SC education department partners with controversial right wing group PragerU for content
The South Carolina Department of Education has partnered with the controversial, unaccredited nonprofit Prager University Foundation to provide students with “supplemental” classroom materials.
“We must focus on providing students the tools they need to be successful,” state Superintendent Ellen Weaver said in a press release. “These resources will inspire our students, broaden their horizons, and help them thrive in and out of the classroom. By empowering them with the real-life world knowledge and skills, South Carolina is building a brighter future for all.”
Weaver said age-appropriate materials provided by the organization — including at least 70 different videos, lesson plans, worksheets, and books — align with South Carolina’s K-12 school standards and provide a range of topics from civics to financial literacy.
The department’s partnership with the group, known as PragerU, is meant to “celebrate America’s rich history,” according to a press release. The materials are optional for teachers to use, but will be easily accessible.
PragerU was founded in 2011 by Dennis Prager, a conservative radio host. The organization, a right-wing advocacy group, claims to arm people with the “intellectual ammunition” to advocate for “limited government, individual responsibility and economic freedom.”
When the Florida Board of Education approved the use of PragerU Kids videos to be shown in classrooms in 2023, it became the first state to have a formal partnership with the organization. It’s now also an education partner in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Louisiana, Montana and New Hampshire.
But some PragerU materials are considered controversial. Some historically inaccurate. Others offensive.
A video about Frederick Douglass, which was widely shared online last year, depicted the slavery abolitionist saying that slavery was a “compromise” between the nation’s founding fathers and the southern colonies to “achieve something great.”
NPR reported that one video called feminism a “mean-spirited, small minded and oppressive philosophy,” and another featured a historian saying no piece of land belongs to a single group of people in regard to colonization. NBC reported that a video about Christopher Columbus described Indigenous groups “far from peaceful” and defended slavery.
Sherry East, president of the South Carolina Education Association, called the partnership with PragerU “disturbing” and a “huge red flag.” The history PragerU teaches is biased and “absolutely controversial,” she said.
“No one thinks its a good idea,” East said. “I’m concerned young people will be indoctrinated ... we want to teach accurate history.”
She said she doesn’t know of any teachers involved in the decision.
State legislators have also been critical online of the state department’s decision, including Richland County Democrats Reps. Jermaine Johnson and Todd Rutherford and Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine. Rutherford lamented Weaver’s election on social media, calling her unqualified.
“Now we have Candace Owens teaching history class,” Rutherford wrote, referring to the conservative pundit.
A spokesman for the state education department could not be reached for comment on the use of PragerU materials in public schools. According to The Washington Post, PragerU is neither paying nor receiving money from state partners.
The partnership comes amid other changes made in South Carolina’s public schools since Weaver took office in January 2023. A recently-approved policy allows statewide book bans in school libraries and classrooms, shifting the final say away from local school boards to the State Board of Education. And earlier this year, the education department discontinued advancement placement African American studies in the state’s public schools.
The decision drew the ire from civil rights leaders, state representatives and students alike. Individual schools are allowed to teach the class as an elective. But students will not be able to earn the same college credit for the course that they might have previously.
Created by the College Board, the African American studies curriculum was a rigorous, interdisciplinary approach to examining the African American experience, from the African diaspora and slavery to the civil rights movement of the 20th century.
“People are being deprived of their right to a free education,” Johnson said in June. “We cannot stand for this. We must teach the truth. If they remove this class, they are effectively whitewashing history.”
