This paper presents a sociologically informed analysis of the historically changing relation between education and society. Using a set of socio-geographical methods and longitudinal data from population censuses, we explore changes in the forms of educational inclusion and exclusion in the period 1961 to 2011. We analyse, more particularly, changes in the geographical segregation and clustering of both high- and low-schooled individuals, while geographical proximity determines the kind of social contacts people normally have. Our findings show, firstly, that the segregation of university-trained human capital within Belgium and its regions has remained high, in spite of the expansion of university education and the creation of "regional" universities. Highly educated individuals now increasingly attract one another; they increasingly search for an environment in which they are able to meet people with a similar educational background. Our findings show, secondly, different evolutions for early school leavers. While the overall decrease in the share of early school leavers has gone hand in hand with decreasing heterogeneity within Belgium, our analyses point to increasing divergences between Flanders, on the one hand, and Wallonia and Brussels, on the other. In large parts of Wallonia and Brussels, the labour markets suffer from comparatively high shares of early school leavers. We conclude that the coupling between education and society has changed in the period under consideration. We question, however, that education has become a dominant social system. We rather argue that historical analyses of geographical inequalities in educational participation shed light on the complexity and heterogeneity of society.