The conservative group's big announcement that its climate denial videos were approved in Texas public schools appears to be a lie, the Texas State Board of Education tells HEATED.
So for the past half century or so, textbook publishers would write what they knew would be approved in CA or TX (and now FL) and not be too concerned with the smaller states. This means that textbook writers and curriculum developers created curricula that would satisfy the standards in those 3 states. Their biggest goal was obtaining approval for those 3 states - so those three states set the de facto curriculum standards for the entire country. If a smaller state demanded a different curriculum, they had to pretty much create their own curricula and textbooks - which was not economically feasible for most states. So, they were forced to use what had already been created for the "Big Three."
This explains why Prager is pushing so damn hard to at least appear to be on the "approved" list for those states. Obviously they know better than to try to obtain approval from California, so they are doubling down on the other two in the hopes that conservative school boards across the nation will simply follow along. If they can appear to be on that approved list, that's half the battle.
So this is a helluva lot bigger than Texas and Florida - it involves spreading this poison into schools across the entire nation. We have an enormous responsibility here to prevent this from happening.
Brava! Thank you for your dogged (pun intended) reporting on this. It falls me that these corrupt organizations are targeting children. Exposure is a good start.
Continued learning is a pleasure even when one finds out they got something wrong and may have to change an opinion or two as a consequence. Some, too wealthy, have become comfortable in their ignorance and worse wish to spread their willful mis-understanding particularly among the young. Sadly, their wealth provides the means to stunt understanding in children.
Emily, thanks so much for this reporting. It's delightful to see such clear refutation of the lying bastards at the Prager Indoctrination Club.
I learned years ago about the ins & outs of the textbook publishing industry: it's a multi-billion-dollar industry, and it is led by states with the largest student populations. In descending order, these states are California, Texas, and Florida (https://www.statista.com/statistics/1036120/public-high-school-enrollment-state-us/#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20there%20were%20over,enrolled%20in%20public%20high%20schools.).
So for the past half century or so, textbook publishers would write what they knew would be approved in CA or TX (and now FL) and not be too concerned with the smaller states. This means that textbook writers and curriculum developers created curricula that would satisfy the standards in those 3 states. Their biggest goal was obtaining approval for those 3 states - so those three states set the de facto curriculum standards for the entire country. If a smaller state demanded a different curriculum, they had to pretty much create their own curricula and textbooks - which was not economically feasible for most states. So, they were forced to use what had already been created for the "Big Three."
This explains why Prager is pushing so damn hard to at least appear to be on the "approved" list for those states. Obviously they know better than to try to obtain approval from California, so they are doubling down on the other two in the hopes that conservative school boards across the nation will simply follow along. If they can appear to be on that approved list, that's half the battle.
So this is a helluva lot bigger than Texas and Florida - it involves spreading this poison into schools across the entire nation. We have an enormous responsibility here to prevent this from happening.
“Prager U” is about as honest as the former “Trump U”.
On one hand, I'm relieved to know this is a farce. On the other hand, I worry that some Texans will try to make this a reality.
Brava! Thank you for your dogged (pun intended) reporting on this. It falls me that these corrupt organizations are targeting children. Exposure is a good start.
Continued learning is a pleasure even when one finds out they got something wrong and may have to change an opinion or two as a consequence. Some, too wealthy, have become comfortable in their ignorance and worse wish to spread their willful mis-understanding particularly among the young. Sadly, their wealth provides the means to stunt understanding in children.