The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould

202 THE MISMEASURE OF MAN

Goddard recants

By 1928 Goddard had changed his mind and become a latter-

day supporter of the man whose work he had originally perverted,

Alfred Binet. Goddard admitted, first of all, that he had set the

upper limit of moronity far too high:

It was for a time rather carelessly assumed that everybody who tested

12 years or less was feeble-minded.... We now know, of course, that only

a small percentage of the people who test 12 are actually feeble-minded—

that is, are incapable of managing their affairs with ordinary prudence or

of competing in the struggle for existence (1928, p. 220).

But genuine morons still abound at their redefined level. What
shall be done with them? Goddard did not abandon his belief in
their inherited mentality, but he now took Binet's line and argued
that most, if not all, could be trained to lead useful lives in society:

The problem of the moron is a problem of education and training.

... This may surprise you, but frankly when I see what has been made out
of the moron by a system of education, which as a rule is only half right, I
have no difficulty in concluding that when we get an education that is
entirely right there will be no morons who cannot manage themselves and
their affairs and compete in the struggle for existence. If we could hope
to add to this a social order that would literally give every man a chance, I
should be perfectly sure of the result (1928, pp. 223-224).

But if we let morons live in society, will they not marry and bear

children; is this not the greatest danger of all, the source of

Goddard's previous and passionate warnings?

Some will object that this plan neglects the eugenic aspect of the prob-

lem. In the community, these morons will marry and have children. And

why not? ... It may still be objected that moron parents are likely to have

imbecile or idiot children. There is not much evidence that this is the case.

The danger is probably negligible. At least it is not likely to occur any

5*2 Altered photographs of members of the Kallikak family living in

poverty in the New Jersey pine barrens. Note how mouths and eyebrows

are accentuated to produce an appearance of evil or stupidity. The effect

is much clearer on the original photographs produced in Goddard's book.