In this new edition of the Bibliothèque idéale des sciences sociales, ENS Éditions is republishing a major text that has become relatively inaccessible. Based on Viviane Isambert-Jamati's PhD dissertation, using a quantitative diachronic study, this volume analyses the corpus of speeches made by teachers over a century, from 1860 to 1965, during prize-giving ceremonies. These speeches are an opportunity for the recipients to talk about the institution they represent and the values of their teaching. Viviane Isambert-Jamati's analysis sheds light on the aims pursued by the recipients and the support or criticism they express about official instructions. In so doing, she offers the reader a particularly enlightening object for understanding the evolution of secondary education in relation to society. The exemplary nature of her doctoral dissertation earned it a place in the reference manual Méthodes de la sociologie. Le vocabulaire des sciences sociales by Raymond Boudon and Paul Lazarsfeld. With the addition of a new preface by Roger Establet, this new edition is intended to make available once again a founding text of the sociology of education in France.