Here is the Washington Examiner:
Oklahoma’s top education official is overhauling the state’s social studies curriculum to emphasize American exceptionalism to combat what he says is left-wing messaging that teaches children to “hate America.”
In a document obtained by the Washington Examiner, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters announced a “complete overhaul” to the curriculum with the goal to “inspire in students a love of country and a proper understanding of the American founding,” as well as completely eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology from schools.
“Teacher’s unions have been rewriting history, teaching students to hate America. But not under my watch,” Walters told the Washington Examiner. “Our goal is to give Oklahoma students an education that focuses on history, not indoctrination. The executive committee that we’ve assembled are experts in American exceptionalism, our Founding Fathers, and historical documents like the Bible. These things are essential to understanding our history.”
Walters made headlines last month when, in the face of an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision blocking the public funding of a religious charter school, he directed all school districts to begin incorporating the Bible into the curriculum.
The new social studies standards will incorporate a classical learning model, teach about inspiring leaders in American history, and incorporate the Bible as a foundational resource for Western civilization.
The new standards come as scrutiny of public education over the past several years revealed an effort to teach children ideologies such as critical race theory, which places a fundamental importance on race and teaches white children that they are inherently oppressors, and also revealed attempts to diminish American history in a way that critics believe is meant to instill a hatred of country in impressionable young persons.
“Oklahomans, citizens, parents, and business leaders alike, are disgusted with the lack of civic knowledge, love for our country, and historical education among our young people,” Walters said. “It is crystal clear that we need to return to more rigorous social studies standards that emphasize the unique and exceptional nature of the American republic, promote a proper understanding of the nation’s founding, and instill pride in our civic traditions and Oklahoma heritage.”
Read the rest here.
The “A-List Executive Review Committee” includes:
Dennis Prager is a conservative radio talk show host. He is the founder of PragerU, a website that advance all kinds of wild and inaccurate interpretations of the past. He has defended his use of the “N word” to describe African Americans. He called the COVID lockdowns “the greatest mistake in the history of humanity.” In 2011, he said Trump’s profanity disqualified him from the presidency. Then he supported Trump in 2016. Prager majored in history at Brooklyn College in the late 1960s.
David Barton is a Seven Mountain Dominionist who uses the past to advance his right-wing America. He does not have a degree in American history. I recently wrote about Barton here. Fifteen years ago, when Barton was working to shape the Texas social studies standards, I wrote this.
Kevin Roberts is President of the Heritage Foundation. It is worth noting that the Heritage Foundation is behind Project 2025. As far as I can tell, Roberts is the only member of the committee who has a Ph.D in history. His 2003 University of Texas Ph.D dissertation was on slavery in Louisiana.
Everett Piper is the former president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University. Piper once compared LGBTQ college students to members of ISIS. Learn more about him here and here.
David Goodwin is the President of the Association of Classical Christian Schools. He has an M.B.A. from Boise State.
Mark Bauerlein is a senior editor at conservative First Things magazine and a former English professor at Emory University. He recently spoke at the 2024 National Conservatism conference. In this 2023 podcast, Bauerlein interviewed Christian nationalist Eric Metaxas as if the conspiracy theorist and election denier is just another conservative intellectual worthy of coverage at First Things.
Steve Deace: An Iowa talk show host who believes that COVID-19 is part of a “depopulation scheme.” He does not have a college degree.
Yes, this is the “A-List” team responsible for what Oklahoma students will learn about history and civics. It has no business shaping the educational future of Oklahoma. And let’s not pretend this group was chosen for its social studies expertise. The members of this committee were picked for their politics. This yet another way that identity politics–in this case political identity–is driving the study of history.
I’ve offered a better way. I hope you’ll consider it.
Walters deems current social studies curriculum to be liberal propaganda. It seems he would like that mantle to be passed to him for conservative propaganda. There is no truth seeking here. The no warts America is not America.
Has anyone studied the history of American exceptionalism as an idea? I rather like Andrew Lang’s account of the concept in _A Contest of Civilizations: Exposing the Crisis of American Exceptionalism in the Civil War Era_, but that covers a different situation. In the early 19th century, America actually was exceptional among the nations, and it needed to remain exceptional if it was to avoid the fate of previous failed attempts at republican government. How did we get to the very different, frequently religiously-inflected, idea of exceptionalism that is espoused now?