The Eight Year Study (EYS) and the Humanities Curriculum Project (HCP) are compared and contrasted on the basis of five hypotheses. First, EYS and HCP were similar in confounding conventional notions of success and failure. Second, both were manifestations of progressive education. Third, both arose in climates of unease over perceived breakdowns in social and educational consensus, but their strategies for coping with unease differed. Fourth, EYS and HCP used different strategies for promoting curriculum change. Fifth, EYS and HCP were similar in promoting new forms of curriculum evaluation but dissimilar in the specific forms they promoted. Appended are seven references. (SI)