In this article, the author provides a historical perspective on the middle level movement, examines its past successes and failures, and envisions future improvements. The middle school movement has been a prime target for those forces that do not share the belief middle level advocates hold about the importance of a democratic, student-centered education. The future success of the middle school movement has implications that go far beyond the fate of just those middle level grades, for the success of other theoretically sound reform efforts is closely tied to the middle school movement. The author returns to the Eight-Year Study (Aikin, 1942) conducted in the late 1930s to find a perspective that fits what everyone should be about in the days ahead. The 30 experimental schools in this study were free to establish their programs without concern for the college prep curriculum that hog-tied the secondary schools of that day. The work of these pioneer educators was guided by two major principles. The first was "The general life of the school and methods of teaching should conform to what is now known about the ways in which human beings learn and grow." The second was "That the high school in the United States should re-discover its chief reason for existence." The middle school concept and those who seek to bring it to full life hold to these two principles and envision just such a school.