On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow, City Journal Contributing Editor, and Hillsdale College Distinguished Fellow Christopher Rufo stated that Oklahoma testing teachers from New York and California is “not serious in itself.” But does get to a “real issue” about public institutions reflecting the public’s values.
Host Bill Maher asked, “Is this a legitimate concern, that a teacher from California would come to Oklahoma and be a woke indoctrinator?”
Rufo answered, “Well, I looked at the data, and it’s about fewer than five per year, teachers from California who are applying to be teachers in Oklahoma. So, on one case — in one hand, this is a kind of media spectacle, right? It’s not serious in itself.”
Rufo continued, “But I actually think there’s a real issue underneath it. The issue is this: Every institution operates on a system of values, either explicitly or implicitly, and what the superintendent — who’s a friend of mine — is saying with this is that Oklahoma public schools, which are paid for by Oklahoma taxpayers, that serve Oklahoma families, and educate Oklahoma children should have an explicit set of values that respond to the people. In other words, the public institutions should reflect the values of the public. And, look, I think California schools and New York schools and Oklahoma schools and Florida schools should all be different. That’s why we have 50 states, that’s why we have the system that we have, and I’m fine with Oklahoma having a different system and making sure that their teachers reflect that.”
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