The Rise of the Modern Educational System is a pioneering socio-historical analysis of change and development in secondary education in three European countries (England, France, Germany) in the mid to late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The authors develop novel theoretical forms of analysis - in particular those of ‘systematisation’ (Muller) and ‘segmentation’ (Ringer) - which enables a genuine cross-cultural study and assessment to be effectively carried through. Although clear historical and institutional differences between the three countries are apparent, overall patterns of development emerge as remarkably similar. In particular a common basic transformation of secondary education is shown to have taken place during the period covered (1870–1920), having the objective result of ensuring social reproduction. Special attention is given to the basic restructuring of education in England during this period, where processes of systematisation and segmentation, similar to those operating in France and Germany, resulted in the establishment of a sharply differentiated, hierarchical structure by the close of the nineteenth century.