Ryan Walters' Test and the PragerU Factor

 Meanwhile, back in Oklahoma the Superintendent of Public Schools, Ryan Walters says his, "America First," test for prospective teachers arriving from California and New York will be released to the public, "soon." The test has been prepared presumably by Walters and his staff in partnership with an outfit called PragerU. The test is 50 questions long and has been described by some as a MAGA loyalty test. Walters doesn't go that far, at least not publicly, but does say it is designed to make sure Oklahoma schools aren't infiltrated by a bunch of radical left subversives hell bent on destroying America by teaching kids to hate the nation and, if they're white, themselves.  According to Walters if teachers from either state want to work here they have to get all 50 answers correct. He is a little fuzzy on who will do the grading, but one can probably assume there won't be any democrats involved in the process. Maybe the PragerU people will handle it. After all, Walters is quite proud of the collaboration, he brags about it every time he mentions the test. 

Which, of course, begs the question those of us unfamiliar with all this anti woke rigamarole should ask. What the fuck is PragerU?

Well, among other things, despite its somewhat misleading name, it isn't a university at all. It doesn't offer any online classes per se, it doesn't award any degrees, and it certainly doesn't have a campus. It was founded in 2009 by former right wing radio host Dennis Prager and radio producer and script writer, Allen Estin. Neither of them have any background in education, but both are well versed in over the edge right wing politics. 

PragerU is listed as a non-profit and is financed almost exclusively through private donations.  Wikipedia reports the biggest donor is the Linde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and prior to his death, Sheldon Adelson, who used to privately grill GOP presidential candidates to see if they were worthy of his huge contributions. Billionaire brothers Dan and Ferris Wilks--who made their cash manufacturing hydraulic fracturing equipment--are also major contributors and both of them sit on the board of directors. 

 TheU's chief products are child friendly cartoon videos showcasing the far right's version of history, politics, culture, and the climate. Wikipedia explains the videos contain, "misleading and factually inaccurate information," while promoting creationism and climate change denial. The videos are also accused of glossing over the history of the European colonization of the Americas, slavery and racism both current and during the past in the United States. As you can probably guess some of the videos are virulently anti LGBTQ in nature. (Which explains the questions regarding gender identification on Falterers' test.) As of 2023 Prager's You Tube channel contained 2,200 videos which cost anywhere from $25,000 to $30,000 each to make. 

Obviously, there is a lot of money being shoveled into PragerU by some really, really rich people. People who think the United States is a great place, but only so long as they're running it. 

Many of the toons are narrated by various right-wing luminaries such as, Tucker Carlson, Nigel Farage--even though he is a Brit--Michelle Malkin, Ben Shapiro, and Candace Owens among others. One of the videos featuring Owens was so incendiary and false--at one point she claimed trans people are schizophrenics--Face Book labeled it, "hate speech," and removed it from the site. You Tube found the climate denial videos so misleading and outright wrong they started adding fact checking messages to them. In all You Tube restricted the viewing of 21 PragerU productions. The U sued the site claiming censorship, but two courts threw the litigation out. 

No wonder Ryan Walters likes them so much. They're his kind of people.

For those wondering, the top 10 public education systems in the United States are, 1. Massachusetts, 2. New York, 3. New Jersey, 4. Washington, 5. Pennsylvania, 6. Vermont, 7. Minnesota, 8. Connecticut, 9. Virginia, 10. Wisconsin.  

Notice anything there. How about every one of those states are either blue, or purple. There isn't one ruby red republican stronghold listed among the bunch. The same ranking shows California at 37th, which is still 13 spots ahead of Oklahoma. 

That's right, under Ryan Walters' stewardship the Oklahoma public education system has sunk to 50th in the survey. Maybe that's because, unlike those other states, Walters and PragerU are far more concerned with the politics of teachers rather than their actual qualifications. 

Hey, it has to be something, right?

8-21-25