Abstract
In modern times, a feature common to the school systems of a number of Western European countries was their contribution to the formation of nation states with a homogenized citizenry. However, when immigrant laborers who brought their own religion and value systems were accepted into these countries, the idea of a uniform “nation state” gradually become fictitious. To integrate heterogeneous people of this kind, the social policy of such multiethnic societies has shifted from a segregationist approach to an assimilationist and then to a cultural pluralist approach. Today, most of these countries try to guarantee equal opportunities for minorities and to promote social-wide tolerance with regard to cultural diversity.
