The beginning of baccalaureate nursing education at the University of Kansas: a midwestern experience

An issue in the historiography of nursing is whether nurses desired baccalaureate education for their occupation, and were unable to accomplish this, or whether they preferred diploma schools. Examination of resource materials at a midwestern university revealed that nurses were neither victims nor heroines of a male-dominated system. Although the evidence supports the oppressor/victim model of women in the professions, it also shows that nurses were instrumental in challenging the university to respond to the need for upgraded nursing education. Particularly striking in the resource material was the effect student nurses had on the development of the occupation at this institution.