On Day 1, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Targets Critical Race Theory

While other conservative states in 2021 passed laws to limit the discussion of race in the school, efforts to do the same in the Republican-dominated state of Arkansas stalled in the legislature.

First thing after being sworn in, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders used her power as chief executive to alter this.

 

Soon after being ushered in as president on Tuesday, Sanders signed an executive order mandating a review of all state education standards and practises to see whether or not they “encourage teaching that would indoctrinate pupils with beliefs, such as CRT.” She issued a directive to eradicate any brainwashing found.

Research on the effects of institutionalised racism in the United States is the focus of critical race theory. Conservatives have adopted the term as a shorthand for any programme or instruction that addresses structural racism.

 

Sanders’s directive also forbade educators from spreading falsehoods about particular races, such as the idea that some races are intrinsically better or worse than others.

“As long as I am governor, our schools will focus on the skills our students need to achieve ahead in the contemporary economy, not brainwashing our youngsters with a left-wing political agenda,” she stated.

 

Sanders first gained widespread notoriety as President Trump’s press secretary before he ran for politics. Numerous states have passed legislation limiting teachers’ speech on the subject of race after Trump’s administration bolstered conservative resistance to its inclusion in the classroom.

However, in Arkansas, such a bill failed to pass. State employees in California cannot be required to hear the argument that the United States is inherently racist or sexist as part of their required training. This is thanks to a law that was passed by lawmakers. Schools were exempt from this rule. Asa Hutchison, the governor at the time and a Republican, let the bill pass without signing it.

 

Hutchinson said at the time that the law was unneeded because it “does not address any problem that exists.”

Even still, conservatives have kept pushing the issue because they believe it has a lot of sway with GOP core voters and even the wider public. Similarly, Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has signed a number of bills in recent months in anticipation of a possible 2020 presidential bid.

 

Sanders has also urged the legislature to enact school choice legislation this week, which would assist pay for pupils to attend private schools rather than public institutions. She has advocated for increased funding for classroom teachers and for programmes to boost student literacy.

In response, members of the state Democratic Party stated they would back initiatives like raising teacher pay, but they would oppose other parts of her education programme.

 

 

The Arkansas Democratic Party issued a statement saying, “We stand with our teachers and know they are first and foremost much too busy grading papers, buying their own supplies, and developing lesson plans to indoctrinate anyone.”