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Schools and cultural difference 311

ities. This in itself establishes a problematic framework, insofar as imagined
cultural differences among social groups can be projected onto the actual immi-
grants or minorities, while other potentially meaningful differences, like those
between middle-class and working-class culture or between various political
milieus, are neglected. Although a politically and pedagogically influential line
of thought insists on recognizing the autonomy of national, ethnic and religious
groupings, any discussion of cultural differences in an educational context can-
not ignore the inevitable interdependency of cultural attributions and socio-
economic status. How educational practice recognizes and deals with these
issues varies widely among states. Here we shall look at three representative ap-
proaches, in France, Britain and Canada.
One common feature of the policies in these countries is their goal of mak-
ing schools places where pupils witness equality and fairness in the relation-
ships between natives and immigrants, as well as between majorities and minor-
ities. All, however, face one grave difficulty that repeatedly surfaces in
sociological studies: unequal socio-economic backgrounds and resulting atti-
tudes toward the educational system strongly affect pupils’ relative chances for
success, and the chances of the disadvantaged can be improved by compensa-
tory schooling only to a limited degree (Bernstein 1977; Bourdieu and Passeron
1990; Dubet and Duru-Bellat 2000; McDonald 1999). The British and Canadian
models differ from the French model, in that the former attempt to recognize
cultural and social differences and implement compensatory measures, while
the French system tries to insulate the educational system from differences in
social status, nationality, religion and ethnicity. Simplified and idealized, France
and Canada present a pair of maximally contrasting approaches – republican
universalism vs. multiculturalism – in which the implications of the underlying
assumptions can be seen with especial clarity. In France the ideal of a relig-
iously, culturally and ethnically neutral state reigns, resting on consensually ac-
cepted ideals and values of the Enlightenment, of the Declaration of the Rights
of Man and Citizen and of democracy, instituted in a republic of free and equal
citizens. By contrast, Canada’s population, long comprising two distinct
national and linguistic groupings, has destined it to embrace most fully a multi-
cultural conception of the national state, and with it, multicultural concepts of
education.

3.2. Fundamental differences between Canadian multiculturalism and
French republicanism

Following Kymlicka (1995, 1997), Canada can be characterized as a liberal
state and a ‘civic nation’, in which neither ethnic membership nor cultural iden-
tity play a role in defining citizenship. What matters are continuous residence
and a willingness to acquire one of the national languages as well as elementary