B2 – Upper Intermediate
Early advocates of Eugenics considered mental illness, physical disabilities, poverty, and criminal behavior as inherited traits. Their efforts to control human population to breed out undesirable traits inspired this scientific movement.
Let’s watch the video and know more about the theory of Eugenics.
Discussion Questions:
- What is Eugenics and how did this movement begin?
- What were its members’ ideal genetic standards? What did they consider as undesirable human traits?
- What series of events around the globe resulted from this idea of Eugenics?
- What is your take on the idea of Eugenics? Do you think there is one single set of desirable human traits?
- What is your opinion on this, “Eugenicists worldwide believed that they could perfect human beings and eliminate so-called social ills through genetics and heredity.”?
2 replies on “The Movement that Inspired the Holocaust”
1. What is Eugenics and how did this movement begin?
Eugenics is a scientific movement theoretically based on genetics and its objective is to control human population to remove undesirable characteristics.
This selective practices happens since the ancient Greece but it is considered a movement since 1833 when it was named by Francis Galton.
2. What were its members’ ideal genetic standards? What did they consider as undesirable human traits?
Their ideal genetic standards were only to be a white European of Nordic or Anglo-Saxon descent.
They considered immigrants, people of color and people with disabilities as undesirable humans.
3. What series of events around the globe resulted from this idea of Eugenics?
Many racist events happened around the world like the restriction of immigration or the prohibition of interracial unions.
After that, it concluded in the Nazi Germany and other goverments in countries like Canada, USA, Sweden or Japan that applied the same kind of eugenic policies.
4. What is your take on the idea of Eugenics? Do you think there is one single set of desirable human traits?
In my opinion, Eugenics movement is disgusting because it promotes the foundations of the racism.
I think absolutelty not there is any set of desirable human traits because it is a discriminatory principle.
5. What is your opinion on this, “Eugenicists worldwide believed that they could perfect human beings and eliminate so-called social ills through genetics and heredity.”?
I believe that is an backward mindset because human people are perfectly imperfect and everybody has its own characteristics.
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