As Donald Trump’s political support collapses faster than one of his casinos, the MAGA crowd is turning to conspiracy theories to keep people distracted. The latest attack was directed at the Oklahoma education system by Trump’s most loyal fanboy and state superintendent, Ryan Walters, who has decided that history should be about propaganda and not facts.
Starting next semester, Oklahoma high school teachers will now have to present the 2020 election conspiracy theory as a matter “open to interpretation.” While the new order by the teaching board doesn’t outright say that the 2020 election was stolen, the teachers will now introduce the rhetoric as a perfectly reasonable theory that deserves thought and discussion.
Teachers will also be required to promote the lab-leak theory about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, undermining the mainstream scientific consensus while relying on Reddit threads and Alex Jones reruns. Ryan Walters quietly inserted these two gems of misinformation into the new Oklahoma education standards without any due process.
The Heritage Foundation’s Shadow Looms Over Oklahoma High Schools
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank with a God complex, has been a major influence on the Oklahoma education system both directly and indirectly.
Investigations have confirmed that the think tank has a “sweeping influence” over the Oklahoma Education Department. FOX 25 revealed that leaked emails and internal conversations show the Heritage Foundation actively scripting and directing Oklahoma education policy and high school curriculum for Ryan Walters.
At the heart of it lies the “Project 2025” from the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing manifesto that has become the rulebook for Trump 2.0. Project 2025 aims to shut down the US Department of Education, gut DEI initiatives, and replace facts with Biblical bedtime stories and conservative rhetoric.
And then there is the Phoenix Declaration! The declaration outlines the conservative vision for American education endorsed by Republican leaders like Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and Ryan Walters. The declaration is designed for policymakers, teaching boards, and educators to guide children away from the bogeymen called “Wokeism” and “leftist activism.”
Walters Targets Progressive Topics in Costly Curriculum Overhaul
Ryan Walters, ever the eager MAGA foot soldier, is trying his absolute best to shove Project 2025 into the Oklahoma education system. Walters appointed Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, to a committee responsible for setting standards for social studies in Oklahoma High Schools.
The committee is leading the charge in pushing policies that focus on “American exceptionalism,” making the Bible a mandatory text, injecting nationalism into the classroom, and eliminating “woke indoctrination.”
Walters has spent the majority of his time as the head of the Oklahoma Education Department, not only praising Trump and the Heritage Foundation but also pushing back against the “left-wing indoctrination in the classroom.” As part of his “great war” against woke, Walters wants to scrub off any reference to George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory, and “Trans Studies.”
Estimates suggest that these revisions could cost the Oklahoma Education Department $33 million in new textbooks and related materials. One of the new textbooks is also Trump’s Bible, of which Ryan Walters has been an enthusiastic supporter.
Even Republicans Don’t Agree with Ryan Walters
While Ryan Walters may claim that his actions are in line with Trump’s wishes as well as the general conservative consensus, not everyone in his own party agrees with him. For instance, Republican Rep. Ronny Johns, a former educator, spoke out against Walters. He claimed that the new standards are a threat to both educators and students. Johns is backed up by numerous pastors, elders, parents, and teachers who are concerned about how Bible stories and scriptures will be presented and taught to the kids.
A group led by parents and teachers has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn these standards. They argue that the standards were passed without any proper discussion and promote “an intentionally outdated and blatantly biased perspective.” Some of Oklahoma’s largest school districts have ignored the directive, and the Republican-led Oklahoma legislature introduced a resolution to reject it outright. However, the resolution lacked the backing from enough GOP members and fizzled out.
Despite the opposition from fellow Republicans, teachers, parents, and the local community, Walters’ new Oklahoma education standards are popular among the grassroots pro-Trump conservative groups, such as Moms for Liberty. These groups, which have a serious clout in Oklahoma, threatened the lawmakers who voted against the new standards with “flipping the seat” during the election time.
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