ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates a revision of examinations of higher education in the period from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s through consideration of the role of higher education in presenting efficient and rational solutions to national problems to create a better future. It offers several investigations of how fundamental characteristics of Progressivism have long affected, and continue to affect, higher education. An important shift occurred in how citizens and leaders viewed the mechanisms of the government, especially the federal government, during the Progressive Era. By the 1940s, although Progressive leaders continued to be visible, such as Henry Wallace, vice president under Franklin Roosevelt, nevertheless the direct impact of Progressivism appeared more in specific forms of legislation and more broadly and importantly, in the policies of the federal government. White women’s colleges furthered the practice of Progressivism in solution of social problems.
