Crnic Meghan
University of Pennsylvania, Department of History and Sociology of Science, 249 South 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6304, USA.
Endeavour. 2009 Mar;33(1):12-7. doi: 10.1016/j.endeavour.2008.11.001. Epub 2009 Feb 12.
Across the United States in the 1910s thousands of parents entered their children in the widely popular Better Babies contests. During the competitions, physicians and other health professionals examined and scored children for their bodily measurements, and physical and mental development. The baby with the highest score won. These contests not only served as a means of identifying children with previously unknown health conditions, but also taught mothers that through scientific care they could make their children into standardized babies, and therefore productive citizens of the future.
在20世纪10年代的美国，成千上万的父母让他们的孩子参加广受欢迎的“健康宝宝”竞赛。在比赛期间，医生和其他健康专业人员对孩子们的身体测量数据、身体和智力发育情况进行检查并打分。得分最高的婴儿获胜。这些竞赛不仅成为识别患有此前未知健康问题儿童的一种方式，还让母亲们明白，通过科学护理，她们可以把自己的孩子培养成标准化的婴儿，进而成为未来有生产力的公民。
