PragerU content will be played in Florida schools, what kind of materials do they create?

The Florida Board of Education recently approved the classroom use of materials from PragerU, an unaccredited right-wing advocacy group. The organization's "edutainment" materials can be used as "supplemental curriculum" in Florida classrooms because it aligns with the state's revised civics and government standards for the upcoming school year.

PragerU CEO Marissa Streit confirmed that the nonprofit organization had been approved as a vendor and that its educational entertainment content could be incorporated into the curriculum by teachers without fear of being fired.

“We have seen that our schools have been hijacked by the left. They have been politicized, they have been used by union bosses, they have been doing everything under the sun not for our children,” Streit said when announcing the vendor status. "And so we have launched PragerU Kids and we started providing great 'edutainment,' educational entertainment for children across America."

PragerU has drawn criticism from economy, history and culture experts on some of the topics, who argue they misrepresent history and contain inaccuracies.

The following videos each teach about a separate aspect of society and may provide a preview of what's to come in Florida schools.

PragerU approved for Florida schools: Florida schools OK use of curriculum by PragerU, an unaccredited right-wing nonprofit

Los Angeles: Mateo Backs the Blue

In PragerU Kids' 2023 video "Los Angeles: Mateo Backs the Blue," viewers follow Mateo, an animated 13-year old student and son of Mexican immigrants to Los Angeles, as he attempts to understand the issues surrounding U.S. police and Black Lives Matter protestors.

According to PragerU, the video will "teach middle and high school kids how the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and anti-police sentiment affected crime, families, and small businesses in American cities," through Mateo's journey to "learn from a local law enforcement officer what he can do to help and make a difference in his community," because he is worried for his family's safety.

Throughout the video, the opinions of Mateo and his school's Resource Officer, Officer Suarez, are often framed as historical or statistical fact while also containing broad generalizations. In the video, Mateo compares Los Angeles' protestors to Mexican cartel members over what he perceives to be a safety threat to his family.

The basis of the video's claims are that intentional or systemic harm against unarmed Black men is an unfounded theory, according to the video's narrator. A study by the Lancet published in 2021 exploring fatal police violence by race and state in the U.S. found "substantial differences in the age-standardized mortality rate due to police violence over time and by racial and ethnic groups within the U.S." during their research.

Leo & Layla Meet Frederick Douglass

In PragerU Kids' 2021 video "Leo & Layla Meet Frederick Douglass," the sibling pair travel back in time to meet the animated depiction of the famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass after seeing riots occurring on the news in an effort to better understand the protestors' viewpoints.

According to PragerU's description, viewers of the video will watch "Leo and Layla travel back to 1852 to meet Frederick Douglass for an honest and accurate look at slavery and learn how to create change." Throughout the video, Douglass refers to the Constitution as a "glorious" document and defends compromising over slavery to form the U.S.

In the video, Douglass says "I'm certainly not OK with slavery, but the founding fathers made a compromise to achieve something great, the making of the United States. It was America that began the conversation to end it." The video drew criticism from many across social media for misrepresentation of the abolitionist's feelings and the history of abolition.

According to Steven Mintz, a historian at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the framers of the Constitution "consciously avoided using the word (slavery), recognizing that it would sully the document," and that "the framers of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were the price for the support of southern delegates for a strong central government."

India: Priya Overcomes Adversity

In PragerU Kids' 2023 video "India: Priya Overcomes Adversity," viewers see animated character Priya's struggle with discrimination in India and her journey overcoming it. According to PragerU's description, "through the life of Priya and her family, middle and high school students will learn how the British Empire lifted India out of a long tradition of caste discrimination.

Sanjoy Chakravorty, a professor in the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University, expresses a different view than PragerU in her analysis of the caste system in Indian history for BBC News. Chakravorty also has a book, The Truth About Us: The Politics of Information from Manu to Modi, where she explains "the social categories of religion and caste as they are perceived in modern-day India were developed during the British colonial rule, during a time when information was scarce and the colonizer's power over information was absolute."

"It is doubtful that caste had much significance or virulence in society before the British made it India's defining social feature... Social identites were constantly malleable," Chakravorty says. "The pre-colonial written record in royal court documents and traveller accounts studied by professional historians and philologists like Nicholas Dirks, GS Ghurye, Richard Eaton, David Shulman and Cynthia Talbot show little or no mention of caste."

What is PragerU?

Prager University Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that creates educational videos that it says promote American values. PragerU’s website says that it “offers a free alternative to dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media and education.”

The driving force behind much of PragerU’s growing popularity stems from its series titled “5-Minute Videos,” which boils down everything from economic and political science topics to life lessons and cultural topics into bite-sized, 5-minute videos.

Their content aimed at kids includes shows, books, lesson plans and more that teach about a variety of educational subjects. As of the time of writing, the six videos showcased under the “Featured” category in PragerU Kids include “Noah and the Rainbow,” “Leo & Layla meet Elizabeth Blackwell,” “India: Priya overcomes adversity,” “Let's visit Arlington National Cemetary,” "How to prepare for a test" and a special edition video titled “Craftory Watch Party: When I Grow Up.”

Who founded PragerU?

PragerU was founded in 2009 by Allen Estrin and conservative radio talk show host Dennis Prager.

What does PragerU’s curriculum teach?

PragerU claims on their website to be a free alternative to the "dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education," supposedly present in U.S. schools. PragerU says it has designed its curriculum to provide “both sides of the argument” and help kids understand history, economics, foreign affairs and philosophy.

PragerU’s website provides users with free access to its educational videos but provides little information as to what specific key concepts it hopes to instill through its curriculum.

Examples of lesson plans can also be found on the website, but they only provide basic, surface-level views of what will be taught once PragerU's is implemented into Florida school's curriculum.

Below is an example of a lesson plan from PragerU, specifically regarding the Federalist Papers. The plan only has four learning objectives:

• Identify who wrote the Federalist Papers

• Explain why the Federalist Papers were written

• Recognize why the framers of the Constitution created a federal government with checks and balances

• Appreciate the system of government established by the Founding Fathers

The full lesson can be learned in about 50 minutes, according to the site.

Why critics push back against PragerU curriculum

PragerU has a long history of experts rebuking ideas presented in many of its videos.

Joseph McCarthy of the Weather Channel in 2016 wrote an entire feature on PragerU’s video called "Fossil Fuels: The Greenest Energy," which had garnered 1.5 million views at that time. McCarthy wrote that the video was presented by a proponent of fossil fuel, Alex Epstein, and that the video “flubs a major date and soberly transitions between obvious inaccuracies and out-of-context claims."

Paul Gottfried in 2017 wrote pinned a story in The American Conservative lambasting PragerU presenter Dinesh D’Souza for claiming that fascism was a left-wing idea. D’Souza claimed that it could be proven that it was a “leftist” idea by examining the political writings of Mussolini’s court philosopher Giovanni Gentile.

Gottfried, a paleoconservative scholar, wrote that “their judgment also clashes with that of almost all scholars of Gentile’s work, from across the political spectrum, who view him, as I do in my study of fascism, as the most distinguished intellectual of the revolutionary right.”

These are just the tip of the iceberg, however. The Daily Beast points out that PragerU videos have claimed there’s no wage gap between men and women and that it has praised Confederate General Robert E. Lee for crushing an attempted slave rebellion.

And others have noted inaccuracies in videos claiming that Europe is “committing suicide” by allowing mass migration, that “whiteness and conservatism” are under attack and more.

Civic groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League have also criticized PragerU’s videos, describing some as a “dog whistle to the extreme right” and “filled with anti-immigration and anti-Muslim rhetoric.”

Can I opt out of PragerU's Florida curriculum?

At the time of writing there has been no clear indication on whether parents or students can opt out of learning the educational material provided by PragerU. According to the "Parents' Bill of Rights," in the Florida Statutes parents may learn about and object to the materials being taught in their child's classrooms based off of personal beliefs.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: PragerU videos include Frederick Douglass, Black Lives Matter material