The new revisionists and the history of U.S. higher education

This paper presents the traditional history of the development of higher education in the United States, especially during the nineteenth century, and then examines at the findings of the new revisionist historians regarding the content of the curriculum, the mode of instruction, the believed theory of learning, the quality of college leadership, and their egalitarianism. While the revisionists' evidence discredits some of the traditional interpretation of events, some of their data are questionable and some of their methods are found wanting. This paper focuses on the implications of the disparities and advances a thesis.