ABSTRACT
France is cut in two with educational opportunities unevenly spread. In the south, lengthy tertiary training opportunities, and in the north and east, a plethora of short industrial paths. Antoine Prost, the historian, had in 1984 made this issue a popular one. His report on the lycée staked out a battleground for the Left with some powerful recteurs taking on responsibilities for Academies in the disadvantaged regions. And no one was any longer in a position to disregard the fact that a young person educated in the Meuse was three times less likely to stay on than a friend in the Alpes-Maritimes. Or better still, to obtain a bac C it was better to live in Paris or Versailles than in Amiens or Nice.
