Communities in Transition

I appreciated the evenhanded approach in your series concerning communities in transition (“Letters From 53rd Street,” by Charisse Jones and Hector Tobar, Feb. 16-19). I teach at an elementary school that is in transition. It has created a lot of turmoil. We frequently encounter resentments and misunderstandings between parents, between students and sometimes between teachers.

Because, for the first time, the cultural groups are forced to spend many hours together in a relatively confined space, it falls on the elementary-level teachers to help overcome any negative feelings engendered by our own attitudes, and those of parents and students. Elementary teachers have an opportunity to influence the attitudes of a community. We begin by teaching oral English. We continue by teaching in a multicultural mode by emphasizing respect for the traditions of each culture. We try to teach students the importance of respecting themselves and each other.

When students form friendships based on mutual interests or personality, when a student from one culture comes to the aid of a student from the other culture--then we have indeed educated children. And since children do talk to their parents, this change in attitude can begin to spread through the entire community. If we don’t succeed in changing attitudes, I fear we will become a splintered nation with each culture perceiving everything from its own perspective.

VIRGINIA GRIEST, Huntington Beach