PragerU CEO Marissa Streit says teacher-training materials used in ethnic studies programs portray ordinary parental boundaries as oppression while promoting anti-capitalist, critical race theory and abolitionist ideas.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Teacher-training programs and ethnic studies curricula are increasingly introducing the concept of “adultism,” which critics say encourages students to view parental authority and ordinary family boundaries as forms of oppression.
Marissa Streit, CEO of the conservative education organization PragerU, said the approach is spreading through K-12 schools and teacher-training programs in more than 22 states. In an interview with Fox News, Streit argued that adultism is being used to recast routine parental decisions involving clothing, sexual behavior and medical care as authoritarian or discriminatory.
The term historically emerged in sociology to describe discrimination or prejudice against children because of their age. Streit said current education materials have expanded the concept to challenge the legitimacy of adults setting limits for minors.
“[Ethnic studies] teaches the teacher to tell the student that the term adultism is a negative thing,” Streit told Fox News Digital. “When an adult is behaving like an adult by telling their child that the child should not dress a certain way or have sex at an early age or even request sex or gender changes … the parent is engaging in adultism.”
Streit cited a passage from a teacher-training text that allegedly states, “Adultism teaches us that adults have the power and the right to decide what young people’s boundaries should be.”
She displayed a manual titled “Lessons In Liberation: An Abolitionist Toolkit for Educators,” which she said promotes anti-capitalism, critical race theory and rejection of adult authority.
The publisher, AK Press, describes the book as “designed for educators, parents, and young people,” adding that the toolkit “shines a light on innovative abolitionist projects, particularly in Pre-K–12 learning contexts.”
Streit contends that ethnic studies programs are repackaging concepts associated with diversity, equity and inclusion, social-emotional learning and critical race theory after those initiatives faced increased public resistance. She said the revised terminology continues to promote many of the same anti-capitalist and Marxist ideas.
A June report by the San Francisco Chronicle said ethnic studies workshops in San Francisco schools generated “significant controversy” after training presentations described adultism as a form of oppression.
“Due to systemic power dynamics inherently the relationship between students and educators is an oppressive one,” one presentation reportedly stated.
The debate over adult authority has also become part of disputes involving whether schools may conceal a student’s gender transition, preferred name or pronouns from parents. Several parental notification cases have reached courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Streit said the country’s largest teachers unions have opposed policies requiring schools to notify parents when students adopt a different gender identity at school.
She pointed to a resolution adopted by the American Federation of Teachers pledging to protect students from “forced outing.” The resolution also cited President Donald Trump’s executive order affirming biological sex in federal policy.
Streit said the effort to weaken parental authority is part of a broader political strategy aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America.
“The ultimate goal is the DSA platform, and that is to radically transform America,” Streit said.
She pointed to DSA figures who have publicly called for dismantling or restructuring major American institutions, including the Senate, the presidency and the Constitution.
Streit argued that achieving those objectives requires activists to weaken public confidence in American institutions while breaking down relationships among children, parents and their communities.
“They have to break the bond between a child and the parent. They have to break the bond between a parent and the community,” Streit said. “By creating an entire chaotic environment, you create an environment of collective grievance where the individual feels helpless and hopeless … then a new form of government comes out and says, ‘Well, you can’t trust anybody else, so therefore put your trust in us.’ And that is always what socialists have done.”
She said similar political themes appear in teacher-training materials that advocate dismantling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and traditional law enforcement institutions.
“And so, imagine you’re training these teachers and the teachers are taking this to America’s classrooms. Within a few years, you have radical Marxists graduating from our schools, believing that America should be dismantled from within. And once they dismantle America from within, they’ll come in with new political power, as we’ve seen in Cuba and Venezuela and other places around the world,” Streit added.
Other conservative education organizations have raised similar concerns. Defending Education has warned that DEI principles continue to appear in school district model policies and professional training materials despite efforts by the Trump administration to eliminate DEI programs from public institutions.
A recent Defending Education report also alleged that teachers unions were incorporating DEI principles into policies governing artificial intelligence.
Supporters of ethnic studies and student privacy policies argue that such programs help students understand power differences, discrimination and identity while protecting vulnerable children. Streit and other critics maintain that the curricula go further by encouraging minors to view parents, teachers and other adults primarily through a victim-versus-oppressor framework.
The dispute reflects a broader national struggle over who should control decisions involving children, what political ideas belong in public-school instruction and whether schools should ever withhold information from parents.
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