Education Secretary Bill Nye offers free online human geography courses for professional athletes

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Once basketball superstars Kyrie Irving and Shaquille O’Neil both publicly professed to a belief in the Flat Earth Theory, Education Secretary Bill Nye knew he had his work cut out for him.

“Professional athletes are role models,” said Nye. “They have millions of fans who pay attention to what they say and what they do. To have these athletes offer up support for a disproven theory could do a lot of damage, particularly to younger fans.”

Thanks to the recently expanded National Education Association budget, Secretary Nye created an online human geography course geared toward educating professional athletes.

“I wanted to provide these athletes with an opportunity to come to a deeper understanding about how and why people are the way they are,” explained Nye. “Many athletes today come from diverse backgrounds. I wanted to give them the opportunity to learn about these backgrounds in a way that would benefit them and their relationships with their teammates and fans.”

Los Angeles Lakers forward Julius Randall loves the course so far. “The other day I was able to have a full thirty minute conversation with my teammate Luol Deng about his home country of South Sudan,” he beamed. 

“While visiting a hospital, I talked to a fan about the positive contributions of the Irish in the greater Boston area,” explained New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. "Who knew?"

Even more heartening, both Kyrie Irving and Shaquille O’Neil have walked back their beliefs in the Flat Earth Theory since enrolling in the course.

With early RateMyProfessor reviews being overwhelmingly positive, Secretary Nye hopes to expand the video series to educate other celebrities who have the ability to reach larger numbers of fans and supporters, starting with the Kardashians.