The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Service will shut down on Sept. 30, 2025 as congress cut funding for its programs. PBS has been an educational staple, serving the community since 1969. Many adults today, grew up on PBS Kids, and learned essential topics like empathy, sharing within a community and basic literacy through diverse television programs, such as Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Sesame Street, and many others. They gave the opportunity to learn about the world without a biased lens and freely speak their message of inspiration, inclusivity, and non-comercialization in the media.
However, in the absence of PBS, politicians have propped up Prager U, another private non-profit, as an alternative media outlet. Prager U, much like PBS, has a section called Prager U Kids that teaches lessons organized by grade level, about life skills and discusses topics like economics, history, and math. Yet in these educational videos, lie a blurred agenda, they misinform the impressionable audience, while seeming to have covert ideals embedded in the lessons.
Instead of learning kindness and empathy from Mister Rogers, kids will be misinformed about the devastating impacts of slavery and be exposed to harmful conservative ideals. One example of the lessons of Prager U Kids is one of a depiction of a cartoon Christopher Colombus, the child then tells the man that at school he has heard about how Columbus had brought violence and illness to the Indigenous people of America. He then exclaims in shock, claiming they are “some accusations.”
In a documentary produced by Prager U named, Detrans: The Dangers of Gender-Affirming Care, features a formerly identified transgender individual who regretted their transition. Children’s media should aim to educate, and provide a safe space where they can ask questions to have a better understanding of topics they may encounter in the future. Fear-mongering sends the opposite message and can impact the feelings of safety for the child. Prager U is misinforming children under the guise of ‘educating kids about American values.’ When children’s education starts to become invaded with askew political opinions, it stops being objective and starts being subjective. Children are being taught what to think, rather than how to think.
In an era of constantly changing information, parents should be concerned about the type of media their kids are consuming. PBS Kids taught essential skills that encourage communication, critical thinking and media literacy. Most of these lessons can be immediately applicable to their personal lives. PBS is firmly for the people, which contrasts with the company values of Prager U, representing conservative values, messages that are being pushed by politicians. The PBS shutdown demonstrates the violation of freedom of speech, which disagrees with its messaging of compassion for the community. It’s a dystopian tactic.
Just like public education, publicly funded educational media should be protected and treasured, because services like that of PBS, provides quality content, rather than the opinionated influences of the far-right.
