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French intelligence test used to determine a person's "intelligence" and right to immigrate to the U.S.

1912

The Story of Disability Justice
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Called the Binet-Simon scale, the test begins to be used at Ellis Island to measure an individual's "mental functioning." The person who introduces the test at Ellis Island, Henry Goddard, uses the term "feeblemindedness" to refer to people who score below 70 on the tests, claiming that it is: "a condition of the mind or brain which is transmitted as regularly and surely as color of hair or eyes.”

These tests are the precursors to today's IQ tests and other forms of "standardized" achievement tests, which are designed to privilege specific forms of cognition; deny the validity of other forms of cognition and learning; and ignore the impact of structural barriers, such as racism.