This book explores the efforts of educational reformers who sought to
link secondary and higher education in the decades after 1870. Through
various state, regional, and national initiatives, these reformers
created a hierarchical system, laid the foundation for a growing
standardization in education, and influenced who would have access to
college. Neither higher education nor the secondary branches dominated
the other in creating this educational system. Rather, through debate,
argument, and accommodation, the two levels mutually shaped each other
in a time of significant political and economic change. Reformers today
wrestle with this legacy as they continue to forge connections between
the two educational levels.