ABSTRACT
Drawing from the work of numerous educators and proponents of the eugenic movement, the author discusses how eugenics transmutated from a more explicit emphasis on racial cleansing toward a vision of social control. And eventually, an even more implicit system by way of education that develops and maintains eugenic ideals. The author outlines the development of a science of society and its implication in promising a raced, classed, and gendered scientism. Pointing out categories such as progressive and conservative as inadequate, she highlights that leftists and socialists were also proponents of a eugenics ideology. Then, the author describes how scholars typically attributed with the origins of the field were implicated in promoting an education system that promoted sorting and classifying students based on their perceived worth. Highlighting the ways in which a eugenic history within the curriculum field has been omitted, the author turns to contemporary examples of eugenic discourse, citing examples from the work of educators such as Ruby Payne.
