Dennis Prager and Oklahoma education superintendent defend PragerU Kids after many Oklahoma public schools decline to use the right-wing propaganda

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the September 18, 2023, edition of Salem Radio Networks' The Dennis Prager Show

DENNIS PRAGER (HOST): Superintendent of Schools of Oklahoma is on the line with me, Ryan Walters, and I feel like I know you by now, you probably feel like you know me cause we’re sort of conjoined at the hip. You know I want you to, I know you wanted to make a point, please don’t forget it, but I just want to - this is something that I want to, I wanted you to put in your arsenal, in your ammunition, to respond, how much they fear five minutes of a video when they have their students all year long proves that they cannot handle an intellectual challenge. I just thought I would throw that at you. That’s why they don’t want even five minutes. That’s why they don’t want people like me at a university for 90 minutes. Because they know deep down we’ll undo all of their propaganda in 90 minutes. 

RYAN WALTERS (SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION FOR OKLAHOMA): You know, that's exactly right. You know, what we’ve seen here is, you know, the left that is just - they know. They know that if there’s just an open forum for ideas they’re going to lose because we’ve got truth on our side, we have history on our side, and you know, of course Dennis I would love to have you in Oklahoma. You tell me the time and I would love to be there and you’re going to have a lot of moms and dads in Oklahoma very excited to see you and very welcoming of the product that you’ve brought into their schools. 

And this is what I was kind of saying before the break about the core problem, the left is dead set on pushing this radical gender theory in our schools, critical race theory, all of this. But we’ve got to do more than stop it. The reality is we’ve got to be proactive, we got to play offense. We have to get the culture back and that starts with not just stopping the left but actually proactively teaching our students about American exceptionalism, getting them to be thinkers, actually teaching from the founders the core principles that we built into this country, and then frankly it is, you know, I’m an old history teacher, by the way I do feel like I know you because I was showing my classes PragerU videos years ago and I’ve been showing my kids PragerU videos at night, and so I have been able to show my students, my own children, these videos that have inspired them to get them thinking about history, get them thinking about these incredible individuals throughout our history, and I’ve always, as a teacher and as a parent, tried to encourage my kids to live up to that. You know this is a country that is going to be the greatest country in the world as long as we continue to hold those principles dear and your product is allowing our kids to have that conversation, to be exposed to that type of curriculum, and that’s why they hate it so much. Because it undermines their very ability to control our kids doing indoctrination in our schools. 

PRAGER: They cite all the time one of our videos for kids of Leo and Layla, two kids who go back in the past through a time machine and they meet figures who lived, like Christopher Columbus, and Christopher Columbus says to them, among other things, that well slavery isn’t that bad, everybody does it. So, I just want - I explained to my listeners but I just want to tell you that the inherent dishonesty of attacking us for it. If we had Columbus say oh that’s a terrible thing, slavery, we would have been lying. He didn’t think it was terrible. He was a man of the 15th century. So the irony is if we had Columbus say oh slavery is awful, they would have said we’re white washing Columbus. So the inherent dishonesty of the attacks, and by the way when Leo and Layla say well we came from the future and in fact they abolish it he says that’s terrific. But they never quote that. 

…

Exactly. You know what they particularly mock, you know what is fascinating, because I read all the hate and it’s from everywhere from the New York Times, the LA Times, CNN and of course the whole Daily Beast, and Daily Kos, and all - everybody. Rolling Stone. And do you know one of the videos they always mention that they hate? We have a video titled “How to Fold an American Flag.” Isn’t that fascinating that they hate that?

WALTERS: Tells you a lot about them, doesn’t it. It is truly an attack on our values. I mean that’s what it is. It’s an attack on our values, our families, our faith. They don’t want any mention of our rights being endowed by our creator. They don’t want any patriotism. Heaven forbid our kids be proud of our country. So you are, you are right over the target. 

PRAGER: Bless you, yes, bless you, Ryan Walters.

Walter's appearance on The Dennis Prager Show comes after many Oklahoma school districts said they were declining to include PragerU Kids in their curriculums. Learn more about PragerU Kids propaganda here.