Day 2

Estamos en Cuba!!

Wow. I can't believe I'm in Cuba.

Internet access is not readily available. According to the Global Exchange tour guide, the fiber optics infrastructure has not yet been set up for the populace to have it readily available. There are, though, amongst our American crowd of tourists, conspiracy theorists who believe the government is trying to prevent its citizens from gaining too much outside knowledge. I take both sides with grains of salt.

This morning, we had a conference with a cultural "ambassador" to North America in a huge mansion built by a sugar company owner for his wife, who died many years later. When this man died, he was buried, as requested, standing next to his wife. A true Cuban love story it was, as well as a wonderful way to start the day. Today, we mostly learned about the "Yo si puedo" program which was implemented in 1961 for 11 months and effectively eliminated illiteracy. The literacy rate is currently 98%. They specifically targeted women and the poor in the countryside and had an army of youngsters, the youngest being 8, to go out into the countryside to volunteer in helping with this program. Our tour bus driver was a volunteer at age 16 for the "Yo si puedo" program. The pictures we saw in the Literacy Museum of a 106-year old woman finally learning to read and write, of the young teaching the old, and of hundreds of teens excitedly boarding trains to go into the countryside was so touching. There is such a sense of community and responsibility to each other in this country. In the evening, we heard from a 3-person panel of teachers about the educational system. The conversation made me change my opinon (rare for a stubborn person such as myself) about performance-based pay, which I formerly supported and which the Obama administration is pushing for. In the United States, we have this top-down approach to education - i.e. set the standard, and then expect people to figure out a way to get there - but in Cuba there is so much support for the teachers. The max class size is 20 in primary school. In secondary, the teacher-student ratio is 1:15. Teachers and doctors are the two most highly respected professions. Each teacher has a mentor teacher. There is only public education. Students can attend universities for free. There is time given for teachers to plan and it is encouraged that they attend more classes to further their own education.

I think the view of Cuban education can be summed up in this interaction:

One of the members of the tour group asked what the US should change about its educational system. The reply was that the mentality of the people and the government needs to change. In Cuba, there is a mentality of soildarity. She didn't understand how anyone could think that there was someone who didn't deserve an education.

I know it's only day two, but I feel like I could live here for a while. Everywhere I go, the people are so friendly, and so inviting of conversation that I often have to rush to board our bus because I'm still blabbering away. Even going to use the bathroom, I end up talking with people!

Tomorrow, we learn about their sex ed program. Can't wait! :) - Aileen