The emergence in the nineteenth century of a centralized school system cont
rolled by the state was one response to the need to stabilize government an
d legitimate a state model during a period of repeated revolutions in Franc
e. This is why French education has traditionally occupied a specific place
in the political sphere: it has been at the heart of a political project o
f realizing national integration through the construction of a symbolic pub
lic space. There are signs today that this ambitious political construction
may be coming apart.