By The Right-Wing Teen
“Last year PragerU videos racked up more than one billion views. The Prager empire now has a fleet of 6,500 high school and college student promoters, known as the PragerForce, who host on-campus meetings and gather at least once a year for conventions. And this year, the company is expanding its scope.” ~New York Times
On college campuses and in high schools nationwide, PragerU is changing the conversation. Even the largest media outlets cannot ignore the impact of PragerU!
The New York Times recently published a feature story that highlights how PragerU is making a big impression on millions of young Americans. The print version of this article, dated January 5, 2020, appeared on Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: “It’s Fox News For Generation Z, in Five-Minute Videos Online.”
The article by Nellie Bowles, which made the front page of the Sunday edition (with a full spread inside), describes PragerU as a “digital empire” founded by conservative talk show host Dennis Prager “to circumvent brick-and-mortar classrooms” by appealing to teenagers and “Generation Z, those born in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.”
The left may have monopolized the media, Hollywood, and public education, but PragerU is reaching high school and college students right where they are – on their computer or on their phone. Bowles writes, “Mr. Prager sees those young people as more indoctrinated in left-wing viewpoints than any previous generation, but also as more curious about the right” and “more open to hearing an alternative voice.” For these teens, consuming conservative content is their way of being rebellious.
Indeed, PragerU videos are a refreshing antidote to the intolerant left-wing narrative that has been dominating the culture. Thanks to PragerU, college students and young adults across the country are being exposed to conservative ideas that they may never have heard before – and they are sharing these ideas with their peers through social media.
As mentioned in a previous Homeschooling Teen article, the educational PragerU videos also may be used to supplement an American History, Government, or Civics class. If you watch the videos at PragerU.com, you can access the Quizzes, Facts & Sources, Transcripts, and Study Guides that accompany each video.
PragerU in a non-profit organization. Contrary to what was implied in the New York Times, PragerU videos are not fueled by large donations from billionaires, but mainly by individual supporters. Their subscribers and supporter base are growing exponentially, and over 40% of their budget comes from online donations.
Incidentally, if you’ve always wondered why it’s called Prager University when it isn’t really one, the New York Times article explains how the name came about. The original plan was to actually build a conservative university campus, but a physical building turned out to be prohibitively expensive.
That’s when producer and screenwriter Allen Estrin came up with the idea of making a virtual university, featuring tight five-minute courses. “We used to say in the early days, ‘Give us five minutes, and we’ll give you a semester,’” Mr. Estrin said. Not to mention, with no major overhead costs, they could make it tuition-free!
Marissa Streit, who had been a Hebrew tutor for another PragerU backer, joined as the company’s chief executive in 2011, and videos started going out. “We released a video and had 35,000 views,” Ms. Streit noted. “I still remember Allen looked over to Dennis and said, ‘Can you imagine a classroom of 35,000 people?’”
The PragerU videos, narrated by distinguished professors and leading experts in their field – including historians, economists, and scientists – are packed with pertinent facts and statistics. PragerU’s motto is: “The best ideas from the best minds distilled into five focused minutes.” Like Cliff’s Notes on the issues, the videos don’t waste any time and get right to the heart of the matter.
These videos offer useful civics and life lessons for everyone, not just students. So Mr. Prager is eager for PragerU’s online audience to keep growing. “I obviously recognize that a billion views a year means more influence than a million views,” he stated. Meanwhile, he hopes to expand his PragerForce student alliance to advocate for more conservative programming on the campuses of universities, colleges and high schools.
Interested in joining PragerForce? Text “PragerFORCE” to 64600 or learn more here: https://www.prageru.com/pragerforce