South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem on Tuesday signed an executive order banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in K-12 schools, joining a growing list of conservatives against the controversial academic concept.
Noem, who chickened out of the transgender sports issue recently, has decided to sign into law an executive order tasking the Department of Education with checking educational materials for “divisive concepts” based on race.
“Political indoctrination has no place in our classrooms,” said Noem in a statement. “Our children will not be taught that they are racists or that they are victims and they will not be compelled to feel responsible for the mistakes of their ancestors. We will guarantee that our students learn America’s true and honest history – that includes both our triumphs and our mistakes.”
Critical Race Theory has no place in our South Dakota public education.
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) April 5, 2022
That’s why yesterday I announced I will be signing an executive order to ban the teachings in our K-12 schools. pic.twitter.com/nPYye6E4oT
The governor also released a video on Twitter further explaining her reasons for why she signed the order and what it will do.
“I brought two bills this legislative session that banned Critical Race Theory from being taught in our classrooms, in our K-12 schools and another one that banned it in our universities,” said the South Dakota Governor in the video.
“The legislature supported and passed it and I signed into law the university one. So now, in South Dakota going forward, Critical Race Theory cannot be taught in our universities. They killed the K-12 one. So tomorrow, I will be signing an executive order to make sure that Critical Race Theory is not taught in our public school systems, too.”
According to the executive order, CRT is described as an ideology that forces students to look at everything through a “purely racial lens.”
“[CRT] compels students to view the world through a purely racial lens and to judge others based on the color of their skin rather than the content of their character. The inherently divisive concepts that underlay Critical Race Theory have no place in our classrooms,” read in a summary of the order.
South Dakota joins 15 other states that have signed bans or executive orders to limit CRT in public schools, with Mississippi becoming one of the most recent states to do so.
