Cultural Diversity

Looking back on my elementary education, I would definitely say it was multicultural. The school I attended was in an area where there were diverse nationalities living there. I attended Allapatah Elemementary school, deep in the heart of Liberty city. Which if anyone that grew up in Miami knows that it is a pretty rough area?
The reason why I felt my education would be classified as being multicultural is because the school had different ethnicities. There were African-Americans, Haitians, Cubans, Puertoricans and Dominicans. The group that dominated the school was the African-Americans; they were ruthless and view all foreigners as bait. Never the less we all had to learn to learn together and coexist within the same community and school.
I would say it was more of the transformation approach, because we had to learn to tolerate the other ethnic groups and learn about their customs to better understand and accept them as friends. Some of us were able to put aside certain prejudices about the other group and talk out our differences. Being Haitian going to school in that area was tough, the students did not like us because they never really gave us a chance, while on the other hand we were strongly trying to learn the custom and culture of this country in order to fit in. Some of the teachers treated foreigners as leapers and did not care if we understood the lesson that was presented in class.
I would really like for my teachers to use the transformation approach. Because if the teachers would’ve thought that approach, it would make it easier for the students to try to put prejudices that were implanted in their minds by people outside of the school grounds. Learning to respect and accept everyone is one way of keeping peace with the school grounds and beyond. We all have had prejudices or misunderstandings about another culture or person, that if we take our time to learn why that person act or do certain things would make life easier.