Oklahoma Schools Mandated to Teach 2020 Election Conspiracy Theories

Oklahoma's New History Curriculum

• 🎯 Oklahoma's Board of Education has approved new curriculum standards requiring high school students to be taught that the 2020 presidential election was rife with fraud or discrepancies.
• 🗓️ This non-fact-based curriculum is set to be implemented in the 2025-2026 school year.
• 🏛️ The changes were spearheaded by State Superintendent of Education, Ryan Walters, who believes the curriculum promotes critical thinking.

Debunking Election Conspiracy Theories

• ❓ The curriculum mandates teaching the disproved theory that the Democratic Party stole the 2020 election.
• ⚖️ Speaker Dr. Rashad Richey questions why crimes would not have been investigated if the election was indeed stolen, noting zero arrests or investigations launched by Trump's administration.
• 🚫 Over 60 judges, including those appointed by Trump, found no evidence of widespread fraud.

Curriculum Controversies and Lawsuits

• 🚫 The new curriculum removed proposed lessons on George Floyd's murder and Black Lives Matter.
• 🔬 It now teaches the contested theory that COVID-19 emerged from a lab leak as fact.
• 🏛️ A lawsuit has been filed by former Oklahoma Republican Attorney General Mike Hunter against the State Department of Education and Mr. Walters, arguing the new standards were passed improperly and should be invalidated.

Broader Implications of Educational Influence

• 🧠 Jordan Uhl argues that the right wing uses education as political warfare to create a dumber population that is easier to mislead and control.
• ✊ This strategy is seen as a continuation of historical methods of using education as a cudgel, citing the impact of tying property taxes to education funding on Black communities.
• 🌍 The discussion highlights the importance of factual education and contrasts it with the political motivations behind curriculum changes.
• 💰 The inequitable distribution of school funding based on property taxes is also critiqued, with a suggestion for collective funding models.