A debate currently rages as to the value of higher education, including topics as broad as learning outcomes, employability, safety, and politics. It might seem to a casual observer that the modern college landscape is riddled with criticism and doubt. Up until the 2010s higher education long enjoyed popular support. For decades, overall confidence in higher education zoomed past 60 and 70% (Gallup, 2018). However, in 2018 confidence in higher education dipped below 50% with only 39% of Americans saying they have high confidence in higher education (Gallup, 2018). When Gallup drilled down further, they found the three reasons more Americans are skeptical of higher education: (1) it was too expensive; (2) students were not taught skills desired by employers; and (3) it was too political, and colleges pushed their own political agendas on students. However Michael Preston and Darren Pikul argue that it is important to know the history of high education in the United States, not just because it is informative but because it can be used as a guide for how to interact with a skeptical public and even lead to better ways of assessing student learning.