@dlowan,
My only moment of serious doubt about multiculturalism. Thinking back ...
It was the first of my highly populated by Muslim students experiences, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. (I've since worked almost exclusively in many mostly Muslim schools.) I'd say a good 90% of the population was Muslin, mostly Arabic Lebanese. I mentioned the reaction of the student population to 9/11. It was overwhelmingly one of jubilation, I guess, & quite vocally expressed, that this had happened in the home territory of the "enemy". (Even before the invasions of Afghanistan & Iraq.) But there was much else which caused discomfort. The treatment of women members of staff by some of the boys was extremely disrespectful & confronting, say nothing of the treatment of any students who were not Muslim. One Iranian Christian refugee was attacked in the yard & was taken to hospital by ambulance, concussed from a kick to the head. Then there were far worse episodes, which I'd rather not mention, because the school would be immediately identified. Let's just say these episodes made the news in a rather sensational way. Eventually the school was closed down. Theoretically because the school council decided it was for the best because declining enrollments made it unviable. But in reality, it was because no (or extremely few) non-Muslim students would enroll there, because of its reputation.
As a teacher, the experience certainly had quite a few challenging moments. Luckily I was a part-timer. I don't think I could have coped full-time. There was an in-built, impossible to shift fierce hostility to all things Australian, or "western" which was all but impossible to penetrate. And an "all for one, one for all" mentality amongst many of the students, so if you had a problem with one, you had a problem with many. A very delicate balancing act was required, I can tell you! But I saw some terrible things there, some which were quite heart-breaking & soul destroying. You'll have to take my word for it, the teachers there tried & tried & basically got nowhere fast.
But this was a ghetto of the uneducated Muslim population in the area. Up the road from where I live is a very well known private Muslim school. The students there are princes & princess, honestly.
Their parents have dreams & aspirations for them. "M" College, by comparison, was the opposite. Uneducated, traumatized by war, fundamentalist religious parents & families. Who perceived us "outsiders" as the enemy. Racial intolerance can work both ways. This is the only instance I can think of where I saw a school closure as a very good thing to have happened.