Eugenics and Education
| July 5th, 2008 | Crossposted from The Blog and the BulletBill Ayers reviews Ann G. Winfield’s book Eugenics and Education in America:
Written out of the official story as quackery and the handiwork of a few nut-cases, Winfield demonstrates beyond doubt that eugenics was not only respectable, mainstream science but also that its major tenets were well-springs in the formation of American public schools with echoes in the every day practices of today. Formed in the crucible of white supremacy and rigid hierarchies of human value, American schools have never adequately faced that living heritage.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:30 am
One of the dirty little secrets of the eugenics movement of the early 20th Century is that it was as much anti-immigrant (and especially anti-Southern and Eastern European) as it was racist.
These eugenicists got the United States to severely restrict immigration in 1924 to “protect the country from imbeciles and criminals”.
Funny, but the sons of the “imbeciles and criminals” provided a huge boost to the military to win World War II, often fighting against the countries they were driven out of!
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July 7th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Engenists want to abolish, in a form or another, anything that is undesirable. Undesirable usually meaning not normal.
Any birth disability, any intersex condition, and I’m sure that if they find a way to screen for gays, transsexuals, non-conformity and such, they also would. Cause nothing’s better than a world where everyone is the same and everyone acts the same and the status quo stays…
Selective abortion is their method of choice, but for those already alive, it’s demonization and lack of empathy.
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July 8th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
That review seems to have gone to a lot of fluff and bother to say very little about the actual book. It talks about humanism, the political ramifications of education, schools as a microcosm of the communities they are in-etc, with little actual reference to current education in america, or to eugenics. 10$ says Ayers didn’t read beyond the introduction of the book.
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