It is difficult to keep informed, but vital that we do so, and hold officials accountable. Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut has said he is against indoctrination in our public schools. Yet he is now working to install a program from PragerU on financial literacy into the Learn Everywhere program. PragerU is not accredited and not an academic institution. It is a conservative media organization promoting extreme right wing views. It has been working with the Florida and Texas departments of education. It espouses climate change denial despite the facts. Its videos promote misleading information about racism and LGBTQ issues. It’s had some videos removed from YouTube and Google because of hate speech. Check out the website for yourself. It’s quite an eye opener.

The State Board of Education tabled PragerU’s application until its next meeting on September 14. One criticism raised is that students taking the course would have easy access to other PragerU videos. At the next meeting, PragerU will supply a prototype of a standalone website, limiting students’ automatic access to their other videos. That’s not enough. Any affiliation with PragerU is wrong. Why would the NH Department of Education enlist an out-of-state, non-educational organization with extreme right wing views for any course? It legitimizes PragerU, provides an inroad for further involvement with them, and opens students’ exposure to PragerU’s indoctrination. We need to elect officials who will not appoint unqualified people to positions to promote false narratives and undermine unbiased education when they think people aren’t looking.

Mary Meyers

Hancock

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