Superintendent of Education Ryan Walters announced that Oklahoma will have a new “America First” certification test. This test is aimed for teachers from left-leaning states who are moving to Oklahoma to teach. According to Walters, the test will be comprised of basic questions regarding civics, American history, and “common sense.”
In an interview with Fox News, Walters said that Oklahoma has seen an increase of teachers moving in from both red and blue states. This is due in part to Oklahoma offering the largest signing bonus for teachers in the country – $50,000 to the top 10% of teachers.
Walters (shown right) spoke with American Family Radio’s Jenna Ellis on Jenna Ellis in the Morning about the new test for blue out-of-state teachers.
“We started looking deeper at what is being required from teachers in these blue states. And again, when you bring them into a red state, are they willing to teach your standards? Are they willing to teach the values that the people of Oklahoma want?” asks Walters.
How some states look at gender
Blue states whose teacher requirements differ vastly from Oklahoma’s are the ones being targeted for this new certification test.
“California and New York were the first two that caught our mind on what is being required of them in the classroom to teach on gender,” Walter says.
He explains that the test is divided by two important focuses. The first one is biological differences between a man and a woman. It is very clear in Oklahoma’s standards that there are two genders with biological differences.
“If they can't come in here and pass the test on what is a woman and explain that there are biological differences and say that's how they will teach it, they're not going to teach in Oklahoma,” Walters states.
The second test, he says, will be similar to the citizenship test by focusing on American government, along with a small civics test that all Oklahoma teachers already take. This is to ensure that they understand American values.
To stress the importance of what is taught in schools, he asks, historically, why do we have schools?
“One of the biggest reasons is to create good citizens that can continue our Republican form of government so that we can continue to have a constitutional republic in this country,” Walters said.
For their teachers, he wants to know if they understand the setup of the government, the Declaration of Independence and its principles, along with how and why the Constitution sets up America’s government.
Teaching American Exceptionalism
“When you're talking about anything in a classroom with kids, everything should be centered around creating good citizens that understand this country, our background, and frankly, what makes us exceptional,” says Walters.
That is why there is a heavy focus on the primary documents, especially the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, he said.
“It starts with an understanding of where our rights derived from, what the founders say about that, and then secondly, how did they actually set up government to protect those core principles and make sure they continue,” Walters states.
Walters believes that this America First test is essential to ensure that teachers are upholding these standards in their teaching and that every state should be doing this.
“If you come into our classrooms, you are going to teach to those standards. You don't get to come in and go teach 27 genders and go teach critical race theory,” Walters says.
Because some out-of-state teachers may try to come in and do their own thing “you need to make sure that you're holding individuals accountable so the parents can know that they're going to get a good product in the classroom when they send their kids back to school.”
As he explains, this is not just a test. The state will follow up with accrediting bodies that will check if the standards they expect are performed by teachers and taught in the classroom.
An awareness system is also in place that can be employed by concerned parents, students and teachers.
“The reality is that any time we get a complaint that a teacher is not teaching to the standards or is pushing indoctrination, we immediately investigate that … with what you've seen from the National Teachers Union, from some of these radicals that have masqueraded as teachers. I think we absolutely have to stay on top of this,” Walters said.
Walters expresses that they are lucky to have parents that are tremendous in giving feedback so that his department’s staff can keep these teachers accountable.
Walters: Read the important papers
A lawsuit in Oklahoma that has since been dismissed aim to stop the new history standards from going into place. The standards that were protested added information into the curriculum regarding the Bible and how Judeo-Christian values influenced the founding of America.
“It just shows you the lengths that the teachers union will go to. They don't want your kids to know that the Bible and Christianity played a major role in American history. They fight it tooth and nail to try to secularize American history,” says Walters.
He says that they want to twist history in order to turn children into little Marxists.
Regarding religion in founding of the country, he stresses that it is not just him saying all this, but the primary source documents like the Declaration of Independence. He encourages kids and adults to go read them.
“Go read the documents. Determine it for yourself. Find the love for history. Find a love for this country. Go read what they said. It's very obvious what they believed,” Walters says. “And again, it doesn't matter if it offends the Left. That's our history. For our kids, we're going to make sure that they know it here in Oklahoma.”
