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This article provides a sociohistorical analysis of the representations of “dunces” in three journals of educational sciences published in France between 1880 and 1938. Its purpose is to show how the figure of the “dunce” was problematized before school dropout became a social problem in France in the 1960s. It notably shows that the presence of poor students was a subject of controversy already at the end of the nineteenth century. Disruptive and poor students were indeed a contentious issue among the actors involved in defining schools’ missions, organization, and methods. Although academic achievement was not as important an issue as it is today, representations of “dunces” structure the critical discourse about the school during the Third Republic.