"What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?" This is a test for Oklahoma teachers...

Interesting framing for this question... What was Abraham Lincoln's primary reason for waging the Civil War? Really implying that slavery and its expansion was not the most salient issue of the Civil War, even if, yes, abolition was not "the primary reason for waging the Civil War"

What cause is MLK Jr. best known for? "Advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion" is not the right answer, apparently.

If you're an Oklahoma parent, does it matter to you if your kid's 2nd grade teacher can correctly identify what PragerU says is how the Cold War ended? I have to keep reminding myself this is a test for prospective teachers that's supposed to say something about Oklahoma values? But what?

I'm really just bored and irritated by how this test started off as a culture war barometer and turned into the history questions from Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? *This is a test for classroom teachers in Oklahoma*

Of course, once you finish the exam (and have my results send to no@no.com), you are prompted to donate to PragerU for a matched gift (don't do this):

Why did this take a partnership between a multi-million dollar propaganda organization and *the State of Oklahoma*? I've been in 45 minute PLC meetings that have produced better designed assessments. This is just an artifact of deeply weird & insulated people, there's no other way to describe it.

I can't stop thinking about how there are ZERO questions about Oklahoma on this test for OK educators. Not even: When did OK become a state? Who is the current governor? What % of land is legally tribal land? What is the largest industry in OK? All more relevant than any of the 34 Qs they chose.

You can only conclude that this was not designed by or for actual Oklahomans but rather for a national audience primarily concerned with selling a divisive culture war and furthering Walters' reactionary bona fides. 🤷

Power and money. Promotion of a fake "university"...

Reactionary bona fides that don’t even make him popular with republicans because they all hate his weird ass

Who wrote the music and lyrics to the Broadway musical and film “Oklahoma” ?

It wouldn't ask that. Have you seen South Pacific? They're too woke!

Still, more relevant than the other questions

Take this “test” or you can’t teach. Oh, but it’s created by this group who wants your money. If I were a taxpayer in OK, I’d be LIVID.

You'd think that for the certification test for educators there'd be some questions about pedagogy...

Feels like they put in their ideological screening questions & then cribbed the rest from a US citizenship exam to try to hide it.

What strikes me about these is that they aren't ideological. What does he think teachers in blue states teach? The gov't questions are dumb but they dont teach the constitution different in NY

Exactly. It's just...very weird?

More performative dumbassery from the culture war crowd.

That would likely be an acceptable answer on the US citizenship test - “fought for civil rights” and “worked for equality for all Americans” are given as model answers.

It was literally equality before the law. That was his cause. DEI followed on from that basic, fundamental human right.

If inclusion is "the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities & resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who have physical or intellectual disabilities & members of other minority groups," I'm not sure there is a difference. 😅

The whole point of the question is to divide MLK's advocacy from current civil rights language framed through "DEI" when there is not a material difference between the two. PragerU would've hated King in his own time even as they uplift his caricature in the present.

I'm merely pointing out that the (objectively) correct answer to the question is 'to preserve the Union'. I'm not at all disputing that this whole thing is a heap of steaming bullshit designed to identify people with decent values and exclude them from the academic faculty of Oklahoma.

Check out “All Labor Has Dignity” sometime. Might still be available in public libraries?

This is such a shocking development to the eyes of a European ! Echoes of 'The Handmaid's Tale' ...

💯 this is gen ai made

That's my guess too, but I wonder why the hell it took them so long?

Probably to get the tenders out to vendors and then to check it vaguely to ensure it met the facism criteria. And so fifty people could click through and say “ok with me”. I’ve made training for business and it can take months for one cyber training to be approved.

Race to the bottom. Oh wait, they’re already at the bottom.

THEY likely want 'segregation'...

Eh, despite his distaste for slavery and his signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, you could reasonably argue Lincoln primarily wanted to preserve the union.

Can you attach the goose meme "state's rights to do what"

To be fair, it was 'to preserve the Union'. Lincoln famously said that if he could have done that without freeing a single slave he would have.

Right, but again, the question is framed in a deliberately misleading way to downplay the role of slavery as a cause of, or the end of slavery as a result of, the Civil War. Why did the Union require preservation in the first place?

No argument from me. But when you're dealing with traps set by people with black and white 'textbook ideas' you can't be colourful and introduce nuance and overview and all that woke stuff. Just answer the specific question they asked, and let them find another way to block you from employment.

They let you try again?

Prayer took out a full page ad in today’s NY Times with 34 of its questions.

Again, they likely want A..

The correct answer isn't there.

That’s. Really. Fucked. Up. OK has always sucked this just is more suck.

To be fair, teachers in Oklahoma likely don't know the answers to these questions, nor would they be able to pass a basic U.S. Civics exam.

THEIR right answer would be C..