Ever wanted to be a teacher in Oklahoma?
If so, then I do indeed have a test for you. However, this is not an ordinary test in any meaningful way at all, but instead is something else.
OK, a quick reveal. This test is just ideology propaganda and has been created by the Prager University Foundation, for religious fanatic Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s officially appointed Superintendent of Public Instruction.
You might of course be thinking, “Ah, so the test was created by a University, so it can’t be all that bad“. Nope nope nope, and once again just in case you missed it, nope. Despite the name, the Prager University Foundation, they are not in any way shape or form about education in any meaningful way.
What exactly is the Prager University Foundation?
It is perhaps better known as PragerU and are not accredited in any way at all. What they really are is a right-wing propaganda mill founded by Dennis Prager, hence the name. Their “mission” is to churn out short videos containing very blatant disinformation and right-wing propaganda.
You need not take my word on that, here is a direct quote from the Wikipedia page that describes them rather well …
PragerU’s videos contain misleading or factually incorrect information on climate change, slavery[1][2][3] and racism in the United States, immigration, and the history of fascism. PragerU has been further accused of promoting creationism, fascism, racism, sexism and anti-LGBT politics.[4][5]
The big problem is not just their content, but the observation that the BS they churn out is used as supplemental education material in public schools across eight states. As parents and educators become aware of what is happening when the materials land, they quickly become alarmed …
South Carolina was the eighth state to approve the videos for use in public K-12 classrooms, joining Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Montana, Louisiana, New Hampshire and Arizona, according to the organization’s website.
The videos, which are optional for teachers to use in their classrooms, did not go through the normal vetting process for classroom materials, such as textbooks. Typically, a 15-member committee composed primarily of teachers and administrators reviews materials, with input from the public. The State Board of Education then has the final say on what to approve or not approve.
The state board did not have any say over the PragerU partnership. A spokesman has previously said the department regularly offers teachers materials and training that don’t need board approval.
But the oversight board should make a decision about this one, board member Beverly Frierson of Columbia said during a Tuesday meeting.
“I, too, am extremely concerned and disturbed by the indoctrination, and I’m not even going to use some of the other adjectives to describe it,” said Frierson, a former high school English teacher. “Check it out for yourself.”
Er yes, English teacher Mr Frierson is indeed spot on with the deployment of “other adjectives“.
OK, I’m a tad off topic here. The point is this – PragerU is where this new Oklahoma woke teacher test has come from.
The Ideology Purity Test Announcement
Not only does Oklahoma rank bottom in most educational measures, but they also have a massive teacher shortage. Honestly with “intellectuals” like Walters in charge, it is no huge surprise to discover any of that.
Promoting The Test
How wild and whacky can an “ideological purity” test be?
The answer is that it is as wild and whacky as you imagine, please more.
It rolled out via twitter on Sun 31st Aug with this promotion via Walters himself …
… and that same day via ads in the New York Times on the front page and also a full page ad on A7…
The test
You can access it here.
I took a hit for the team and signed up …
It goes on to ask for an address, and yes, absolutely no verification of data is done, so you can toss in almost any gibberish.
Here is Q1 …
What you quickly discover is that if you pick a wrong answer, then it simply says “Try Again“. Until you pick the right answer, you can’t advance to Q2, and of course you can be wrong as many times as you wish.
So yes, this is not in any way a test at all.
Here are the rest of the questions, and being right-wing fanatics, you can perhaps guess the answer they want is in many cases not the factually correct answer …
- Q2. What is the fundamental biological distinction between males and females?
- Q3. How is a child’s biological sex typically identified?
- Q4.Which chromosome pair determines biological sex in humans?
OK, let’s pause here for a bit so that you can bask on awe at the raw stupidity in play.
The alternative answers they offer for this one are insane, and remember this is a test for potential educators not 6 years olds …
So briefly, to illustrate what is going on here – this is basically the promotion of a political agenda. Notice how there is one obvious right answer and all the others are wrong. The problem is that their right answer is not actually the full story. Yes, humans are generally either XX or XY, but there are also variations.
XO (Turner syndrome): Missing one X chromosome. XXX (Triple X syndrome): Extra X chromosome. XXY (Klinefelter syndrome): Extra X chromosome. XYY (Jacob’s syndrome): Extra Y chromosome. Then there is XXXX, XXXXX → Very rare; And there is also XXYY, XXXY, XXXXY.
Normally XX is Female and XY is male, but there is also Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) → XY chromosomes, but the body doesn’t respond to male hormones, so the person develops typically female characteristics. And Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) → XX chromosomes, but hormone differences can cause atypical development of reproductive anatomy.
Then there are also people who have both XX and also XY. Some cells are XX and some are XY.
Claiming it is all binary and you are either XX or XY within every cell is generally true, but is also not the whole story. Biology is messy and complicated. It also does not check your political beliefs.
So how common are such variations?
It is roughly 1 out of every 400-500 people. The point of this being on their “test” is to promote the idea that such variations do not exist, and that’s a huge problem for many people who then end up facing discrimination or outright bigotry because of ignorance.
OK, so what are the other questions?
Here you go …
- Q5. Why is the distinction between male and female considered important in areas like sports and privacy?
- Q6. Should teachers be allowed to express their own political viewpoints in the classroom in order to persuade the students to adopt their point of view?
- Q7. What did the Supreme Court rule in the 2025 case Mahmoud v. Taylor?
- Q8. What are the first three words of the Constitution?
- Q9. Why is freedom of religion important to America’s identity?
- Q10. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
- Q11. How many total U.S. senators are there?
- Q12. Why do some states have more Representatives than others?
- Q13. What is the primary responsibility of the president’s Cabinet?
- Q14. Who signs bills into law?
- Q15. What is the highest court in the United States?
- Q16. In the United States, which of the following is a responsibility reserved only for citizens?
- Q17. Which of the following are explicitly listed in the Bill of Rights?
- Q18. What right does the Second Amendment protect?
- Q19. What is the supreme law of the United States?
- Q20. Who wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence?
- Q21. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
- Q22. What was the primary reason the colonists fought the British?
- Q23. Who were the first three U.S. presidents?
- Q24. Who is called the “Father of Our Country”?
- Q25. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
- Q26. What was Abraham Lincoln’s primary reason for waging the Civil War?
- Q27. What cause is Martin Luther King Jr. best known for?
- Q28. How did the Cold War end?
- Q29. Who was President during the Great Depression and WWII?
- Q30. What is the name of the national anthem?
- Q31. Why are there thirteen stripes on the American flag?
- Q32. Which national holiday honors those who died while serving in the U.S. military?
- Q33. Which of the following is a phrase from the Pledge of Allegiance?
- Q34. From whom does the United States government derive its power?
… and I passed with 100%, so I guess I am now ideologically pure.
You even get a certificate to prove it (if you gave a valid email) …
… and the reveal … you then land on a PragerU donation page.
This is pure BS
It is not actually possible to fail this “test” which is not a test in any sense at all, but instead is propaganda and also a means to harvest donations.
Remember that Mr Walters promoted this with the guidance that it would be mandatory and that it was specific to any teachers coming to Oklahoma. One further tiny flaw there – he lied. He has no authority to inflict such a test, nor does he get to say who is and is not qualified to teach in Oklahoma. That’s all done by Oklahoma’s Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability. They review out-of-state certification assessments. As explained within a recent The Oklahoman article (dated Aug 31) …
“CEQA is responsible for reviewing out-of-state certification assessments for comparability to Oklahoma’s testing standards,” Oftedal told The Oklahoman. “When a teacher applies for certification using an exam taken in another state – rather than Oklahoma’s required Subject Area Tests – CEQA evaluates whether the assessment aligns with our licensure requirements.”
Oftedahl said her agency didn’t have data on how many certified teachers with current valid teaching certification in other states have applied to teach in Oklahoma, which is who the PragerU assessment is targeting. But among uncertified teachers who completed certification tests in other states and now want to teach in Oklahoma, since 2020, out of 573 out-of-state applications, only 19 came from California or New York, Oftedal said. In 2025, she said, only one applicant came from California and none from New York.
One teacher … just one … that is whom his totally bogus test scam targets. So how much have they spent running front page advertisements in the NYT to target just one teacher from CA and none from NY?
Can this “test” be imposed as a test on teachers?
No.
Has he actually attempted to impose it anyway?
No.
This is simply just a gimmick to promote PragerU and a political agenda. The claim that it is a test is a scam.