Eugenics and Education in America: Institutionalized Racism and the Implications of History, Ideology, and Memory / Edition 1

by Ann Winfield

Overview

Education in America was designed to organize, classify, and sort students according to a definition of ability and human worth provided by a racialized scientism known as eugenics – an ideology whose ultimate goal was the establishment of a superior White race. Eugenicists targeted entire ethnic groups, the urban poor, rural «White trash,» the sexually «deviant,» Blacks, Jews, Native Americans, Asians, Latino/as, and anyone who did not fit with the pseudo-scientifically established «superior» Nordic race. Education leaders, complaining of children of «worm-eaten stock,» established an enduring system to organize and sort students according to perceived societal worth. In exposing and addressing eugenics’ place in our educational system, this book provides a groundbreaking addition to, and exceptional correction of, the history of curriculum in America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820481463
Publisher:	Peter Lang Publishing Inc.
Publication date:	02/28/2007
Series:	Complicated Conversation: A Book Ser. of Curriculum Studies , #18
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	195
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

The Author: Ann Gibson Winfield is Assistant Professor of Historical and Philosophical Foundations at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. She received her Ph.D. in educational foundations, research, and leadership, with a concentration in curriculum studies from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Editorial Reviews

«This is one of the best books on eugenics and education. By drawing from a range of disciplines, making visible the many fields affected by the false claims of the eugenicists, Ann Gibson Winfield shows how many of the assumptions underlying public education have been drawn from eugenics. Children have been sorted out, tracked, and measured on bell curves by educators believing themselves to be fair and democratic largely because of the way the principles of eugenics have been internalized. This book makes painfully clear how what are taken to be values can overwhelm what are known to be truths. It is, moreover, readable and exciting, as accounts of explorations ought to be.» (Maxine Greene, Professor of Philosophy and Education (Emeritus), Teachers College, Columbia University)
«As the scourge of eugenics once again haunts us, Ann Gibson Winfield’s work is not just timely, it is urgent. This highly theorized and well-researched book frames, historicizes, and politicizes this curious and threatening movement as few have.…An informative, well-crafted, fascinating, and accessible volume. This will surely be a defining work in the field.» (William H. Watkins, Author of ‘The White Architects of Black Education’)

From the Publisher