Discussions about heterogeneity or diversity as a condition for institutionalized education often show a distant relationship to homogeneity and homogenization as a process that takes place in and through educational institutions. This paper discusses how the result ‘homogeneity’ or ‘heterogeneity’ arises in educational situations and which role processes of social modernization play there. It turns out that homogenization as a process and as outcome socially is quite desirable. The often observed ambivalence about homogeneity and homogenization clarifies when two forms of homogenization can be distinguished, a ‘normative’ homogenization and a ‘practical’ homogenization.