Eugenics! The History of it ALL!!!

EUGENICS! THE HISTORY OF IT ALL!

    Eugenics, who really knows what it is exactly? Well according to dictionary.com, it is the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits. However in my own words I would have to say that eugenics to me is basically having good and bad traits. The traits could possible vary from a disease to having a prominent facial feature. Eugenics is the way in which this all is analyzed and processed to better the human species.
    So throughout this 3rd quarter we have been working around the idea of eugenics. Although now in the twenty first century we have all learned to except each other for the most part. It's weird to think back to the times where people were sterilized because of a certain defect they could possibly obtain from either parent's chromosome. In my own opinion this seems a little obsessive and I'm sure there could have been better ways of taking care of genetic disorders. After all you must consider that there is always the possibility that the gene may not be passed on, depending on there inheritance pattern. This is the point in which autosomal recessive and dominant patterns along with sex linked patterns come into play. Each of these patterns contain their own characteristics. (For more Details, please visit my Inheritance Patterns Blog)
     Back in the twentieth century eugenicists even believed that traits such as alcoholism or even thievery could be passed down genetically. Their initial thought was that if a parent was an alcoholic, then their child stood a good chance of inheriting this trait. Although many children take after their parents it is not through genetics that these social traits can be passed down. Sure, there is a chance that the child could be an alcoholic as well, but I would believe that if they were raised in that environment than they would think it was right unless taught and shown differently. It has even been said that eugenicists thought if by two alcoholics not having kids that this problem would be solved so they would not bare an alcoholic child. But hey, i guess that plays into the whole Nature vs. Nurture aspect. The aspect being that nature is genetic material as nurture is what they were taught.
    I suppose, the past is the past and no one can change the unfairness that so many people were faced with, but I have to agree that it is definitely a good thing that are scientific discoveries have advanced as much as they have in the last century. Now there is no more segregation of defects or diseases, It's strange to think now that at one point in time eugenicists tried to separate their ideas of the good and bad genes of eugenics. I mean taking out the bad to let the good thrive, we're a civilized country and all these aspects should be recognized. Eugenics cannot determine who is good and bad, it just determines the possibilities and analyzes them to the best of its abilities.
     Moving on, here is some more historical information about eugenics. Just after the Civil War, immigrants began coming to America, during the reconstruction period. At this time there was an unknown reason for a decline in birth rates of higher ranked families, where as lower ranked families birth rates began to increase drastically. Along with that social Darwinism began to rise. Social Darwinism is basically the method of "survival of the fittest." And of course the more well of people were believed to be the fittest during this time period. This is the point in time where it was believed that sterilization was a necessity. It was believed that the sterilization of the poor would better the survival of our race. But little did they know, the elites were not much different from the poor. Most of eugenicists work was done from IQ tests and behavioral tests that included criminal activity and social standings. With this research came the testing off 700 degenerates, done by Richard Dugdale. Dugdale assumed that this degeneration was due to the fact that environments were poor, however when these lower class families were mixed with the upper class, the genes were still passed on. Although this experiment suggested that lower class families were not the inhabitants of this disorder, it was completely ignored as restrictions on marriage increased to keep the rankings or people separate. Many families were poorly labeled and stuck into homes for the mentally disabled and other things of the sort. Although many of the children at this time, made it through these struggles they proved eugenicists wrong about so many ideas. Take Carrie Buck for instance, she was separated from her family and put into a home for the "feeble minded." She as many others knew that she didn't belong there and she was far from feeble minded. She grew up and later showed much progress that put the eugenicists to shame as did others.
     However, it was later decided that eugenicists did not have enough information to validate these accusations they were making. Which thankfully saved many from being killed off as others before them were. The justification of this has ever since been very valuable, after all, passing judgement on someone with a defect is far from humane, and definitely not a believable cause for someone to die over. So there you have it! My overall aspect of the history of eugenics! All I can say is, I'm so glad science has matured so much in the last century. Who knows, it could have saved both yours, and my life! =)

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