State Board OKs school credit for watching videos from conservative non-profit group PragerU

New Hampshire has joined Florida and Oklahoma in allowing students to receive academic credit by watching certain short videos from a group that says it “offers a free alternative to the dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education.”

After hearing several hours of testimony, most of it in opposition, the state Board of Education voted 5-0 Thursday to give credit to high schoolers who watch videos about financial literacy from Prager University Foundation, which despite its name is not a university nor an accredited school. Board Chairman Drew Cline of Bedford abstained.

The California-based nonprofit, co-founded in 2009 by conservative talk show host Dennis Prager, creates online videos and “edutainment” content on a variety of topics.

The vote means high school students will be able to receive a required half-credit for financial literacy by watching 15 videos, each about 5 minutes long, on topics like debt and borrowing. They comprise what PragerU calls its Cash Course. The videos are free and their use is self-directed; worksheets and quizzes are included but not required.

PragerU will be part of the state’s Learn Everywhere program of entities approved to provide credit-worthy programs, alongside organizations like FIRST Robotics and the Seacoast Science Center and non-profit educational groups like the New Hampshire Academy of Sciences. Launched in 2018, Learn Everywhere is an optional program that is not supported by taxpayer funds.

Founded by conservative talk show host Dennis Prager in 2009, PragerU produces colorful animated videos with titles like “Make Men Masculine Again” and “The Inconvenient Truth About the Democratic Party,” as well as videos that question the reality of climate change and the role of slavery in the Civil War.

]]>