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This paper explores concepts of equality in contemporary schooling – formal equality, equity, and recognition – that find expression in teachers’ approaches and practices. It points to the limitations and dilemmas that each concept entails for teachers. Formal equality, aligned to the French political model of the late nineteenth century, grants equal rights to all students irrespective of social background, which makes academic inequality even worse for lower-performing students whose individual difficulties are not recognized. The equity-based teacher-student relationship is tailored to suit particular needs, but students might be treated on an individual basis to the detriment of the social nature of behaviors. In the recognition approach, students are identified from group features and the effects of discrimination are compensated for, but tensions with individual merit increase, and positive decision making is often perverted into compassion.