Conghaileach
4th July 2002, 23:48
CUBA: Students guarantee revolutionary democracy
By JO WILLIAMS
Green Left Weekly
HAVANA — Critics continue to say that Cuba is undemocratic, closed
off, repressive, and that critical ideas in general are suppressed.
An investigation of the education system and the young people in
Cuban schools paints a very different picture.
Although on the surface Cuban classrooms appear more or less similar
to those in Australia, they are worlds apart in terms of their
approach to education and to young people in society. There are
students sitting at desks and teachers strolling around answering
questions, but that is where the similarities end. Very quickly the
dynamics of the classroom reveal a vastly different approach to
learning.
Cuba's education system places great emphasis on creativity, on
critical thinking and research skills and on co-operative learning.
On paper, at least, many of the same values are upheld by the
education system in Australia. However, the social and political
context of education in Cuba means that these values are not only
espoused as abstract goals but are able to be realised in life, as
opposed to Australia where even the most well-meaning ideas are
impossible in the context of a generally alienating and stifling
experience under a capitalist education system.
A continuing slogan of the Cuban Revolution is "our weapons are our
ideas", and the people most clear on this are Cuban school students,
who are taught from the circulos (childcare centres) right through to
university that their most important social responsibility is to
develop their own ideas and the ability to critically and
constructively analyse the world around them.
Those familiar with Brazilian educator Paulo Freire would perhaps
recognise his problem-posing education theories at work when speaking
with these young people. The passion, confidence and opinionated
nature of Cuban school students is particularly striking to anyone
working with adolescents in Australia's school system.
Cuban school students demonstrate an ability to generalise and to
place themselves in the "big picture", at the same time confidently
understanding the role they have to play as individuals in a
revolutionary democracy. This is directly at odds with the
individualistic and self-centred outlook the Australian education
system inculcates into young people.
Teachers in Cuba
Cuban students and their families suggest that teachers have a lot to
do with this. Although plenty of overtime and an average professional
wage are shared by both Australian and Cuban teachers, their social
status is not. Like medicine, teaching is a highly respected
profession in Cuba.
Prior to the 1959 revolution, the Cuban education system reflected
all the gross inequalities common to underdeveloped capitalist
countries. Wealthy Cubans usually sent their children to elite
private schools or to study abroad, while children of the rural
workers attended vastly inferior public schools or lived too far from
any school to attend at all. Children living in the countryside whose
parents were agricultural labourers were five times less likely to
finish primary school than were those who had parents with non-
manual, salaried jobs.
In recognition of the enormous task involved in turning this around,
many immediate emergency programs were put into effect in 1960-61,
and despite obvious inadequacies, internationally recognised
outstanding results were achieved. Cuba's overall illiteracy rate was
reduced from 23%, according to the last census taken before the
Revolution, to 3.9%, a rate far lower than that of any other Latin
American country.
To overcome the remaining inadequacies, over the last 40 years there
has been an incredible commitment to the professional development of
teaching staff.
The documents prepared as part of this teacher training program have
always been widely available to the public in general, who are
encouraged to be actively involved in the education system.
The central task of education in Cuba emphasised in all of the
documents prepared by pedagogical scientists with and for teachers is
to create thinking, critical, independent and confident young people.
The students refer to this as the "exchange of ideas" in the
classroom, pointing out that teachers are not always correct but
always keen to learn from students.
When asked about positive learning environments, the first thing
mentioned by students and teachers was always the reciprocal and
collective nature of discussions in the classroom. While this occurs
in some classrooms in Australia, it is far from the norm.
As a result, a positive and strong relationship exists between
teachers, and students and their families. The students speak of
their teachers with respect, and consider them among their most
important influences in life. It is completely normal for teachers to
visit students in their homes and to have a friendly relationship
with their parents — not simply as a last stop disciplinary measure
or as a token "check-up" on academic results (as is often the case in
Australia) but as part of a process to involve the student's parents
in the education process and to understand all aspects of the
student's life.
It is also significant that there are some teachers in schools today
who were among the 11- and 12-year-olds who participated in the first
literacy brigades in the early 1960s which went to the countryside to
teach elementary literacy skills to more than 700,000 peasants and
rural workers. Struggles such as these remain an inspiration for
students today.
Democracy for students
The Cuban education system mirrors the country's system of genuinely
participatory democracy more generally, in a way probably
unimaginable to most education department officials and school
principals in Australia.
Connected to the experience of schooling in Cuba are the mass
organisations which, although voluntary, are almost universal in
membership. The Pioneros (Pioneer Movement of Jose Marti) represent
students from Grades 1 through 9. Membership of the FEEM (Federation
of Middle-High School Students) is open to all secondary students.
Students from Year 9 onwards can also elect to join the UJC (Union of
Young Communists).
These organisations, while completely independent of the public
education system, provide school students with opportunities to
directly participate in and impact on the education system in
general. For example, once a month Pionero members in each class in
every Cuban secondary school hold a meeting, directed by the elected
class student representative.
These meetings discuss and vote on everything from the food offered
for lunch in a school, to the way a particular unit of work has been
presented by the teacher. The decisions and outcomes of these
meetings must then be addressed by the teaching staff, and form the
basis of much change at the local school level — a point the students
are keen to emphasise.
All of the mass organisations also have regular delegated congresses
at a national level. Any educational proposals which arise from these
discussions are taken directly to the National Assembly and the
education ministry.
It is clear that the students take these meetings and their role in
them very seriously, and feel that their voices are recognised as
important not only in theory but in practice.
Young people are taken seriously
The seriousness with which Cuba takes the capacity of young people to
contribute meaningfully to society is evident in many social
programs.
One example is a new teacher training initiative which involves
highly motivated Year 11 students participating in an accelerated six-
month teaching course with a further two- month supervised practical
component. After completing the course, the graduates work as primary
school teachers for one year while completing their final year of
secondary school on Saturdays. They can then elect to continue
studying teaching or another profession.
In part, the motivation for such a program remains the continuing
shortage of teachers, although its specific aim is to reduce all
primary school classes to a maximum of 15 students per teacher as
soon as possible. Once achieved, Cuba will have the best teacher-to-
student ratio in Latin America, and a ratio better than the existing
figure and projected target for Australian schools.
Although the accelerated teacher training program is considered
temporary and far from ideal, there is a genuine commitment to
offering the young people who participate in it the best chance to
become good teachers. The successful results to date prove this
confidence to be well-founded, with primary school children relating
very positively to their young and enthusiastic mentors.
A current discussion in education theory throughout the developed
capitalist countries is the question of how education systems can
prepare students for life as citizens in a "participatory democracy".
This is a response to the general lack of interest among young people
in these countries' bureaucratic political systems and of their
mistrust and dislike of politicians of all persuasions.
To Cubans, it is obvious that an undemocratic education system under
the direction of an undemocratic political system — which excludes
the vast majority of people from real involvement in decision-making
save putting a piece of paper in a ballot box once every three or
four years — will have this effect on young people.
As an alternative, Cuba offers a number of examples of how "civics
and citizenship education" (as it is often described) can and indeed
must work.
One example is the involvement of the Pioneros in national, regional
and local elections. It is their responsibility and theirs alone
(i.e., no police or government officials are present) to oversee the
collection and counting of the ballots at each voting station. This
enormous responsibility is taken most seriously by the Pioneros, who
are trusted completely by the Cuban people.
Another example is the voluntary work which is carried out by the
majority of Cuban school students. Alongside a strong curricular
emphasis on social responsibility, Cuban students take on a range of
social tasks inside and outside the classroom. In recent times, these
activities have included municipal inspections as part of the
campaign to rid Havana of the Dengue-fever carrying mosquito,
preventative preparations for the cyclone season in July and the
regular tasks of repairing books and cleaning the school and
municipality.
Creating the new human being
In the now famous text Man and Socialism in Cuba, Che Guevara
referred to education as a fundamental aspect of human liberation,
and the key to unlocking all the creative potential of the human
race. These ideas continue to frame the task of education Cuba today.
Education is understood by Cuban students to be a profoundly
collective task, evident in their approach to learning and their
activities in the mass organisations. As opposed to the competitive
nature of schooling in Australia and other capitalist countries, in
socialist Cuba students reward and admire most those who consciously
help others to understand as well as they do. During the process of
electing delegates to the mass organisations, the candidate speeches
often refer to the overall success of the classes they represent, and
to the candidates' capabilities to help and set an example to others,
rather than to their individual achievements.
A striking feature of any conversation with Cuban school students is
their spirit of internationalism. When asked about their thoughts on
the future, the common responses revealed optimism about the
possibilities for global change, but a deep concern for the people
suffering in the world today. Several referred with pride to Cuba's
internationalist actions such as the training of doctors from Third
World countries and aid relief to sufferers from natural disasters in
South and Central America.
Generally, any public mention of Cuba's education system refers to
the impressive statistics which have been gathered by such
organisations as UNICEF, and which refer to such things as academic
results, and participation and retention rates. Impressive, because
they are consistently better than the average in Latin America and in
many cases, even than the United States.
However, it could be said that the most important achievement of the
Cuban education system is its success in providing the opportunity
for the development of motivated, confident, articulate and highly
conscientious young people.
This is a very different situation to the problem-riddled education
systems under capitalism, which are faced with alienated, unmotivated
and often "hope-less" young people.
Of course there are examples of such young people in Cuba, but these
are clearly the exception. Even the most critical and anti-social
Cuban citizen, while hustling tourists in the streets of Old Havana,
will happily tell you of their wonderful schooling experience, and
all that they learnt from their classmates and teachers.
Although there are many uncertain aspects of Cuba's future, those who
suggest that the country would be leader-less without Fidel Castro,
have clearly not spoken to any of the future leaders currently in
Cuban schools.
[Jo Williams is a member of the Democratic Socialist Party and a
secondary school teacher in Melbourne, currently in Havana
researching the Cuban education system.]
By JO WILLIAMS
Green Left Weekly
HAVANA — Critics continue to say that Cuba is undemocratic, closed
off, repressive, and that critical ideas in general are suppressed.
An investigation of the education system and the young people in
Cuban schools paints a very different picture.
Although on the surface Cuban classrooms appear more or less similar
to those in Australia, they are worlds apart in terms of their
approach to education and to young people in society. There are
students sitting at desks and teachers strolling around answering
questions, but that is where the similarities end. Very quickly the
dynamics of the classroom reveal a vastly different approach to
learning.
Cuba's education system places great emphasis on creativity, on
critical thinking and research skills and on co-operative learning.
On paper, at least, many of the same values are upheld by the
education system in Australia. However, the social and political
context of education in Cuba means that these values are not only
espoused as abstract goals but are able to be realised in life, as
opposed to Australia where even the most well-meaning ideas are
impossible in the context of a generally alienating and stifling
experience under a capitalist education system.
A continuing slogan of the Cuban Revolution is "our weapons are our
ideas", and the people most clear on this are Cuban school students,
who are taught from the circulos (childcare centres) right through to
university that their most important social responsibility is to
develop their own ideas and the ability to critically and
constructively analyse the world around them.
Those familiar with Brazilian educator Paulo Freire would perhaps
recognise his problem-posing education theories at work when speaking
with these young people. The passion, confidence and opinionated
nature of Cuban school students is particularly striking to anyone
working with adolescents in Australia's school system.
Cuban school students demonstrate an ability to generalise and to
place themselves in the "big picture", at the same time confidently
understanding the role they have to play as individuals in a
revolutionary democracy. This is directly at odds with the
individualistic and self-centred outlook the Australian education
system inculcates into young people.
Teachers in Cuba
Cuban students and their families suggest that teachers have a lot to
do with this. Although plenty of overtime and an average professional
wage are shared by both Australian and Cuban teachers, their social
status is not. Like medicine, teaching is a highly respected
profession in Cuba.
Prior to the 1959 revolution, the Cuban education system reflected
all the gross inequalities common to underdeveloped capitalist
countries. Wealthy Cubans usually sent their children to elite
private schools or to study abroad, while children of the rural
workers attended vastly inferior public schools or lived too far from
any school to attend at all. Children living in the countryside whose
parents were agricultural labourers were five times less likely to
finish primary school than were those who had parents with non-
manual, salaried jobs.
In recognition of the enormous task involved in turning this around,
many immediate emergency programs were put into effect in 1960-61,
and despite obvious inadequacies, internationally recognised
outstanding results were achieved. Cuba's overall illiteracy rate was
reduced from 23%, according to the last census taken before the
Revolution, to 3.9%, a rate far lower than that of any other Latin
American country.
To overcome the remaining inadequacies, over the last 40 years there
has been an incredible commitment to the professional development of
teaching staff.
The documents prepared as part of this teacher training program have
always been widely available to the public in general, who are
encouraged to be actively involved in the education system.
The central task of education in Cuba emphasised in all of the
documents prepared by pedagogical scientists with and for teachers is
to create thinking, critical, independent and confident young people.
The students refer to this as the "exchange of ideas" in the
classroom, pointing out that teachers are not always correct but
always keen to learn from students.
When asked about positive learning environments, the first thing
mentioned by students and teachers was always the reciprocal and
collective nature of discussions in the classroom. While this occurs
in some classrooms in Australia, it is far from the norm.
As a result, a positive and strong relationship exists between
teachers, and students and their families. The students speak of
their teachers with respect, and consider them among their most
important influences in life. It is completely normal for teachers to
visit students in their homes and to have a friendly relationship
with their parents — not simply as a last stop disciplinary measure
or as a token "check-up" on academic results (as is often the case in
Australia) but as part of a process to involve the student's parents
in the education process and to understand all aspects of the
student's life.
It is also significant that there are some teachers in schools today
who were among the 11- and 12-year-olds who participated in the first
literacy brigades in the early 1960s which went to the countryside to
teach elementary literacy skills to more than 700,000 peasants and
rural workers. Struggles such as these remain an inspiration for
students today.
Democracy for students
The Cuban education system mirrors the country's system of genuinely
participatory democracy more generally, in a way probably
unimaginable to most education department officials and school
principals in Australia.
Connected to the experience of schooling in Cuba are the mass
organisations which, although voluntary, are almost universal in
membership. The Pioneros (Pioneer Movement of Jose Marti) represent
students from Grades 1 through 9. Membership of the FEEM (Federation
of Middle-High School Students) is open to all secondary students.
Students from Year 9 onwards can also elect to join the UJC (Union of
Young Communists).
These organisations, while completely independent of the public
education system, provide school students with opportunities to
directly participate in and impact on the education system in
general. For example, once a month Pionero members in each class in
every Cuban secondary school hold a meeting, directed by the elected
class student representative.
These meetings discuss and vote on everything from the food offered
for lunch in a school, to the way a particular unit of work has been
presented by the teacher. The decisions and outcomes of these
meetings must then be addressed by the teaching staff, and form the
basis of much change at the local school level — a point the students
are keen to emphasise.
All of the mass organisations also have regular delegated congresses
at a national level. Any educational proposals which arise from these
discussions are taken directly to the National Assembly and the
education ministry.
It is clear that the students take these meetings and their role in
them very seriously, and feel that their voices are recognised as
important not only in theory but in practice.
Young people are taken seriously
The seriousness with which Cuba takes the capacity of young people to
contribute meaningfully to society is evident in many social
programs.
One example is a new teacher training initiative which involves
highly motivated Year 11 students participating in an accelerated six-
month teaching course with a further two- month supervised practical
component. After completing the course, the graduates work as primary
school teachers for one year while completing their final year of
secondary school on Saturdays. They can then elect to continue
studying teaching or another profession.
In part, the motivation for such a program remains the continuing
shortage of teachers, although its specific aim is to reduce all
primary school classes to a maximum of 15 students per teacher as
soon as possible. Once achieved, Cuba will have the best teacher-to-
student ratio in Latin America, and a ratio better than the existing
figure and projected target for Australian schools.
Although the accelerated teacher training program is considered
temporary and far from ideal, there is a genuine commitment to
offering the young people who participate in it the best chance to
become good teachers. The successful results to date prove this
confidence to be well-founded, with primary school children relating
very positively to their young and enthusiastic mentors.
A current discussion in education theory throughout the developed
capitalist countries is the question of how education systems can
prepare students for life as citizens in a "participatory democracy".
This is a response to the general lack of interest among young people
in these countries' bureaucratic political systems and of their
mistrust and dislike of politicians of all persuasions.
To Cubans, it is obvious that an undemocratic education system under
the direction of an undemocratic political system — which excludes
the vast majority of people from real involvement in decision-making
save putting a piece of paper in a ballot box once every three or
four years — will have this effect on young people.
As an alternative, Cuba offers a number of examples of how "civics
and citizenship education" (as it is often described) can and indeed
must work.
One example is the involvement of the Pioneros in national, regional
and local elections. It is their responsibility and theirs alone
(i.e., no police or government officials are present) to oversee the
collection and counting of the ballots at each voting station. This
enormous responsibility is taken most seriously by the Pioneros, who
are trusted completely by the Cuban people.
Another example is the voluntary work which is carried out by the
majority of Cuban school students. Alongside a strong curricular
emphasis on social responsibility, Cuban students take on a range of
social tasks inside and outside the classroom. In recent times, these
activities have included municipal inspections as part of the
campaign to rid Havana of the Dengue-fever carrying mosquito,
preventative preparations for the cyclone season in July and the
regular tasks of repairing books and cleaning the school and
municipality.
Creating the new human being
In the now famous text Man and Socialism in Cuba, Che Guevara
referred to education as a fundamental aspect of human liberation,
and the key to unlocking all the creative potential of the human
race. These ideas continue to frame the task of education Cuba today.
Education is understood by Cuban students to be a profoundly
collective task, evident in their approach to learning and their
activities in the mass organisations. As opposed to the competitive
nature of schooling in Australia and other capitalist countries, in
socialist Cuba students reward and admire most those who consciously
help others to understand as well as they do. During the process of
electing delegates to the mass organisations, the candidate speeches
often refer to the overall success of the classes they represent, and
to the candidates' capabilities to help and set an example to others,
rather than to their individual achievements.
A striking feature of any conversation with Cuban school students is
their spirit of internationalism. When asked about their thoughts on
the future, the common responses revealed optimism about the
possibilities for global change, but a deep concern for the people
suffering in the world today. Several referred with pride to Cuba's
internationalist actions such as the training of doctors from Third
World countries and aid relief to sufferers from natural disasters in
South and Central America.
Generally, any public mention of Cuba's education system refers to
the impressive statistics which have been gathered by such
organisations as UNICEF, and which refer to such things as academic
results, and participation and retention rates. Impressive, because
they are consistently better than the average in Latin America and in
many cases, even than the United States.
However, it could be said that the most important achievement of the
Cuban education system is its success in providing the opportunity
for the development of motivated, confident, articulate and highly
conscientious young people.
This is a very different situation to the problem-riddled education
systems under capitalism, which are faced with alienated, unmotivated
and often "hope-less" young people.
Of course there are examples of such young people in Cuba, but these
are clearly the exception. Even the most critical and anti-social
Cuban citizen, while hustling tourists in the streets of Old Havana,
will happily tell you of their wonderful schooling experience, and
all that they learnt from their classmates and teachers.
Although there are many uncertain aspects of Cuba's future, those who
suggest that the country would be leader-less without Fidel Castro,
have clearly not spoken to any of the future leaders currently in
Cuban schools.
[Jo Williams is a member of the Democratic Socialist Party and a
secondary school teacher in Melbourne, currently in Havana
researching the Cuban education system.]