Mauritious and Réunion are characterised by their contrasting education policies. Our research questions, form a comparative angle, not just the impact of these political choice but also the consequences of the way the two systems are run in terms of school democratisation. In order to do this, we make a point of putting in perspective the differentiated paths in school followed by pupils from a sample of schools in Mauritius and Réunion. The complementarity between quantitative and qualitative approaches makes it possible to show that the expected social effects are modulated by the behaviour strategies of the "initiated" actors. If the movement towards education for everyone is a necessary condition for democratisation, the selectivity of the systems in the light of variables such as sex, age or social origin also depends on the ties that are formed on a daily basis within schools.