Textbook publishers are largely rejecting Ryan Walters' MAGA curriculum in Oklahoma

Ryan Walters' far-right curriculum changes are getting snubbed by publishers who refuse to rewrite history

This newsletter is free and goes out to over 22,000 subscribers, but it’s only able to sustain itself due to the support I receive from a small percentage of regular readers. Would you please consider becoming one of those supporters? You can use the button below to subscribe or use my usual Patreon page!

---

It appears that the biggest textbook publishers in the country are effectively ignoring Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters’ push to turn social studies classes into labs to indoctrinate children with right-wing propaganda.

Walters released those standards in December, got the state’s Board of Education to approve them in February without telling them he had made even more controversial changes to them, and the Republican legislature (which had the power to block them) chose to ignore the problem in May. (The revised standards are set to go into effect next month when school resumes, though two lawsuits have been filed to put a stop to that and both are currently in the hands of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.)

What’s so controversial about them? Walters was demanding that teachers tell kids that the 2020 election had major “discrepancies” (it did not), that there were security risks with mail-in ballots and “sudden batch dumps” (no there were not), and that COVID originated in a Chinese lab (there’s no conclusive proof of that).

Identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at graphs and other information, 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.

Students would not be required, however, to learn about George Floyd's death or the Black Lives Matter movement.

In addition to that, the standards treated the Bible as a foundational document, turning religious mythology into historical fact.

Second graders, for example, would be taught “stories from Christianity that influenced the American colonists, Founders, and culture, including the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (e.g., the “Golden Rule,” the Sermon on the Mount).”

That wording suggested a strain of Christian Nationalism promoted by pseudo-historian David Barton. Many of the Founders, and certainly the foundational documents of the country, were not influenced by Christianity. And the Golden Rule was not a Jesus Original™.

That same lie made its way into 8th grade classes, where students would have to “Evaluate the role of Judeo-Christian ideals in supporting colonial demands for independence, as exemplified by the Bible being a frequently cited authority by America's Founders.” (Spoiler: It wasn’t a frequently cited authority.)

For high school students, the indoctrination was even stronger. Christianity and slavery were only connected through Christian humanitarians who called for its abolition, not how the Bible was often used to justify enslavement.

It was no different in U.S. Government classes, where students would have to describe how the Constitution “was influenced by religion, morality, and the Bible as a frequently cited authority by America's founders.”

You get the picture. Walters was single-handedly trying to shape the way social studies was taught across the state in order to brainwash children into accepting right-wing lies instead of what experts in the field would argue is an accurate representation of our history.

At the time, besides pointing out all those problems, Democrats noted that it would be very difficult to find textbook publishers willing to rewrite their own materials to fit these standards. Not only was Oklahoma a smaller state—and therefore not worth the cost to create unique books—it would damage the publishers’ reputation to knowingly spread these lies to children. Why write a textbook for Oklahoma students promoting conservative lies when it could jeopardize your standing—and your sales—in other states that actually value education?

The State Textbook Committee in Oklahoma is currently sifting through those books in order to make recommendations to school districts throughout the state. It’s a long process that is set to end in November, after school is well underway. But that stamp of approval from the committee matters: The legislature has $33 million available for districts who purchase items the committee has green-lit. If the districts want to purchase textbooks the committee has not approved, they have to find other ways to pay for them.

But what’s amazing is that the publishers taking part in the process have not caved to Walters’ demands.

According to Oklahoma Watch’s Jennifer Palmer, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, one of the largest textbook publishers in the country, didn’t even submit materials this time around. They’ve basically written off Oklahoma as a lost cause. Two smaller publishers also opted out because they knew their books would have been rejected (because they included facts) and they didn’t want the black mark on their résumés.

Among the companies that did provide books? They’re doing the bare minimum to adhere to some of Walters’ standards without spreading his lies.

Regarding the 2020 election, for example, an Advanced Placement textbook titled “By The People, A History of the United States,” published by Pearson, makes no mention of sudden batch dumps or mail-in ballot concerns. It states: “The Trump campaign submitted a total of 63 lawsuits claiming voter fraud, but none of them, including several that reached the Supreme Court, resulted in a finding for the campaign.”

Another textbook for high school students, this one published by Cengage and titled “America Through the Lens,” addresses claims of election fraud with this: “Supporters of his claim believed that mail-in balloting was not secure, and alleged that ballot-counting was halted in key battleground states, accompanied by sudden batch dumps of unfavorable votes. With an unforeseen record number of voters in the election, determining the final vote count was challenging. Investigations by numerous state and federal authorities determined there was no credible evidence to support such a claim.”

However, an online version for Oklahoma is different. The same section instead reads: “He claimed the 2020 election had been stolen through widespread fraud, even though numerous state and federal authorities determined there was no credible evidence to support such a claim.”

Then, there’s this from a McGraw Hill textbook titled “United States History”: “As mail-in balloting began, stories appeared in the media describing mail-in ballots being lost or found dumped, people receiving ballots for someone else, ballots being filled out for people who had passed away, people accepting payments in exchange for their ballots, and people being charged with election fraud. These stories were anecdotes, personal stories, and they did not prove there were widespread problems.” [Hemant’s note: The word “anecdotes” is in bold in the actual textbook.]

That McGraw Hill textbook also says COVID originated in Wuhan but doesn’t say anything about a Chinese lab.

What about the Bible? Only one publisher included it, in a curriculum for elementary students. There was a mention of David and Goliath, but even that retelling was preceded by the line, “The Hebrews told stories.” The Ten Commandments are also mentioned in that curriculum, but only in a descriptive sense, not suggesting that people ought to follow them or that they form the basis for our current laws.

In short, the companies that publish textbooks aren’t playing along. At best, some of them give educators the option of editing the online versions of the textbook in case they want to include additional material.

It’s possible the State Textbook Committee—consisting of 13 members, 12 of whom are appointed by the governor and not Ryan Walters—approves some of this material anyway and just leaves it to the districts to fill in the blanks. That may be their only option. While adhering to the state standards is important, the textbooks don’t have to align perfectly for the Committee to approve them. And if, by chance, some right-wing groups like Prager U submit material that perfectly aligns with Walters’ wishes, districts won’t be obligated to use it even if the Committee green-lights it.

The person chairing the committee is former State Board of Education member Kendra Wesson, who was one of the three people ousted by Gov. Kevin Stitt earlier this year. Even though she’s an ally of Walters, she’s outnumbered by people who aren’t necessarily on Walters’ side. Last month, Wesson insisted there would be no problem finding textbooks that meet Walters’ new standards: “We’re not going to have a problem there at all.”

She’s half-right. The publishers are just ignoring his demands and the committee will likely have to choose between options that don’t cater to the misguided fantasies of MAGA cultists. After that, it’ll be up to the districts and teachers to decide whether they want to indoctrinate students or actually teach them useful information.

They shouldn’t have to work against their own state government to make sure students are prepared for life beyond high school, but that’s what Ryan Walters is forcing them to do. He turn an academic issue into a political one because he wants kids to be as uneducated and ignorant as he is.

(Portions of this article were published earlier)

---