You can’t say or think anything wrong. You can’t be impolite, or look like you think differently from the group. When you do, others work to enforce their will upon you…whether it’s your supervisor, your family, the group of people you are a part of. I wonder, as we see increasing signs of unhappiness, of no thinking, that many are saying, “Why? Why can’t I? What if I don’t follow those rules, or believe as I was taught?” And, on the opposite end, what if you don’t believe in those things I believe, why should you get the benefit of my morals, my way of being with people that are like me?

Photo by David Underland on Unsplash

I wonder if it’s not really about thinking, about interrogating the reality you live in. Haven’t you wondered what would happen if you HAD asked your history teacher, “How come you’re teaching us these lies about what REALLY happened to Indigenous Peoples under Spanish rule?”

Or maybe, you ask, “How come you aren’t afraid to REALLY have a course on diversity, equity and inclusion, just a pretend one?”

PragerU is finding its way into schools across America. Lots of big money interests, religious people who want an America that goes into the future blindfolded about the past. Read this excellent piece:

PragerU is neither a certified, nor university- or research-based curriculum, much less a university. It’s an organization founded by Dennis Prager, a conservative radio host, that produces conservative content on politics and society that you can learn more about in this piece by Robert McCoy in The Progressive.

This brief recounting of what it contains is a bright, neon warning sign of an agenda for right-wing dogma, lies, distortions, and indoctrination by via “selective omissions and mythologizing, molding the historical figures depicted into vehicles for rightwing messaging and cudgels in the modern conservative culture war.”

Geez, it’s a whitewashing of an already whitewashed curriculum. Check out, for example, this May 3, 2023 piece by Austin American-Statesman’s columnist Bridget Grumet titled, Grumet: Protests are a part of U.S. history. What story will Texas’ textbooks tell?

If anything, PragerU amounts to an “avoidance curriculum,” that seeks to avoid the difficult truths of history by structuring out critical discourse, thought, and pedagogy itself.

The Texas State Board of Educator Certification (SBOE) is considering adopting Prager. You can watch a cringe-worthy video featuring an SBOE member on the PragerU website. I hate to break it to you, SBOE, the America you want is fascist America. Why are you perpetuating lies, or not teaching the truth? Are you so terrified your children will challenge and ask, “What if you had taught me the truth, taught me about how we continue to enslave people, if not with chains, with illusions, fantasies, and lies?”