Good Morning Mrs. Murphy and fellow classmates.

This morning I will be discussing a topic that affects

all of us in this room daily, but we don’t really give much thought about it. It determines what we eat
and the vocabulary we use. Today, I will be discussing the Effects of being a part of a melting pot.

But before we can discuss the effects of being a part of a melting pot, we need to know what a melting
pot is. According to the Online Cambridge Dictionary, a “melting pot” is defined as a place where many
different people and ideas exist together often mixing and producing something new. The formation of a
melting pot often causing changes in societal norms. Now, I will discuss with all of you some of the
benefits as well as the disadvantages of being a part of a melting pot.

The first benefit is that it enhances our tourism product. The Caribbean is determined to be a melting
pot. In Chapter 7 of CAPE Caribbean Studies written by Jeanette Ottley et al. on Page 118 under the
subheading Caribbean Cultural Diversity, the diverse cultural heritage that we as the Caribbean have
gives us our unique “flavor”. Our variety of foods, music, languages, folklore based on various cultures
all give the Caribbean a special appeal. This means that the Caribbean as a destination has something
quite unique to offer to tourists who are interested in visiting our region, unlike other tourist
destinations.

Also being a part of a melting pot allows us as citizens to be open to other new cultures without
harboring any form of prejudice. Caribbean citizens have been exposed to various cultures within our
region and are taught to accept the variety of cultures which make us true Caribbean people. This
openness serves as a form of advancement or hindrance to the hybridization of cultures that we already
have. Some of you may ask how so? Well, the good aspects of culture can be adapted to make ourselves
better. For example, the use of a variety of tea bushes to treat various sicknesses and ailments. Most of
us have had the experience of our grandparents telling us to drink bush tea to cure whatever is wrong
with us. From a small headache to cold or even when we are tired, they always tell us to “go and drink
some bush tea”. It can affect us negatively because as easy as it is to pick up good habits from other
cultures it is also easy to pick up bad habits. The exposure to other cultures made a lot of persons insight
to road rage while driving.

The variety of cultures also brings to the table a variety of languages. This includes creoles and dialects.
But before I continue may explanation of this point, I would like to remind the audience the definition of
a creole. On pages 68 – 69 in the CAPE Communication Studies discuss the term creole where it states
that a creole is developed at the expense of the languages in the area. How does this create conflict
within our Caribbean region? Well, it makes it difficult to understand each other. As we know in the
Communication Process, a person must be able to interpret the message sent through a channel in
order to send a reply. If we don’t speak the same language how is this process going to occur? To make
my point even more clear, I would like to use a local example. I would assume that most of us in this
room currently are using a form of dialect known as acrolect. However, persons from country most likely
are going to speak basilect. The million-dollar question is, have you ever spoken to person from country
such as Old road, and not have any form of difficulty understanding them? Now think about it, that is
just an example of basilect to acrolect, meaning we are still speaking the same language. If speaking the
same language is difficult how much more difficult it is to understand a language that you don’t even
have a slight clue about?

However, language barriers within the Caribbean can be solved if we try to speak a standard language.
This may mean we have to learn another language to talk to someone. And example of this is at At the
Medical Benefits Scheme, Spanish is spoken to communicate with persons from a cultural background
whose main language is Spanish.

Another disadvantage is formation of ethnic stereotypes. First of all, we don’t just wake up one day and
know everything about nearly every culture present in the Caribbean, because that is just not how life
works. We all gradually learn more about a culture as we exposed more to it. We have all heard
something about Chinese persons eating dogs, rats and so forth. Yet, a person may tell you not to buy
food from a Chinese restaurant in fear that they may receive dog or rat meat. This ladies and gentlemen
are an example of ethnic stereotypes. Making mean statements or jokes about one’s culture, may
misinform someone who is ignorant to that culture at that time and cause them to spread the same
falsehood.

My final point in this discussion is it causes some forms of culture erasure. . But what is culture erasure?
According to the CAPE Caribbean Studies written by Ottley et al. culture erasure is the act of neglecting,
looking past, minimizing, ignoring or rendering invisible an “other” culture. When cultures are mixed in a
melting pot some cultural aspects tend to be forgotten by the younger generation born in to the new
culture. (Give couple lines to a story) This also cause the new generation to lose interest in their
hereditary culture. However, culture can be retained and renewed in several ways. School can institute
various clubs that can help persons regain their hereditary Caribbean culture by providing extra-
curricular activities which help to preserve the culture. Also schools can teach young persons about their
folklore culture (subjects such as Social Studies, Language Arts, English Language, English Literature)
from as small as kindergarten by telling stories about characters based on hereditary culture, such as
Anansi, Papa Bois, Mama Dglo, Diablese and etc. This way the new generation will always have a piece
of their hereditary culture.

There was some form of difficulty in doing my research in the sense that most online articles that I was
exposed to discussed how certain countries are not melting pots instead of giving effects of being a part
of a melting pot. The two sources for my speech are both textbooks written and published for the CAPE
syllabus. I find these sources reliable, because the board behind these books are regionally recognized,
and if they aren’t reliable, we are in serious trouble.

To conclude, I would like you to focus your attention to white board. Someone of you may wonder why
does is she showing pictures of jello? But let’s examine this slide carefully. This slide has pictures of
various flavors of jello. This represents the various cultures within the Caribbean, because each culture
has a different colour and a different taste. However, notice what all the pictures have in common.. They
are all jello. Just like us, we are all human beings. We may not have had the same background but we all
in that same packaging together.
Good day Mrs. Murphy and fellow classmates. The topic I will be discussing this morning is the Effects of
being a part of a Melting Pot. But before we can discuss the Effects of being a part of a Melting Pot, we
need to know the meaning of the term “melting pot”. What is a “melting pot”? According to the Online
Cambridge Dictionary a “melting pot” is defined as a place where many different people and ideas exist
together, often mixing and producing something new. This process causes several changes in societal
norms. This presentation will be focusing on various aspects, both benefits and disadvantages of being a
part of a “melting pot”.

One effect of being a part of a “melting pot” is that traditions in various cultures are adapted by the
masses in society. This itself can be an advantage as well as a disadvantage. How so? Well, good traits of
a culture can be adapted and used by various persons including those of another culture to their own
benefit. For example, the use of various tea bushes for treating mild sickness and ailments. However,
negative traits of certain cultures can be picked up and maybe a cause for conflict and provide other
problems. For example, the behavior of persons while driving. Due to influx of other cultures, persons
show increased road rage while driving. Therefore, while this effect can be advantageous it can also
cause its own problems as well.

One disadvantage of being a part of a melting pot is the language barriers present within the society.
Various dialects present within a society such as basilect and acrolect makes communication difficult
between various social levels in society. Persons within a “melting pot” come from various cultures
which mean that they may speak a different language from someone else within the society. Therefore,
communication is even more strained since everyone doesn’t speak the same language and messages
communicated cannot be interpreted. However, this problem can be solved with provisions from the
government. Languages from other cultures present within the melting pot can be taught at school so
that communication can be facilitated between different cultural groups. Also, social services provided
for citizens within a country or region which is considered a “melting pot” can use other languages in
communicating with the general public. For example, At the Medical Benefits Scheme, Spanish is spoken
to communicate with persons from a cultural background whose main language is Spanish.

Another negative effect caused by being a part of a melting pot is culture erasure. But what is culture
erasure? According to the CAPE Caribbean Studies written by Ottley et al. culture erasure is the act of
neglecting, looking past, minimizing, ignoring or rendering invisible an “other” culture. When cultures
are mixed in a melting pot some cultural aspects tend to be forgotten by the younger generation born in
to the new culture. This also cause the new generation to lose interest in their hereditary culture.
However, culture can be retained and renewed in several ways. School can institute various clubs that
can help persons regain their hereditary Caribbean culture by providing extra-curricular activities which
help to preserve the culture. Also schools can teach young persons about their folklore culture (subjects
such as Social Studies, Language Arts, English Language, English Literature) from as small as kindergarten
by telling stories about characters based on hereditary culture, such as Anansi, Papa Bois, Mama Dglo,
Diablese and etc. This way the new generation will always have a piece of their hereditary culture.