How PragerU Hurts Students (and Teachers)

[@zoe_bee]

🎉 Get started with Notion, sign up for free: ntn.so/zoebee

[@olivervision]

I remember when kids could grow up to be whatever they wanted.

[@olivervision]

I heard the biggest library in Florida just closed.. somebody stole the book.

[@danielyoutubechannel407]

3rd

[@randomdams9179]

Wow, I thought PragerU was a good resource. Thanks so much for telling us the truth about them.

[@peppy3519]

A good alternative to Notion is Obsidian

[@cadeprater-burgess8566]

Native Texan here: What happened is that a single State Board of Education member announced that PragerU was coming to classrooms. Immediately afterwards, the rest of the Board of Education leadership said she went rogue, and that there were no plans now or in the immediate future to let public school teachers use it, and that the company hadn't even submitted educational materials to the state for review. So PragerU is staying out of Texas classrooms. For now.

[@kingBing101]

Genuinely very happy to hear that

[@pseudoruu]

frankly, it needs to stay that way

[@KairiMorin]

Oh THANK THE LORD, BLESSED BE!

[@oscarguerrero178]

Phew! Let’s hope it stays that way, but it’s Texas so probably not

[@nightmarefuel3478]

Unusual Texas W.

[@Dmobley9901]

"This lesson is for 6th graders." If any teacher presented that lesson to 6th graders, they'd be ripped to shreds for treating their students like idiots, BY their students.

[@aralornwolf3140]

Then the students will be suspended for "back talk"... Sad.

[@Dmobley9901]

@@aralornwolf3140 In my experience, there's at least that ONE kid who genuinely doesn't give a **** and will say what everyone is already thinking, it may be the kid that always gets detention, but it's the natural order, if something is stupid, kids will call it out QUICK, at ALL ages.

[@playernotfound9489]

often, (well for me) its true

[@person.probably]

I missed this at first and just assumed it was for Kindy kids. I'm assuming sixth grade is like 11? Yeah, ripped to shreds in seconds.

[@neoqwerty]

@@Dmobley9901 A toast to the Class Clown and/or the Rebel, eternal and omnipresent and accidentally starting the mutinies.

[@Juniper8271]

The fact they got people like Ben Shapiro in there is insane. He is not a licensed teacher but a political icon. They just put their own guys from the Prager U corporation into their own lesson plans. It’s like if Elon musk personally gave a lesson about the uses of cars, and ONLY showed Tesla cars in the examples and then proceeded to advertise space X. Then giving them a worksheet on the benefits of buying Tesla stock.

[@megamangos7408]

Well, they don't care if the people they support in office have a law degree or even understand the law, so it's not a stretch for them to have the same kind of people as 'teachers.'

[@thomash.schwed3662]

@@megamangos7408 And it's even less of a stretch for Dennis Prager to have such people as "students" given the tripe presented in the regular "Prager U" videos. Indeed, Dennis Prager wants people who are completely incompetent and lacking the ability to think and reason for themselves working death-dealing hours in all fields for little-or even no-pay. These lesson plans, falsely so-called, are simply his latest step to achieve that aim.

[@lucykitsune4619]

Also people can only communicate with Elon over twitter

[@simunator]

with that logic, common parents shouldn't be allowed to teach their kids how to wipe their ass or to not rape. try a better argument there bud

[@KazeShikamaru]

Like Ben Shapiro could be informed on some topics but he is just a political icon.

[@film9491]

“What colors is the Statue of Liberty?” Could be a good question to lead into a chemistry lesson, but it’s pretty clear that’s not what’s happening here,

[@alexwyatt2911]

That was my precise thought! Learning about the development of patina would be a great tidbit. But no, we both know that wasn’t a consideration.

[@txkoutdoorfam6911]

Haha I thought the same thing. When she said it, I quickly started scanning the page, to see if it added anything about why its those colors! But nope, I think it was the shortest one. Missed opportunity. But then I started thinking maybe they have to stick to there subject. But I would have to add it, if I were the teacher. I had a teacher that always added a unique fact about our subject for the day. Mr. Brown 7th grade science teacher, annnnnddddd that might be the only teacher I can remember name grade and subject from K-12. Kinda embarrassing….

[@KirbyKitten]

Rather than a what it would be a why in that scenario tho

[@RyuKyu.77]

"Oh you say turquoise? You would be wrong if you were alive 200 years ago!" Missed opportunity smh

[@tacticallemon7518]

Seriously, “Teal/Turquoise? but it’s made of copper”

[@leo_warren]

The other 'joy' of poor, uninspiring lessons is that classroom management becomes impossible as kids will misbehave if unengaged.

[@madelinecoven6428]

And, provide excuses to justify harsh school punishment

[@danatronics9039]

@@madelinecoven6428Harsh school punishment which will very clearly be enforced on a racial basis.

[@macaronimagpie]

Yup, I couldn't imagine trying to make my students watch a twenty-seven minute video. The chaos they would devolve into. Also, what if admin walks in? I don't think they'd be amused by my lesson for the day being showing a video for over half the class. The one where you tell students "we're going to play a game!" and then make them watch a video of someone else playing a game would cause a revolt.

[@undeniablySomeGuy]

Not gonna say ive had teachers that are super racially motivated, but ffs it does happen ew

[@Roxor128]

And Prager Screw-You will probably be advocating for the return of the cane for dealing with misbehaving students.

[@Corium1]

the fact that the lessons plans repeat thing 3 times. As well as including "apperciate" as a grading criteria. Is truly cult like.

[@Time_Is_Left]

@thricegreat7175. Or maybe yours was just especially bad

[@Matthew.E.Kelly.]

It just becomes more apparent when you see it decades later, as an adult. The US education system is dismal, & saturated with propaganda. It's very cult-like.

[@realdragon]

​@thricegreat7175 Let's think about why "appreciate" is bad How would you feel about kids in Germany to appreciate their history?

[@Vooblebooble]

Op your profile pic as Kent Mansley talking distraughtly into the phone adds so much to this comment thank you

[@TheModdedwarfare3]

​@@realdragonI'm sure there is a lot to appreciate about German history but obviously not everything. Keep in mind Germany is like 10 times older than the usa

[@IdentityChrist]

Watching your brain explode over terrible lesson plans as your cat unendingly showers you with affection is a brand new form of unintentional comedy.

[@demmybane]

The cat is just so cute 😭

[@TheDevilchilly]

The cat: Hooman I know you are distressed, I do not understand why, but I shall love you regardless, hooman.

[@enfysiridescent]

I just wanted her to pet the cat. PLEASE SOMEBODY PET THE CAT

[@aronwhar]

I love the cat just sitting there 😊

[@WyvernYT]

@@enfysiridescent At 15:01 the cat is getting petted.

[@theobservermp4402]

Critical thinking is the bane of most logical fallacies, no wonder they don't want to teach it.

[@bgorg1]

Critical thinking can only go as far as the framework taught.

[@lastswordfighter]

Your lot are the definition of logical fallacy and degeneracy. Zoe is a fraud and a reprobate.

[@ultravoid5398]

nobody needs critical thinking on the statue of liberty its not that complicated

[@extraterrestrial8888]

​@ultravoid5398 Actually, they do, specifically to think deeper about what caused people to immigrate, what happened after they immigrated, challenges or barriers to immigration, whether or not the info you've received is biased, the list goes on and on and on.

[@Apple-om5mr]

⁠@@ultravoid5398exhibit a of lack of critical thinking skills

[@wyrmoffastring]

Cat events: 8:10 - eepy cat 14:21 - usurper cat 14:27 - headbutt cat 14:55 - cuddly cat 15:18 - bean shot followed by more cuddles 20:39 - jump cat 23:00 - bean shot #2 23:28 - omg he wave arms in air oh my god baby

[@AdamApplebaum]

Glad someone pointed out the cat in the room. Orange sherbert colored kitty is ❤.

[@Novers]

the hero we need

[@sadakotetsuwan9229]

he reachin for the patreon

[@dumpsterfire0718]

I'm sorry to say you forgot to record the 'sneezy cat' event at 19:17

[@doctorsammy883]

Nah bro you gotta change 8:10 to jump scare cat, cause this is my first video and when the cat appears I just went “WOAH! Hold up! When tf did el Gato Grande get there???” And then I backed up the video to see if I’m stupid or not.

[@haydenh.3124]

Aside from the learning objectives being total Bs. The fact that they think Kindergarteners are going to sit through a 25 MINUTE video is insane

[@conorford7852]

My three year old can't sit still long enough to watch a movie that she asks for!

[@PolitikPolitik-fh2qc]

@@conorford7852 you should teach them better. My 4 year olds can watch movies from start to finish since they were three with no issues. Sounds like a parenting diff.

[@conorford7852]

@PolitikPolitik-fh2qc Kids are wired differently and it's not a matter of teaching differently. My brother and I didn't have that problem when we were little, and we didn't need any coaching to sit still and watch movies or to listen for story time. That she has trouble getting to sleep every night, even when there's no naptime, means that there's a chance that she has ADHD. For most kids it's too early to tell for sure, but it's something we're keeping an eye out for. Either way, point stands. Edutainment videos typically suck and almost never keep a kids focus, especially not for that long.

[@PolitikPolitik-fh2qc]

@@conorford7852 I mean I mostly said that because both of you implied it happened to all kids. My son is autistic so he has his moments close to adhd. But it's all about how to handle them. My family has a ton of kids. And has a pretty wide range. But if you treat them right and teach them properly. Most can contain that energy. It also helps to have an outlet for that energy regularly. I think videos in education suck a lot. Whether right or left. But there's another point that some probably learn better from them. I wouldn't and don't. But I most likely didn't fit the mold. When in school I would have learned best if everything was taught by applicable methods. But thats probably unreasonable for many subjects and not suitable for everyone for the cost.

[@Almond.stars666]

I think it depends on what their watching because when I was in kindergarten we watched videos all the time and most of the time most of us sat and watched the video quietly.

[@jloiben12]

I feel so bad for people who will have to treat PragerU like a valid source of education

[@pavelandreev4727]

The only valid thing in these "lessons" is to show the students and teachers what lessons are NOT supposed to look like.

[@ominous-omnipresent-they]

Don't pity them; criticize them for their utter cowardice.

[@larkohiya]

You DON'T have to Treet it like a valid source of education. If anyone tries to push that on you, simply have examples at the ready and don't give them an inch

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

I don't give a fuck what so-called "laws" in Florida are. Teachers in Florida have the absolute legal right to not teach pragerU shit and have the absolute freedom of speech to teach truth. And Americans have the absolute freedom of speech right to be Communists and promote Communism and to be Anarchists and to promote Anarchy and to be Separatists and promote Separatism (breaking the country apart) and to be Animal Rights Vegans and to promote Veganism and to be Atheists and to spread Atheism and to be pro-worker unions and to be Alien Believers and to spread UFOlogy.

[@soapydoap]

Prageru becoming an educational vendor in fl and tx just means that educators are *allowed* to use their stuff, not that they have to. Still sucks tho, i can see a good bit of teachers actively using these sources

[@EayuProuxm]

Zoe's cat being her her emotional support as she grows increasingly frustrated with PraegerU's failures of lesson plans is the love we want to see in this world.

[@GeldarionTFS]

PragerU's tendency to have students describe how they would do something rather than actually do it mirrors how they approach teaching.

[@darkstarr984]

Yeah. I always get angry when people insist on that stuff, because some people do. Like, sure, that’s the *first* step… but then you have to actually do things. You also are supposed to redescribe things later to reflect what you actually did instead of what you originally planned if it’s not the same.

[@Ajia_No_Envy]

Literally Ben shapiro with the "Hypothetically speaking"

[@earth88_]

​@@Ajia_No_Envylet's say that I'm right. in this situation, you are wrong.

[@troublecloud1487]

I think part of the problem is that these lessons aren't actually developed for use in public schools. The politics of Prager are also behind the structural problems in their lessons. This flavor of conservative doesn't even believe in public schools. These lessons are designed for conservative homeschool parents and to entice conservative public school parents into homeschooling. They are designed to be done with little materials, not needing a large group of kids, and no expertise on the part of the "teacher". Putting this into the public school only serves to further that agenda. Whether conservative parents decide to pull their kids to avoid the social influence of the public school, or the liberal parents pull their kids to avoid this garbage curriculum, either way, their objective is met.

[@bobbafett1849]

​@@troublecloud1487its called the Dumbing Down of American workers and the Reichwing has been orgasming about it for 40 yrs because its what the Oligarchy WANTS

[@jamesmiller5039]

“They don’t care about education. They just care about putting their brand in front of your children”

[@Earthstar_Review]

Reminds me of a university that, by their own making, invalidated the diploma of every graduate by becoming unaccredited.

[@sophiepooks2174]

Conformity to their ideals is all they care about, even if their ideas are ridiculous, false and exploitive, they have never cared about what happens to kids after they are born. All about controlling their minds.

[@cyrussoxlegion]

I think they only care about making kids believe certain things, and putting mechanisms in place so that kids will not question PragerU's bs.

[@seronimo__7735]

Seriously. Their goal is to familiarize sixth graders with Ben Shapiro and Michael Knowles.

[@Blaineworld]

it’s actually a subtle way to make kids less patriotic by associating patriotism with frustration (edit: to be clear this was a joke)

[@squiddler7731]

Literally me. Huge part of why I'm left leaning now is how disappointing and frustrating my Texas education was

[@AJBrook-1017]

​@@squiddler7731I am also a left leaning Texan. I'm very hurt to see a very beautiful state turn sour just because of these bad apples who are in power. It also hurts because it's made a rift in my family. I used to get along with my family so well but after the pandemic I feel like I lost a part of them because everyone is on opposite sides and everything is political

[@oliverdowning1543]

That doesn't matter, if all Ur taught is "how great America is and that the entire world is inspired by it and wants to move there" (which we're not U guys are synonymous with Guns, poor public infrastructure and far right politics) then even if patriotism seems frustrating, that just scares you into questioning it more bc if this is the best we have to offer and it's just about survive able god forbid we try anything different.

[@snex000]

@@AJBrook-1017The left made covid political. You forced people to obey useless rules and take experimental medicines.

[@oliverdowning1543]

@Matthafford yeah I need to update that I took it like 10 years ago. Thanks for the reminder.

[@unlearningeconomics9021]

Zoe: PragerU fails to adhere to basic pedagogical standards. Me: yes, I understand completely. Your cat is a fluffy boi.

[@darkestlight660]

Omg an unlearning! It's always fun to see other cool KZbinrs in cool KZbinrs comment section

[@Pecha1nt]

I agree

[@august1837]

Zoe, how dare you suggest that kids should think critically in the classroom? What if they discover that we’re teaching them false biased information. We can’t let that happen

[@darkstarr984]

Yup. They also seriously think this is all education is or should be

[@endTHEhegemony_Today]

Oh no, if it isn't the truth 🖤💜💙💚💙💜🖤 Much Love!

[@bloodywilliam3083]

Like, I say what you will about John and Hank Green, but at least Crash Course encourages kids to think critically and actually has effort put into it.

[@YaBoiJonesy]

Exactly, Zoe trying to "fix" these lesson plans misses the point. They weren't made to teach kids, they were made to indoctrinate and to prevent any critical thinking.

[@sandrohernandez4401]

​@seanoneil8137I can feel it coming inside me !

[@jloiben12]

Young kids can think deeply? Hmm… that explains why Avatar is one of the highest rated tv shows ever and that’s all about how genocide, fascism, authoritarianism, and the like, is bad

[@gauge9100]

Goated show. Rewatch it all the time and Aang and Uncle Iroh always giving me more and more wisdom even as I grow older.

[@gavinthecrafter]

Kids like it when they're taken seriously. Sometimes they shouldn't be, but in education they should ALWAYS be.

[@VeraExora]

In my own journey to turn away from Right-Wing Extremism, i rewatched ATLA. I loved the show, but the messages didn’t really come across when i was 11. Glad I took the time to rewatch

[@SH4RP_CH3SEE]

As someone who’s technically still a kid, most of us can actually have opinions and feelings about complicated topics. Shocker, I know. Also, Avatar is one of the best shows of all time.

[@deltumn5899]

I been so obsessed with the franchise lately. I just came back from an avatar world building analysis so seeing this comment was funny

[@Louie42069]

“I want mommy, I want milk, I want to be held, i want to be comforted, and if you do not do all of these things immediately, I will ruin your life.” Someone who thinks that about kids should NOT be allowed to influence kids.

[@panicatthedm873]

that clip is amazing

[@ladyalicent705]

To be fair, that’s taken out of context. But I absolutely agree that a rightwing propaganda outlet should not be used in schools!

[@pinkraven4402]

Sounds like lyrics from "The Wall" or something

[@nahyutarightsactivist]

@@ladyalicent705the context makes it worse i think. iirc prager is insinuating that babies are selfish creatures for having needs that they can’t fulfill by themselves, and is using that to justify human selfishness. thinking kids are selfish for having needs is a bad look, especially for an educator edit: and thinking human selfishness is not a bad thing is a pretty bad look too

[@longislandicedtea6323]

Anyone who unironically uses that phrase that is NOT in reference to a hot female anime or animation character, I'm definitely giving them the side eye.

[@frostyvoid827]

2:08 - This person literally went: "This video is no longer part of PragerU. This video was never part of PragerU."

[@styx15]

Literally 1984, and not even a joke

[@dcrfgthy6g5fe]

⁠@@styx15BAHAHAHA TRUE

[@beatricezanoni5582]

I noticed that too. Like theyre not even smart enough to know the difference between "we deleted it and regret it" and "it never happened".

[@What_-------wait]

huh. reminds me of a certain date that china did that china also said never existed... hmmmmm (june 4 1989 to be exact)

[@BulletWilliam]

As someone with ADHD having to sit through these types of lessons, videos and having to answer the same questions three different times would have driven me bonkers.

[@glenn_desert_witch]

Same. Lessons like this would have *killed* me. Shit, I had arguments and straight-up walked out of class when teachers didn’t explore the depths of certain subjects I happened to already know something about, at times. Kids may require education, but they are not stupid, and will absolutely see through the superficiality and lack of care displayed in these materials.

[@pyrostoryteller]

As someone without ADHD having to sit through these lessons and answer the same paper 3 times, would have driven me bonkers. Like I had a few teachers with this type of lesson plan and I remember arguing with them about how much of a waste of my time they were.

[@bgorg1]

I would have loved to go through these. Maybe the curriculum works for some but not all

[@glenn_desert_witch]

@@bgorg1 Yes, that is kind of how education works. What happens when you work with videos and pre-made lesson plans is that you don't adapt to the kids in front of you. Our responses mentioned we have ADHD -- which by definition means we don't quite learn like most people -- but we are also a significant part of the population, so lesson plans and educational materials do need to be able to respond to various needs.

[@ccutehoney]

I think it has to do with your ADHD interest lol I love history so this would have been my jam. I hyper focused during history class

[@diogenesrex7847]

The fact that PragerU materials aren't good for educational use is not unintentional. The "lesson" where a video and a worksheet based on it take up the entire class period is so that the "last few minutes of discussion" don't get into anything that could contravene the PragerU dogma. These materials are superficial and non-critical specifically because that organization does not want American kids thinking critically about history or the world around them. PragerU isn't just trying to make sure that kids hear their worldview, it's trying to make it the default and only "reasonable" worldview by stamping down on critical thinking in classrooms.

[@carolinemcgovern4488]

Even as an indoctrination tool, this fails epically because all these kids will do is associate Prauger U with being bored with class and avoid them in the future. Which is the complete opposite of what they want.

[@TedBilk]

they gonna start making right wing false-history hyperpop songs to get them to listen

[@sophiedowney1077]

My chemsitry teacher had us watch Professor Dave Expalins and other chanels like his as a SUPPLIMENTARY MATERIAL OUTDIDE OF CLASS to help us better understand the material learned in class. I still watch Professor Dave sometimes because I don't associate his videos with frustration and time wasting. Kurzgesagt alop has amazing educational videos. I once found one of their videos when I was doing research for a simple English paper that required 2 non-written sources, and now Ive watched all of their videos. I don't think these videos will make kids want to learn more on their own like Professor Dave and Kurzgesagt do.

[@nightrose6116]

@@TedBilk help not the hyperpop 😭😭😭

[@kylereyes2337]

@@TedBilk I really hope that’s gonna be cringeworthy AF, so them kids will bash it mercilessly.

[@neoqwerty]

@@TedBilk You assume they'd be able to make something catchy and not the cringiest, fakest soulless corporate pop song with 0 choreography skills, which is mighty generous of you.

[@larctrinx8960]

This video is hard to watch. Not because of the lesson plans, but because of the blatant ignoring of cat who deserves all the pets.

[@Coffeeisnecessarynowpepper]

Sam and cat

[@NoxietyPrime]

YES! I love the video, but Zoe, PLEASE PET DESMOND HE SO CLEARLY WANTS TO BE PET!!! PET THE BOY!!! PET HIM!!!

[@faintingheroine]

Exactly!

[@radicalbacon]

The best parasocial relationships are with cats on the internet. I unironically love Desmond.

[@Demonetization_Symbol]

I disagree.

[@q.is.tir3d]

as a student, this typa shit makes me so mad lmao. everyone deserves access to a good education, and the way that all these conservatives are tryna turn school into a place of pure obedience and indoctrination instead of a place where students are given opportunities to actually learn is such a grave injustice.

[@lionwolf7861]

this type of thing has already happened to a lesser degree in a good bit a schools teaching the millennial generation...... taught a whole lot of obedience and not much else....

[@DavidLindes]

Condolences. That said, I’ll add that school has more or less always, to varying extents, been that: a tool to inculcate future workers under capitalism. This view of it is complicated by a lot of the teachers having much more benign ideology about it all. Alas, though, that’s basically what the system is for. :’(

[@themcchuck8400]

As opposed to the current Leftist indoctrination centers that modern schools have become?

[@elizabethopoussm]

The Prussian system's final form it seems

[@LoganLS0]

"Iron Law of Woke Projection never misses."

[@bobathebobtail]

I have sat through numerous terribly boring lessons at my parents' church when I was 7 and 8, and I can say that they were just like PragerU's lessons. I learned NOTHING from them and gained no respect nor love for my parents' religion-- at the end of the day, it just felt like accidental indoctrination. They had no idea how to teach us children base knowledge to build off of, so when the lesson was over the only thing I learned was that "god is good, love him or else he'll be sad and you'll be deemed as unholy." And no offense to Christians at all, but MAN, this gave me no critical thinking, never gave me room to do anything but absorb information, and just gave me a bad view of Christianity that ultimately made me sick of it. That being said, all pragerU's stuff does is shovel nonsense into young people and make them hate schooling more than they likely already do.

[@OdinsSage]

Calling it "accidental indoctrination" is very generous and merciful of you.

[@thirdwheel9938]

God my step grandparents are trying to do that w my brothers, now they just think religion is boring because they try to sit them down for AN HOUR STRAIGHT to learn about God through online lessons 😐

[@frankchavez519]

So kids can't get graduation credit for AP African American studies but hey, "lessons" from the Praeger U. propaganda machine are hunky dory. That's just fine.

[@dog-ez2nu]

Yes. Because the right-wing hate you. There doesn't need to be any logic here, they don't operate using logic. They just really really fucking hate minorities.

[@moosesandmeese969]

And part of your grade is determined by how much you appreciate their "lessons." Literally trying to tie your grades to your devotion to conservative ideology

[@Pete_xp]

I was brought up in a ultra Christian Fundamentalist environment, this shit is psychotic

[@Zucca101]

It’s because Prager U does actual legwork and AA studies are trash.

[@athenaclark2567]

@@unknown5150variableYeah they went full mask off in that one. They literally framed Lee crushing a slave rebellion as a good thing

[@theclasscalico]

It's very unfortunate that such insufficient learning material is considered okay. Knowing myself as a child, at least, I certainly would not be interested. On a brighter note, it was a delight to see your cat. Please give them a kiss for me.

[@otto_jk]

I remember when I was in middle school and was looking for more intelligent content on KZbin and I found Prager U. Even back then the videos were so bad and uninformative that I could not watch em even though I was much more sympathetic to right wing content than now.

[@Nota-Skaven]

​@@otto_jk The first time I was introduced to PragerU was the War on Cars video, where they portray replacing parking with green spaces as bad, like directly animate parking transforming into green space, my opinion on them hasn't changed since then, side note, cat! :3

[@otto_jk]

​@@Nota-Skavenmy first thought was that they don't really say anything in the videos it's just vibes and posturing. I was like "Where are the studies? Why aren't you referencing studies?"

[@RichConnerGMN]

​@@Nota-Skaven:3 moment

[@nicreven]

be careful with how you throw around those :3s... you might attract the transfems@@RichConnerGMN

[@noeramos8675]

I remember my college professors telling us NOT to use PragerU as a reliable source a couple of years ago yet here we are. 😭

[@GenX_-um2ct]

That is because education in America has been used as a tool for Marxists. Why would the NEA promote Prager U?

[@LJCG777]

@@GenX_-um2ct they would not because they like to lie, a lot.

[@aliengeo]

As a former Texan public school student, I regret to inform PU that teenagers like watching videos in class for reasons completely unrelated to educational retention. It's a chance to turn their brains off and not care for half an hour. Maybe check their phones.

[@irenafarm]

I was a teenager once also and I can confirm. Maybe someone should create fun, thought provoking content, specifically for students languishing through 27 minute (mins) videos.

[@harrybudgeiv349]

Speak for yourself.

[@neoqwerty]

Can confirm, ex-teenager here, the only videos the classes I was in ever paid attention to were: 1) that time the history teacher had us watch that medieval movie with the "We Will Rock You" jousting tourney spectators (he said the anachronism was bang-on about the vibe, peasants did sing songs they thought were kickass while waiting for the show). 2) the time for all clearing an exam with 80%+ in the entire class, we got rewarded with the teacher's home videos of her adorable cat being a menace at her husband's ankles and kitty's valliant attempts at ambushing that poor man's ankles.

[@avishevin3353]

PU is entirely aware of that. That is exactly the goal they are hoping to achieve.

[@sacrilegioussasquatch]

@@harrybudgeiv349 i could usually sit through videos if they were nice but my brother in christ, go watch an entire prager u video, in it's entirety without looking away or getting distracted

[@NoPunIncluded]

Obviously PragerU is bad, but look at that cat lounging on the sofa

[@Coolgirl_ig_]

Awwwwweeeee

[@looselytelling]

❗ Goober spotted

[@timothymclean]

After much contemplation of that cat, I must disagree. PragerU is considerably worse than most domestic cats.

[@ohnotheyatethecookiesrun]

@@timothymclean i think they were just pointing out the cat being a goofy little goober :3

[@emax333]

THE BEAST‼️‼️‼️ i love him :3333

[@tallevy]

Ugh. As a U.S. history nerd myself, PragerU ought to be considered a slap in the face to anyone who truly cares about getting kids to love the subject. That error regarding John Quincy Adams pissed me off too.

[@irenafarm]

One of the lesson videos is on Columbus (ugh). The Columbus character in the cartoon has a (bad) Spanish accent and uses Spanish phrases. Literally the reason we have a Columbus Day, is because it was originally like the Italian version of St. Patrick’s Day or Cinco de Mayo. Columbus was ITALIAN. RIP Italians I guess lol

[@pierregibson6699]

@@irenafarmI guess the Italians in the US 100 years of whiteness has expired 😂 they are about to try to edit ✍️ them out of American History also

[@tallevy]

@@pierregibson6699 As a Jew myself, the discussions surrounding antisemitism in the country are horrible in both our curriculum and our national media. We have got to do better. As for Italians, well, I don't think any Italian with common sense wants to claim Christopher Columbus as theirs, unless they're from Genoa. Even then, I still doubt they want him.

[@jonesthemoblin1400]

It's also important to note that this shows how much Prager U simply doesn't value kids as humans by their own rights.

[@dinosaysrawr]

Conservatives don't believe children *have* rights, fundamentally. *Parents* are the rights-holders.

[@Random_dud31]

They value them more when they are fetuses

[@Dudenob123]

​@@Random_dud31they don't value fetuses, else they would be for abortion. They stand for oppressing women.

[@necropolistc6357]

​@@Random_dud31at least we give them value

[@ladyalicent705]

⁠​⁠@@necropolistc6357We value them a lot more than you. Children that is, not fetuses. We value them so much that we don’t want to force a baby to be born to two parents who literally don’t want them! We want them to have good lives! Right wingers like you on the other hand would sooner force a rape victim to give birth to a child that she can’t support, doesn’t want and is at risk of harming due to trauma, to you, the quality of life for the child or mother doesn’t matter, as long as they are alive, forgive me but I don’t think that’s giving anybody value, let alone kids.

[@kylie_h1978]

The thing is that these lesson plans aren't broken, the things you are picking up on are not a bug, they are a feature. PagerU and the Conservatives behind them want to have students who get their opinions from the talking heads on a TV screen and are unable to do more than superficially understand what they are being told to believe. They fear giving kids critical thinking skills because if kids can question what they are being told, then they will start to question their Betters and see through the propaganda that the Right wants to indoctrinate them with. Remember that the Right loves the uneducated because it allows them to use fear and manipulation to control them. These plans are designed to intentionally harm kids' educations.

[@pierregibson6699]

It’s a De-education program they think the kids are TOO smart for their own good in Dennis/conservatives opinion….

[@samuelhong4272]

It's funny how you're critical instead of constructive. And look at the rhetoric you're using. It's politically charged lmao. Maybe stop using this as a talking point to criticize "the right". Maybe be constructive instead of pushing your own agenda? Maybe the point is education so focus on education and not "the right"?

[@kylie_h1978]

@@samuelhong4272 I don't have an agenda to push, I'm not American so the systematic destruction of the US Education system by the MAGA, PragerU, and its ilk has zero effect on me. As such I am just calling it as I see it from the outside, and that is that Republicans and Conservative groups have steadily been eroding any part of education that teaches kids to think for themselves or to explore views other than those "approved" by the American Rightwing. The so-called "Parent's Rights" movement is very clearly a "Rights for Parents that believe the right thing" movement as it totally ignores and runs roughshod over the rights of any parents that aren't of the Christian Nationalist viewpoint. People like Besty Devoss have attacked and damaged the Education system, and now the SCotUS is working on it too. Good luck having kids that reach international standards with the current gutting of any teaching that dares to step out of line with the Theology of the White Christian Nationalists.

[@checkm8964]

​@samuelhong4272 but this IS a politically charged discussion. Prager U is a right-wing institution. They are not a real university, they are not comprised of real teachers and educational experts. They are all right-wing politicians, debaters and spokespersons. We cannot discuss their implication into Floridian and Texan school curriculums without facing the fact that this is an explicitly right-wing institution masquerading as an educational one. That is utterly immoral on any side of the political spectrum. A right-wing political institution should not have a place in defining education, just as much as a left-wing institution shouldn't. This should all be down to actual educators and teachers, which Prager U are not. Ignoring the obvious attempt at indoctrination and the political motivations behind Prager U's decisions is ignoring the full conversation and the seriously concerning forces at play here.

[@dinosaysrawr]

Exactly. Dennis Prager and company are *not* stupid, as evidenced by how effective they've been at disseminating their ideology in a highly systematic and strategic fashion. So, the fact that these lesson plans are lazy, confusing, repetitive, boring, and age-inappropriate actually tells us something, and it's not just that the people doing it are just simple dumb-dumbs. I'd say that it at least communicates volumes about how the Right sees children, and how little respect it has for them as beings.

[@mickiemallorie]

They're actively working to make kids dumber; which is probably the point.

[@kerred]

Dumb people are more likely to click ads.

[@eko9554]

The L in prageru stands for learning

[@AndaraBledin]

Oh, it's absolutely the point. People who think critically are their kryptonite.

[@XanIndigo]

Gonna change my name to IndigoU so that I too can pretend to be an educational establishment

[@ezraglasman8789]

Another worrying aspect is that showing kids Ben Shapiro and Michael Knowles videos in class will certainly kickstart some of them down the alt-right pipeline by normalizing those personalities.

[@PokemonRules333]

Or they will get bored out of their minds and never want anything to do with PU ever again

[@FunKayyy]

I can see it now "Ben Shapiro the Science Hero" and then it just degrades into Air Conditioning solving Climate Change.

[@irenafarm]

I was very alarmed on hearing this news. However, ironically, these lessons seem to be so awful that it will likely have a net negative impact. Teachers who are even slightly competent will give this a pass, and teachers who do use the curriculum will mostly simply poison the well for the content covered. This video didn’t go into politics. However, it’s surprisingly unwise timing for the gov of FL. It’s likely this material will be used where parents are paying attention, and aren’t sympathetic to the agenda of PU. Those constituents can make an awful stink for the presidential hopeful there just as we approach the first primaries. Not that I’m sympathetic. Let him cook. 😅

[@thomash.schwed3662]

@@irenafarm I concur. This is precisely the type of thing Reich DeathKlantis and Greg Abbott would support. Of course, it's no less disturbing.

[@bwofficial1776]

@@thomash.schwed3662 What is Reich DeathKlantis? I've never heard of that. Sounds like a black metal band.

[@LabiLabi777]

As someone who works at daycare, Prager U is a The Spot from Across The Spider-verse to me. Something that seems like nothing at first, a silly little joke if you will, and is now gradually becoming a large threat😳. Education and learning should be speaking to children. Prager U makes orders and demands at children.

[@nafeesanaz]

LOL, I feel the same way

[@DanikaLeighEllis]

What also jumped out at me is how much the lesson plans just said, "Discuss." Discuss in groups? Discuss as a class? Discuss in pairs and then share out in a class? I assume they mean discuss as a class, which functionally means 1-5 students actually participating/answering questions and the rest of the class staring blankly hoping they don't get called on. Pair that with way too long videos, especially for young students, and you've got a recipe for a class full of restless, bored kids. Oh, and worksheets. How fun and engaging.

[@Im0nJupiter]

The evident lack of effort/research put into their education materials seems to betray exactly what they think of education. It's not actually for education, or to get kids to think, it's to tell them what to think. They think there's just nothing to it, teaching kids is easy, know stuff and tell it to the kids, nothing else needed. They think teaching is trivial. No wonder they disrespect public schools, advocate for cutting funding, and refuse to acknowledge the desperate needs of teachers for A) more compensation B) increased access and materials, and so much more.

[@Im0nJupiter]

You basically just said that in the video. Oops! You are exceptionally good at leading an audience 😉

[@aralornwolf3140]

@@Im0nJupiter, Objection! I already had that bias.. she couldn't lead me to a conclusion I was already had.

[@transquiche]

As a student, this pains me so much. Please teachers, some of us do care about our education but we can and will stop caring if you use this shit instead of your own lesson plans.

[@kacodemonio]

PragerU sex education worksheet contains a single phrase: "don't do it"

[@dudono1744]

That's not a valid way to speedrun a sex ed worksheet

[@halcyon.x]

Then they get mad when teens get pregnant or nobody wants to have sex when they’re older

[@Crlarl]

​@@dudono1744 It's not real. It's just a joke. If they did do sex ed, it *would* be terrible.

[@keiyakins]

"in a way that doesn't feel like indoctrination" is where you went wrong. Prager U's idea of education *is* indoctrination.

[@Ajia_No_Envy]

Everything is indoctrination, it just depends which values you want your child to have. It is technically indoctrination to tell your child that murder is bad, because that is putting something into their head. But in anycase some indoctrination is bad, most is good, PragerU's is probably unethical at the least because why would they need to show political icons to children? Children shouldn't be involved in politics if they can help it.

[@askolotl]

⁠@@Ajia_No_Envy indoctrination is depositing information uncritically. it’s true that a lot of historical education, especially pre critical theory and more modern educational philosophy, does qualify but it’s not nearly as broad or applicable as that

[@ItHadToBeSaid]

@@Ajia_No_Envy It's only indoctrination if you teach them not to question it (so all school). But actual education can teach various points of view.

[@ippanpedrozo1162]

prager literally verbally admits what they do is "indoctrination".

[@neoqwerty]

@@ItHadToBeSaid I knew American schools were shyte but I didn't know they went "don't question it" instead of "here's more resources, go wild, if you have questions I'm always available between classes". Like, in my little bumfuck nowhere bumpkin 300 people village grade school I moved to up here in America's hat, we could always go "why, why, why, what if, what it", even if the answer we got was more of a "this is where you want to look" than an actual explanation (because time). The only thing I was "indoctrinated" to have is shit like how to write, read, count, and then basic grammar and those cursed multiplication tables. Literally everything else was on the table even if the answer was "look it up in the library we've got a few books on that one". It works something like that in the US, right? Right????

[@hclnet]

They want to expose their brand to kids, but they don't respect children as people enough to do it right. A kid who goes through the lesson will associate PragerU as that company that made that boring video in school when they scroll by it on youtube later that day (or sneaking on the phone while the movie is playing) and avoid it. Kids know brands and remember that stuff. Toymakers have known that for decades now.

[@SMCwasTaken]

So glad i grew up watching Tim and Moby and Bill Bye the science guy instead of this prageru garbage

[@bassgosh6599]

BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL

[@dannyblanco8544]

Reminds me of pedagogy of the oppressed, in which students are seen as containers that need to be filled by which they are seen as proper students as long as they remain subservient to the teacher / the lesson. It also really bothers me that they use the word appreciate so much, I hate the idea of telling student how they should feel about a topic, we should allow them to engage with the subject and make their own conclusions with it.

[@peggedyourdad9560]

But that would be encouraging independent and critical thinking and we know the powers that be don’t want that lol.

[@gustavomartins7547]

Brazil Mentioned?

[@JonesCrimson]

That bit of them saying the previous contents that they scripted, taped, edited, and published "isn't real" and "does not exist" was pretty funny.

[@SlavGod47]

Says a lot about them, tbh. Unironically some 1984 type shit. "We got rid of it because it made us look bad therefore it no longer exists"

[@gbeaver57]

When you remember PragerU is rank conservative propaganda requiring children to “appreciate” conservative ideals makes a whole lot of sense.

[@alyaaearth4755]

If they r conservatives why they teach abt liberty ?

[@pc3340]

Eh this is pretty biased. Having opinions that aren’t traditional doesn’t mean it propaganda all the way around. Teachers have been caught sharing bias in class rooms. Doesn’t matter what side it is

[@pc3340]

@@JD-wu5pfthis is not unique to conservatives. Liberty is a big part of America. The political sides both choose this selectively

[@gbeaver57]

@@pc3340 prageru doesn’t just have opinions. They lie and distort history and teach it as fact. It’s definitionally propaganda. Their mission is to whitewash history and make little proud conservative Christian Americans. It serve no purpose but to propagandize for the Republican Party.

[@PolitikPolitik-fh2qc]

appreciating America used to be an American ideal. Then people got woke. And started fighting for made believe causes.

[@sbushido5547]

It's extremely charitable of you to give them the benefit of the doubt that they care in the *_slightest_* about the quality if children's education.

[@Coffeeisnecessarynowpepper]

if children if children's education if if??

[@jeffryejeffrye]

@@Coffeeisnecessarynowpepper One typo. You’re acting like the fucking apocalypse is in motion.

[@seronimo__7735]

They really just want middle schoolers to have to see Ben Shapiro and Michael Knowles in their classes.

[@IshtarNike]

I'm very glad you avoided discussing the politics. Too many people think that criticism of PragerU and conservatives in general is just "both sides are gonna disagree". But honestly people need to understand that these conservatives aren't just giving different opinions, they're providing substandard crap as an educational service. It's one thing to have different political views, it's another to just be crap.

[@dudono1744]

Wdym ? PragerU lessons are top tier level of crap, not your average crap.

[@dinosaysrawr]

The left-wing equivalent, I reckon, would be if you let Ward Churchill or Caleb Maupin design an elementary school curriculum. There's bias, and then there's egregious bias (or outright deception).

[@neoqwerty]

@@dinosaysrawr Add a few pagan woo "I don't see color" white savior tumblr witches to mirror the Evangelical batshittery I've noticed to round up your metaphor.

[@patriciapandacoon7162]

@@dinosaysrawr I'd argue Caleb Maupin, despite his communist-sounding rhetoric, is actually far right, given his authoritarian and socially-conservative views. He openly praised Donald Trump for chrissakes

[@diro5910]

Honestly both sides encourage you to turn off your brain to cheer whatever they support.

[@glenn_desert_witch]

I worked for a huge textbook company for a while as a proofreader. Books went through at least 5 rounds of proofing. The first two were essentially editing: the first one looking for potential mistakes in content, done by an expert in the field; the second by an expert in the English language to check if the language was clear and age-appropriate. After that, two different proofreaders went over the text to find errors (of course many would already have been caught, it’s not like the first two people looking at the text were unable to spot a spelling mistake) like misspellings, capitalizations, punctuation, etc. Another person would do the same thing, this time also checking for layout and pagination (especially after you make changes you may end up with things not fitting on the page quite right). And the last person would do a final check of print proofs, often also comparing to another regional edition (for example, Texas has long wanted to be special and have their own standards) to make sure that things that were supposed to be the same across editions (I did math books, so for example if the same problem was in the Texas and the Minnesota edition, they should match in content - because sometimes different editors will make different changes and then things look unnecessarily inconsistent if one book had a solution that was, say 3.5 or 3.4 because calculations were done to a different decimal before rounding). I am sharing this because it is absolutely unacceptable, in my view, to create widely-distributed lesson plans that have spelling errors, inconsistencies, etc… When people use these as learning materials, the quality needs to be above-average and as close to perfect as possible. I will usually find 5 or 6 misspellings in a novel, but I don’t expect to find any in a textbook - I think in my whole career as a student I found 2 or 3, and I not only have a Bachelor’s, but I did a few extra years of College-level studying because I started in Italy, then went to Holland, and ended up in the States, so my work from other countries didn’t transfer. One of the things that I find most distasteful about extreme individualism is this idea that every individual or company gets to reinvent the wheel and do things their way. “Oh, these massive educational companies spend thousands of hours editing and proofing books, and it costs tens of thousands of dollar per book! We can easily do it for 10% of that by just hiring one writer and one editor/proofreader who will work for minimum wage!” And they don’t even think about the fact that it isn’t wasteful to spend so much money on making sure to get it right. Ugh.

[@m4uaha]

hi, I know this was commented a while ago but, if I may, I would like to ask you for advice in entering the editing field.

[@nisbahmumtaz909]

And they said they were ACCREDITED? Whoever did the auditing did a TERRIBLE job. This honestly might just be a reflection upon the institution itself.

[@ayyyyph2797]

It might not even be a proper accreditor, probably just a thumbs up from your local GOP chapter

[@NathanWubs]

If they said that, they were lying. They still are not accredited. Maybe one of their people was overzealous again which tends to happen.

[@KairiMorin]

They aren't even legally able to send kids to college or university outside of Florida because they don't follow the system to get accredited high schools, so within the next 3-5 years, those students are all screwed.

[@davidhutchinson5233]

Somebody got paid. Plain and simple.

[@orangenostril]

It's literally just for political points

[@PzOwNeD]

i'm sorry but i love how enthusiastic your cat is about getting attention from you when you're animated. what a great cat. video is also fantastic and i appreciate the teaching-deconstruction of low-hanging fruit

[@crystal4o681]

This actually makes me feel better. My immediate worry was that Florida would be using *effective* far-right indoctrination on grade school kids, but these lesson plans are...not that.

[@charmingnarcisse]

while it migh look bland, its whats said at 26:18, they want children to be obediant, bored and uncurious. that makes an "apolitical" adult that can easily do what theyre told because nationalistic values are normative and "whats best" (to not mention far right bigoted thinking, but its redundant already). so it is dangerous.

[@Emmariscobar]

@@charmingnarcisse While it might succeed at making them bored & uncurious, i have a feeling that telling children to watch a nearly half hour video of two people talking will make them the exact opposite of "obedient".

[@AD-ov5rt]

God, can you imagine if any other brand tried that? Like if there was a Coca-Cola curriculum?

[@funtechu]

It would be indoctrination if it wasn't so boring

[@maximeteppe7627]

sadly, bad indoctrination is indoctrination. It's meant to reinforce indoctrination and incuriosity in a home that has OAN running in the background. It's meant to make kids questioning their parent's politics more difficult.

[@alexanderthegreat6682]

A boring dystopia

[@shybard]

As someone who used to work in classrooms and actually ran a literacy program, this hurts my heart and soul. These kids are being deprived, and the teachers are being cheated. This sort of material is basically designed to fail.

[@pierregibson6699]

Bingo

[@ThatDangDad]

Really enjoyed this, I've always been curious what PragerU crapped out for schools since they are so arrogant and dismissive of children's needs and autonomy.

[@zoe_bee]

Thank you! 💜

[@sandrohernandez4401]

I didn't even know this existed

[@Irrlichtwinter]

Cat friend sitting there, slightly annoyed - "why are you waving your hands around, use it to pet me already!" Cat friend does not approve of PragerU.

[@OpenBiolabsGuy]

The real question is, “How do we shut down Pager U?” Because, let’s be honest, it’s gotten to the point where it needs to be shut down.

[@jennyanydots2389]

People have been sayin' that about your bee whole for a long time. That it's like a truck stop but strictly for Felching bee whole's and servicing glory hole's in the bathrooms.

[@NG-cf7zh]

@@jennyanydots2389I keep seeing your comments and, honestly, you appear to be mentally ill

[@MojaveMoron]

​@@jennyanydots2389you seem really obsessed with mentioning felching... I'm not judging your weekend plans but maybe find some new insults

[@jennyanydots2389]

@@MojaveMoron Good one. Too much of a coward to come up with a real insult so you go the tired to death passive-aggressive "i'm not saying but i'm saying...." format. Ha... you basically just made fun of yourself with that lame ass insult attempt. I'm simply trolling in that above comment, not a realy insult... you tried to directly insult me and it just came off as pathetic. Damn... total failure (probably not just here either, wal mart cart wrangler for life I bet!!)

[@Morly.]

@@NG-cf7zhits kinda sad to read through tbh

[@pungoblin9377]

Every public speaker should be mandated by law to have a -cat- Public Speaking Pet™ that watches their hand movements and tries to snuggle with them in the middle of work

[@sophiedowney1077]

Does a snake count? Mine likes to snuggle and follow my hands too.

[@pungoblin9377]

@@sophiedowney1077 changed

[@sophiedowney1077]

@@pungoblin9377 😊

[@pommybomber]

When I was a kid, I LOVED when we got to watch Bill Nye in school and after watching this I have a deeper respect for the Bill Nye team for making their show fun and basically everything PragerU claims they're trying to do. Sure it might not be as engaging as a Teacher would like, but at least I wanted to watch and hear all the facts included.

[@tinabean713]

That's how I felt about Reading Rainbow

[@audreyodonnell166]

as a lot of the lesson plans are videos i’m pretty sure you can

[@eireanneruss2311]

Bill Nye provided facts that were them verified in a fun way. Science is like that, the lab work, or video of colorful experiments, grab the imagination. What grands the imagination in Civics, Social Sciences, Geography, History, even Economics Is researching the old documents on all sides of any given topic. I'm a historian by training and a community adult educator by occupation, my favorite teachers were the ones who asked a question without giving facts or opinions, but made as many primary sources available as possible, have is time to research and ponder, THEN challenged us to defend our point of view by asking only one question--"Why do you believe that?" At the end of the class all of us learned more than a lecture, however dynamic and colorful would have.

[@bgorg1]

This is far more engaging than the worksheets and word searches my kids do in HS. They did have great history teachers who engaged kids so this curriculum would have been a step back, but it does offer more insight as a supplement.

[@HarryCarroll-bg1ln]

Bill Nye the fake scientist?

[@The_mrbob]

How tf is prageru VERIFIED, it’s literal propaganda 💀💀💀

[@thecowboy2541]

So is Al Jazeera and yet people praise it

[@FistoftheSnackBar]

​@thecowboy2541 does that somehow make it ok?

[@thecowboy2541]

@@FistoftheSnackBar I never said Al Jazeera messaging was ok

[@FistoftheSnackBar]

@@thecowboy2541 you know good and damn well what I meant. Don't be coy.

[@thecowboy2541]

@@FistoftheSnackBar coy💀

[@sotpunkkatt158]

I work as a teacher in sweden. PragerU's lesson plans are not made for teachers, its made for administrators and parents.

[@courier6960]

I mean that is what it has predominately been made for in the past, for right wing “home schooling” lessons for the most insufferable parents you’ve ever met to force upon their kids when they get home from school, and online videos for right wing KZbin. It’s also primarily a “think tank” which is effectively just a fancy way of saying “political tool” for the oil industry and Christian dogma (this isn’t theory, it’s literally a major part of their founding and funding)

[@crinklyonion1410]

As a junior in Texas, I can’t wait to get out of here. With lunchables getting ready to replace my already shitty school lunch, and now PragerU, possibly the most politically charged show I’ve ever seen, invading my classroom? I’m ready to leave.

[@rhil4838]

I'm sorry. As a teacher of Juniors in Texas, I strive very hard to teach critical thinking. Don't give up hope. We have some wonderful teachers here who are fighting stuff like this.

[@crinklyonion1410]

@@rhil4838 Thanks a lot! Personally I know a lot of teachers that do work really hard and try to make school as high quality as possible. It’s really just the school system itself that I think is messed up. My mom is also a teacher, but she teaches 7+ grades. (Discipline schools are fun like that) She always tries so hard to make the subjects she teaches interesting, but the school system itself has chosen to cast aside kids who need help, and take the easy way out to get more money. I really appreciate all the hard work you put in, and I hope that things get better down here, for all our sakes.

[@Sterl500]

From what I hear about school lunches these days, I would think that lunchables are probably an improvement. Back in the late 00s, school provided lunches were pretty okay, I have fond memories of Thursdays and the breakfast line, but I would say if the quality dipped much further I'd have been annoyed. If I had the lunches kids talk about these days, I'd have been pissed, not just annoyed. Good luck and godspeed. I love Texas and most of the people here, but politics infest most every aspect of the education system and I don't jive with that.

[@wlodek7422]

What are lunchables out of curiosity?

[@crinklyonion1410]

@@wlodek7422 Lunchabkes are some of the most overly processed “foods” available. They advertise to children with fun packages and ideas about building your own lunch, but when you open it up, it’s really just a measly 5 pieces of pink slime meat, cheese so fake they have to call it “cheese product”, and the most rubbery bread discs you’ll ever force down your throat. All of this food so pumped with chemicals that it could probably kill a cat. They are really only sold in the US as far as I know, so I’m guessing you’re from a different country?

[@rashmirajshekhar8806]

As a new teacher about to start in September, those lesson plans were horrendous! The learning objectives were vague, the formative assessments (checks for understanding) were not described at all, the standards were missing… I could go on! But you summarized it perfectly! All Prager U cares about, it seems, is getting their brand in classrooms. We were all mesmerized by their blatant attempts to indoctrinate kids through their “rewrites” of history that, I for one, overlooked that it was just capitalism all along…

[@PrettyH8Mach1n3]

I love watching your little lovebug of a kitty cat. It's almost like he's worried about you ranting to what looks like no one, and he is trying to calm you down with nuzzles, showing his belly, and slow-blinking at you.

[@atrution]

The fact that Praeger U can be approved while continuing to platform Michael Knowles after his call for genocide which he has not rescinded nor apologized for is absolutely disgusting.

[@FastEddy1959]

Lies are disgusting… like the lie your selling about Knowles. He said he wants people who suffer from a certain delusion to get treatment for that delusion, rather than having that delusion reinforced through dangerous medical treatments. If you want to take issue with my characterization of transsexualism as “delusion” I ask simply that you provide a definition of “delusion” that it wouldn’t meet.

[@Apes_are_monkeys]

​​​@@FastEddy1959his exact quote was that "transgenderism" should be "eradicated from public life". This can only come about by a few means: -forcing people to detransition to the sex they were assigned at birth -not allowing people to leave their houses or have a voice otherwise -death. What he said calls for violence (in a number of forms) directed at a demographic of people. It is not an okay thing to say, and can really only be labeled as genocidal. Do not pretend as though he cares about transgender people because he thinks they need help.

[@justinkarels6028]

​@@FastEddy1959Simple question. Is being transgender a delusion, or simply something you don't, or don't want to, understand?

[@-47-]

​@@FastEddy1959 "He wants people to get treatment, rather than to get treatment" doesn't really mean anything. Such a strict definition of delusion would include a lot of things you probably don't consider delusional, such as religion.

[@Mae-Mae-Maee]

​​@@FastEddy1959the lemkin institute called out the conservative anti-trans ideology as genocidal. look it up. it's a well-researched piece of information, which will not shake your stance on this even a bit, right? because you're either deeply indoctrinated or you want to see the genocide (democide,really) of trans-people happening

[@MarkMark]

This is wonderful, thank you so much for exposing quackery and, may I say, fraud in education.

[@zoe_bee]

Thank you so much! 💜

[@adurnafhey]

As a teacher, I was not expecting a great break down of lesson plans and blooms of all things popping up in my “play next” video today. Lovely channel find, thanks!

[@HistorysRaven]

Seeing their lesson on the Federalist Papers is maddening. My master's degree was in US History and I focus specifically on this time period. The fact that they're acting as if the Federalist Papers are official documents, and it's not just PragerU doing this, leaves me with migraines.

[@jamiegreenberg8476]

i read some of them for my american pop culture class i took and omfg most of them are just rambles i have no idea how they got so popular lmao its just all venting

[@GodWarrior7771]

I think another criticism that seems evident is that the people behind these lesson plans fundamentally think that teaching is this easy and shallow.

[@jobraket]

As someone studying to be a teacher in Germany, it's really reassuring to hear that I'm better at coming up with lesson plans than some conservative propaganda conglomerate.

[@jackinzbox.]

I don’t think you should be that reassured lol. PragerU set a remarkably low bar for lesson plans. I’m not studying to be a teacher and I feel like I could have easily made a better lesson plan than this. Although that could be misplaced confidence or some form of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

[@VishnuQM]

Na ja, wollen Sie als Lehrer arbeiten, ne? PragerU hat gar keine professionellen Lehrern als Mitarbeitern.

[@Xtroid]

Slay

[@thisorthat629]

​@@jackinzbox.nah, don't think dunning kruger, i believe the underlying idea of having goals and have activities tying into said goals should be clear to everyone. oversimplified, and ignoring practical aspects. and to fail that at the most basic planning lvl is impressive, on prageru's part tho personally not a fan of every individual lesson needing to reach said goals and also check in the same lesson, smt kids just need more time, or more freeform formats need a lot more time. that's why im personally more a fan of lesson blocs, but hey

[@DebatingWombat]

PragerU’s inability to create an actual lesson plan is intimately tied to their ideology. They think that teaching is simply about an authority (ultimate PragerU) handing down “The Truth(TM)” from on high and the learners reproducing that. That learning might be a sort of two-way process and not a dictatorial propaganda exercise is wholly alien to PragerU. That’s also indicated by the use of “appreciate”, which is a way of saying “learn to be obedient in the face of these authorities and interpretations”. Indeed, entities with a fundamentally authoritarian view of education, such as PragerU, always favour rote learning and reproduction over critical skills and analysis, exactly because they see the key role of education as engendering obedience and loyalty, not critical or analytical skills.

[@darthfastball1150]

Can’t wait for kids to get pulled aside because they weren’t “appreciating” American history to the standards of the learning objective

[@sophiepooks2174]

Very sad, they need to weed out the most intelligent ones and give them the lowest grades possible to shut them down/turn them off learning and demoralize them.

[@MemeAnt]

If this is all it takes to be an educational vendor then everyone’s about to be one

[@bwgaming-lq4gd]

Hey how you doing but yah so true

[@DavidLindes]

I’d love it if more folks took it upon themselves to make lesson plans….. could be a goodness. And hey, there’s #SoME3 (and its predecessors)… among others, I’m sure.

[@MemeAnt]

@@bwgaming-lq4gd yo it’s the branw1 guy

[@qwaabza]

you could probably get an AI to do a better job than this...

[@MemeAnt]

@@qwaabza I don’t doubt that for a second

[@adultmoshifan87]

Greetings from the United Kingdom! Throughout most of my school years, I was an education-hating bad boy but in my adult years, I learned that education is one of the most important things you can get in life! Even so, looking back on what school was like for me, I can tell that my country's education system was, and still is, VERY problematic: making kids gather in large numbers, giving them orders, preparing them for 70 years of misery and so on. A child won't be willing to learn if you bully him or her into it! Things got worse for me in 1999 when I was transferred to a boarding school as the school in question was the "only" one suitable for me to get my secondary education at. The school in question was a special one for those with learning disabilities, but that just made me feel "othered", not because it was a special school, but because I was made to go far out of town and go to one of their boarding houses Monday-Thursday every school week! Within the boarding area, I was shouted at by staff members who refused to accept modern young people for who they are, they acted as if homework and chores were "more important than anything ever" and they generally treated us like criminals, which is the last thing disabled people need! One night in 2004 we were told we'd be made to do even more homework and they even added "It's a 24 hour curriculum!" which sounds EXACTLY like prison! I feel that in order to give our kids a proper well-rounded education, we need to let them get creative, teach them to express themselves, tell them that life is what they make of it (grammar?) but I still feel that math, languages (including English!), science, history and geography are important too, schools should be made to feel inviting and welcoming, homework needs to be abolished completely as it hinders kids and teens from making the most of being young and we need more special schools in the world so no learner, disabled or not, would EVER be made to board again! I am not in a position to give a full analysis of whether or not the books, videos, lesson plans etc used at my schools were the right ones to use and wotnot but I do agree that this PragerU stuff is horrendous! There's so much wrong in it, they clearly make shit up and it's obviously an attempt to make America's already broken school system even worse! I feel that more needs to be done to make the world a more welcoming place. I just hope we can get the message out fast and wide enough! This ongoing right wing takeover of the world MUST be stopped!

[@dudep504]

I think people who "hates education" (including me) eventually just realizes that the thing that they hate isnt "education", but rather the "educational system"

[@pierrelindgren5727]

During a Moms For Liberty summit, Dennis Prager himself called what he's doing "indoctrination".

[@ayyyyph2797]

Moms for Liberty cares about liberty as much as the National Socialist Party of Germany cares about socialism

[@Immadeus]

He said the quiet part out loud

[@Emmariscobar]

@@Immadeus At this point it's more so "yelling the loud part into a microphone".

[@tikvision]

Not an american, but 25 minutes watching cartoons and not producing anything on their notebooks would definitely get me fired in my country

[@renzuki5830]

That's because you aren't ready yet for the revolution in teaching. /s

[@musclestruts5032]

It would get you non-renewed in a good chunk of American public schools today.

[@tikvision]

@@musclestruts5032 good thing I know my stuff and I don't ask chat gpt to create my lesson plans

[@tikvision]

@@renzuki5830 someone didn't watch the video or has poor comprehension skills

[@renzuki5830]

@@tikvision Haha. Someone doesn't understand sarcasm even when there is a marker for sarcasm. Who has poor comprehension again ? Could you please repeat that for me ?

[@lordarthur2165]

I am also a education major, but it's focused in biology and in Brazil, I love how they started the objectives with the verb "understand" when we are told so many times to not use "understand", because you can't to assess if a student understood something, better verbs would be: define, record, cite, exemplify, enumerate, etc. All verbs that you can see your students doing! I am just in a few minutes in and so much is wrong! Edit: oh dear lord, the rest of the lesson is just as bad and the questions don't make any sense!

[@bassgosh6599]

Brazil 🔥🔥 sepultura 😈

[@evanbarth7173]

I would love to have Zoe Bee as a teacher.

[@jelapulchra]

"Are you done sneezing?" killed me. Old habits die hard.

[@immattlaramee]

You watch the channel. She already is your teacher

[@arabcadabra8863]

An old Van Halen song comes to mind...

[@cameronpearce5943]

PragerU lesson plans in a nutshell: Watch the video... consume... give us that ad revenue

[@nerdoftheatre]

15:34 Tangentially related, but is that purring I hear in the background? That's so freaking adorable.

[@0topon]

yes it is

[@Walkingthelabyrinth]

For PragerU making education boring is not a bug, it's a feature. The lessons are designed not only with propaganda as content but in the bones of the teaching style as well. Making children incurious and contemptuous of education primes them for a lifetime of anti-intellectual values. Using scattered and vague lesson plans directs children to be comfortable with a lack of coherent arguments supporting the information the internalize. So either it is an even deeper level of insidiousness than is being discussed or they themselves have such contempt for children that they just don't care what is being taught as long as they are the ones teaching it.

[@yellowslotcar]

I grew up in a conservative household, it's likely the latter lol. They don't see kids as people

[@cjgroves4429]

​@@yellowslotcarand that's why conservatives aren't people.

[@Mortablunt]

Indeed. Think of how many conservatives say shit like "I went to school and I learned nothing/ all I learned was the ABC's/ and all I need to know is_". Creating an intellectually lazy and antiintellectual environment is the Fascist dream.

[@p0werfu11]

Anti-intellectual values are the norm for every side in USA.

[@Matt_Fields_29]

One disappointing thing about being an atheist is knowing there's no Hell for Dennis Prager to go to.

[@thatpandaz6094]

Suddenly I'm religious🙏

[@amelie5475]

Don't worry. When Jesus comes back, Prager will be as harshly judged as he judged others and as hated as he hated others. I don't believe it's going to be fun for him, at least for a while

[@Aaa-vp6ug]

@@amelie5475Jesus or the shit?

[@Eosinophyllis]

Now I may not be religious but I do want to believe there’s some sort of hell just for this sort of people.

[@redrevyol]

@@amelie5475 I think he'll call out to anyone who are hypocrites like in Matthew 23.

[@andrewphilos]

The "problem" with the higher verbs in the Bloom taxonomy is that they are (intentionally) open-ended and creative. A student might take all the information they received from the class, synthesize it from their own experiences, and create a conclusion PragerU doesn't agree with. And we can't have that.

[@Ashtree29]

I'm but a humble trans person who wants to work in ECE and it freakin scares me! Simultaneously I'm always wondering when "PragerU supplementary learning for health and science classes" will start being rolled out smh

[@lastswordfighter]

You are mental case and belong in an insane asylum as do all leftwing lunatics. Newsflash America has had enough of your perversions and enabling of riots and mass crime. Since you refuse to clean up the mess your lot has made it will be cleaned up for you and you will cease to have a say. You've whipped the damn mobs and criminals and gangsters and bomb throwing anarchists for over a decade while leaving the bill for everyone else. No more you will pay back every damage your lot did and you will pay for every act of leftwing treachery. What's more you will know suffering, law, order, and orthodoxy. This is your punishment for your evil.

[@att6484]

Just dont be in a red state and you should be fine

[@protonmonkey]

I'm incredibly grateful to have had teachers that didn't try shy away from the brutality of history and didn't try to sanitize or omit anything. My fifth grade teacher taught us about the truth of Columbus' arrival in the Americas, she taught us about slavery and genocide, she taught us about the Holocaust. She truly wanted us to ask questions and engage with history, as if she was holding history up like a mirror asking "what kind of person can you try to be to prevent cruel things like this from happening again?" I'm apprehensive for future generations of students; almost everything young people will be presented with is going to be unengaging and deceitful corporate slop like PragerU.

[@docdoc.4500]

Absolutely. Kids NEED to be presented with the big questions and the full story, so that they can take it upon themselves to grow into well-rounded and capable adults

[@MLBlue30]

They never cared about truth they just didn't want competition. It's q dick measuring contest. They claim we are the ones making corporate slop, then suddenly it becomes "our slop is cooler than your slop." They envy us and ape what they think is our arrogant cool kids table attitude.

[@glenn_desert_witch]

Same. The problem for them is not only that kids might feel bad, ashamed, repulsed, but also that identifying problems and past mistakes may lead people to do something about it. They have to brainwash kids that there was at least a mythic past where everything was great to return to, and at best convince them that the suffering they experience or see in others today is just a fluke, an edge-case, just people complaining and not working hard enough on themselves to alleviate that suffering.

[@CarolynOsborne]

Paulo Friere (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) would call this a banking pedagogy, as in depositing knowledge in students' heads as if they were piggy banks. It is insidious because PU (fitting acronym) does not trust teachers to take an active role in leading discussions. If teachers were to lead discussions with higher level questions, there could be "indoctrination" and critical thinking.

[@sonsauvage]

Watching PragerU videos is like taking a masterclass in intellectual dishonesty

[@aznthy]

Its not even a masterclass, you can clearly see through the holes if you took 30 seconds to look at their methods.

[@johncrofford]

@@aznthy, it is a masterclass in lying to people who don't have time/energy/knowledge to evaluate methods. You can't lie to all the people all the time using the same words.

[@jeffbuckler8834]

​@@johncroffordCNN does every night

[@rumblepuss8848]

​@jeffbuckler8834 whoa you sure got em buddy Got any other hot takes?

[@Jarimir]

@@jeffbuckler8834 then why do you watch it?

[@BC.......]

I have not finished your video yet but i must comment.... before becoming much wiser, i was once a young (idiot) fan of Mr. Prager, well before the PragerU days. You point out that this lesson plan does not ask for any higher level mental skills than simple understanding of the material at a base level... this is by design. I recall hearing, on multiple occasions, Mr. Prager going on rants about schools overemphasizing "critical thinking", and yearning for the halcyon days when memorization was the most important part of learning. This is a core belief of the man.

[@ethanstyant9704]

Conservative Americans claiming the US defends freedom will always be funny to me because the country has directly or indirectly intentionally overthrown multiple democratically elected leaders in foreign countries because they dared to suggest their own country should benefit from its natural resources

[@eljeffe1815]

You said it all when you point out that these people do not respect education, educators or children.

[@dinosaysrawr]

I was also struck by the odd disrespect for the Statue of Liberty, too, by asking kids how they'd decorate it. I can't imagine they'd offer the same creative prompt for the American flag, and would consider the very thought of changing or gussying up the flag heretical! But, it is technically a symbol of the abolition of slavery, after all, so of course they'd have some mixed feelings about it.

[@PolitikPolitik-fh2qc]

Education and educators mostly do not require to be respected. Theres too many rogue educators and people in the education system to care about respect for them. They have a job and in many cases are failing to do that job.

[@theunintelligentlydesigned4931]

Prager U doesn't want the kids to do anything because they might come up with different answers then Prager U wants to drill into them.

[@strezztechnoid]

The fact that PragerU exists is disgusting, let alone used as educational material.

[@immaheadout4777]

They’re learning from their wilks brothers donors who are billionaires oil tycoons that are heavily religious and the Bradley foundation which pushes for religious values into America society and they believe in “economic freedom” those are the two main funders of Prageru both very conservative and religious. That can be displayed clearly in their videos. Also they have a few big Republican mega donors like Lee Roy Mitchell who up until this year the CEO of a mega corporation Cinemark. So yeah the slant in the videos are obviously there.

[@strezztechnoid]

@@immaheadout4777 I have been lamenting our collective crisis today under the umbrella oil-igarchs hide under while the storm they are brewing is being percolated.

[@pommybomber]

Thankfully that's worse for him.

[@capt.jtspaulding7682]

Somebody with deep pockets needs to sue these bastards.

[@NothingXemnas]

​@@immaheadout4777 Saddest shit is that on the base level, it is true religion and government are separate, but in reality, it is much more complicated. Even then, because "there is no evidence of religion being a law", people awfully believe "therefore, there is no religious influence in it". PragerU passing the as a recognized educational source is a freaking tragedy in many levels, not just political and economical...

[@zen1647]

I'm from Australia and have heard of Prager U but didn't know they thought of themselves as a serious education organisation. The material I've seen is very sloppy and poorly thought out.

[@VenIGuess]

These lesson plans aren't just unhelpful. They seem actively harmful for development given the amount of lacking engagement. It's all sad. Edit: Warp-Up 😢

[@irenafarm]

That typo is the only potential source of fun and excitement in these materials. Followed by the factual errors, because every class has at least one student ready to jump in with, “Um actually…” 🤓

[@jayvbspdx]

I wonder if there is any hope in the fact that these lesson plans are actually awful as academic materials, that they wouldnt axtually be used anywhere. I really hope they dont because, regardless of the bias Prager"U" display and the direction of these lesson plans, they do a disservice to the education system itself. Any teacher who would actually use this would _not_ be teaching their students anything of empirically measurable value.

[@jacksmith-vs4ct]

I mean I know some highschools show pragurU videos in class and not to dismantle how awful and full of lies they are so sadly it will happen

[@DarkGob]

Nope. Education isn't the point, indoctrination is. Don't give them the benefit of the doubt here -- they know exactly what they're doing.

[@miglek9613]

You're way too hopeful if you think every teacher cares about kids. Like, some definitely do but I've met a good share of teachers who literally hate teaching and their students

[@irenafarm]

This is also my hope.

[@whiskytechfred]

Who wants to tell PragerU that the Statue of Liberty is actually French? 😂

[@eforoyal]

We stan this french lady!

[@conorford7852]

Who wants to tell that we had to be bullied into actually getting the money to construct it once it arrived?

[@skyclaw]

“In a way that doesn’t feel like indoctrination.” It’s almost as if that’s their entire goal here.