The Century of the Child

Introduction

Ellen Key published “Barnets århundrade” in Stockholm in 1900 in two parts; the German translation of 1902 made it a European bestseller, and an English version followed in 1909. The book collects essays on the right of the child to be born well, on women’s work and motherhood, and above all on education: schools should follow the child’s own development, abolish corporal punishment and rote learning, and give room to play, nature and individuality. Its title became the slogan of progressive education. The opening chapter on “the right of the child to choose its parents” presents Galton’s eugenics and weighs restrictions on marriage where serious hereditary disease is expected – Key rejects Galton’s strict rules but accepts his principles –, which historians discuss alongside the book’s reform programme.

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