The former High School corresponds to the now called second segment of Elementary School system (Law 9394/96). This paper proposes a new reading of the questions related to High School teaching in terms of access and quality in the Brazilian education. It shows how this type of education appeared and how it gradually changed from a type of education offered by certain particular institutions into one of the teaching levels of a public and private school network, and finally into a component of the Elementary School system. It gives a special emphasis to those decisive moments in that transformation which mark conflicts among projects for a society, formative concepts and innovative pedagogical alternatives. The principal objective is to understand the meaning assigned to it by different groups and/or classes in the quest for democratizing education in our society, meanings which were translated into public policies or in their absence.