To try to achieve something, there are many ways to do it. Two eugenists chose an unacceptable way to attain their goal. In the early 1900s, Lewis Terman and Bart Jordan used eugenics to make the world smarter. After that, Palo Alto’s school district commenced two middle schools and named it after Terman and Jordan. Decades later, several students and parents want to change Terman and Jordan’s school name because they realized that their actions were intolerable. Even though Terman and Jordan tried to increase the general population’s intelligence, a more in-depth analysis shows that their plan would fail.
Additionally, these two cruel men wanted to bring back racism and segregation, and they intended to terminate races and hurt innocent people. Because Terman and Jordan tried to extinguish races and destroyed innocent lives, a name change is extremely necessary. They did this because they believed that “intelligence is passed on through blood,” so they tried to use “selective reproduction” and not allowing certain races to reproduce to improve the human race (Johnson). In other words, Jordan and Terman thought that intelligence is like genes, which means it passes on from parent to children.
For this reason, they wanted to only permit intelligent races to reproduce, therefore they can wipe out races that do not produce smart people. This shows that they are taking away a fundamental right of a person, and is not following the world health organization. The organization’s reproduction rights say, “reproductive rights rest on the recognition of the basic rights of all couples” (Lee). If this was allowed, then some adults will be unable to have children, which means guidance and support will be limited because children have great importance to parents.
Furthermore, some tudents who go to Terman and Jordan would remember their school as the person who tried to stop them from being born. Also, Terman and Jordan convinced states, including California to “require the feeble-minded to have sterilization” (Leslie, 2). This means that weak, ill or disabled people were forbidden to have children. This was a law in many states from the 1920s to 1970s. Cruelness and selfishness describe their actions completely. Not only did they not help the injured people, but they also took advantage of their weak mind and hurt them.
These people already felt a pain that was indescribable, and ow Terman or Jordan does not allow them to have kids, which is like getting punched in the face while having a broken leg. The feeble ones are weak mentally and physically, and they cannot defend their rights because of their conditions. Terman Middle School and Jordan Middle School should change their names because their founders were racist and their actions counter PAUSD’s mission statement.
By using tests, Terman and Jordan convinced many schools “to place slow students into special classes, rigid academic tracks, or entirely separate schools” (Stoskopf). Here, smart students were in one school and the people who do not meet a certain standard on a standardized test go to a different one. Even though Terman and Jordan did not explain the two school’s differences thoroughly, the “smart” school probably has better resources and teachers than the “unintelligent” school.
This is outrageous because Terman and Jordan’s actions are the same as what white people did to people of color, which is racism, a belief that should be abolished. They treated them unfairly because the whites thought the other races did not have as many abilities as heir own. Even if racism was accepted, it is unfair to some students because the tests might not contain a person’s academic strength. Additionally, PAUSD’s mission statement, it states, “we allow ALL students to acquire educational and social competencies.. , but Terman and Jordan did the exact opposite, therefore, two prominent figures in Palo Alto have to be banished, or else the mission statement would be invalid (District, Palo Alto Unified School). Besides separating the students, Terman and Jordan claimed that African-Americans, Native-Americans, and Latino children “cannot master bstractions that can often be made into efficient workers” (Terman 92). In other words, the two eugenicists believe that the three races listed above are too ignorant to work in the real world because they cannot learn challenging concepts.
Racism is shown here because the degradation is targeted to specific races. Also, people look at that person’s skill rather than their race, for example, Martin Luther King, an African-American who changed the world completely. This proves that Terman’s horrific statement is untrue. His quote also contradicts a part of the Terman mission statement, which says Terman Middle School is an inclusive community of students, families, and educators engaged in achieving high academic and social standards with respect for DIVERSITY in a positive school climate. When Terman does not believe in diversity, but the school tells all their students to respect it, it is time for a name modification, and the Palo Alto school district should not have named it after Terman and Jordan in the first place. Some people might contend that Terman and Jordan should not change their name because they tried to create a smarter world. Despite this, the name Terman and Jordan should be banished in Palo Alto’s school district because he gave Hitler the idea to execute people.
They asserted that intelligent and gifted children “were taller, healthier, physically better developed, superior in leadership and social adaptability,” so it could make America’s population smarter (Johnson). To achieve their goal, they planned to create a “Master Race” in America through “deportation and immigration control” (Johnson). Terman and Jordan’s plan very similar to what Hitler wanted to do, and it orked at first but failed after a few years.
The German leader tried to eliminate the Jewish race during world war two because the Jews didn’t fit into Hitler’s master race. After murdering many Jews, the rest of the world didn’t accept his beliefs and attacked them and “thousands of Nazis and Adolf Hitler committed suicide” (Stratix. com). This proves that a master race won’t work because as long as some races or people don’t agree with the idea, they can all cooperate to stop the plan of Terman and Jordan and convincing millions of people that disagree with their thinking is impractical.
Even if there is a “master race”, it won’t work because nobody would do the dirty work, for example, build architectures, sweep the floor and people would leave because they could acquire a much better job in other countries. The reason behind this plan is unreasonable because the smarter people will obtain laborious jobs and the dumber people will be unable to move into America. Then, the smart people in America would move out of the country because they will get a much higher pay in other countries since other countries don’t have master races.
Furthermore, this is mpossible to achieve because people will only obey their orders if the government gives them the authority to do so. Second, students from Terman and Jordan won’t want to go to a school that is named after a person who “created the idea for Hitler” (Leslie). If Terman and Jordan didn’t write about this plan, Hitler and Nazis would never gain power and murder so many lives. At school and at other educational places, people teach students that what Hitler did is wrong and unacceptable and Terman and Jordan did the opposition of what the students are learning, thus a name change is necessary or else.
Now, students would remember Terman and Jordan as the ones who gave Hitler the idea to create his death camps, and it sets a terrible example for students. In conclusion, Terman and Jordan should change their name because of their dreadful ideas and actions, such as, being racist and killing innocent races. Also, their plan on making the population smart is pointless because it is never going to work. The two eugenicists tried to help the world, but instead, they have a vexation reputation in the modern days. How would you feel if something important has been taken away without a decent explanation?