The text defends two ideas: the first one affirms that high school is the strategic educational level in the system and has a pedagogical meaning in itself. Therefore, it is considered that it is a mistake to define it as intermediate, heteronomous between the grades of elementary school and university or the job market. The second idea questions that an author such as Antonio Gramsci could be used to justify both theoretically and dialectically an early professionalizing program for high school. This assertion is based on the philological and hermeneutic analysis of Gramsci’s texts. The study concludes that the implementation of quality unitary high schools in Brazil, requires deep reform of the regular high school, especially in the public sector.
High school; unitary school; integrate education; dialectics; Antonio Gramsci