In Oklahoma, new social studies standards sound like they were written by loyal followers of President Trump.

The standards include teaching high school students about “discrepancies” in the 2020 presidential election, including discredited theories related to the “security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellwether county’ trends.” Students will also be asked to “identify the source of the COVID-19 pandemic from a Chinese lab,” begin learning about the teachings of Jesus in the second grade and the “ways that individuals can be patriotic” in preschool.

After being accepted by the Oklahoma legislature, the new standards have sparked litigation and bitter debate.

Oklahoma is by no means alone in remaking public education in hyperpartisan and, in our view, dangerously misguided ways. In an era of extreme political polarization, nothing succeeds like excess. As the pendulum has swung to the right, red state officials — acting under the banner of “parental rights” and anti-“woke” ideology — have outdone one another in adopting restrictive instructional mandates related to religion, gender, sexuality, race and U.S. history.

In 2023, Texas became the first state to permit school districts to use chaplains to counsel students during the school day. This year, the Texas legislature passed a bill allowing school districts to set aside time daily for prayer and religious study.

Louisiana and Arkansas passed laws requiring classrooms in every public school to display the Ten Commandments. (On Friday, the conservative Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Louisiana law was unconstitutional.)

Kentucky has prohibited instruction on human sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases before fifth grade and barred instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation. Iowa banned instruction on sexuality or sexual orientation before sixth grade and prohibited school libraries from carrying books depicting sex acts.

In a backlash to the social justice activism that followed George Floyd’s murder in 2020, at least 18 states passed laws banning the teaching of “critical race theory” and restricting how teachers talk about racism, sexual orientation, gender identity and other “divisive concepts.” Other “educational gag orders” prohibit teachers from discussing “controversial issues of public policy or social affairs.” If such teaching is permitted, the rules require teachers to “strive to explore such issues from diverse and contending perspectives.”

Even though two-thirds of Americans oppose book bans, books “are disappearing” from K-12 classrooms and libraries across the country in an “unprecedented flood” driven by “punitive state laws” and “pressure campaigns.”

Florida has led the way. In what may become a blueprint for federal policy, the state adopted a series of laws, regulations and executive orders that “privilege some parents’ ideological preferences above all others, tie the hands of educators, and limit students’ access to information.”

Florida has banned the teaching of “any concept that promotes, advances, or compels individuals to believe discriminatory concepts”; prohibited spending state funds on diversity, equity and inclusion programs; barred classroom discussion of gender identity through third grade; pulled hundreds of books that describe “sexual conduct” or are deemed age inappropriate from school shelves; and encouraged parents to object to instructional materials they deem immoral or harmful.

According to a 2024 Washington Post survey, 38 states have adopted laws either restricting or expanding teaching on race, racism, gender or history. Although some, such as a 2021 Rhode Island law mandating instruction on “African Heritage and History,” reflect progressives’ priorities, fully two-thirds of the laws are restrictive, and 90 percent of those were passed in states that voted for Trump in 2020.

Conservatives insist that restrictive laws are necessary to combat “woke” indoctrination and protect the rights of parents to educate their children in accordance with their values. Liberals argue that “inclusive curricula” are required to enable all students to thrive.

In addition to striking down Louisiana’s Ten Commandment’s statute, federal judges are considering challenges to many of the other red state instructional mandates.

In the past, school districts have usually had wide latitude in instruction, an approach that is more responsive to the educational priorities of local communities than statewide mandates. After all, even the reddest and bluest states have plenty of residents (in places like Austin, Texas and upstate New York) who dissent, often vigorously, from the majority’s agenda.

The current burst of state regulation is unprecedented, and it is having a profound impact on the education of America’s kids. What students are told about the subjects that most divide the country increasingly depends on whether they attend school in a blue state or a red one — almost certainly exacerbating polarization.

All this has a dramatic chilling effect on teachers. According to a 2023 survey, 65 percent of teachers have restricted their instruction on “political and social issues,” twice the number subject to restrictive state laws.

For most of American history, one could claim that Newton’s Third Law of Motion — for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction — has applied to politics as well. So Americans might expect that ideological extremes in state educational policy will eventually be reversed.

But if U.S. institutions do not preserve the norms, practices and principles of democracy, we may discover — when it’s too late — that Newton’s Third Law no longer applies.

Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Emeritus Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. David Wippman is emeritus president of Hamilton College.