This author describes herself as someone who has questioned the role of theory since she first began studying educational history several decades ago, and who has attempted to use theory. She sees contradictions in what she is researching and how she is doing it, contradictions that arise from her graduate training, the developments in historiography since then, and influences on her way of thinking from her colleagues in teacher education. The discussion about theory and history of education that Eileen Tamura introduces, and that Caroline Eick and Roland Sintos Coloma explicate in their studies, helps the author reflect on her own journey in attempting to use theory in history. They give her inspiration to rethink her approach to the history of education. From the author's perspective, history of education is more important than ever, but schools of education are turning away from it, as state and federal policies are simultaneously turning away from higher education as a necessary route to teacher preparation. (Contains 16 footnotes.)