These two papers offer critiques of two essays that appeared in "Essays in Twentieth-Century Southern Education: Exceptionalism and its Limits," edited by Wayne J. Urban. The first paper examines Linda Buchanan and Philo Hutcheson's interpretation of the debate which underscored the well-known conflict between Booker T. Washington-W.E.B. DuBois over the appropriate education for African Americans. Buchanan and Hutcheson put the Washington-Dubois debate in a framework that compares two former black colleges in Kentucky using the schools' 1910-1911 catalogs to examine control, cost, student life, and curriculum. This paper disputes the Buchanan-Hutcheson analysis by asking whether reality can manifests itself through one college catalog; whether it is historically accurate or dependable to examine reality as reflected through institutional documents; and whether there is any other way to portray intellectual life at these institutions. The second paper examines Wayne Urban's allegation of a lack of liberalism in the orientation and political agenda of President Jimmy Carter in his efforts toward desegregating public colleges in the south. This paper attempts to refute Urban's charge by asking who was liberal and how liberal was liberal during Carter's presidency; what could have been expected from Carter or any politician (southern or otherwise) when dealing with race and education; and what can be expected today on issues dealing with race, education, and liberalism. (Both papers contain notes.)(SM)