When your state lies at the bottom of national education rankings, it would make sense to figure out how you can attract better teachers, provide more funding to public schools, and make sure the curriculum is solid in order to help students achieve success in college and beyond.

Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters has done none of those things. His “solutions” have involved giving public money to private religious schools and shoving the Bible into as many classes as possible. He’s not trying to attract the best teachers, either.

Instead, he announced over the summer that any educators coming to Oklahoma from “woke” states like New York or California would have to essentially pass an ideology test created by the right-wing propaganda group PragerU. […] The exam, Walters said, would assess teachers’ knowledge of things like the Constitution and “fundamental biological differences between boys and girls.”

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It’s an advertising gimmick to promote PragerU. Seriously. This is as much of a “test” as PragerU is a “university."

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Here’s the thing about this “test”: It doesn’t matter what you answer. You’re literally unable to fail it. If you’re wrong on a question, you’re forced to keep guessing until you pick the answer they want you to pick. When you’re done, they email you a certificate of achievement.

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Several of the questions attempt to delegitimize transgender people, as if discussions about trans identities constitute 95% of all K-12 education.

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Another: “What cause is Martin Luther King Jr. best known for?” Answer: “Advocating for racial equality under the law.”

That simplistic response suggests that MLK would be supportive of the kind of “reverse racism” arguments hurled by conservatives in order to condemn affirmative action, DEI initiatives, and anything that might address systemic racism. The response “Advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion” is deemed incorrect even though those issues were at the heart of his activism.