Children and youth at risk are a major challenge facing education systems in Europe. Some systems seem to be mastering this challenge better than others. Observations of the educational fate of immigrant minority children can shed light on the efficiency and performance of European education systems with respect to their ability to deal with children and youth at risk. None of today’s European education systems deliberately puts children and youth from immigrant families at a disadvantage. Nevertheless, the reality is they have unequal chances. Historical analysis and comparative studies can help uncover the root causes of this phenomenon. My contribution presents some thoughts on both of these approaches.Keywords: immigrant children and youth, monolingual habitus, super diversity, international comparative research.