The Downgrading of the Humanities in French and English Secondary Education.

The article addresses the issue of the downgrading of the subject of the Humanities in French and English secondary education. The author discusses the reasons behind the downgrading of the subject in the two countries. The author also illustrates that a change in the social exclusiveness of secondary education has created new forms of status differentiation which are themselves related to, and based in, changes in economic life as a whole. The author also gives the reason why this process seems rather more advanced in England than in France.