The book outlines this development and discusses questions, such as: Why did it take so long for the English language to become part of the general education? What connected the Danish political-cultural orientation after 1964 and the development of the language subjects in the schools? Why was the school of Modern languages successful at first when later, in the 1930s, it came up against an identity crisis? The book provides a historical perspective for the topical debate in the upper secondary schools and proves that many of the arguments in this debate have been heard before.