What are the expectations of Tunisian and binational families when choosing a French school in Tunisia in the 2010s? How does this educational approach fit into the history of the country? To shed light on the (explicit or implicit) influence of the history of French schools on a family’s educational choices, this article will retrace the manner in which both French schools and Franco-Arab schools in the colonial education system were imposed upon the population. Broadly speaking, French schools appear to offer two main attractions: a prestigious social and cultural enclave on the one hand, and values of modernity and secularity on the other. In addition to the families' desire to enter an exclusive socio-economic circle, this choice can also be explained by their wish to socialize their children in a secular environment. From their point of view, this is a way of circumventing the country's social and religious ponderousness. Indeed, for most of the families interviewed, choosing a French school frees them from the religious obligations linked to supervised practices and from the so-called constraints of Islam in public spaces, and makes religious indifference or atheism acceptable.