Eugenics and Education in America: Institutionalized Racism and the Implications of History, Ideology, and Memory - Paperback

by William F. Pinar (Other), Ann Winfield (Author)

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.

Author Biography

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.