Roquel Gorneau News Today

RAPID CITY, S.D. – When the debate over teaching race-related concepts in public schools reached Kimberly Tilsen-Brave Heart’s home state of South Dakota, she decided she couldn’t in good conscience send her youngest daughter to kindergarten at a local public school. “I knew that the public school system would not benefit my child without the […]

In South Dakota, educators worry new efforts to teach Native American studies could be undermined by legislation to restrict discussion of race and ethnicity.

When the debate over teaching race-related concepts in public schools reached Kimberly Tilsen-Brave Heart’s home state of South Dakota, she decided she couldn’t in good conscience send her youngest daughter to kindergarten at a local public school.

Educators worry new efforts to teach Native American studies could be undermined by legislation to restrict discussion of race and ethnicity.

Dozens of states have recently adopted or introduced laws or policies that take aim at critical race theory, commonly known as CRT. Critics say the orders threaten to undo years-long attempts to enrich lessons about the history of Native American students whose culture is at risk of vanishing from the curriculum.