The course is designed to examine the contradictory role of the school as an agent of linguistic and social reproduction in a school system where students are from diverse linguistic and cultural origins. In this context, the majority-minorities dichotomy will be critically examined. The course will focus particularly on how school contributes to the students' identity construction process. In this critical examination, identity will be understood as a socially constructed notion. Key-concepts such as identity, ethnicity, minority, race, culture and language will be first analyzed. The process of identity construction will then be examined within the educational context of Ontario.