From a slogan that, from 1945 to 1954, had limited significance in education practice and, from the 1950s through the 1970s, had a small place in education histories, since 1980 life adjustment education has become, for historians, an anathema representative of the worst reform impulses in American education. By interpreting life adjustment education through the perspective of its contemporary critics and in terms of present-day reform priorities, historians have not only provided an inaccurate representation of life adjustment education as a historical development but also have overlooked other ways to understand life adjustment education and its critics and have missed an opportunity to inform current practice.