This research was prompted by the observation of difficulties with regard to reading comprehension, among Brazilian public school students. Its purpose was to discover and discuss reading concepts and practices. Based on Bourdieu (1995) and Morin (2002), among others theoreticians who deal with the training of citizens, the complexity of social relationships, and the school institution, it analyzes the discourse of four teachers from the 2nd year/2nd cycle of a renowned school in Recife, as well as the largescale statistical data for Brazil. With these data, it analyzes the training of readers over their years of schooling, from SAEB and SAEPE, at the end of elementary school and secondary school, based on a qualitative and evidential paradigm. The results indicate that teachers defend a wider concept of reading, but do not explain their role in terms of the relationship between students’ reading and critical awareness. Analyzing the SAEB, we perceived an inequality in learning, and the perpetuation of an educational system that consolidates and reproduces the historical social differences.