'Without a doubt, one of the transformations that has affected the school system the most since the 1950s has been the entry into the academic enterprise of social categories that previously excluded themselves or were in practice excluded: shopowners, artisans, farmers, and... factory workers... One of the most paradoxical effects of this process - somewhat precipitously and accusatorily labeled 'democratization' - has been the progressive discovery by the most disadvantaged of the conservative function of the supposedly liberating school system. Indeed, after an illusory, even euphoric, period, the new beneficiaries slowly came to understand either that access to secondary education did not guarantee academic success or that academic success did not ensure access to the social positions that it once did.'
...
'After an extended school career, which often entails considerable sacrifice, the most culturally disadvantaged run the risk of ending up with a devalued degree. If, as is more likely, they fail, they are relegated to what is undoubtedly a stigmatizing and total exclusion even more absolute than in the past. The exclusion is more disgraceful in the sense that they seem to have 'had their chance' and because social identity tends more and more to be defined by the school system. And it is more absolute because a growing number of positions in the job market are customarily reserved for, and in fact held by, ever growing numbers of degree-holders. This explains why, even in the lower classes, people see failure at school as catastrophic. So, to families as well as to students, the school system increasingly seems like a mirage, the source of an immense, collective disappointment, a promised land which, like the horizon, recedes as one moves towards it.'
...
'Without realizing it, these people have hit on one of the most fundamental contradictions of contemporary society, one which is particularly visible in the workings of a school system that has doubtless never played as important a role as it does today. For a significant portion of society, this is the contradiction of a social order that has growing tendency to give everything to everybody, particularly when it is a question of material, symbolic or even political goods. But these 'gifts' can only be apparent, rather as if simulacra and imitation were the sole means of saving for a few the real and legitimate possession of these exclusive goods.'
Pierre Bourdieu and Patrick Champagne
