Conservative college’s curriculum gets foothold in S. Dakota


              Shaun Nielsen sits for a portrait in Sioux Park in Rapid City, S.D. Nielsen, a middle-school social studies teacher in the Rapid City Area School District, was part of a commission formed to help develop new social studies standards in South Dakota. Nielsen said before the group began its work, he got a thick packet of materials from Hillsdale College, a conservative Michigan school, that ultimately formed what the state's public schools students could be expected to learn about American history and civics. (Matt Gade/Rapid City Journal via AP)
            
              FILE - South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Feb. 25, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. While Republican governors have embraced Hillsdale College’s education for K-12 students, Noem has been perhaps the most enthusiastic. Larry Arrn, the school's president, even said in a speech last year that Noem had “offered to build us an entire campus in South Dakota.” (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
            
              Ben Jones, who oversees the the South Dakota Historical Society, sits for a portrait with a copy of South Dakota's proposed social studies standards in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Sept. 1, 2022. He worked on the South Dakota Social Studies Standards Commission, which was led by a former Hillsdale College professor. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves)
            
              Shaun Nielsen stands for a portrait in Sioux Park in Rapid City, S.D. Nielsen, a middle-school social studies teacher in the Rapid City Area School District, was part of a commission formed to help develop new social studies standards in South Dakota. Nielsen said before the group began its work, he got a thick packet of materials from Hillsdale College, a conservative Michigan school, that ultimately formed what the state's public schools students could be expected to learn about American history and civics. (Matt Gade/Rapid City Journal via AP)
Conservative college’s curriculum gets foothold in S. Dakota