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At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the U.S., progressive reformers in education deployed a virulent rhetoric against an education they conceived as exaggeratedly narrow, conservative and elitist. They created and developed a controversial, or contentious, category: the idea of a “traditional education” which was also described as the “old education” or “conventional education” in order to discredit those people who stressed the importance of an academic curriculum and of a liberal education offered to all students. With this new category, reformers sought to promote a progressive education that would respect children’s rhythm of development. This article offers a detailed philosophical examination of the reasons that contributed to the erection of this controversial category. It shows that, with this category, progressive reformers initiated a structuring division of educational thought and practice whose effects are still palpable in America.