryan Walters. “It’s a very America-first approach.”
Walters hopes to release
the exam “soon.” He has also blocked Board of Education members from viewing
the exam before potential teachers receive it.
Oklahoma Education
Association president Cari Elledge told USA Today that she believes the move will only
exacerbate Oklahoma’s public school teacher shortage. The state teachers union
wrote in a letter that Walters “has no legal authority to vet certified
teachers based on political ideology.”
Walters
has made headlines previously for trying to force Trump Bibles and prayer into classrooms, reportedly watching pornography during a school board meeting, and inviting
ICE to perform raids on the children of his state while they were
at school.
In
short, he appears to be a loyal MAGA soldier who happens to have an alarming
amount of power over the teachers and students of Oklahoma, and this test only
reaffirms that.
The post Oklahoma Plans to Test Out-of-State Teachers for Wokeness appeared first on New Republic.
