The debate between progressivism and traditionalism has reached an impasse. Battles in curriculum are, according to Ackerman (2003), "manifestations of a fundamental debate between progressive educators and traditionalists" (p. 345) that has been going on for over a century (Pogrow, 2006). No educational institution exists that is purely progressive or purely traditional in its educational approach. At the same time, no school exists that has managed to escape the influences of either theme. Nonetheless, the traditional system of teaching may have worked well for many students over the last 100 years (Sullivan & Downey, 2015); however, research shows that the industrial epoch's "factory-based" approach to education is failing to serve the needs of 21st century students (Berrett, 2012; Silva et al., 2015), let alone special education students. What follows is a discussion of the characteristics of each theme and its overall impact on special education students. [This paper was published in "Journal of Special Education Leadership," Feb 2018.]