Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters slammed modern education as “absurd” in comparison to the days of “one-room schoolhouses“ in a Friday interview on CNN.
President-elect Donald Trump has openly shared desires to completely shut down the Department of Education, which would eave matters of education up to the states. Appearing on Laura Coates Live, Walters couldn’t hide his excitement over the prospect.
“President Trump is going to fulfill his promise to get rid of the federal Department of Education and focus on free market principles in education,” he said on Friday. “We want every kid to be successful.”
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He added, “I mean, people forget this country was the greatest country in the history of the world, was built without a federal Department of Education.”
Walters then claimed that modern learning methods have set education back, and the country should return to “common sense.”
“It was a one-room schoolhouse that helped forge some of the greatest minds in the world,” said Walters. “This whole industrial complex created by the left and the teachers’ unions has to go. We‘ve got to get back to common sense in education. That‘s what President Trump is going to do.”
CNN host Coates was quick to question what exactly Walters meant by “common sense.” She asked, “So, you would say that the period of time since the infancy of the United States of America until now has been a practice in woke education exclusively? That would really belie the facts, don‘t you agree?”
The superintendent responded: “Hey, look it‘s very clear. Look what‘s happened since we created a federal Department of Education. What we have seen is a department that focused on critical race theory, DEI, common core math, transgenderism. It‘s absurd.”
Walters then implied that even if one-room schoolhouses don’t come back into fashion, the country could afford to go back a few decades in time.
“Every educational statistic has gotten worse since Jimmy Carter created the federal Department of Education,” he said. “President Trump‘s 1000% right. We have got to get education back to the states. States have to give education back to the families.”
Walters added, “This federal Department of Education has preached anti-Americanism. They want kids to hate their country. That’s absurd. No civilization will survive that way.”
In his final point, Walters suggested that children should be learning Judeo-Christian values over “wokeism.” The comment comes following Walters’ announcement that he purchased “over 500 Bibles” for Oklahoma classrooms.
“We‘ve got to get back to promoting patriotism, love of country, understanding of those Judeo-Christian values the country was based upon. That’s got to be part of the curriculum,” said Walters.
