Teachers in Oklahoma would be instructed to have high school students “identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results” under new academic standards for social studies approved by the state education board last month.
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The standards, which were obtained by the Oklahoma journalism not-for-profit NonDoc and published in full on Wednesday, must be approved by the Oklahoma legislature.
They stipulate that students should review information relating to the election, including “the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellwether county’ trends.”
President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, was “stolen” from him, a baseless falsehood that fueled the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
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Oklahoma’s top education official, Superintendent Ryan Walters, is a Trump ally whose national profile has been raised by his push to distribute Trump-endorsed Bibles in classrooms; his backing of an attempt to create a publicly funded Catholic charter school in a case to be considered by the Supreme Court; and his appointing of conservative activist Chaya Raichik, best known for running the social media account “Libs of TikTok,” to a library advisory committee amid a crackdown on books deemed “harmful” in red states.
Walters said in a statement to The Washington Post that the new standard “empowers students to investigate and understand the electoral process.”
“The purpose of the standard is simple: we want students to think for themselves, not be spoon-fed left wing propaganda,” Walters’s statement reads. “Students deserve to examine every aspect of our elections, including the legitimate concerns raised by millions of Americans in 2020.”
The language in the standards related to the 2020 election was mostly not included in the version released for public comment between Dec. 19 and Jan. 21, which only included guidance to “examine issues related to the election of 2020 and its outcome.” That version had already generated a separate controversy because of an expectation that students be taught stories from the Bible, local media reported.
Get concise answers to your questions. Try Ask The Post AI.The standards, which were obtained by the Oklahoma journalism not-for-profit NonDoc and published in full on Wednesday, must be approved by the Oklahoma legislature.
They stipulate that students should review information relating to the election, including “the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellwether county’ trends.”
President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, was “stolen” from him, a baseless falsehood that fueled the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
Advertisement
ADVERTISING
Oklahoma’s top education official, Superintendent Ryan Walters, is a Trump ally whose national profile has been raised by his push to distribute Trump-endorsed Bibles in classrooms; his backing of an attempt to create a publicly funded Catholic charter school in a case to be considered by the Supreme Court; and his appointing of conservative activist Chaya Raichik, best known for running the social media account “Libs of TikTok,” to a library advisory committee amid a crackdown on books deemed “harmful” in red states.
Walters said in a statement to The Washington Post that the new standard “empowers students to investigate and understand the electoral process.”
“The purpose of the standard is simple: we want students to think for themselves, not be spoon-fed left wing propaganda,” Walters’s statement reads. “Students deserve to examine every aspect of our elections, including the legitimate concerns raised by millions of Americans in 2020.”
The language in the standards related to the 2020 election was mostly not included in the version released for public comment between Dec. 19 and Jan. 21, which only included guidance to “examine issues related to the election of 2020 and its outcome.” That version had already generated a separate controversy because of an expectation that students be taught stories from the Bible, local media reported.
