'Completely false claims': Montana watchdog warns against 'extremist' educational content

15 October 2023

A Montana extremism watchdog is warning against the state's Office of Public Instruction's (OPI) recent approval of educational materials from the right-wing organization Prager U, News From The States reports.

Per the news outlet, "Montana follows Florida and Oklahoma in approving the license for PragerU in the state, as first reported by Montana Free Press. However, a public schools official said approval of teaching the controversial content in classrooms will be in the hands of local school board trustees in Montana."

The news outlet notes:

Some examples of PragerU Kids Media Matters listed in the summary of its analysis:

A cartoon Booker T. Washington distorting the history of the Civil War.
A narrator explaining that embracing climate denialism is akin to participating in the Warsaw Uprising.
An instructional video telling girls that conforming to gender stereotypes is a great way to embrace their femininity.
A dramatization of the supposedly civilizing, benevolent era of British colonial rule in India.

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According to the report, Montana Human Rights Network's Cherilyn DeVries said, at first the video seems reasonable. It sounds like 'Oh, patriotism is good' or you know, 'We all want a healthy economy' or 'We should all get along.' And then they kind of dive into some of the racism and minimize anti-Semitism."

She noted that "in the wake of the pandemic, kids are still struggling and looking for something strong to believe in, and PragerU can seem very convincing," saying, "This seems to be a reasonable position, and then suddenly they are getting partisan and extremist propaganda mixed in with their curriculum at school. This is how these kinds of positions and groups get normalized.”

DeVries emphasized, They cast doubt on the realities of climate change and the brutality of slavery. They make completely false claims about public school curriculum. They dismiss well-documented incidents of discrimination. Organizations promoting misinformation and openly partisan agendas like this have no right to force their way into nonpartisan public schools."

News From The States' full report is available at this link.

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