*The names Mary, Nancy and Paul have been used to protect the identities of sources in this article.
Prager University (PragerU) is a conservative nonprofit founded in 2009 by Allen Estrin, screenwriter and director, and Dennis Prager, conservative radio host. Despite its name, PragerU is not an accredited university, instead a not-for-profit institution.
PragerU began as an idea to start a university with a more conservative curriculum. However, it was soon decided that this plan would be too costly and yield few graduates. Instead, they decided to educate people through short-form content.
While having their own website, PragerU also posts videos across a multitude of platforms, including on their YouTube channel. These videos range from quick informational videos to longer, in-depth documentaries over a variety of social and political issues geared toward high-school and college age Americans. This type of content is part of the recent influx of “edutainment,” which is the billion-dollar industry that combines education with entertainment. This platform has over 2 billion annual views and 3 million subscribers across their channels.
Their current CEO is Marissa Streit, former headmistress (private school principal) and teacher in the Los Angeles County school district, who had been mentored by Prager since its inception, and was later made the chief executive officer in 2011. Last fall, Streit argued in a podcast interview that the education system of the U.S. is “a left-wing propaganda machine” that teaches students to hate America. In another conference, she asserts that PragerU is “medicine for the mind” that will stabilize traditional American and Judeo-Christian values in schools.
In the past few years, PragerU has expanded, creating a sub-genre for younger audiences with ages ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade. On their website, they offer thousands of free videos, books, worksheets and lesson plans to assist both teachers and parents who homeschool in promoting patriotism. As of right now, PragerU Kids has been approved in 10 states, including Florida in July of 2023 and most recently Alaska.
However, PragerU has received national resistance over its self-proclaimed mission of creating alternatives to the leftist worldview in schools. Prager spoke at a 2023 summit hosted by Moms for Liberty, a political organization that advocates against curriculum in schools on race, ethnicity, discrimination, minority rights and critical race theory, saying: “All I heard was: ‘You indoctrinate kids,’ which is true. We bring doctrines to children. That’s a very fair statement. I said, ‘But what is the bad of our indoctrination?’”
Content on their platform displays names such as “Is There Really a Climate Emergency?” and “How Did Woke Ideology Infiltrate Our Schools?,” which alarmed many scientific experts, historians, and political activists. Jessica Wright, former Florida teacher and vice president of the nonprofit Florida Freedom to Read Project, said in an interview with NPR that PragerU uses logical fallacy, which means the material that you’re reading or listening to might sound like it makes sense. But with deeper knowledge of the topic, it becomes apparent that they came to a conclusion that’s not based on fact. In this interview, Wright also said PragerU videos contain elements that are accurate, but also mix in opinions and skip over important facts, leading to logical fallacy.
Another concern lies in where PragerU receives its funds. In 2024, tax records show that PragerU collected more than $69 million in donations, some of which were provided by Dan and Farris Wilks, billionaires and giants in the fracking industry. The Wilks brothers both argue on anti-climate change platforms. This has raised suspicion as to who benefits from the spread of such knowledge, as well as who can profit. Farris Wilkins was quoted saying, “if (God) wants the polar caps to remain in place, then he will leave them there,” to his congregants at a service in July of 2013.
Additionally, as PragerU is not a traditional teaching institute, they do not have to have as rigorous requirements for their staff in order to support them making content. Eliah Bures, Senior Fellow at Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies and JRWS Managing Editor, told NPR PragerU says their videos explore nonpartisan takes on big ideas, but often tilt in a single direction.
Adam Laats, Binghamton University professor who researches the history of American education, said conservatives have been regaining influence over education policies, though slowly at best. This is highlighted by other wins for conservative groups, such as Live Action, an anti-abortion advocacy group, which produced a short film titled “Olivia” that is now allowed to be shown in MO high schools.
As well, when used in schools there is no bid process, as they are not a traditional vendor requiring payment, and PragerU is an open source. This means the nonprofit has less competition compared to other educational resources, and therefore can tailor its content to their ideological views more easily.
This poses a problem however, Wright said, as it begins to be used in schools. The short, brightly colored, and well-animated videos offer narrow and often oversimplified views on topics, even if teachers accompany the clips with other resources. Many historians also agree that they abuse facts, which leads to black and white coverage of a topic in a grey area. They said the real problem with the videos is that they pretend to be factual, even when they do contain all the right information. The videos push a distinct perspective, historians say, which erodes their assumed impartial stance.
Mary Banks, KHS teacher, watched PragerU’s video on Christopher Columbus, a 13-minute long video exploring Columbus’s actions in relation to slavery, geared towards younger kids, and said it concerned her. She said while she attended graduate school, she studied history, specifically Christopher Columbus.
“I am persistently fact checking [the video] against [my] rich background from former study,” Banks said. “You just have to have background knowledge. You have to have more information than just this.”
Banks said the video stated facts, the old world was not a perfect utopia, but there was a definite twist to the perception. She said there was a colonial feel to the video, from the comparison of the Americas to Western civilization as well as the metaphors and analogies Columbus gives to explain his actions once he reached America.
“[Somebody might see the video as] painting what happened in the past in a more excusable light,” Banks said. “I don’t think any person is shielded from critique from present day viewers, [though] there has to be an understanding that there were different times. [But] It doesn’t ever excuse things.”
Nancy Katz, senior, said she had never heard of PragerU before. She said she learned to be open-minded in government class, and that she doesn’t like to judge others on their political leaning. After watching the nonprofit’s video on Columbus, she said it can be used, but not unaccompanied.
“I’m a very open-minded person. I don’t like to judge people because everybody has their own opinions and views [on a topic],” Katz said. “[So], I think [PragerU] could be a resource, but not the only resource you use. It is biased, [but] a bunch of other things are also biased too.”
Paul Kennedy, sophomore, said he is aware of the nonprofit. Before watching the Columbus video, he said that from what he had heard, PragerU was conservative and factually inaccurate.
“[The videos are] almost inaccurate to the perspectives of actual people,” Kennedy said. “[I think that] they are going to teach [inaccurate] information from a young age, which fits [PragerU’s] mission.”
